Highlights of the Budget Speech of the KZN Department of Transport

The Honourable Mr Bheki Cele, MEC for Transport, Safety and Security, who presented his first Budget Speech to Provincial Parliament on 26 July 2004

Today marks a historic moment in my life, it is the very first time that I address the House It is indeed the very first time that I present the budget speech for this department. I accept the challenge, Ngiyayivuma inselelo. I am indeed deeply honoured and humbled by the vote of confidence bestowed unto me.

I have had the privilege of being amongst other committees I have served a member of the portfolio committee on Transport and for that I am grateful. I look forward to a close working relationship with this committee under the leadership of Mr O. Singh.

Our Honourable Premier, Mr S'bu Ndebele, set a budget speech tradition during his ten year tenure as the MEC for Transport in KwaZulu-Natal. Firstly, he consistently and persistently reminded this House that the transport budget was inadequate to meet the mobility needs of the KwaZulu-Natal public.

Secondly, he consistently and persistently emphasised the viewpoint that the provision of road and transport infrastructure could be designed to build an important platform to advance black economic empowerment objectives and to create the necessary condition for communities isolated through apartheid planning to realise their true development potential. I wish to congratulate the former MEC for Transport for the outstanding work he did during his tenure. Iyabonakala imisebenzi yakho MaNzankosi.

The budget I present today puts across a very strong message, it is a budget geared towards defending the weak. Each programme is precisely intended to achieve this end. How do we as the Department of Transport ensure that the roads we build benefit the poorest communities? How do we ensure that the roads we build are means of access to economic resources?

How do we at Transport ensure that the public transport we manage is user friendly, accessible, safe, affordable and ultimately of benefit to the women and menfolk of not only Durban North, Umlazi, but also to the men and women at uMsinga, oPhongolo, eNhlazatshe? How do we at Transport ensure that we integrate our road planning network such that communities in the deep rural areas have access to schools, clinics, hospitals?

The bigger question honourable members and distinguished guests is how do we ensure that the budget we present today defends the weakest thus contributing to redressing the imbalances of the past particularly, alleviating poverty.

Tour report back

I recently completed a tour of our regions during which I became more and more convinced that indeed we have done a bit at Transport about the plight of the poor but more still needs to be done to defend the weak in this province.

In my tenure as the MEC of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport we will continue to pioneer the work done over the past decade of defending the weakest in our society by empowering them to participate in Government and in our market economy. A common thread in my budget speech today is that it is unashamedly pro-poor with the upfront intention of bridging the gap - indeed chasm - between our first and second economies.

I must therefore place on record that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport's budget for 2004/2005 and the projected MTEF period is certainly inadequate to secure a balanced road network which will meet the mobility needs of all citizens within reasonable timeframes.

A People's Contract

Our challenge is to build a People's Contract for a sustainable transport system that takes full cognisance of the fact that we are the Gateway Province to South Africa's international trade. It cannot be over emphasised that KwaZulu-Natal has the two busiest ports in the country, namely Durban and Richards Bay, which together handle some 75% of South Africa's cargo tonnage and account for 80% of the value of South Africa's imports and exports. Richards Bay concentrates on bulk commodities while the port of Durban predominantly handles container traffic and accounts for some 60% of South Africa's container tonnage.

The KwaZulu-Natal road and rail network is critical towards achieving the national objective of developing an efficient and seamless freight transport system that promotes rather than undermines our economic performance. We dare not risk the collapse of our critical transport corridors due to under budgeting.

At the same time we must necessarily budget for the development of new transport corridors which will provide access for resource poor communities and expose them to new investments. This the Department is currently doing through its Community Access Roads and African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programmes.

However, we need to be very clear on the fact that our current budgets are inadequate to cope with the historical disinvestment in transport infrastructure during the last decades of apartheid as well as the spatial legacy of separate development planning.

Defending the weak

It is also common cause that during his tenure as MEC for Transport, Premier Ndebele championed the right of poor people to share in the economy of KwaZulu-Natal. It is now my intention to consolidate the many gains that have already been made by programmes such as Zibambele, Vukuzakhe and public transport subsidies to create work and enterprise development opportunities for poor and vulnerable KwaZulu-Natal citizens.

It is also my intention to build on our solid platform of empowerment programmes and prepare for an e xponential growth in the construction and transport sectors through the development of major infrastructure projects such as the Dube Trade Port and the upgrading of the Gauteng / KwaZulu-Natal transport corridor as well as the infrastructure investments associated with the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Indeed, I am pleased to inform you that my Department is working closely with eThekwini Municipality in planning their "rural road network". eThekwini Municipality has committed significant budgets to upgrade and develop its rural road network and has already adopted our Zibambele and Vukuzakhe programmes.

It is our intention to launch the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) for KwaZulu-Natal in September 2004. My department and the eThekwini Municipality are currently working on a joint programme that will ensure the co-ordinated role out of the EPWP to, and with, all relevant stakeholders.

I, therefore, expect my Department to accelerate progress towards the objective of the economic empowerment of ordinary citizens, especially the rural poor and its women and youth. With an ANC led government in KwaZulu-Natal, which is fully aligned to national government's development agenda, I cannot see any possible impediments to achieving our objectives.

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