SPEECH BY KWAZULU-NATAL MEC FOR TRANSPORT, MR S'BU NDEBELE, AT THE
AIRPORTS COMPANY OF SOUTH AFRICA (ACSA), DURING THE LAUNCH OF TERMINAL
FACILITIES UPGRADE, Durban, 18 April 2000
Ladies and gentlemen, I thank this opportunity to share some of my views
with you on terminal facilities upgrade at Durban International Airport.
Durban Airport is now on the lips of every traveller and tourist. Multiple
international conferences that have taken place in Durban bear evidence to
this. In the real sense Durban has become part of the global village. Not
long ago, Durban airport used to serve five international airlines and now
the number has risen to eleven with total passengers coming through the
airport numbering more than 2 million per annum. Hence this master plan for
expansion. The upgrade itself will have positive economic spin-offs in terms
of job creation and Black empowerment.
It is encouraging to note that Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) has
put in place policies designed to support black economic empowerment. ACSA
endeavours to support commercially oriented programmes that are government
sponsored by developing and nurturing entrepreneurship within the black
community by developing potential suppliers, consultants and contractors.
This will further strengthen the public private partnerships through which
the Government seeks to change the people's lives for the better. The
KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has already established a firm
foundation for the taxi industry to operate as a business entity that meets
the best international practice.
The establishment of joint ventures between traditional businesses and Black
businesses as well as technology transfer will see businesses like the taxi
industry making inroads into businesses formerly reserved for White
Companies. This will see the integration of the air, the land and the sea in
fulfilment of what is termed the global village.
The spin-offs will not only be economic but also social. There will be more
international flights in almost all our airports and our province will
receive a lion's share of international visitors. This will in turn
encourage more foreign direct investments which will further result in job
creation and economic empowerment of Blacks.
KwaZulu-Natal is well known for the hospitality of its people as well as its
vast natural endowments. The values of Ubuntu are once again rising like a
phoenix from ashes of Apartheid distortion and are quickly being accepted in
both public and private sector institutions as fundamental tenets of good
governance.
Quite frankly how else can we define African Renaissance, if not in terms of
positive economic spin-offs? Just as transport was used by successive
Apartheid governments to divide the people, today we see transport used to
unite the people with the rest of the world. For instance during the recent
floods in Mozambique, it is South African helicopters that performed
incredible rescue operations. Our physical infrastructure, our airport
facilities were used to ease the plight of our friendly neighbour. In a
sense, the revamping of Durban airport is not just for ourselves or for the
benefit of contractors that have won the tenders but has a far deeper
significance than that.
As a Government, we are there to ensure that the climate under which every
organisation is operating is conducive for meaningful participation in
global, regional and local economy. Our endeavours in the regulation of all
sectors of public transportation will make it easy for you to execute your
programmes in a regulated environment free of violence and unfair
competition. This is what I mean when I say the land meets the air and the
sea because all forms of transportation converge in one central point i.e.
in serving the people.
My word to you is that you need to continue with all your empowerment
programmes. They are not a disadvantage rather they are an asset in the age
when knowledge has become the standard currency in global institutions. As
we know knowledge is not found in one particular group of people. It is the
collective heritage of humanity. Hence we speak of information based
economy.
In conclusion, it is my fervent hope that the reconfiguration will help
facilitate the intergration of our economy to the entire Southern African
region and indeed the global community. But this integration must not be an
esoteric terrain of the elite.The benefits accrued thereafter have to be
shared by all people of this Province. In its first paragraph, the 1999
United Nations Human Development Report says "Global markerts, global
technology, global ideas and global solidarity can enrich the lives of
people everywhere. The challenge is to ensure that the benefits are shared
equitably and that this increasing interdependence works for people not just
for profits".
I THANK YOU.
Issued by the Office of the MEC for Transport, KwaZulu-Natal, 18 April 2000
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