The District Mayor
MMC for Transport
Municipal managers
All transport stakeholders
The community
Ladies and gentlemen
We gather here today to witness the efforts of our government, in striving for a more balanced economy with less economic disparities. Our government is obligated to deliver services to the people guided by the Batho Pele principles of equity and transparency in the way that our government operates.
Our responsibilities as Gauteng government, is to ensure the creation of an economy where there is increased social equality and economic growth. This is a part that brings the development which guarantees the progressive improvement of the quality of life for all citizens. One of the mechanisms of ensuring this is to adhere to the principles of cooperative governance and improved intergovernmental relations. In order to achieve an integrated service delivery model, it is important that we relate to and among each other in a manner that supports, compliments and interfaces both our systems and deliverables.
It is also vital that I mention the need to partner with Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) which is responsible for vehicle registration, traffic information systems, public communication and traffic law enforcement. The RTMC is formed under a shareholder committee consisting of the national Minister of Transport, the provincial Transport MECs and the South African Local Government Association. The objective of this corporation is mainly to establish corporation as a partnership between national, provincial and local spheres of government by strengthening national and provincial government's collective capacity to govern road traffic management through partnership with local government bodies and private sector.
In the our spirit of renewal we are committed to bringing change on how government will address the need of speeding up service delivery to all communities and our mission as a department is to first of all, provide Gauteng people with an environmentally sustainable roads and transport infrastructure and an integrated transport system and services that will not only bring development but will also deal with the legacy that apartheid left in our systems of work.
It is, however, important that as we move towards forward planning, also taking into account the positive and negative experiences and lessons of the past. In order to facilitate this process, we are required to build effective institutional structures and arrangements and as government we are expected to take that initiative and the lead and also come up with means and ways of having the capacity to do so as part of government strategies.
The lack of coordination between agencies responsible for governing transport systems is suspect to the backlogs, rife corruption and inefficient call centre systems experienced in providing smooth delivery of services, especially services that involve bettering the lives of people. A driver's licence is the second most important document after an identity document and is the most sought in improving one's quality of life. We have a responsibility as a department in making sure that we develop modern integrated transport systems that provides high quality, accessible, efficient, affordable and environmentally sustainable transport services in a regulated environment, thereby contributing to the overall achievement of economic growth, through this align our plans to the Gauteng government priorities of providing decent work and sustainable livelihoods for communities in and around Gauteng.
Gauteng province happens to have a relatively high car ownership especially in metropolitan areas and this measure should be an indicator of the high demand of new driver's licences that have to be issued daily - as a result more and more driver learner testing stations have to be established. We have to accelerate in this area due to the increase of motor vehicle owners and licensed drivers which comprise of over 7 million in South Africa.
The Department of Roads and Transport's vision is to ensure the provision of world class road and transport infrastructure networks and systems that facilitate seamless mobility of people, goods and services and it is with this vision that we adhere to our guiding values of good governance, innovation, responsiveness, ethical and accountable to our transport stakeholders and the communities throughout Gauteng.
Through the urban transport fund, an entity established by the department to focus on providing integrated safety and security, traffic management and promotion of our economic hubs in the townships, we commit ourselves to excellence by tasking the Urban Transport Fund (UTF) with the following:
* The responsibility of implementing intelligent transport systems and policies with the aim of promoting and facilitating the enhancement of service delivery
* Transportation management capacity of the Gauteng province
* And ensuring effective operations in the implementation of the National Road Traffic Act.
Under the banner of the UTF, we continue committing ourselves tirelessly towards bringing and sharing of resources to our people and creating an inclusive economy where there is socio economic equality. In our endeavour to reach the targets of addressing the slow pace of service delivery in the 20 townships prioritised by Gauteng government, the Gauteng government has planned to construct 20 temporary drivers licence testing stations in this period and have so far established two where more work is done to start constructing the others.
Out of the 29 drivers licence testing stations, we have throughout successfully implemented the e-Natis driving licence and learner licence booking system which is an information backbone that supports road traffic legislation, a variety of daily functions and transactions that are related to road traffic management issues at all levels of government. Take into consideration that revenue from this source are earmarked and specifically retained for improving service delivery pertaining to road traffic management functions such as:
* Improving infrastructure and reduction of waiting lists for testing throughout Driver's Licence Testing Centres (DLTCs) and vehicle testing stations
* Increasing efforts to reduce queue lengths and speedy service at service counters by introducing best practise models at vehicle registration and licensing authorities.
We are proud to announce that all testing stations in Gauteng have implemented this system. We are also in the process of creating a regulatory framework for the purpose of regulating driving schools and private vehicle testing stations with the intention of regulating the degree of compliance and the monitoring of driving schools. We have created a database of role players and will be continuing to implement and develop the framework.
We have also been engaged in learner driver outreach programme and have so far implemented the programme in two municipalities. The objective of this initiative is to curb the increasing demand of learner's licences and to accelerate the process of registering candidates and allocating appointments to write their learner tests. The Minister of Transport, Mr Ndebele highlighted in his October Transport Month address the need to encourage the youth in engaging themselves to achieve driver's license before completion of high school education, as part of acquiring added skills and the easy process of job seeking. We indeed support the statement and in addition this will also address the elimination of illegal drivers on our roads, further increasing road safety in the Gauteng province.
The plight of dealing with corruption in our DLTCs lingers but we are determined to intensify the fight against this kind of crime. The department has put effort in improving systems by implementing the fraud and corruption strategy that includes intelligent number plates, I3S and intelligent surveillance system and through this, we have seen a 95 percent reduction in the number of reported fraud and corruption cases and a further number of 71 cases reported between 2008/09. We have also reached a 60 percent milestone in the reduction of a number of unlicensed vehicles in Gauteng.
We have witnessed the appointing and launching of the South African Post Office as a motor vehicle registration authority to better enhance our methods of delivering services to the people and as part of maximising road user fees revenue.
Our systems in roads and transport need to be 2010 compliant if we are to reach our milestone of hosting a major event such as the 2010 FIFA World Cup and beyond. We have to be ready to provide efficiency, reliability and accessibility in our roads; it is therefore imperative to uplift and support economic development in poverty stricken areas and townships. Our aim and objectives as Gauteng government are and have been to break the demographic isolations by improving transport linkages between the disadvantaged and the vibrant economies in the province such that we transform these areas and townships into much more competitive and investment attracting places.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Roads and Transport, Gauteng Provincial Government
8 October 2009
Source: Department of Roads and Transport, Gauteng Provincial Government
(http://www.gdace.gpg.gov.za/)
