 
MEDIA STATEMENT
MEC FOR TRANSPORT IN KWAZULU-NATAL, MR S'BU NDEBELE, RESPONDS TO SUNDAY TIMES 'BETRAYED' ARTICLEThe MEC for Transport in KwaZulu-Natal, Mr S'bu Ndebele, expresses his outrage at the insinuation contained in the Sunday Times headline article of May 13, 2001 that the National Minister of Transport, Dr Dullah Omar, has effectively betrayed the electorate through allegedly not bothering about an SABS warning about the 60-seater buses supplied by the Alfinta Motor Corporation, and that no other province except Gauteng had implemented the SABS warning.Mr Ndebele believes that the article is a gross misrepresentation of the truth and that it is an attempt at damaging the integrity and credibility of Mr Dullah Omar. This is apparent from the fact that the very same article concedes that when Mr Omar received information from the SABS, he did indeed warn provinces about the unsafe nature of the buses. Moreover, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport took immediate action to close its register with regard to the licensing of any such buses in this province. The KZN Department of Transport issued a circular to all registering authorities to the effect that henceforth no such buses should be registered. The Department found that there were 16 non-passenger carrying AMC vehicles on KwaZulu-Natal roads which had been homologated (approved) by the SABS and that therefore these were not affected by the SABS findings. Only one 60-seater bus of the type condemned by the SABS operated in KwaZulu-Natal, and this vehicle, which was originally registered in another province, was bought by a private individual. The Department has suspended the registration of this vehicle and has therefore heeded Mr Omar's timely warning. To now allege, as the article does, that only one province heeded the Minister's warning is therefore a gross misrepresentation of the truth. Mr Ndebele is therefore constrained to deplore the unwarranted attack on Mr Omar as well as the impression being created that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport does not take the lives of passengers seriously. The tragic death of the passenger in the bus which was involved in an accident is a matter of great regret, and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport will continue to stringently enforce safety standards on public vehicles that are based on SABS requirements.
|
