MEDIA ALERT

PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF THE FOLLOWING FORTHCOMING EVENTS:

SATURDAY, 3 APRIL 2004

Public private partnership launch with Richards Bay Minerals at Nzalabantu Sports Field, Richards Bay commencing at 10h00.

In probably another first for South Africa, Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) in conjunction with the KZN Transport Department has embarked on a public private partnership to initiate a safe driving project on RBM’s mining lease roads. Through this partnership RBM wishes to address "safe driving" on their roads as they believe that the current non-compliance with road traffic rules on their roads needs urgent attention. It is anticipated that this initiative will address speed control, safe driving habits, and vehicle roadworthiness, road safety training and coaching in the schools and surrounding communities, and so on.

SUNDAY, 4 APRIL 2004

Interfaith Road Safety Gathering at Odeon Cinema, Unit 2, Chatsworth commencing at 15h00.

KZN Transport MEC S'bu Ndebele is serious about saving people's lives. And he is continuing his renewed drive to save people's lives – this time taking his road safety message to the people of Chatsworth.

Road accident statistics indicate that the majority of people killed on our roads are pedestrians. In KwaZulu-Natal the majority of these pedestrians are killed in the Durban Region and specifically mostly in areas south of Durban.

Chatsworth, south of Durban, was among one of the pedestrian hotspots. Pedestrians were not only involved in collisions on the freeway but in the urban and built up areas as well - this is from statistics we in the Department of Transport collected after the past December holiday period.

During Easter in 1999, 34 people died on KZN roads, 65 in 2000, 101 in 2001, 62 in 2002 and 47 in 2003. Of the 47 people killed in 2003, 26 were pedestrians.

On Sunday, MEC Ndebele as part of the 2004 Easter Road Safety Plan will go to Chatsworth. This Interfaith Road Safety Gathering is a culmination of a province-wide programme that has already gone to many areas in the province. The Inter-Faith Road Safety Programme forms part of the KZN Transport Department's mass mobilisation plan to spread the gospel of road safety in order to reduce the number of road deaths on the province's roads. This programme is derived from past road safety campaigns such as Siyabakhumbula ("We Remember Them") which was held during 1997 and proved highly effective. As we head towards the Easter holidays the Department in conjunction with religious leaders from various faiths will be ensuring that the road safety message goes right down to grassroots level.

MONDAY, 5 APRIL 2004

1. Official Opening of the KwaZulu-Natal Taxi Council (KWANATACO) Offices, cnr. Chapel and Berg Streets, Pietermaritzburg commencing at 10h00.

The decision by KWANATACO to move its offices from Durban to Pietermartizburg was to facilitate a closer working relationship with all major stakeholders thereby being able to provide an efficient and effective service to its customers. This move is also done in the sprit of celebrating 10 years of democracy and to also highlight where the taxi industry has moved in the last ten years from holding meetings under car boots and tress to where they are now. In the next ten years KWANTACO plans to transform its corporate image and to become a major player in the corporate world.

2. Official Launch of the Provincial Vukuzakhe Emerging Contractor Council at the ICC, Durban commencing at 17h30.

Being held under the theme "Laying the foundation for an equitable construction industry", this event is probably another first for South Africa. The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport through its policies and programmes has created new and sustainable jobs in the construction sector while our province has shed jobs in other influential sectors. The scale and multi-year nature of contract opportunities provided through ARRUP roads have allowed us to streamline our support systems to emerging contractors through our Vukuzakhe Emerging Contractor Programme.

• Multi-year contracts now allow Vukuzakhe contractors to approach financial institutions using their contracts as collateral against bank loans.
• We are now finalising our partnership with a major financial institution (African Bank Investments Limited) who have established an independent management company to assist participating contractors with various financial, training and business support systems including access to bulk discounts on materials and plant. We will pilot this project this year.
• This institutional arrangement makes provision for an empowerment equity stake for Vukuzakhe contractors in the management company.

All of this will now be realized through the official launch of the KwaZulu-Natal Vukuzakhe Emerging Contractor Council.

TUESDAY, 6 APRIL 2004

Road Safety Symposium at the Riverside Hotel, Durban commencing at 18h00.

KZN Transport MEC S’bu Ndebele in partnership with Health MEC Dr. Zweli Mkhize will host the symposium under the theme, "Road Safety Is No Accident", on the eve of World Road Safety Day. Approximately 150 people, including various prominent road safety academics and intellectuals, are expected to attend this debate around issues on road safety and health.

WEDNESDAY, 7 APRIL 2004

World Road Safety Prayer Day at Kingsmead Cricket Grounds, Durban commencing at 10h00.

The KZN Department of Transport supported by the World Health Organisation under the auspices of the United Nations will be hosting World Road Safety Day. Thousands of people from all walks of life are expected to attend this event.

The fact that the World Health Organisation has dedicated World Health Day to Road Safety tells us that road related fatalities are a world wide problem and not just a South African or KwaZulu-Natal problem. Some countries have managed to find solutions and reduce the carnage on their roads. This is precisely why we have modelled our KwaZulu-Natal Road Safety initiatives and the National Arrive Alive initiative on that developed by Victoria, Australia.

The World Health Organisation has projected that, unless current trends are checked, an estimated 2, 4 million people will die every year in road crashes by 2020. This would make road crashes the third highest cause of death in the world (after heart disease and depression). In addition to a concern over such high fatalities the World Health Organisation notes that injuries due to road traffic collisions are a major drain on a nation’s health and financial resources. So much so that in some developing countries one in every ten hospital beds is occupied by a road traffic victim. In KwaZulu-Natal road collisions cost this province some R2 billion per annum.

 

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