MEC for Safety, Liaison, Roads and Transport at the consultative conference on
the Integration of Search and Rescue services for the Southern Africa region,
Cape Training Centre, Port Elizabeth
22 October 2007
Honourable Minister
Executive Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay
Delegates
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
It is indeed a great honour for me to welcome you to this August event,
which marks a visible advancement towards the realisation of the aspirations
our people that were highlighted in the Freedom Charter 52 years ago that
"There Shall be Peace and Friendship".
Today, it is gratifying to witness the renaissance of Africa through
practical co-operation of countries within Southern Africa's Development
Community (SADC), which include Comoros, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia and
South Africa in pursuit of safety and security for all our people through
integration of aeronautical and maritime search and rescue services.
As the people of the Eastern Cape, we are proud to host this conference,
which seeks to realise the objectives of the SADC Protocol, particularly
Article 8,54 (b), which stipulates that Member States shall take all steps
necessary to develop their search and rescue capacity on a regional basis.
I believe that this is a bold step towards the achievement of unity in this
continent. For a long time, Africa has been perceived as a "Continent of
Darkness", characterised by conflicts, diseases, poverty and underdevelopment,
despite being the hub of natural resources.
The time has come for us as Africans to take our rightful position in the
global political and economical arena.
South Africa is a maritime nation and our National Maritime Policies provide
space for us to be amongst the top 35 maritime nations.
In order to realise this, we would need to have a lot of ships flying our
flag, and many more of our citizens manning the world fleet.
At a provincial level, we may not be able to attract ship owners to the
national register, but we certainly have the population that can man the
ships.
Through our Human Resource Development Programme, we want to reach out to
the communities and raise awareness amongst our youth, and introduce them to
the field of maritime as a carrier path. Our goal is to have a number of the
Eastern Cape youth as seafarers or even captains in a few years to come.
We have a school outreach programme in the pipeline, where officials of the
Department of Roads and Transport will go out to schools and teach the youth
about safety in water. We will be targeting youth from the rural areas and
teach them how to swim in safe waters and about unsupervised sea swimming
during high seasons.
As a member of the National Port Security Audit Team, the Eastern Cape will
start auditing the safety and security aspects of our provincial ports as from
February 2008. We have identified the Port of East London as a starting point,
and we look forward to contributing to the safety and security of our
ports.
We intend to introduce a Maritime Passenger Transport Strategy, especially
now that we are preparing for 2010 Federation International Football
Association (Fifa) World Cup. We would like to see our people commuting between
East London and the Nelson Mandela Bay by sea to come and watch the games. When
all the safety requirements are complied with, the sea can be a safest mode of
transport than any other and contribute in our tourism development strategy,
which is a cornerstone of our Provincial Growth and Development Plan.
In the recent past, it has become evident that the high economic growth rate
of the Eastern Cape continued to put pressure on government to invest on road
infrastructure, rail and ports. Presently, there is a huge imbalance in the use
of our infrastructure for the carriage of goods within the supply chain, as the
volumes are largely biased towards road usage.
In response to this challenge, we have resolved to invest in an integrated
multimodal transport system leading to various destinations, including our
ports. We have realised that no single mode of transport is able to carry all
the cargo volumes on its own.
Our stakeholders have expressed an interest in certain railway and port
links; and this is very encouraging to us as the Department of Roads and
Transport, as we seek to reach a balance in the use of our sea, air, rail and
roads.
In the past, Eastern Cape had a variety of ports, which were different in
size, but today, we only have three ports in East London and Port Elizabeth,
which service very large automotive industry volumes and agricultural exports;
and the newly built Port of Nqura, which is a deep sea water port that is
strategically positioned to compete at ease within the global arena.
Since maritime is a new competency for provincial government, the Department
of Roads and Transport is in a process of completing its Freight Logistics
Plan, which amongst other things, seeks to revive certain ports, including the
River Port of Port St Johns, which was closed some time ago. We believe that
Port St Johns, as a scenic coastal municipality, has a strong social and
economic potential.
We are engaged in talks with the Port St Johns Municipality on the delivery
of the needs that the municipality has identified as a priority. This year, we
have supplied the municipality with two boats and the municipality has now
expressed that the following are their priorities:
* shark safety net for the second beach to make sure that the beach is safe
and
* erection of a storage warehouse for Maritime Safety Equipment. The storage
warehouse will house rescue boats, diving equipment, lifesavers equipment,
etc.
The warehouse should be at second beach.
During peak or holiday periods, we usually strengthen our sea rescue
capacity through the deployment of helicopters and boats to various popular
beaches with the assistance of the South African Police Services. Usually, I
join such operations to ensure that I personally monitor the situation.
We have further relocated the South African Police Service Air Wing from
Port Elizabeth to the Bhisho Airport in order to be close to the provincial
headquarters and be able to service the entire province. As a result, there has
been an improvement in the arrest of vehicle hijackers and cash-in-transit
armed robbers.
We are now able to respond quickly when there is a call for a sea search and
rescue operation.
We have strengthened our co-operation with municipalities, especially the
disaster management units, to ensure that we have a coherent approach of
helping our people during disasters.
In conclusion, I would like to wish you a fruitful conference, hoping that
your deliberations would assist us in proactively dealing with all situations
that threaten to take away the lives of our people.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Safety, Liaison, Roads and Transport, Eastern Cape
Provincial Government
22 October 2007
