13/6/2003
Madam Speaker, Premier, Minister Rasool, cabinet colleagues, honourable members Last year when delivering my first budget speech in this House I spelt out how my department and I would set about "Breaking with the Past", in line with the theme set by Minister Rasool.
This being my second budget speech, it is important that I reflect on how we have set about "burning the old grass" and how we have "planted the seeds for new growth" in line with the theme of "Ikapa Elihlumayo". In so doing, it is important to understand the premise on which we have based our approach to meeting these challenges, that of effecting the fundamental transformation of our society.
A transformation that addresses the legacy of a past, a past which created deep-seated structural inequities in a dual economy, a past which is ever-present in our current reality. A transformation which "pushes back the frontiers of poverty", not just a poverty of income, but also a poverty of access, a poverty of quality of life. We have also understood that our challenge includes building a new future, a future in which we cherish our dignity, we promote the quality of life for all, we provide the opportunities for each individual to realize their full potential. The process and the delivery of infrastructure is at the heart of such a transformation.
Whether through the provision of roads, public transport, public space, sidewalks, cycle paths, schools, clinics or through the release of land. This department has been given the important responsibility of being a key anchor to "Ikapa Elihlumayo" and we are ready! BREAKING WITH THE PAST - PLANTING THE SEEDS In "Breaking with the Past" it was essential to ensure that the internal ethos and resources of the department were aligned to meet the objectives of transformation.
The initiatives that were undertaken to achieve this include the following:
Restructuring the Department - The department has been restructured in order to better deliver in terms of its vision and mission. We have increased the capacity of Public Transport and have established a Community Based Public Works Branch. This will impact significantly on the quality of life for the poor through increased job creation and the provision of mobility.
Building representivity in the Department - I am pleased to inform the House that we have made significant strides in addressing the issue of employment equity in the department. In my top management team we have moved from having 7 whites and no Africans out of a total of 11 members last year, to just the reverse. We now have 7 blacks, two of whom are African out of the total of 11. The appointment of Mr Thami Manyathi as the first African Head of Department in this Province is particularly noteworthy. In this regard I wish to thank Mr Darryl Jacobs for doing an outstanding job as acting Head of Department for 9 months of the year. Of the thirty-three new appointments made during the past year twenty-nine were black and ten were woman. However, I do want to acknowledge that we still have a serious challenge in addressing gender representivity in the department, especially in the senior management echelon.
Investing in People - The department issued 15 bursaries to previously disadvantaged students in the scarce technical skills fields and provided a Technical Student Experiential Training Programme in which 26 students received practical training. I am proud to announce that the Peninsula Technikon recently acknowledged our contribution to student training when the Province received the top award in the macro employer category, out of a total of 600 public and private institutions. The department's flagship Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) programme, enables 500 staff members from within my department to obtain literacy skills and/or a recognized tertiary qualification. The excitement on the faces of those previously illiterate individuals when they are able to write their names is a small but important example of the ethos of restoring human dignity that drives this department. The department has also aligned itself with the Construction Sectoral Education Training Authority (CETA). Through the CETA, the years of experience built up by many of our staff without formal education, will be recognized in terms of a National Qualifications Framework. In addition various learnerships will be registered with CETA thereby ensuring on going learning for our staff.
Promoting Black Economic Empowerment - Last year I announced my commitment to redress the lack of access and opportunities experienced by PDI contractors and consultants. I am therefore excited to inform the House that the department has launched its Preferential Procurement Implementation Plan as required by the Provincial Preferential Procurement Policy. We are the first department that has done so. Our plan has inspired other government institutions like the SARCC who has requested our involvement in their quest to achieve their own BEE targets.
Through this plan the department will make a significant contribution to the promotion of Black Economic Empowerment and particularly Black Woman Economic Empowerment. During 2002/03 the statistics indicate that 87.8% and 19.2% of the value of public works and road construction projects respectively were awarded to HDI controlled companies. Except for the Road Infrastructure Branch, it would appear as if the Department has done well with respect to black and women economic empowerment.
However there is some concern as to the degree to which the HDI's are in real control of these companies, and the degree to which HDI's allow themselves to be used as fronts. I wish to warn all those carrying out this practice, that this department will be critically scrutinising tender documentation, monitoring contract execution and will act in terms of the Preferential Procurement Framework Act against those found to be fronting.
In this regard I have established a Ministerial Monitoring and Evaluation Committee consisting of four independent private citizens, namely Mr Yusuf Pahad, the chair, Ms Beryl Kerr, Ms Khosi Masinga and Mr Alan Roberts. They will be monitoring the procurement process within the Department and will be an ombudsperson for those with information relating to such practices. This committee will also monitor the success with regard to the empowerment of blacks, women and people with disabilities.
Madam Speaker I have briefly described some of the internal initiatives to 'Break with the Past' and to transform the department. This demonstrates our commitment to meet the challenges of broader transformation, and as our national President states in his State of the Nation Address in Parliament this year, "to turn the tide, and to take this tide at the flood". These internal initiatives strengthen the department's ability to deliver in terms of Ikapa Elihlumayo. ANCHORING IKAPA ELIHLUMAYO Madam Speaker It is clear that if we perpetuate and sustain a dual economy, the fault lines between those who benefit from the developed economy and those who are subjected to an underdeveloped economy will deepen.
The President, in his address to the Growth and Development Summit over the weekend however warns us that "we cannot conjure up prescriptions that could in effect be fleeting mirages, what we are called on to do is to provide the poor with sustainable relief and dignity." In meeting the challenge of being an anchor to Ikapa Elihlumayo, this department understands that we need to bring about structural and sustainable economic and social transformation which allows for the inclusive participation in an integrated economy, with a bias to the poor.
So, honourable members, to quote a well-known philosopher, Vladimir Lenin "What is to be Done?" Let me start out by stating that my department's total budget for this financial year is R1, 54 billion, an increase of 22% in comparison to last years budget. The total budget for infrastructure has increased from an actual expenditure of R897.6 million in 2002/03 to R1, 08 billion in this financial year, an increase of 20%. This is a clear demonstration of the commitment on the part of government to increase its infrastructure investment.
We have identified four key priorities for this financial year in pursuance of our broader objectives of social and economic transformation:
- Public transport
- Job creation
- Black Economic Empowerment
- Road Safety
Public Transport - Towards a Mobility Strategy Last year I spelt out the current reality of poverty-stricken communities, stuck in dormitory townships, reduced to being purely commuters shunted to and from work in the service of the developed economy without any access to mobility. What we argued for then was the need for a paradigm shift. A shift that moves away from reducing poorer communities as people in catchment areas needing to be transported to either the CBD or other economic nodes. We need to be looking at promoting the development of CBD's along corridors, bringing economic and social activities closer to where people live.
Honourable members, we now have detailed delivery plans to address this. In line with this the budget for Public Transport has therefore increased from R 64,1 million in 2002/03 to R 132,5 million in 2003/04, an increase of 106%.
These plans are plans aimed at the fundamental restructuring of public transport with the objective of ensuring both urban and rural mobility. These plans include the provision of pedestrian and cycle paths and public open space as an integral part of the mobility strategy. The essential element of the plan is the provision of mobility through the removal of the current destructive competition for passengers between the different modes.
Through the implementation of an integrated ticketing system the different modes of transport will be compensated in relation to the distance travelled and level of service provided thereby creating the environment wherein the different modes can complement each other in a sustainable manner. In order to achieve this we obviously need to have the support of these different modes.
I am pleased to inform the house that at our recent Public Transport summit stakeholders reached consensus on these plans. This includes the South African Bus Operators Association, the SARCC, and Transport Unions amongst others. Critical to the success of these plans has always been the need for the mini-bus taxi industry's support as well as the transformation of the industry itself.
We have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Western Cape Provincial Taxi Council which commits both partners to dealing with issues like safety and security of passengers, economic empowerment, and training and capacity-building.
We have signed an agreement with the Transport Education and Training Authority (TETA) in order to effect our implementation of the training and capacity-building programme for the industry and we are currently finalising the establishment of the economic arm of the Council to assist with the economic empowerment of the entire industry.
Klipfontein Corridor - As you are all probably aware the Province and the City of Cape Town have entered into a formal partnership agreement to ensure effective delivery of these plans within the Metropole. The planning of the first phase, known as the Klipfontein corridor, which stretches from Khayelitsha to Cape Town, is well on its way, with construction of certain elements to start within the 2003/04 year.
The infrastructure needed for this project alone will create an estimated 2400 new construction jobs for 12 months. This together with the improved mobility resulting from an effective public transport system will materially impact on the alleviation of poverty.
Poverty not only in the narrow economic sense but also in the social and cultural sense in that poor people will have access to sport, recreational and cultural facilities and generally have freedom of movement.
The added benefits would be the catalytic impact for development and economic growth in the South East corridor, redirecting and unlocking private sector investment into the Cape Flats.
Rural Mobility - I am pleased to announce that the Central Karoo has been selected as a pilot area to address the public transport constraints faced in rural areas. The majority of rural poor live on farms and small rural settlements, remote from economic activity and social opportunities and from essential public services such as health, welfare and education.
We intend entering into discussions with the Central Karoo District Municipality about a partnership similar to tht with the City of Cape Town in this regard. This pilot must form part of the broader Integrated Rural Development Strategy underway for that Presidential Node.
This together with our existing road infrastructure programmes, our Community Access Road Programmes and our public transport infrastructure projects, forms my departments contribution to the Rural Node.
Public Transport Safety - Safety on public transport remains a priority area for this department. Last year, in the context a growing crisis around safety on trains, I announced that my department wouId appoint transport safety officers as an attempt to put in place an immediate intervention to deal with the problem.
After further investigations and discussions with the relevant stakeholders, we found it more pertinent not to duplicate efforts but to integrate and align the budgets of various role-players.
We have formed a partnership with the Department of Community Safety, SAPS, and Metrorail in the Safer Trains Project. This project coordinates the safety and security efforts, and provides for the training of neighbourhood watches and the installation of CCTV cameras and other equipment at various interchanges.
In this regard R10 million has been made available for stations and interchanges in Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain and a first roll-out in this regard.
Promoting Non-motorised Transport - Integrally linked with the mobility strategy and the respect for quality of life my department is energetically promoting and supporting non-motorised transport and the movement away from private car usage. Together with the City of Cape Town we organised the first car free day to be held in South Africa and possibly even the African continent on the 18 May.
The car free day celebrates the street as public space, space that is in short supply in the poor suburbs. Through the closure of the Klipfontein road from Mowbray to Guguletu, the three separated communities along this road were given an opportunity to integrate socially. It was heartwarming to see the enthusiasm with which this opportunity was enjoyed by these communities.
The freedom experienced whilst cycling, walking, picnicking all over the road and the laughter and the excitement on the faces of the children was overwhelming. Acknowledging the popular demand for a repeat of this event, it is our intention to conduct a similar event in October this year. Thereafter it is anticipated that this becomes a more regular event in the city with the support of communities and private sectors.
The expansion of such an event to other areas in the City and Province will be encouraged. I would like to use the opportunity to thank all my officials, the Bicycle Empowerment Network (BEN) and all the law enforcement agencies for their support in this endevour.
Long Distance Land Transport Studies undertaken by my department confirm my belief expressed in last year's budget speech that a central long distance bus terminus, a Landport, situated close to the airport could address three central developmental criteria, namely:
- address the current lack of appropriate facilities for long distance transport
- promote social and economic integration by encouraging mixing and meeting across race and class lines
- utilise the generative characteristics of a landport to achieve urban restructuring and renewal by creating urban opportunities close to people who are currently remote from them.
These studies and concept plans are currently being consulted with the City of Cape Town and public consultations will start this financial year. It is expected that the development will occur through a partnership with the private sector. When this project proceeds it is estimated that at least 3200 direct construction jobs will be created. The number of indirect jobs related the economic activity that will occur within this facility would be enormous.
Madam Speaker Job Creation, as a key priority for my department has been the central subject of discussion at the recent Growth and Development Summit and is critical to the success of Ikapa Elihlumayo. Ndifuna ukwazisa lendlu (I would like to inform the House) about how the programmes and projects throughout my department contribute to this national priority. Compared to last years estimated creation of 11 000 direct construction jobs it is estimated that this year my department through its own budget and through the unlocking of private sector investment, will be creating close to 20 000 direct construction jobs.
This does not include the numbers of job-opportunities created by the downstream activities after the completion of these projects. The minimum job creation opportunities generated through the following programmes are:
- Rural Public Transport Infrastructure
- 500 Community Based Public Works Programmes:1200Road infrastructure
- 4200Overload Control
- 70Public Works
- 5500Saamstaan
- 300Chapmans Peak Drive
- 125Klipfontein Corridor
- 2400Landport
- 3200 Job creation opportunities will be further enhanced by the various other interventions such as Q
- The implementation of the Empowerment Impact Assessment
All projects greater than R500 000 will be subject to an Empowerment Impact Assessment from the start to the end of the project. The aspects of empowerment that will be measured are job creation through labour intensive techniques, skills development, emerging contractor participation, local material and resource utilization, and community participation.
An Expanded Public Works Programme The Community Based Public Works Programme will be expanded to include Community Access Roads Programme, Community Street Upgrades, Zenzele Road Maintenance Programme, Public Works Empowerment Projects, Clean and Green, Public Space and Cycle Path programme and the Government Vehicle Cleaning programme.
In addition to this, my Department and I will be launching a new strategy of Community Development under the generic name of "Saamstaan" towards the end of July. The thrust of the programme is the training and direct employment of unemployed persons to undertake the maintenance and upgrade of provincial infrastructure within poorer communities. The programme entails an initial roll-out of 10 Teams with Saamstaan containers, resourced with basic equipment and tools to undertake a variety of necessary tasks by local community development worker teams ranging from 18 to 36 persons depending on the nature and scope of the identified tasks.
We envisage a total of 300 unemployed persons being meaningfully employed for a periods ranging from 6 months to 12 months, with the potential for this programme to exceed 1000 persons within 3 financial years. This budget has increased from R1,9 million and an estimated expenditure of R15,2 m in 2002/03 to R48, 5 million in 2003/04, an increase of 219 % over the estimated expenditure.
Public Works - An amount of R508 million has been allocated for the maintenance, upgrading and construction of buildings for the 2003/04 financial year, an increase of 50% compared to 2003/04. The budget allows for a hospital revitalization programme which sees the major upgrading of the Vredenberg, Worcester, and George hospitals. Also included is the construction of 27 and maintenance of 200 school buildings and construction of 8 education management and development centers.
It is estimated that this programme will create 5500 construction jobs.
Road infrastructure - The continued upgrading, regravelling, resealing and routine maintenance of the Provincial road network is a key driver in the creation of jobs. During 2002/03 with the total amount spent on road infrastructure amounting to R491 million a total number of 1650 direct public sector and approximately 2500 private sector jobs being created throughout the year.
This level of employment will be maintained in this financial year. With the application of the Empowerment Impact Assessment the enhancement of job opportunities will be addressed through labour-intensive techniques. Black Economic Empowerment A central objective in Ikapa Elihlumayo is Black Economic Empowerment.
The BEE Summit organized by Minister Rasool and the Construction Summit hosted by my department recently, was a build up to the national Growth and Development Summit and the planned Provincial Growth and Development Summit later this year. They focused on key issues relating to the practical realization of this objective. I am encouraged that the interventions made by my department to achieve the objectives of BEE are aligned with the outcomes and agreements reached at the Growth and Development Summit over the past weekend. Our procurement reform initiatives through the PPIP, our focus on skills development and support mechanisms to emerging contractors, our interventions throughout the supply chain, and the monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, are also the recommendations made at the Summit.
We are aligned! We are also preparing ourselves, together with stakeholders in the construction industry, to participate and prepare actively for the planned national Construction Sector Summit, as agreed to in our Provincial Construction Summit. The 2nd Women in the Built Environment Summit planned for August this year will also assist in our preparation. The active participation of women in the construction industry is a key priority for me and will continue to be energetically pursued. The transformation of the Construction industry in the Western Cape remains a key challenge. The polarisation between the established industry and the emerging industry is not healthy for the overall future of this sector and we need to ensure that we find each other in the realisation of common objectives. As a department, we have committed ourselves to playing a leading role in this respect. (Sizimisele ukukhokhela.)
ROAD SAFETY - The Cabinet Committee chaired by myself, which includes as members, the MECs of Community Safety, Health, and Local Government, established a technical committee consisting of relevant Heads of Department, local government officials and private experts, to co-ordinate traffic safety. A number of shortcomings with previous programmes were identified of which the most important was the lack of integration between the different spheres of government, lack of reliable monitoring of business plans and insufficient statistical analysis of data.
The Technical Committee started its work by integrating and monitoring all activities over the Easter period with great success. Since then it has continued to integrate and monitor traffic safety programmes on a month-to-month basis. The recent announcement by the Minister Ramatlakane regarding the appointment of additional Traffic law enforcement officers and the equipping of their vehicles and other emergency vehicles with a fleet management system will greatly assist in ensuring the effective implementation of these programmes.
A much more reliable way of recording, collating and evaluating accident data will be developed this year. Merely recording the number of fatalities without a thorough evaluation of the causal factors, creates a false impression, leads to wrong conclusions and therefore incorrect solutions.
Madam Speaker I have presented to you the key programmes in my department developed in support of our priorities. I would like to now briefly turn to some other initiatives that highlight how my department has aligned itself to meeting the objectives of Ikapa Elihlumayo.
REPRIORITISATION OF ROADS - Minister Rasool has challenged us to move away from the business as usual approach to the prioritization of roads where technical time-tables were used as a basis for our priorities. I am pleased to inform him that we have in fact moved away from this approach, we have applied our minds to unlocking the strategic economic imperatives and I want to highlight a few examples of future projects that address this.
The link between Gansbaai and Cape Agulhas via Elim and the link between Elandsbaai - Lamberts Bay are both projects considered to be important economic links whilst also addressing backlogs to previously disadvantaged communities.
Other projects include the N7 between Piketberg, Citrusdal and Clanwilliam, MR172 between Stellenbosch and Franschoek via Pniël, TR1/1 between George and Outeniqua, MR201 between Paarl and the N1, and MR23 between Wellington and Hermon. Planning on TR2 between Somerset West and Sir Lowry's Pass has also been initiated and will continue during 2003/04.
All of these projects creates and/or restores important economic infrastructure in support of particularly agriculture and tourism. These projects are currently in the planning and design phase and construction on some and possibly all, will commence in the next financial year, depending on funding.
Minister Rasool, the ball is now in your court! I also would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all those involved in the emergency repair works to road closures related to the flood damage that occurred recently. As so often in the past, my department and the district municipality teams reacted immediately to re-establish these vital links. The main road through Ashton and the link between Ladysmith and Riversdale were reopened within two days. The mammoth task to get the traffic through Cogmanskloof was completed 15 days after the rains had stopped. The Mayor of the Breede River Winelands Municipality called it a miracle. Well done all and thank you.
CHAPMANS PEAK - The department has delivered another first! The first Provincial Public Private Partnership concession agreement of 30 years for Chapmans Peak Drive was signed last month. Through this Public Private Partnership the private sector will be contributing approximately R265 million over the 30year concession period thereby freeing some public sector funding to address current backlogs in the maintenance of the rest of the provincial road network. In structuring the project significant Black Economic Empowerment has been secured through ownership and control. The importance of public transport has also been recognised with the provision of a 70% discount on toll tariffs for public transport and free access for pedestrians and cycles have been accommodated. The opening of the road is still scheduled for December 2003. This is eagerly awaited by all but particularly the tourist industry. The number of construction jobs created will amount to approximately 100 over a twelve month period. Thereafter 25 permanent jobs will be created in the operation and maintenance of the project.
NEW APPROACH TO DISPOSAL OF STATE PROPERTY - The Draft White Paper on Property Management has been finalised and will be submitted to cabinet and the standing committee shortly. The White Paper emphasizes the need to use provincial property to address apartheid inequity, facilitate urban restructuring and address Black Economic Empowerment. This represents a shift from the approach in the Green Paper which placed emphasis on the disposal of property for mainly financial gain. The legislative implications of such a White Paper will be addressed as well.
INTEGRATED PLANNING - Integrated transport planning has improved during 2002/03 but is still not satisfactory. It is clear that significant capacity building and training needs to occur at both the Provincial and Local Government level in order to ensure that the effectiveness of current planning legislation relating to the development and integration of a Provincial Transport Framework and the Integrated Development Plans. Various capacity building initiatives via our own liaison structures of PROVCOM AND PROVTECH have been and will continue to be undertaken to improve integrated planning of transport, particularly public transport in rural areas. It is imperative that integrated, comprehensive planning now occurs within a broader reconstruction and development vision and in support of Ikapa Ehlihlumayo.
OVERLOAD CONTROL - During 2002/2003 the department implemented the full time operation of the provinces nine weighbridges. In the process we have not only addressed the unlawful actions of certain transport operators that were destroying our road network through overloading, but we have also created 68 jobs and have created full time business opportunities for 9 PDI companies and another 5 business opportunities for PDI building companies doing alterations and extensions to the facilities. The number of vehicles weighed has increased from 3757 for the period of 1995 to 184 293 during 2002 and in the 1st 4 months of 2003 already 76 687 vehicles were weighed. The percentage of overloaded vehicles dropped from 70% during 1995 - 1999 to 27% in 2002 and 23% in 2003. The programme is starting to show results, however the ineffective prosecution process and the low level of awareness by hauliers of the consequences of overloading will be given serious attention during 2003/04. An amount of R25 million has been budgeted for this activity during this financial year. Together with National Department of Transport we will also be pursuing a long-term strategy, which aims at shifting freight transport from road back to rail.
REVENUE GENERATION - Madam Speaker I have elaborated on the departments approach to Expenditure in this financial year let me briefly turn to our Revenue generation efforts. Motor Vehicle licence fees is the main revenue generator in this department. During 2002/03 we increased our revenue by 16% in comparison with the previous year and this is expected to increase in 2003/04 to R610 million, an increase of 15%. Although this province still has the highest licence fee, the gap is decreasing with the other provinces increasing their licence fees to a greater degree. The revenue from personalized and discreet licences have also increased to R 3,3 million in 2002/03 partly as a result of increasing the number of allowable characters on the licence plate from 6 to 7. In the interest of economic growth the department decided to lift the general embargo of abnormal vehicles on public roads during week-ends and now evaluates, in close consultation with the Department of Community Safety, each application on its own merits.
IN CONCLUSION
Madam Speaker I have clearly demonstrated that my department and I are up for the challenges facing us. The immense responsibilities placed on our shoulders as the anchor to Ikapa Elihlumayo, the agreements reached at the Growth and Development Summit and the expectations of our people for a better quality of life leave us with no choice. We must deliver on these responsibilities. In so doing we have emphasized the need for a sustainable programme that addresses structural impoverishment and economic inequities.
We will not allow our attention to be distracted by those who are clamoring for quick fixes that are neither sustainable in the short term nor effective in the long term.
Honourable members - My department has geared itself up to be innovators, initiators and leaders in everything we do. We are striving to be on the cutting edge of transformation initiatives. To paraphrase our President "we are turning the tide in the Western Cape, we will take this tide at the flood, and we will further progress towards the achievement of the goals for which so many of our people sacrificed". Vote of thanks To the Chairperson and the members of the Standing Committee, I thank you for your counsel and direction throughout the year. I would like to conclude by thanking everyone in my department. Your hard work in making this programme of transformation a reality and your willingness to assist me in this exciting task of planting the seeds in support of Ikapa Elihlumayo.
