 
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE DEVELOPING THE KWAZULU-NATAL DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT INTO A KNOWLEDGE BASED, DATA DRIVEN SERVICE PROVIDER OF SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT SYSTEMSby Minister S’bu Ndebele
Introduction While I will restrict my comments to the development of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport, they clearly do have relevance for the broader South African situation, NEPAD and indeed, at a global level, in the search for greater equity between the developed and developing world. Although the efforts of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport have since 1994 been dominated by the need to provide isolated communities with road access and the public with safe and affordable public transport, it is clear that the urgency of providing more equitable transport services will increasingly have to be informed – even moderated – by factors that promote integrated and sustainable development. It was only last year that South Africa hosted the World Summit on Integrated and Sustainable Development. The resolutions adopted at this World Summit will increasingly filter through to all aspects of policy concerning economic growth, especially in developing countries. While the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has been at the forefront of adopting a data driven approach to prioritise service delivery and has championed the use of participatory research methodologies in the interests of promoting a knowledge based society, the challenges associated with promoting integrated and sustainable development will require a more focussed approach to planning initiatives. Policy formulation to promote integrated and sustainable development necessarily requires access to a wide diversity of information. We are talking here not only of the need to promote inter-disciplinary research but also the need to promote cross-disciplinary fertilisation. We are talking about developing a new generation of researchers and a new generation of bureaucrats. We live in an exciting information age and this, hopefully, will result in a new breed of academic. The demands of globalisation require lateral thinking, lateral research – a move away from tunnel vision and narrow disciplines to a more embracing understanding of the dynamics of physical, technical, political and socio economic considerations to achieve sustainable transformation. I can say with some pride that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has, for some time now, promoted an inter-disciplinary approach to data collection and information dissemination. Increasingly our engineers have embraced the language and tools of social scientists. Increasingly they are familiar with indices of social neglect and inequality such as the Human Development Index and the GINI Coefficient respectively. Increasingly they are committed to disseminating information to the public on the understanding that access to information is critical to the promotion of participatory democracy. KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport In 1994 the provision of roads and transport in KwaZulu-Natal was fragmented between various government departments including the KwaZulu Department of Works, the KwaZulu Department of Agriculture, the Natal Provincial Administration, the House of Delegates and House of Representatives. This fragmentation resulted in an uncoordinated approach to the provision of road infrastructure, public transport and road traffic enforcement in KwaZulu-Natal. Logically therefore it was necessary for the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport – in the interests of becoming an efficient and effective service provider – to amalgamate the road network under a single authority. This initiative culminated in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Roads Act (Act 4 of 2001). The Act has as its primary objective the timeous development of a balanced road network which will meet the mobility needs of all. Here it is important to emphasise that the provision of a balanced road network does necessarily extend to the provision of road related services such as traffic management, law enforcement, road safety education and public transport. It is important to emphasise that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport is unique within South Africa in that the commitment to provide a more balanced road network in all other provinces continues to be the shared responsibility of various government departments such as Public Works, Transport, the Premier’s Office and Agriculture. In some sense therefore the achievement of a balanced road network in other provinces is necessarily dependent on the degree of cooperative planning that takes place between diverse road service providers. However, our unique position does require the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport to take into consideration a wide range of policy and budget initiatives that emanate nationally and are directed through diverse channels. I think that you can appreciate that, as the second decade of democratic government commences and heralds a commitment to micro economic concerns, it will prove increasingly important for the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport to research and to keep abreast with the developments in several national government department initiatives as these will impact on our performance as the road authority in KwaZulu-Natal (e.g. Expanded Public Works Programme, Public Investment Initiative). The provision of critical and essential transport related services has occurred within an environment of limited and inadequate financial resources. It has therefore proved essential for the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport to adopt methodologies that are both scientifically robust and transparent. Transparency in budget allocation has been further secured through the establishment of various civil society fora such as Rural Road Transport Forums and Community Road Safety Councils. In this way we have been able as a transport authority to defend our priorities in circumstances where social need has overwhelmingly exceeded our financial resources. In my address today I will focus on four programmes that now enjoy national and international recognition. These are the Community Access Roads Needs Study (CARNS), The Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative, The Road to Safety and our Technology Transfer Centre (T2). I want to stress that these are by no means the only pioneering initiatives undertaken by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport. However, these initiatives do highlight how we have grappled with the relationship between theory (problem solving orientated research), praxis (delivery systems) and participatory democracy (a well informed and thoroughly consulted community). This relationship is well captured in our Citizens Charter which guides our delivery of all services. I will begin with the following quote from the Honourable Minister of Finance, Trevor Manual’s Medium Term Budget Policy Statement 2002: "Among the most successful capital expenditure programmes to date has been the Road to Wealth and Job Creation sector strategy in KwaZulu-Natal, an innovative model that blends the process of meeting infrastructure needs of communities with capacity building and economic empowerment. In terms of this project, communities mobilised through Rural Roads Forums are able to take part in planning and prioritising roads. Through a phased advancement programme and through skills training, emerging contractors are helped to participate in roads construction contracts. Through a programme called Zibambele, households within communities, especially women, are contracted to undertake routine maintenance using labour intensive methods on a specific length of road. The programme has contributed to improved rural roads while injecting cash into poor communities. This programme provides a good example of strategies for addressing road infrastructure needs, while creating meaningful livelihoods in rural areas where poverty and food insecurity are more prevalent." It may come as a surprise to you to learn that in 1994 the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport allocated a budget of only R3 million for our Roads for Rural Development programme. Although there were small annual increases to the Roads for Rural Development budget allocation, it was only with the publication of our Community Access Roads Needs Study (CARNS) that the demand for local roads and rural access needs received appropriate recognition. The CARNS report was published in March 1997. The authors of CARNS were tasked with:
The CARNS study received 3 370 applications for a total of 11 421 kilometres of access roads and provided cross tabulations of population, development potential, Human Development Index and accessibility to establish a priority order for road investments that would have the most impact on the social and economic life of communities. In addition to identifying roads needed to serve clinics, schools, other public facilities and agricultural lands, the study identified 3 108 kilometres of roads needed to serve densely settled populations of more than 2 000 people who were landlocked. On the basis of these findings, the Provincial Cabinet agreed to allocate the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport an additional R100 million for the 1997/1998 budget. This was a dramatic increase in budget for the Roads for Rural Development programme. The largest budget previously allocated to this programme was only R28 million. I am pleased to report that today the Roads for Rural Development programme receives an annual budget of some R300 million. An additional R250 million to R300 million has been allocated annually to our African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programme (ARRUP). ARRUP concerns the upgrading of critical rural transport corridors from gravel to blacktop. We, in the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport, take pride in the fact that we have adopted a data driven approach in assessing road and transport needs and that we have pioneered participatory methodologies in the collection of data, its analysis and business planning. The CARNS prioritisation methodology accommodated a strong community consultation process which led to the establishment of Rural Road Transport Forums (RRTFs) throughout KwaZulu-Natal. In establishing the RRTFs the Department committed itself to a process that effectively moved social analysis and community consultation upstream in project recognition and design. The methodology developed in CARNS has since been adopted by Moving South Africa for their rural roads assessments. It was logical for the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport, in 1998, to extend the findings and methodology of the CARNS study to the Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative. This initiative was based on the New Deal introduced by President Roosevelt to lift the United States out of the Great Depression. Whereas CARNS had focussed on community access needs, the Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative focussed on the possibility of meeting road infrastructure needs through an accelerated public works programme which would create massive employment and entrepreneurial opportunities. The Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative was adopted nationally at the October 1998 Job Summit as an important strategy to place the rural economy in South Africa on a labour absorptive growth path. Both our Community Access Roads and ARRUP programmes have been used to create a wide variety of work and entrepreneurial opportunities in resource poor communities and for new market entrants. Our flagship programmes in this regard are Zibambele and Vukuzakhe. Zibambele is a programme whereby the maintenance of rural roads by labour intensive methods is contracted to destitute rural households. Women headed households are specifically targeted. Currently some 98% of Zibambele contracts are awarded to women headed households. A total of 17 000 contracts will be awarded this financial year. The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport anticipates increasing the number of Zibambele contracts available by some 4 000 contracts on an annual basis. Zibambele was awarded the prestigious Impumelelo prize for the most innovative and effective programme dedicated to the upliftment of poor people in South Africa. Zibambele was independently assessed by the Southern African Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) – University of Cape Town – as performing well both as a cost efficient road maintenance system and as an effective poverty alleviation programme. SALDRU found that in 2001/2002, 73 cents of every rand spent within the programme accrued to Zibambele contractors. They calculate that with economies of scale the awarding of additional Zibambele contracts will result in a higher proportion of cents in every rand spent accruing to contractors. This will place Zibambele among the top poverty alleviation programmes internationally. The Department has begun to organise Zibambele contractors into savings clubs to facilitate cost efficient supervision and training. It is anticipated that Zibambele savings clubs will become an important "point of contact" for other government departments and programmes that target women and the poor. Vukuzakhe is the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport’s emerging contractor programme. It is a staged advancement programme in which contractors receive training, mentorship and other supports to assist them to advance through the contract stages which are designed to prepare them to compete on the open market. Each stage in the Vukuzakhe emerging contractor programme is characterised by higher values and increased risk, plant and managements skills. This year we will provide more than R370 million worth of work to Vukuzakhe contractors and they will, in turn, create some 30 000 jobs. Vukuzakhe contractors have been assisted to form associations. It is anticipated that Vukuzakhe Associations will provide a forum to focus the Department’s training and mentorship programmes. It is further anticipated that the formation of a Provincial Vukuzakhe Association will provide for a more powerful emerging contractor voice to remove those barriers that still inhibit the performance and profit taking of contractors. The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has gone from concept in the Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative (1998) to implementation in a very short space of time. Zibambele was only piloted in the year 2000. To have achieved 14 800 contracts already and to be targeting 17 390 contracts in 2003/2004 is truly remarkable. Vukuzakhe has grown from a zero budget to a contract value of more than R370 million in 2003/2004. This too is a remarkable achievement. Both the Zibambele and the Vukuzakhe programmes have been independently evaluated as part of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport’s sponsored social impact study to gauge the effectiveness of its Roads for Rural Development programme and the Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative. The study provides irrefutable evidence that our budgets are having a positive impact on the daily lives of rural communities. Not only has there been a dramatic improvement in rural mobility and community access to services, we now have sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the injection of cash into impoverished communities through our Zibambele and Vukuzakhe programmes is starting to bear fruit for the contractors concerned, their families, their communities and the market economy of the province. I am not telling you anything new when I say that the issue of black economic and gender empowerment is firmly on Government’s agenda. We are committed therefore to developing appropriate support programmes that address both barriers to entry and constraints to performance. Clearly many of these barriers and constraints reflect our apartheid history. This is especially the case in a "technology driven" department, such as the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport, where maths and science subjects are considered critical requirements. The challenge to us is to adopt appropriate and cutting edge technology and to develop appropriate training and mentorship programmes in the built environment sector. To this end we have established a Technology Transfer Centre (T2) within the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport. This has been fashioned along the model of the Federal Highway Administration (Washington, USA) with whom we have an agreement to co-operate on technology transfer issues. There can be little doubt that while Africa’s problems are predominantly of a social and economic nature, our continent will continue to be reliant on foreign aid and foreign skills unless we ourselves develop in the technical fields of economic infrastructure and logistics. Technology Transfer Centres have an important role to play in the future development not only of KwaZulu-Natal but of our continent and, indeed, our vision of an African Renaissance.
South Africa, and the rest of the African continent, has a predominantly young population and our future rests with educating our youth to compete on international markets. It is not just the fact that we are not producing a sufficient number of engineers to sustain the economic growth needs of our country and our continent that must be addressed. As noted previously we need to give critical attention to producing a new breed of engineer. An engineer who is familiar with the political, social and economic imperatives that inform integrated and sustainable development. Our collaboration with the Committee of Minority Transport Officials (COMTO) situated in Atlanta, USA, is aimed at encouraging the exchange of students and personnel towards achieving this objective. While we have much to learn from the developed world, our own continent does provide a remarkable source of international best practice. Thus, for example, our own Zibambele system was adopted and adapted from the Kenyan Lengthman system and there is no doubting the fact that our tertiary institutions could borrow from their East African counterparts and make labour based construction an essential and critical pillar of engineering qualifications. Our T2 centre has developed a wide range of international associations and will co-host the forthcoming World Road Congress to be held in October 2003 in Durban. I will now turn to the Road to Safety Strategy 2001–2005. Statistics on road crashes make shocking reading. The high crash rate in South Africa is not a recent phenomenon. Statistics indicate that South Africa’s crash rate peaked in the decade between 1960 and 1970. Statistics further indicate that there has been a general downward trend in crash and fatality rates since 1994. Despite this downward trend, crash rates in South Africa are still unacceptably high and it is hard to find any South African whose life has not been affected by road violence. The causes of road crashes are well known and well researched. This has allowed the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport and other road authorities to adopt a scientific approach to road safety campaigns. Road safety campaigns are thus data driven. The main factors that cause crashes are:
Each of these broad factors can be further broken down and verified scientifically by longitudinal statistical data. Thus, for example, the campaign "Speed Kills" is based on the fact that excessive speed is known to play a role in approximately 30% of all crashes and about 50% in the case of commercial freight and public passenger vehicles. Speed limits are set to protect the public and not inconvenience them. Speed settings are based on data collected during the lifespan of the road. The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has adopted and adapted the Victoria Model (Australia) which is known internationally as Road Safety Best Practice. Not only has this informed the development of our Zero Tolerance and Asiphephe campaigns it has allowed us to contribute significantly to the development of the National Road to Safety Strategy 2001 – 2005. The Road to Safety Strategy 2001 – 2005 identifies 6 key problems, namely:
The Road to Safety Strategy put forward a plan of action which would result in better drivers, roadworthy vehicles, pedestrian safety and a safe sustainable road network. It is designed to reduce road crashes, deaths and injuries on South Africa’s roads by 5% year on year until the year 2005 and then by at least 10% year on year until 2009. If the 5% reduction target is reached this translates into a saving to the economy of R770 million per annum nationally and some R120 million for the province of KwaZulu-Natal. According to the CSIR model used to calculate the rand value of each type of crash, the following costs apply for the year 2000.
These costs do not take into consideration the social costs of crashes in terms of lost human potential, the pain and suffering of crash victims and the grief of bereaved families. It is precisely because the causes of road crashes are so well known that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has deliberately adopted the terminology road "crashes" and road "collisions" rather than the more conventional term of road "accidents". More than 80% of all road crashes in South Africa can be directly attributed to road user factors and a failure to observe the rule of law on our roads. Most road crashes are not accidental and could have been avoided. The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport recognises the fact that it is only when the public own the carnage on our roads as their responsibility that we will ultimately be able to significantly improve road safety in South Africa. We have therefore worked hard to form a social contract between our Department and the public to make road safety everyone’s business. We have held mass rallies such as those held under the banner of Siyabakhumbula as part of an intense communications strategy designed to heighten public awareness concerning the non-accidental nature of most road collisions and their associated costs. We have introduced road safety into the curriculum of schools and have pioneered innovative community participation programmes through the establishment of Community Road Safety Councils. We are committed to the view that it is only when South African citizens – as road users – internalise road safety norms and values and develop a culture of tolerance that we will achieve peace on our roads. I think that we can all agree that any programme directed towards cultural transformation will require a great deal of informed innovation. Finally, it would be remiss of me not to make some mention of the important role of freight and public transport in the development of KwaZulu-Natal. In public transport the key challenge is undoubtedly to integrate the various transport systems that supported the apartheid government’s strategy of separate development to now create a seamless transportation system that provides the public with efficient, safe, comfortable and affordable public transport for both urban and rural areas. The Department is currently finalising its assessment of the allocation of public transport subsidies in line with the White Paper on Transport and the National Land Transport Transition Act (Act 22 of 2000). While it is clear that all modes of public transport are under capitalised and require the replenishment of old stock, for KwaZulu-Natal the recapitalisation of the minibus taxi industry, together with initiatives to diversify its economic base through the establishment of Taxi Cities, Taxi Co-operatives and other enterprise developments, provides an exciting opportunity not only for black economic empowerment but for research, documentation and training. It has been clear for some time now that investments in an efficient freight transport infrastructure will create an improved environment to sustain growth in the KwaZulu-Natal economy. While the long term planning objective is to increase rail’s market share of transport, we must be mindful of the fact that currently 80% of people and goods in KwaZulu-Natal are transported by road. The development of intermodal transport systems to facilitate the efficient movement of freight is critical for the sustained economic growth of our province. The timeous development of intermodal transport systems is particularly relevant for the Industrial Development Zones established at Richards Bay and to be established at La Mercy (Dube Transport Node/Port). Industrial Development Zones are industrial estates that have duty free production for exports and provide transport routes, facilities and services tailored for export-oriented industries. The establishment of Industrial Development Zones at Richards Bay and La Mercy will further enhance our status as the gateway province to the rest of South Africa. Conclusion I hope that this brief overview of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport’s work does serve to highlight that working at the interface of transformation and change is challenging, exciting, depressing and rewarding. As you are aware, the transport sector is a service provider to all other sectors. Transport is thus at the cutting edge of social and economic transformation. Our challenge is to reverse the spatial inequalities of our apartheid legacy and, at the same time, provide road and transport systems that are sustainable. The fact that KwaZulu-Natal is the gateway province to the rest of South Africa and our SADC neighbours elevates our provincial performance into the national and international arena. We are the critical link in South Africa’s global supply chain as 80% of the value of all imports and exports are transported via our ports of Durban and Richards Bay. We have come a long way since 1994. We still have a long way to go. In the final analysis access to diverse information will prove to be the foundation block in the achievement of sustainable development. Increasingly the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport will commit itself to funding a research regime that provides us with relevant information not only on how we must prioritise our budgets to achieve a maximum socio economic impact but also on how our decisions will further the commitment to promote sustainable development within the context of globalisation. Think global, act local. Thank you.
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