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Promoting Participatory Democracy Through Rural Road Transport Forums (RRTF's)The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport is committed to a structured, ongoing consultation process that allows stakeholders to make informed decisions on how best to prioritise their road access needs and, at the same time, facilitate the growth and development of the road construction industry to better reflect our demographic profile. This commitment is provided for in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Roads Act (Act 4 of 2001). In consultation with rural stakeholders the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has established 30 Rural Roads Transport Forums (RRTFs) throughout KwaZulu-Natal. Each RRTF is democratically elected by the people who live within the boundaries of each RRTF area. The RRTF is constituted in a manner which is fully representative of all rural stakeholders. Sectors represented on the RRTF include Amakhosi the business community, district and local municipalities, public transport, farmers and community based organisations inclusive of women and youth. RRTFs receive ongoing training in a programme that has been specifically designed to build their capacity to engage the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport in an informed and orderly way and, at the same time, act as resource persons to their communities. The training programme is designed in modular form and covers the following topics:
Training enables RRTF members to be developmental activists in their communities by placing them in a position where they can identify and prioritise community needs and understand how different spheres of government operate. The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport’s road infrastructure investments are planned, prioritised and recorded on a project by project basis in consultation with the RRTFs. This ensures that our road investment strategy is anchored in the communities that they serve and that the management of projects and budgets can be monitored by the beneficiary communities. In the context of a province torn apart by political war, RRTFs have played and continue to play an important role in reconciliation and focussing energy on rural development. The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport is increasingly committed to a planning process that builds the relationship between integrated transport planning and integrated development planning and to promoting co-operative good governance. This commitment has been formalised on all African Renaissance Road Upgrading Projects – the upgrading of major rural transport corridors from gravel to blacktop – through the establishment of Project Liaison Committees which are fully representative of all major stakeholders including Local Government and Traditional Leaders.
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