Highlights of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport's Annual Summit held on 26-27 May 2005

In his keynote address, Mr Bheki Cele, MEC for Transport, Community Safety & Liaison, highlighted that all delegates should maintain the ideal of "Defending the Weak" and cited many examples of Who are the weak in the Transport Portfolio?

Such examples illustrate that within our portfolios it is imperative that urgent appropriate responses be generated to address the challenges of the masses in our Province. Within the Transport Portfolio, it is evident that access, mobility, safety, affordability and prosperity are a requirement that must be fulfilled for every individual, every community of this Province if indeed we are serious about improving the quality of lives of our people thereby realizing our vision "Prosperity through Mobility".

Topics for discussion during the Summit consist of four commissions, each to be chaired by a senior official from the Department include:

• Expanded Public Works Programme;

• Public Transport Planning;

• Prioritisation of Infrastructure Projects; and

• Road Safety and Traffic Law Enforcement.

The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) has been identified as a strategic intervention that must be designed to make a significant contribution to reducing unemployment and providing livelihoods for the poor, women, youth and people with disabilities. The coordination of the EPWP must succeed in creating new jobs, stimulating the SMME sector and generating new opportunities for self-employment through the expansion of community livelihood opportunities.

In co-coordinating the EPWP we will encourage the notion that public facilities such as new hospitals, clinics, schools, libraries, multi purpose centres, agricultural land, police stations, new rural housing settlements, etc, be established within our planned road infrastructure for easy access. This will create new supply side opportunities within rural communities such as the manufacture of bricks, windows, doors, roofing, glazing, plumbing, fencing, etc.

In line with ensuring a safe, affordable and sustainable public transport system we have successfully developed the KZN Public Transport Bill which has been approved by Cabinet to proceed to Parliamentary processes. This Bill is the first of its kind in the country that will ensure the integration of transport modes and will further put a brake to the existing instability within the public transport system.

We are committed to full consultation and public participation that ensures sustainable, effective and efficient Transport Planning, and have successfully supported Planning Authorities in establishing Public Transport Planning (PTP) Forums. The PTP Forums are made of communities, consultants, operators, municipal and provincial officials. Six District Municipalities have established PTP Forums and four are in the process of establishing them.

By municipalities completing their Public Transport Plans, the Department will be enabled to re-align taxi and bus routes accordingly and ensure that licences from the Board are driven by commuter needs rather than operators.

During the current financial year we will be focusing on intensive corridor design in selected areas and modes. The following corridors have been identified for intensive design by the Province, with the designs to be completed by December 2005:

This will position us as the leading Department in transport planning in South Africa.

Our mandated development goal is to construct and maintain a balanced road network that meets the mobility needs of all KwaZulu-Natal’s citizens and which supports our national and provincial growth and development objectives. Essentially this means that, despite the challenges we face, due to budgetary constraints and the road network backlog that was inherited from the previous regime:

(a) we must plan for the cost efficient and cost effective movement of people and freight which utilise our provincial road network and link into the national transport corridors; 

(b) attention must be directed specifically to those road infrastructure developments that will stimulate the growth and development of our second economy and promote greater integration of the province through the provision of transport infrastructure and transport related services; 

(c) we must contribute to the provincial and national priority of maximising job creation, promoting black economic empowerment and contribute towards poverty alleviation; and 

(d) more effort must be put towards providing rural access to those who were previously denied such opportunities.

Our mandated development goal is to create a safe road environment through the annual reduction of road crashes. The main services rendered by the programme include: road traffic enforcement; community participation; road safety education; and funding of the implementation of high impact low cost remedial measures.

The key challenges facing Road Safety and Law Enforcement this year are to:

(a) reduce serious and disabling injuries; 

(b) reduce the number of crashes 

(c) promote road safety generally; 

(d) meet the developmental needs of the people, and 

(e) ensure synergy between the various disciplines and coordinate efforts in enforcement, education, engineering and evaluation.

The new thinking in road safety suggests that government involvement in promoting road safety should go beyond traffic regulation and enforcement and adopt a people centered approach that deals with accident prevention and post accident support in a holistic manner. It is thus becoming increasingly clear that Traffic Management and Road Safety in South Africa must adopt new strategies that resonate with people centered development principles to meet the challenges of our growing and changing economy. This will require a fundamental shift from awareness campaigns towards a growing emphasis on community participation in planning, facilitating and implementing road safety.

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