NDEBELE MAKES BLACK ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT A REALITY FOR THE PEOPLE OF KWAZULU-NATAL 

It is a sad fact that if King Cetshwayo, who died in 1884, were to rise again today he would easily find his way around because his surroundings would perhaps be just the same as when he was alive. To this end, we launched a major road development investment initiative known as the African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programme (ARRUP). ARRUP opens up our own heritage and our own history and will enable the citizens of our country to emphatically say that liberation has come. 

South African society cannot be deracialised unless the government committed itself to fully integrating blacks into the mainstream of the economy. ARRUP will result in upgrading critical rural transport corridors from gravel to blacktop. Improved road access will dramatically reduce transport-related costs and provide the necessary infrastructural conditions to promote sustainable community development and economic growth. 

Relatively inaccessible communities will now be better placed to attract donors who might wish to partner with them in much needed development programmes or to link investors with local business opportunities. 

ARRUP projects have rapidly become an important vehicle to realise co-operative governance and integrated rural development. Most projects are designed to last at least three years. In effect this means a concentration of technical personnel and plant in rural communities that can be cost efficiently utilised to plan and implement a new dispensation that goes beyond the delivery of road infrastructure. 

Many of the ARRUP projects transverse areas of breath-taking beauty and involve communities, which have a rich historical significance for the Zulu Kingdom. Improved road access is expected to result in viable investment opportunities that promote eco- and cultural tourism. 

All ARRUPs are designed to normalize the road construction industry in KwaZulu-Natal and to maximize local wealth creation. The design and supervision phase encourage close working partnerships between well-established and recently established civil, technical and social consultants within frameworks that promote ongoing community participation. Roadwork contracts are awarded to established and emerging contractors who are required to maximize local employment and local supplier opportunities. 

The ARRUP is a bold initiative that is designed to create wealth within resource poor communities and to unlock their development potential. At the same time all contracts are awarded with the explicit objective of transforming the road construction industry in KwaZulu-Natal. 

Seven roads have been identified for upgrading, and these are: 

• Main Roads 235, 52 and 49 extending from Mtubatuba to Vryheid via KwaHlabisa and Nongoma, and from Nongoma to Pongola (105,3 km at a cost of R137 million). We turned the sod for the construction work to begin on Road 235 on 26 June 2001, in the presence of Members of Parliament, the Speaker iNkosi B N Mdletshe, amaKhosi, community representatives, KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Services officials and the general public. The Nongoma, KwaHlabisa and Nseleni Rural Road Transport Forums chose this road as a priority blacktop road because it is regarded as one of the province’s major transport corridors. The upgrading of this road will result in cost efficient and cost effective transport systems. This will in turn facilitate trade and economic development within the region, the province and internationally.

• Main Road 235 is also en route to the Hluhluwe Game Reserve and the Lubombo Spatial Development Initiative which, with its agricultural and tourism potential, will breathe new life into the KwaZulu-Natal economy. It will be maintained and kept clean by the Zibambele Contractors, and will become a focal point to market handcrafts, garden produce, and eco- and cultural tourism. At this stage, six Vukuzakhe Contractors and one established contractor have been awarded contracts for Phase One of this project.

• Main Roads 230 and 525, District Roads 1552 and 1667, Local Roads 2582 and 2581 extending from Obanjeni to Eshowe via Ongoye Forest and KwaMaqwakazi (46,4 km at a cost of R80 million). On 19 July 2001, it was a dream come true for iNkosi Mzimela and the Ntubeni community when we turned the sod on Road P525. The upgrading of this road will create an improved network access to the important urban industrial growth centres of Eshowe and Empangeni. This will in turn boost local economic performance by lowering transport costs, hence improving access to markets for agricultural products and opportunities for economic and cultural tourism. The Ongoye road will give access to the following eco-tourism and historical sites:

• Port Dunfort State and Ongoye Forests
• Umlalazi Game Reserve
• KwaBulawayo – King Shaka’s Palace
• Entshweni – King Mpande’s Palace
• Esiklebheni – King Shaka’s Palace
• Queen Nandi’s Grave
• Birthplace of OkaMasweli – King Dinizulu’s mother
• Umthombo weNkosi –King Shaka’s Well

• Main Roads 15 and 50 extending from Kranskop to Nkandla via Komo, Nkandla to Fort Louis and Komo Store to Eshowe (89,2 km at a cost of R156 million).

• Main Road 100 extending from Verulam to Inanda via Ndwedwe (42 km at a cost of R74 million).

• Main Road 68 extending from Highflats to Umtentweni via Dweshula and St. Faiths (51 km at a cost of R93 million).

Further, on 10 January 2002 the Head of Department, Dr K.B. Mbanjwa, met with senior personnel from the Road Traffic Inspectorate, the South African Police Services, the South African National Defence Force and the Director of Public Prosecutions in KwaZulu-Natal, to discuss violence on our roads and security on provincial and national routes. The establishment of dedicated traffic courts was also discussed and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has undertaken to consider funding the establishment of selected traffic courts in co-operation with the Public Prosecutor’s office. This, we believe, will streamline the adjudication of traffic offences and give teeth to our Zero Tolerance campaign.  

We have also agreed to establish a new Special Operations Unit which will have powers to deal with a wide range of security concerns including taxi violence, fraud and corruption and public safety on our roads in general. The Special Operations Unit has completed the post evaluation process and the Department will be in a position to recruit staff within the next 2 weeks. 

Over the years we have systematically introduced measures consistent with the presidential Black Economic Commission’s call for genuine black empowerment and the realisation that we will only become a truly free nation when we have achieved freedom from hunger, freedom from the daily struggle to survive and freedom to provide our children with education, health care, shelter and hope.

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