Programme Director
Deputy Director-General for Roads: Mr Chris Hlabisa
The CEO of the Road Freight Association: Mr Gavin Kelly
CEO and Officials of the Cross-border Transport Agency led by the Chairperson of the Board
Officials of the Department of Transport
Captains of Industry
Esteemed delegates
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
Introduction
I am deeply grateful for the invitation to address this important gathering on the occasion of the National Convention of the Road Freight Association of South Africa (RFA). Our Department of Transport as well as our Government view the RFA as one of our critical stakeholders and partners in the delivery of critical services to our nation, the region and our continent.
Two days ago we celebrated Africa Day, and more importantly the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity (Currently AU). We are indebted to the collective vision of our leaders, who recognised early on, that the success of the African Continent rests on its ability to unite and work together.
The fact that members of the RFA move goods and services to various parts of our beloved Continent is a living testimony that indeed, the vision of Africa working together is slowly being realised. Together with you, we owe a great deal of gratitude to those leaders for their foresight which benefits all of us today.
As we all know, approximately 90% of freight is transported by Roads. Members of the RFA have, over the years, played a vital role in ensuring the movement of goods and services to their desired destinations. Our government and society have a special appreciation of the role played by the freight industry, particularly in support of livelihoods of our people.
It is therefore important to realise that in working together we can create social compacts for advancing our country’s economic fortunes and improve the quality of lives of our people.
It is predicted that the economic development within emerging markets could change the world trade dynamic substantially by 2030. In support of this growing trend, the World Bank Logistics Index suggests that low- and middle- income economies could boost global trade by 15% just by improving logistics performance.
In order to take full advantage of this ‘Trade Revolution’ the South African government through its National Development Plan has placed much emphasis on infrastructure development through strategic investments and private sector participation
Freight trade success dependencies
The success of trade within our borders and beyond is dependent on a safe, reliable, efficient and dependable transport system. Additionally our transport system should be well planned and sufficiently integrated to allow for ease of access and should promote integration amongst the various modes.
For instance, the transition of goods from shipping lines and our Ports, through our roads, to points of destination should be well managed, and be as seamless as possible. Our transport systems must be reliable, trustworthy and provide an assurance to our trade partners that they can be relied upon.
The Department of Transport is acutely aware of this important task and is cognisant of the role it must play in creating an enabling environment for these ideals to be realised.
Legal instruments to bring about modal integration
Programme Director;
National Land Transport Act (NLTA)
We are equally reviewing the National Land Transport Act (NLTA) with the primary aim of structuring the Republic’s land transport systems into one uniform system with a centralised database. This includes prescribed national principles, requirements, guidelines, frameworks and national norms and standards that must be applied uniformly in the Republic’s provinces and Local Authorities.
The NLTA also addresses additional matters contemplated in section 146 of the constitution and aims at consolidating all land transport functions so that they can be located in the appropriate sphere of government.
In South Africa, contrary to international best practice road is the only mode of transport that is not adequately regulated, as basic principles of transport regulation, there is no effective regulation of road transport operators as business entities.
National Operator Registration System (NORs)
The DOT together with the Road Traffic Management Co- operation is in the process of developing the National Operator Registration System (NORS), the purpose of which is to re- regulate the road freight sector as the only deregulated freight transport mode to date (since 1988).
This is necessary in order to achieve quality-regulated competition, enhance the enforcement processes, and encourage voluntary compliance.
Ladies and gentlemen;
While road freight delivery has significant advantages, the great number of freight vehicles on the road contributes to overloading and the subsequent significant deterioration of the road network and traffic congestion.
This has resulted in the development and formulation of the Freight Road to Rail Migration Plan, the primary aim of which is to rebalance the road freight–rail freight split in an attempt to create a more appropriate market share and to reduce the number of heavy trucks on the roads to decrease overloading on the road network.
The implication is a reduction in overall transport and logistics costs and externality costs (e.g. road damage, road accidents, road congestion, noise pollution and carbon emissions). Towards an equitable rail/road split.
A major factor determining the need for restructuring of the freight transport sector is the urgent requirement for extensive recapitalisation and investment in transportation infrastructure and equipment in order to reduce the unsatisfied demand that has given rise to intermodal distortions of the transport of bulk commodities.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The President announced that soon freight rail will be returned to the Department of Transport. To us as a sector this means we cannot delay the implementation of the National Rail Policy. Hence we have already commenced with the drafting of the National Rail Master Plan 2050; which will further assist in the identification of network constraints, opportunities, including infrastructure improvements and rail network expansions required to assist in creating a conducive environment for private and public sector participation.
And, we believe that the National Rail Policy aspects that are implementable now needs to be implemented as a matter of urgency.
For integrated intermodal freight movement it is important that we hold freight inter-modal trade-off discussions, on the best way on how to collectively and collaboratively accelerate this shift, without the detriment to another sector within the freight trade value-chain.
Just last week I had a discussion with ARIA, the African Rail Industry Association and discussed the same. They are preparing for a dialogue in this regard, where they will present their proposals on the way forward. It will be beneficial to have the RFA represented when we have these critical discussions.
I have stated that emerging from the dialogue we must have an Action Plan with time frames and clear tangible delivery targets which we will account for when we reconvene to take stock of how far we have managed to implement our resolutions and recommendations.
We are here today to deliver a simple message, that our progress will be guaranteed by our collective efforts to ensure a better tomorrow.
Budget Speech Commitments
Ladies and Gentlemen, in our budget speech of the Department of Transport a week ago, we identified certain priorities for our Department for the current financial year. These priorities demonstrate our commitment to invest in our transport infrastructure and systems towards a safe, efficient and reliable transport system we spoke about earlier.
We have committed over R40 billion to the construction, upgrading and maintenance of our national and provincial road networks. A significant amount of investment will go towards refurbishment, rehabilitation and eradication of potholes in Provincial and Municipal Roads. Road Infrastructure damaged by floods is also being prioritised. SANRAL will play a leading role in assisting the Department, working with Provinces and Municipalities, to successfully implement these programmes
Given the carnage on our roads, Road Safety will be a major focus of our Transport family, underpinned by a strong 24 hr law enforcement presence on our roads. Additional law enforcement officers have been recently appointed to add impetus to our drive for safer roads. These are among proposed interventions to be implemented in this financial year. The Road Traffic Management Cooperation (RTMC) is receiving additional resources and support to ensure that we are successful. Our commitment is unwavering and we are determined to ensure that these are achieved.
Programme Director;
We must inform the industry that the Freight Databank has since been completed and is available to provide a national overview of freight movement on the identified 16 freight corridors, across the four modes of transport. The Freight Databank is available to all industry stakeholders.
The Department of Transport, working with other institutions like the Trans-Kalahari Corridor and some of our Agencies, have developed a Truck Stop Discussion Document and are in the process of developing a Truck Stop Framework, to deal with the co-ordination of truck resting facilities, safety, trucker wellness and the enforcement of truck drivers working hours and conditions as per Department of Labour regulations. Our entities, the C-BRTA and the RTMC are working closely with the Department of Labour and other stakeholders on this initiative.
Upon establishment, these truck stops will provide much desired services to the truck drivers and operators, like restaurants, fuelling stations, accommodation and many more. Of significance to our priorities, would be their contribution to Road Safety as we aim to regulate the amount of time drivers spend driving on the roads. Rest times are necessary to reduce driver fatigue.
The success of the continuous improvements to our transport system will rely heavily on our ability to modernise our processes through technological investments. Our partnership with the entities like the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research(CSIR) will assist us to explore relevant technologies for our ambitions.
Private sector companies have also been at the centre of various innovations, which in our view, will help accelerate our efforts. This demonstrates an encouraging scenario of the private sector’s contribution to innovation and stressing the need for government and the private sector to work together for the advancement of our society.
Creating an enabling environment
Government continues with its efforts to build an enabling environment for the Freight Industry to thrive and operate as efficiently as possible.
Firstly, we are all aware that government, through our Department and other relevant ones, put together a plan with the freight industry aimed at establishing both a common platform and a common agenda to deal with emerging challenges. This plan is being implemented, despite some challenges.
Secondly, In the financial year 2021/22, South Africa moved about R390 Billion worth of exports to the SADC Region and received about R40Billion of imports. Through the Cross Border Road Transport Agency (C-BRTA), we continue to regulate the movement of freight across our borders. Last year the Agency migrated to an online system for issuing operator permits, making it easy for operators to access permits, thus improving the ease of doing business. The number of permits issued has since increased and additional tools are being developed to be launched in this current financial year.
Thirdly, through various bilateral agreements and joint committees, several bottlenecks are being resolved to further improve the movement of goods and serviced across our borders. The Department is working hard to update and finalise most of these agreements. The relations with our regional partners and sister countries are vital to our economic growth and sustainability and have to be prioritised.
Fourth, as part of our efforts to contribute to an improved regulatory regime, efforts are being made to transition to quality regulating. This will assist our sector to have a better sense of who is on the roads, the quality of their vehicles and the drivers. This will further improve safety on our roads. Some of the private sector initiatives in this regard have also been brought to our attention, and all these initiatives should complement each other.
Finally, Cabinet approved the Road Freight Strategy in 2017 (RFS), the purpose of which is to address the issues, which have current negative impacts on the efficiency of the road freight sector. The intention of the RFS is to create an integrated regulatory and operational framework, which will enable South Africa to achieve best international standards of road freight operations. This is essential for the future logistical support of industrial growth, road safety, limitation of externalities, and the creation of opportunities for employment.
Emerging issues
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We recognise that the world is not static. We are aware of the emerging global debates about decarbonisation and recognise that as countries and citizens, we have to contribute to the efforts of managing climate change. The transport sector is regarded as one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and the road sector being the worst.
Earlier studies by the Department of Environment Affairs revealed that Transport accounted for about 10% of the country’s gas emissions, with the road transport responsible for about 90%. This demonstrates the fact that as the freight sector, we are more challenged to find urgent solutions.
As a start, the Department of Transport developed its Green Transport Strategy (2018-2050)that identified and proposed certain measures for the sector to respond to this challenge. There are various private sector initiatives under way, for instance, we note the efforts some of the manufactures who have started with the development of electric trucks that are currently being tested.
Government will work with all the relevant stakeholders to ensure that the ideals of our Green Transport Strategy are realised. We will also monitor developments around the world to ensure that our responses take into account these developments. It is important to add that implementation of our strategy needs to be continuously evaluated and assessed against all our realities. We have to work together in finding the right solutions.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)
In January 2021, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was operationalised, after its adoption by the Heads of State in the prior year. The AfCFTA lays a foundation for an Africa trading together, thus promoting better economic integration amongst African States. It is the World’s largest free trade area with 55 countries and 8 regional economic communities. Its mandate is to create a single continental market for a population of 1.3 billion people. It is one of the flagship projects of Agenda 2063: The Africa we want, which is the African Union’s long term development strategy for transforming the continent.
The realisation of the ideals of the AfCFTA is hugely dependent on our efforts as member states and our stakeholders. There are certain fundamentals that must be in place for the success of the AfCFTA. Among others, there has to be a harmonised environment, meaning that our policies, regulations, legal instruments, customs regimes need to be aligned. This will make transitions through various border posts quicker and seamless.
The Linking Africa Plan, developed under the auspices of our Cross Border Road Transport Agency, highlights two important streams for consideration, soft infrastructure and hard infrastructure. Under the soft infrastructure, the plan alludes to need for the development of aligned regulatory systems, polices and laws whereas on the hard infrastructure side, the plan identifies all the hard infrastructure that must in place for the success of trade on the Continent.
In the current context the Linking Africa Plan lays a foundation for the achievement of the ideals of the AfCTFA. This plan was also adopted by the Ministers of Transport in the SADC Region. Its implementation will see the realisation of an improved trading space within our region and therefore supporting the AfCTFA.
According to recent studies done for the AfCFTA, there is an expected growth of freight movements within the Region and the freight sector is poised for growth over the next few years. Once again, let me emphasize the need for us to work together towards the economic growth of our continent.
SADC and the Tripartite
Ladies and gentlemen, in March this year, the Ministers of Transport of the Tripatite met. This included SADC, EAC and
COMESA to consider the long outstanding Model Laws that are seeking to harmonise our Regions. These are still under consideration but what remains encouraging is that these are now being considered for adoption after long delays.
We will continue to work with the SADC in support of our Region and to ensure that we contribute to the discourse about the improvement of regional systems which are envisaged to improve the ease of doing business in the region and beyond.
Transformation
Transformation remains one of the pillars of our department of our government by extension. In our view, the freight industry still needs to go through a clear transformation process, given the realty that there are still very few players that come from the previously disadvantaged communities.
Government continues to invest in various efforts to improve the freight sector’s fortunes, like some of the initiatives outlined above but these ought to be complemented by a commitment by the industry to do more for transformation. It is essential that the country sees an industry that is working with government to ensure that there is better transformation.
We recently launched the Integrated Transport Sector BBBEE Council tasked with the responsibility for developing transport sector codes to address some of the glaring transformation challenges in the Transport sector and particularly within the freight sector.
I call on all of you gathered here to ensure that this is prioritised and we see the much desired impact within this industry.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I extend an invitation to the Road Freight Association to join us as partners in addressing the intractable challenges that constrain the logistics sector from making a meaningful contribution to economic recovery and growth. We must have a robust and no-holds barred conversation on the policy trajectory that will enable us to increase the contribution of the transport sector to the country’s GDP.
I wish you well in your deliberations and am looking forward to innovative ideas that will help us move the needle in growing the economy.
The success of the transport sector lies in all of us a a collective, whether we agree or not, the socio-economic fate of our country is in our hands. As the heartbeat we are the determinants of the growth speed of this economy. Let’s pull our weight and make a difference.
I thank you.
