[ Home ] [ Speeches & statements ]

Director of Ceremonies,
His Worship, the Executive Mayor of Ekhuleni, Comrade Bavumile Vilakazi,
The MEC of Transport in Gauteng, my colleague, Khabisi Mosunkutu,
Local Councillors,
The President of the South African Commuters Organisation, Mr Sangweni,
Distinguished Comrades.

Thank you very much for inviting me to attend the launch of the South African Commuters Organisation, Gauteng branch. The launch today is significant. It enables us to create structures which are closer to the people.

Commuters in South Africa for a very long time have not been afforded a voice. In the 80s and early 90s, we have seen an increase in provision for public passenger transport. In services such as trains and taxis, many of our people were victims of the violence, which rocked areas such as Thokoza. This violence increased before our first democratic elections were held in 1994.

Again, commuters were victims. Transport was used to advance political struggle. Many of our people were killed indiscriminately. Most of this people did not have a voice.

But today, we are celebrating the launch of a long lasting voice, which will empower all our commuters; commuters have a right to reliable, safe efficient and modern transport service.

I congratulate the people who sacrificed their quality time to make this organisation what it is today. To them I say: may you live longer to see the beautiful fruits it will bear. I also say to them: the challenges are enormous.

Maybe you undermine the role that you can play in ensuring that the pain and suffering extended to families and relatives due to lack of road safety education is stopped.

In crashes involving pedestrians, jaywalking and walking under influence of alcohol or drugs are the major contributory factors, being present in 40% to 50% of vehicle-pedestrian collisions in urban areas and in 30% to 40% in rural areas. In addition to that commuters will always have problems with operators of public transport services. This will require constructive engagement and on-going interaction with the industry.

Community involvement and participation starts out from the youngest of our school children and ends with organised passengers, mobilised communities and committed road safety forums. It focuses on co-operation to overcome crime and ensure law compliance.

As communities, you need to be actively involved in pedestrian safety programmes. Our experiences have been that from the beginning, communities want to be part of each process. From there, they take ownership of all the programmes and ensure that it benefits the relevant people.

Comrades, with the launch of the Gauteng branch of SACO, I call upon you as organised commuters and pedestrians to take responsibility and act.

We need to develop an active partnership between the three spheres of government the local communities and private sector. The provinces, metros and local authorities must collaborate with the local communities and private sector in mobilising resources for this purpose. These would include products to promote pedestrian visibility, the involvement of community radio stations, the involvement of the printed and electronic media, and the structured participation of the community through road safety forums, parent/teacher organisations, competitions, and so on.

The challenge of ensuring that all road users use the road with respect and tolerance will be left with you as the community. We give you the responsibility of engaging your fellow community members in aggressive road safety education and campaigns.

With this in mind, I have already taken the initiative of convening a series of national consultative workshops inviting participation, input and commitment from government and industry interests and from a wide range of representative civil society organisations.

These are ongoing processes of open and critical dialogue, both on policy priorities and on what the various groupings can commit to in terms of sponsorship, co-ordinated support activities and organised actions by communities that can help them to take full charge of their own safety. (These include, for example, such issues as safety-conscious spatial planning, pedestrian safety measures on urban and rural roads, community actions to reduce the threat of stray animals, identification of unroadworthy public passenger vehicles and further initiatives on public transport passenger empowerment).

To further extend the road safety educational cycle, we are beginning to meet with tertiary institutions to request them to begin a process of collaboration with the task teams from the Departments of Transport and Education. This interaction will devise road safety educational components that will become an integral part of the tertiary education process, linked to career and skills development training.

NATIONAL TRAFFIC CALL CENTRE

We are now in the process of introducing the National Traffic Call Centre (NTCC) with assistance and co-operation of a competent private sector organisation, as well as participation by the public, in further support of the objectives of the Arrive Alive Road Safety and Education campaign.

The National Traffic Call Centre will ensure commuter vigilance, reporting and preventative action.

The Centre will receive and record calls on a continuous basis from registered numbers of public, both commuters and general road users on unsafe, poor, reckless and negligent driving behaviour and non-compliance with the rules of the road by other road users.

You will be able to report to us unsafe freight and public passenger transport operators. You will be able to report all negligent and irresponsible drivers on our roads. As you report this irresponsible behaviour, you will in return promote voluntary compliance with traffic legislation. You will also reduce traffic contraventions and road rage. You will most importantly improve safe road user behaviour.

It is also critical that you will also take the responsible in increasing the quality and broaden the scope of traffic information regarding hazardous or potentially hazardous locations.

When the National Call Centre is implemented, we will empower you with power to report drivers who exceed speed limits under prevailing circumstances, unsafe overtaking, overtaking in the face of oncoming traffic or overtaking across no overtaking or barrier line. You will also report those who change lanes and turn without indicating intention to do so. You will also monitor overloading and negligent drivers.

Through the Centre we will be able to have community-based information on what is happening on the road, this information will inform our policies and plans to improve your own areas.

You should know that you are not alone in this struggle, I am with you.

I have also started a process of continuous interaction with the major transport industry role-players: minibus taxi; bus; coach and freight operators; and transport trade unions, aimed at developing a culture of joint responsibility for the improvement of safety in all areas of operation. I have said in numerous occasions that safety is our priority.

ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS

Important strides have already been made in integrating road safety awareness education into the mainstream school curriculum, as a set of basic life skills that can be continuously expanded and deepened over time.

The implementation of road safety education has been planned and prepared in detail by task teams from the Department of Transport and Department of Education.

We will continue to ensure that the coming generation is road safety wise and ready to survive on our roads. Pre-school level through to grade 9 will be exposed to systematic, practical road safety education within the framework of the "life-skills" component of their curriculum.

I will have all the required learning materials for grades 10, 11 and 12 ready by 2002, but these modules will only be introduced within the implementation time-frame set by the Department of Education; 2003 for grade 10, 2004 for grade 11 and 2005 for grade 12

School-going children are very close to my heart, I love them not only because they are our soldiers and future of tomorrow. I love them because if given a chance they will shape the future of this community to become one of the best in the country.

SHOVA LULA

We have now introduced a project called Shova Lula, the project is meant to bring quality affordable bicycles to the community. In the beginning, the project was aimed at school children and daily commuters. We are saying this is a community project, it belongs to you, when the time is right for the project to roll out in your community the lives of all school children will never be the same. Gone are days when you have to reach your schools and work place tired and hungry, as you Shova Lula you will arrive energised and ready to tackle the challenges of the world.

SAFE COMFORTABLE TRANSPORT

Comrades, the process of transforming the taxi industry to us is the continuation of the struggle to improve the lives of our people. The struggle to empower our communities economically. A number of myths have been said about the taxi recapitalisation project and the institutional transformation in the taxi industry. I can say without fear of contradiction that all the myths are not true, SACO knows that, they have been part of the process since its inception, together with SACO we all know that the new vehicle will provide nothing else but safe, comfortable and modern transport.

Gone will be days where you have to brave violence, uncomfortable unreliable mini buses, trains and buses to and from work. Now is the time for you to enjoy safe comfortable and modern transport. Now is the time for customers to have a say in their own transport.

HIV/AIDS

Comrades, all of us here today, poor or rich, we are affected by the daily spread of the HIV/AIDS virus to the number of orphans in our communities. The spread of this virus is increasing in such a fast pace that the whole world is beginning to say we will panic. I bring you good news today; the Thokoza community need not panic, but continue to engage each other in aggressive awareness and education programmes around this disease. I call upon you to continue your support for those living with the disease and for those who have lost their loved ones to this dangerous enemy.

I send my personal plea to all of you to engage your self in safe and protected sexual activities, and for all of us to know our status, to know if we are HIV positive or negative. The sooner we know the better, as we will be able to approach medical doctors for necessary attention. As we spread the message of road safety and commuters rights, let us not forget to remind people that AIDS kills.

Comrades, the launch of the Gauteng branch of SACO brings another critical player in the struggle to improve the lives of the people. The people themselves.

Comrades, welcome aboard this train of constructive engagement; a train of continual interaction and responsible leadership for the betterment of the people.

Thank you.

Issued by: Ministry of Transport, 29 July 2001