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Colleagues in the private and public sectors.

When the parastatals and agencies that report to me heard that I would not be standing for re-election they started asking my staff if they could organise farewell functions.

I asked if there could not be one joint function rather than a number of separate functions because I am not comfortable being the focus of attention at social occasions.

I didn't realise then how overwhelming it would be to see you in one room together tonight. Looking around this room tonight is witness to the many partnerships we have built up over the past five years.

We have come a long way together in five years and I would like to thank our hosts tonight (the Airports Company, ATNS, Civil Aviation Authority, Intersite, the National Roads Agency, the Regulating Committee, the Road Accident Fund, SAMSA, SARCC and the SA National Cross-Border Road Transport Agency) for providing me with the opportunity to thank you all for the role you have played.

I would also like to thank the speakers for their tributes to me.

My decision was not taken easily and it is with sadness that I will be closing the door on this extraordinary chapter in my life.

It has been a privilege to serve both my country and my President in our country's first democratic government, and for that I give my heartfelt thanks.

My decision to leave government must never been seen as a decision to leave either the African National Congress or politics. I have spent many years within its discipline and look forward to continuing to play an active role in the National Executive Committee of the ANC.

My decision is not a change in the fundamentals principles of my life, but rather a reordering of the priorities.

At this stage of my life, before my children grow up and leave home, I must put my family first ... not because they need me, but because I need them.

Throughout my life (in military training, in the underground, in detention and prison, in exile, in the endless rounds of negotiations and talks, and in government) I have been supported by friends, comrades and family. But the needs of the movement always came first.

Today we live in a different time, and we have the opportunity to think differently about our lives because for the first time many of us feel we have choices and that we can start to lead normal lives.

My family have borne the burden of my activities. For years underground in South Africa as the commander of Vula, they didn't know from one day to the next whether I was alive, arrested or dead.

The burden didn't ease when we all returned to South Africa to live as a family for the first time.

I disappeared into the endless nights of Codesa and then after 1994, into government where I again became a part-time father and husband. My decision now is to normalise my life. I will certainly miss government. The most powerful and compelling reason to be in government is that it affords you the opportunity to make a difference; to be able to redress our divided past as we build our united future.

The guiding and motivating force in my life has been the eradication of poverty because the wealth of our country and its people will always be undermined if we do not address this burning issue. And it will continue to guide my life.

There are the inevitable projects that I wish I could have taken further. But one thing I have learnt about government is that for everything there is a season: You can drive a process but you cannot force the pace.

I have received much praise and many accolades during my term in office, but all of you are aware that the secret of any one person's success is the quality of the team that they have put in place behind them.

It is fitting that tonight I first thank my previous Director General Ketso Gordhan and his successor Dipak Patel.

Ketso, who now has the challenging task to managing the city of Johannesburg, was a powerful force in the success Transport has had in undoing the legacy of our past and formulating the platform for a customer-driven Transport policy within our national economic goals as well as a new, restructured Department of Transport.

His contribution along with the rest of the national Department of Transport has been enormous, but I will address this more fully when I say farewell to the Department later. Tonight I would like to thank you, the hosts, of this event:

to Neal Chapman, Dirk Ackerman and the staff of the Airports Company: I would like to thank you for taking ACSA into the profitable company it is today which attracted strong bidding for an international operator to become its SEP;

to Glen van Heerden, Johan van Vollenhoven and the staff of ATNS: I would like to thank you for your high standards that make our skies safe and the dynamic role you are starting to play in training navigators from our SADC neighbours;

to Israel Skosana, Trevor Abrahams and the staff of the Civil Aviation Authority (which is our youngest agency): I would like to thank you for your energy and drive in setting up a new environment for civil aviation to grow in this country;

to Barry Adams, Nazir Alli and the staff of the National Roads Agency: I would like to thank you for the path-breaking work you have done in the concessioning of national roads to create private-public partnerships to provide our country with much-needed road infrastructure;

to Mrad Shahia and the rest of the Regulating Committee, thank you for keeping the playing field level at our airports;

to Chris Greenland (unfortunately the RAF chairperson Piet Botbjyl was not able to be here tonight) and the staff of the Road Accident Fund: thank you for supporting me through public hearings, numerous White Papers and angry meetings to find a way to solve the financial deficit of the RAF;

to Hilton Staniland, Brian Watt and the staff of SAMSA thank you for the role you are playing in building the maritime sector in this country and making our shores safe by ensuring that only sea-worthy ships leave our harbours;

John Edwards, Wynand Burger, Jack Prentice and the staff of SARCC and Intersite: thank you to the SARCC for working with us for a cost-effective rail commuter system that is passenger-driven and for the valuable role Intersite is playing in unlocking the economic value of our stations; and last but not least, to George Negota, August Maluleke and the SA National Cross-Border Road Transport Agency: who are making sure that people and goods move across our SADC borders efficiently and effectively.

There are many people here tonight from the private sector who I must also thank:

all the organisations who joined us in the writing of our White Paper on National Transport Policy; and

then joined us again to piece together Moving South Africa, the data-driven strategy for Transport over the next 20 years;

the construction industry which has joined us on major road projects in private-public partnerships and made empowerment and training an essential part of the contract;

the financial institutions who have given us a good fight as we moved the financial risks on the our major projects into the financial sector;

the bus industry that has undergone a fundamental restructuring over the past three years to make it more competitive and passenger driven;

the minibus taxi industry which is slowly becoming regulated and part of the economic mainstream of our country, where I have no doubt, if it continues on this route, will become a giant in the Transport sector;

to all the municipalities who are working with us on urban corridors that will undo the apartheid planing of our cities and let economic logic with sound environmental factors dictate development;

to all the people who worked on the SDI programmes on the Maputo Corridor and in Lubombo that have shown that Transport, and in particular a road, can make a difference; and
the many companies who have supported us in our ARRIVE ALIVE road safety campaign and who are now joining us in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the transport sector.

Your names are too many to mention and I fear that I might leave have left some people out. But I would like to extend my gratitude to you all.

Last of all I would like to thank my wife Zarina for the support she has given me throughout our marriage. Many of us sitting in this room tonight would not be able to if it was not for our spouses.

I got into a lot of trouble with my family because this function did not include an invitation to your partners. I would like you to take home to them my message of thanks to them for supporting you as you supported us over these years.

On your behalf I will also thank Zarina for choosing your gift which will hang proudly in our home as a daily memory to all of you and this very special time in our country's history that we were able to spend together.

These have been extraordinary times and I feel very privileged to have been part of them.

I cannot think of this time without pausing to remember the friends, colleagues and comrades who did not live to see the dawn of our country's second democratic election.

I am not here to electioneer but I would like to extend to you Terror Lekota's parting blessing to me after my last speech as the Minister of Transport to the National Council of Provinces: May the spirit of these times remain with you.

I thank you all.

<EOD>