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14 April 2005

Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker
Honourable Premier, Me Beatrice Marshoff
Colleagues of the Executive and the Legislature
Mayors and other representatives of Local Government
Marena le dikgosi
Head of the Department and other officials
Comrades and Friends
Ladies and Gentlemen

Introduction

Speaking today on this occasion of tabling the Departmental budget vote is an honour and pleasure to do so in Thabo Mufutsanyana as a gesture of taking parliament to the people.

The person after whom this district is named is one of the generation of freedom fighters who gave us our humanity. Thabo Edwin Mufutsanyana who hailed from Qwa-Qwa was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of South Africa and a leading cadre of the ANC in 1930s.

His generation of communists are the pioneers of non-racialism in our country and they agitated that South Africa shall never be free until a Black Republic, with all ,blacks , coloured and white, enjoying equal rights, is formed, the famous Black Republic Thesis of 1928.

The tabling of this budget in memory of Thabo Mufutsanyana is therefore a fitting tribute to him, since he fought for the betterment of the lot of the wretched, the poor and working class whose plight this budget will address.

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Charter, we therefore honour and pay homage to such fearless revolutionaries as Thabo Mufutsanyana.

The 50th anniversary of the Freedom Charter presents an opportunity to asses the progress that has been made in realising the vision a fully-fledged united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic, prosperous and egalitarian South Africa as enshrined in the Freedom Charter itself and in the Constitution of the Republic. This exercise will enable us to measure the tasks yet to be pursued and accomplished in bringing about genuine liberation to our people.
The strategic goal of the second decade of the freedom is to halve poverty and unemployment. The real meaning of liberation must translate in people getting economic freedom. ‘The People Shall Share in the Country's Wealth!’ continues to be the road message. ‘There Shall be Work and Security!’ remains our national priority.

As the President has put it in his State of the Nation Address, in February (2005): “…Success in the growth of our economy should be measured not merely in terms of the returns that accrue to investors or the job opportunities to those with skills. Rather, it should also manifest in the extent to which the marginalised in the wilderness of the Second Economy are included and are at least afforded sustainable livelihoods. South Africa belongs to them too, and none of us can in good conscience claim to be at ease before this becomes and is seen to become a reality”.

We must continue to transform our economy along the trajectory of linking growth and development as the Reconstruction and Development Programme enjoins us.
The budget vote we presented in June 2004 sought to locate our department, the Public Works, Roads and Transport, within the Government’s Programme of Action as it had been outlined by the President in the State of the Nation Address of May 2004, and within the provincial priorities enunciated by the Premier in May 2004. And all of these were informed by the ANC’s 2004 election manifesto, whose central theme was: A people’s contract to create work and fight poverty.
This budget vote for the financial year, 2005/06, will therefore continue to derive inspiration from the central theme of fighting poverty and creating employment and thus, like last year, locate our Department within the national programme of action and provincial priorities.

We will therefore treat this budget as a political intervention tool for economic development. As the President puts it: “The Budget is one of the principal instruments in the hands of the democratic state to bring about the changes we need to make, to achieve our revolutionary goals. For us, the Budget is not merely an annual record of revenue and expenditure figures decided by government to address whatever issues might seem important during a particular year. It represents the financial interventions of the democratic state to give effect to the dialectically interconnected process of revolution and reform” (ANC Today, volume 4 number 7, 20-26 February 2004).

A Brief Reflection on Progress

Mr Speaker;

Before we go to challenges and tasks for this financial year, 2005/06, we first want to make a reflection on the highlights for the 2004/05 financial year, based on the commitments we had made.

The resounding launch of Expanded Public Works Programme took place in Qwa-Qwa, Thabo Mufutsanyana district in September 2004. The choice of anchor projects and place for launching contributed in making the event a success. The construction of the 10 km long Makoane Road and 1000 houses went a long way in meeting the infrastructure needs of the community of Thabo Mufutsanyane as presidential nodal area. The implementation of EPWP projects is well on course. Our progress in this regard include the fact that we have created 7708 jobs in all the four sectors of the EPWP, namely infrastructure, social, environmental and cultural, and the economic sector. We have also implemented learnerships that covered about 452 learners.

We have also implemented other learnerships out side EPWP for both our Department and the unemployed youth in general. These learnerships are on various fields such as construction, IT, internal auditing and business management. These learnership programmes were implemented out of realisation that skills development is key to enhancing the capacity of the Department and making a contribution in developing a skilled workforce for our economy.

In our continuous and rigorous endeavour to strengthen our law enforcement capacity with regard to road safety we have appointed 49 traffic officers who completed the basic training programme and were issued with diploma certificates in December 2004. In enhancing the skills of serving staff 88 traffic officials were multi-skilled in other aspects of law enforcement. Seventy (71) of these traffic officers are now also deployed on our roads. This forms part of the training strategy of the Department to enhance skill levels of traffic officers thereby contributing to reducing fatalities on our roads. On the same day of the pass-out of these officers, we also launched a fleet of 5 BMW’s for traffic policing.

The completion and official opening of the Meqheleng access road in Ficksburg was also an important development in addressing infrastructure backlogs in historically depressed areas. A proper roads network has a potential of enhancing economic development in the province. The construction of an interchange at Vaalpark in Sasolburg started during the past year. Construction of the interchange will also establish access to current developable, but inaccessible areas. Construction of the interchange is expected to have a major impact on development in the area.
The renovations and the upgrading of the accommodation for political office bearers has been done in a manner that accords members the dignity they deserve.

The successful holding of the Taxi Indaba in October 2004 went a long way in strengthening relations between the Department and the industry. A number of resolutions covering such issues as taxi recapitalisation, BEE and capacity building were taken at this indaba and are now being implemented.
As part of protecting our children against road accidents, we recently successfully launched a Leaner Road Safety programme in partnership with the Department of Education. The programme will be rolled-out, extensively in this financial year and beyond, guided by a comprehensive plan of action.
The past financial year was clearly eventful and a number of lessons were learnt that we can draw wisdom from in the current financial year, in a more inspired and informed manner.

The 2005/06 Budget

It is an honour to table the Department's appropriation of R840 million for the 2005/06 financial year. Whilst this amount represents a 4% increase compared to the previous year, it is still not sufficient to meet all the needs, which we face, particularly the backlogs of maintenance and construction of roads. In this regard, the Department is currently developing a comprehensive maintenance plan so that we can make more convincing and credible arguments for increased funding for roads maintenance and construction in the forthcoming fiscal year.

Administration and Service Delivery

An organizationally strong department is key to our success; it is vital to maximising the quantity and quality of service delivery. During the past financial year we invested energetically in building our existing skills base with a view to people development both in and outside the department. Appropriate interventions were implemented to the amount of almost four million rand (R4 million) and resulted in an increase in the skills base of the department as well as our Free State community. We will therefore continue to skill all our employees with requisite skills and recruit relevant expertise, and also improve our efficiency in all our line functions.

We will surge ahead in restructuring the department to appropriately and adequately discharge its mandate as we have undertaken in the last budget speech, a process we hope to conclude by the end of August 2005.

Public Transport

Speaker;

Transport underpins development and is a catalyst for unlocking economic growth and social development potential. The development of an integrated and sustainable transport system is critical for our province centrally located at the heart of our country. Rural mobility is a particular focus of the province and a pre-study will soon be completed, which will give direction for more intensified investigations and eventually implementation of measures to improve mobility of rural areas that are currently not well served by transport services.

To this end, we undertake through this budget to facilitate and speed-up the development of sectoral and consolidated infrastructural plan.
The 2010 World Cup provide us with the golden opportunity that we seize and rigorously mobilise various sectors and stake holders to coordinate transport projects for the successful hosting of 2010 cup and beyond.

Planning and a conceptual design of a multi modal facility in Bloemfontein have been completed. This facility will have a significant impact on the quality of public transport services and would assist with urban renewal of the area. The estimated cost of the facility is R50 million, and various initiatives will be launched to endeavour to obtain the required funding for the project to proceed.

A high standard intermodal facility is essential if rail passenger transport services are to be improved and can also be regarded as an essential improvement required to ensure that the Bloemfontein area is able to effectively participate in the 2010 Soccer World Cup. This project is planned to integrate bus, minibus taxis and long distance rail by means of a modern convenient interchange facility.

The Taxi Recapitalisation Process will undoubtedly be one of the major activities for the Department and whole taxi industry, this year. The overall goal of the Taxi Recapitalisation Process, initiated by Government in 1999, is the replacement of the current ageing fleet that constitute the bulk of the taxi industry with new vehicles that are safe and reliable. The programme also seeks to ensure the sustainability of the industry as a business, as well as, ensure its formalisation and effective regulation.

Numerous principles of the process were changed such as the vehicles sizes, which now include vehicles ranging from 9 to 35 seats, compared to the previous 18 and 35 seater vehicles. The department has started rolling out the implementation plan through consultative meetings that were held with the various taxi organizations, municipalities and relevant stakeholders. Our reinforced and robust approach with municipalities will ensure that we do away with private taxi ranks which are a major cause for unrests in the taxi industry. Unity and peace in the industry, in particular amongst associations who are expected to amalgamated along the principle of one town one association and one Taxi rank, is key. The conversion of the taxi permits to operator licenses and the implementation of the route based operator licenses will ensure that we accelerate service delivery even to the most remote areas. Our readiness in the province for the implementation, both as far as complying with all legal requirements as well as by ensuring the availability of the necessary infrastructure is on course.

The Maluti Bus Service in the Thabo Mofutsanyana area will be transformed in the coming year to include minibus taxi operators in service provision. The inclusion of minibus taxi operators will be linked with the implementation of the Taxi Recapitalisation Process.

Mr. Speaker, we remain committed to the 30% to the taxi industry and 10 % belonging to the Maluti–A–Phofung community. The roll-out of the transformation of Maluti will continue unabated as initially intended. We regret the delays that have occurred this far, however our Department will ensure, together with the Department of Economic Affairs and FDC, that this matter is concluded by the end of August 2005.

The subsidised bus contract of Interstate Bus Lines in the Motheo area is currently extended on a month-by-month basis, whilst negotiations are taking place to make provision for broad based economic inclusion in the contract in order to encourage socio-economic growth in the transport industry and this process will be completed by December 2005.

Traffic Management

Mr. Speaker;

The development of an elaborate plan that seeks to make the Arrive Alive campaign more comprehensive through-out the year has been completed. This plan has a communication component that propagates the campaign as a truly year long programme.
Proper traffic management and specifically the reductions of accidents and fatalities on our roads are essential from a social point of view, but also have serious economic implications for the province as a whole. During the past festive season, we have succeeded in reducing fatal accidents on our roads by 2.2% compared to the previous year, notwithstanding the fact that the number of registered vehicle increases by approximately 6% per annum.

We have also registered a major success in the province during this past Easter weekend (March 2005); preliminary figures indicate reduction of more than 23% in both the accidents and fatalities. This could be attributed to hard work by all role players, as well as the cooperation by the road users in the province during this period.

Our 337 provincial traffic officers have been the main motor-force for registering these successes this far. Given the task at hand the number of our officers is not yet sufficient, but It is pleasing to report that in addition to the 49 officers we appointed in December 2004, we will be recruiting a further 180 traffic officers during this financial year. The five additional motor vehicles (Almera’s) we received from Arrive Alive will also go a long way in reinforcing our campaign. The targeted and comprehensive retraining of our traffic officers will go a long way in increasing our effectiveness and efficiency in all aspects of traffic management.

The communities have rightly lamented the unacceptable long waiting periods they endure before obtaining dates of appointments for learners and driving licenses. The long waiting periods have a negative bearing on job seekers and the economy of the province. This is equally the case for testing of motor vehicles. We have to drastically eradicate this backlog by the end of July 2005. This phenomenon has inevitably led to the mushrooming of private testing stations, which we will be review in the light of complaints received.

We will at every opportunity we get compliment our equipment and shall creatively intensify the communication, educational and law enforcement components of our traffic management programme. We shall at the same time cement the relations we have with all stakeholders including our sister departments.

Roads and Planning

During our previous budget speech we committed the Department to the construction and completion of several road projects. We can now announce that we have, by and large, achieved the targets we set ourselves.

Roads network has a potential of contributing in building the provincial economy given the central geographical location of the province. We therefore, with the limited resources at our disposal, do our best in constructing and upgrading the roads network of our province.

In 2004/05 financial year a total amount of R127 million was spent with regard the rebuilding of our road network. And for this financial year we will be allocating R289.69 million for the construction and maintenance of roads. Though the amount so allocated may not satisfy and attend to all our needs, it will go a long way in improving our road network and thus ensure accessibility. It is also comforting to note that the South African National Roads Agency Limited has allocated about R340 million for national roads in our province.

Our provincial investment and that of SANRAL in our roads infrastructure should be seen as useful strategic interventions in tackling the backlog and should always be utilised optimally.

In this financial year we will attempt to substantially increase our BEE investment on roads works, and construction broadly.

A number of road infrastructure projects will be designed for future construction, and these include:

* Detail design of the link between Springfontein and Bethulie
* Designs for regraveling in the various districts in the province
* The design of the outer ring road in Bloemfontein. This road will provide a link between the Reddersburg road and the Thaba Nchu road.

The following roads projects will be executed in this financial year and will overlap into the next one:

* Repair and reseal of the Parys - N1 road
* Repair and reseal of the Odendaalsrus – Bothaville Road
* Repair and reseal of the Sasolburg – N1 road
* Rehabilitation of the Reitz – Petrus Steyn road
* Rebuilding of the bridge over the Caledon River at Wepener.
* The regravelling of several roads in the Free State
* The upgrading of the access road between the N1 and Eeufees road in Bloemfontein

The initiatives of construction and maintenance of roads have begun to embrace the EPWP philosophy of labour intensiveness, SMME development and skills development. This is the trajectory we will intensify in this financial year and beyond.

Public Works

Mr Speaker;

The public works function of the Department is one of our oldest and yet it remains very central and relevant to the national agenda of reconstruction and development of our country from the ashes of apartheid. We have huge and racially skewed infrastructural backlogs.

We will use infrastructure development to address historical backlogs, create jobs through labour-intensive methods and lowering the input cost of doing business in the province to attract investors, and thereby create sustainable jobs in the medium to long term. It is with a developmental perspective that we will continually discharge our public works function.

The Premier was instructive when she, in the State of the Province Address (18 February 2005), asserted that: “The imperative of infrastructure development compels us to initiate the development of a comprehensive Provincial Integrated Infrastructure Plan that will cover such developmental issues as roads, transport, schools, housing, water, sanitation and other infrastructural imperatives for growing and developing the provincial economy”.

Working together with our relevant sister departments and Policy Unit in the Premier’s Office, we will accordingly position our selves to contribute in the development of such a Provincial Integrated Infrastructure Plan.
We will tirelessly improve our capacity to assist other departments with the planning of construction projects as well as the execution thereof. The frustrations occasioned by inability to complete capital projects on time accentuate the existence of lack of integrated planning, coordination and monitoring.

Our challenges in the execution of this function include the following:
* Long planning cycle and lack of coordination has led to delays in the implementation of projects cited by the department in our last budget speech to this House and to a certain extent capacity problems also contributed.
* Late payments of contractors led to cash flow problems and inevitably affected delivery of the much needed infrastructure. This also negatively affected the growth and sustainability.
* The ineptness of our handling of the procurement cycle tended to create more problems that affected service delivery.
* Management of contracts, contractors and consultants warrants significant improvements.
* Access to credit facilities by small contractors has an adverse impact on the execution of projects as well as the development of small contractors.

We have already started to tackle these challenges.

Currently we are developing a set of measures that will improve our capacity and thereby ensure that we deliver quality infrastructure projects within schedule.

The work we will pursue on this front, in this financial year, will include maintenance, upgrading and construction of new buildings for various provincial departments. In this context, we will robustly pursue the building and upgrading of a sustainable social infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and libraries.
Property Management

The Property Industry is an important branch of our economy and, like the rest of the economy; it has to be transformed in line with our BEE and RDP policies. Government owns and manages a considerable slice of property in the province, and has a potential to reconfigure property relations in keeping with our vision of social change. The province will move fast in developing and implementing effective policies that will enhance Government’s Property Portfolio in a forward-looking way that will support our Department’s capacity. We will surge ahead with the effective and sustainable facilitation of the accommodation needs of provincial Departments. This program also provides for the day-to-day maintenance as well as minor works on provincial buildings.

The monopoly and conservativeness that reigns within the property industry requires of us to be more resolute in our transformation actions. Targeted and focused endeavours to lease and acquire property from historically disadvantaged people will be rigorously pursued. Our leasing –out policy and practice will equally target the historically disadvantaged.
We will equally participate, as a province, in the formulation and implementation of the Property Industry Transformation Charter .We will also move forward with programmes that propel transformation of the Property Industry in the province.

We remain conscious and committed to pursuing our property management function, which include:
* Provisioning of integrated accommodation for all provincial government departments (including national departments where possible) in an effective, efficient an cost-effective way;
* Ensuring the optimal utilisation of all properties within the government's property portfolio;
* Contributing to the attainment of government's broad socio-economic objectives.

Our work for this financial year will then include:

* Finalising the development Norms and Standards for Spatial allocation/utilisation of office space by September 2005.
* Complete the development a Comprehensive Asset Register by November 2005.
* Prepare Disposal Guidelines for existing under utilised facilities by September 2005.
* Develop Sound Integrated Facilities Information Systems by December 2005.

Expanded Public Works Programme

Honourable Members;

The EPWP remains our cardinal programme for job creation and propelling economic growth that meets the needs of the marginalised and contribute in building sustainable livelihood. We need to intensify the noble efforts of combating poverty, developing skills, creating jobs and developing SMMEs. EPWP aims to draw significant numbers of the unemployed into productive work, so that workers gain skills while they work and increase their capacity to earn an income.
In the past financial year, we have already generated some momentum with regards to the implementation of EPWP. We have established structures for all the four sectors. We have formulated the EPWP provincial framework and the sector implementation plans. To complement our endeavours, we solicited the requisite capacity by enlisting the services of Independent Development Trust for programme support.

We have also conducted workshops, information sessions and made numerous presentations to various government structures in order to deepen the understanding of the relevant stakeholders on EPWP. These include consultative meetings we have had with district municipalities.

In this current financial year, one of our key challenges will be to strengthen and tighten-up coordination with all government departments, state enterprises and municipalities through the various sectors.

In consolidating coordination we must steer rapid implementation of EPWP projects by various departments and municipalities. We also must improve report mechanisms in this regard. And in this regard we will pay special attention, together with the Policy Unit in the Premier’s Office, to develop a uniform method of measuring jobs along the set targets. A minimum labour content on all EPWP projects will be strictly adhered to as of 1st June 2005.

An EPWP provincial business plan is being finalised and will be unveiled by June 2005 in this regard. This business plan will detail all our financial allocations for EPWP and the jobs, skills training and SMME development to be created in this financial year.

With regard to infrastructure projects an attempt to embrace labour intensive methods should be pursued to the limit. All procedures and processes that relate to the execution of projects are being reworked to meet the EPWP Guidelines. These include the planning of projects (design) and conditions for awarding of tenders.

Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment and Transformation

BEE is about ensuring the integration of the black majority into the mainstream economy; with regard to ownership and management of productive assets and training or acquiring advanced skills. It is therefore about redressing the imbalances of the past apartheid system.

We will, during this financial year, set very clear and defined targets with regards to empowering targeted groups, that is women, youth and the disabled. These targets shall be in all sectors of our work as the department; that is in roads, public works, property and in the procurement that we do in terms of the supply chain management.

In addressing the adverse conditions that confront small and emerging contractors, it unavoidable that the Department should find ways and means to sustain and develop them. In this regard we will develop and implement an incubator strategy for small and emerging contractors. The aim of this strategy is to identify, nurture, mentor and develop them with the view of enabling them to participate productively in the mainstream of our economy.

Women in construction will receive our bias attention in this strategy and in other empowerment initiatives. Our regular reports on BEE broadly will deliberately reflect the progress we are making on women empowerment.

We will mobilise the financial institutions to actively and passionately support the development of the emerging contractors by providing access to credit facilities with relaxed conditions. It is therefore important that FDC, as a state institution, must take its rightful place in actively and appropriately supporting this initiative.

We will, by no later than August 2005, convene a construction summit to appraise the state of transformation of the construction industry in the province and accordingly develop a programme of action for the intensification of transformation.

The formulation of the Construction and the Property Charters is watershed event in the unfolding transformation. The construction and the property industries must be transformed so that all the people shall share in wealth of these important industries.

We shall therefore work very hard to ensure that the input of the province is part of these important processes of formulating the two charters.

In Conclusion

Honourable Members;

Let me thank the colleagues in the Executive Council, under the leadership of the Premier, for the workmanship and team-spirit they have displayed.

I also thank honourable members of the legislature particularly, members of the Portfolio Committee on Public Works, Roads and Transport for the useful oversight role that is keeping us on course.

I thank the new HOD, Adv. Makhosini Msibi, for the manner in which he engages the challenges of the department, with his endeavours I believe we will accelerate service delivery. All the senior managers and officials keep up the good work of efficiently discharging your responsibilities.

I’m always inspired by the support of my family, in particular my wife, Moyanda.

Placed before us is a mammoth task that requires loyalty to the agenda of the Democratic Government. We have to reaffirm our conviction to the liberatory vision of the Freedom Charter and our Constitution, which propel us to work harder and more urgently in service of our people.

I hereby present Budget Vote 9 for the 2005/06 financial year.

Annexure

The total budget allocated to the Department for this financial year, amounts to R840 452:

R 425,994 million (51%) of the budget is allocated to personnel expenditure. This amount includes the recruitment of new staff members which will significantly make an impact towards job creation and poverty alleviation.

R 228,519 (27 %) of budget is allocated towards goods and services. In utilising this amount there will be a total bias towards the emerging SMMEs with particular focus to women and youth.

R 184,142 which is 22% of the budget is allocated to capital expenditure that includes rentals. A particular focus will be on emerging contractors and previously disadvantaged individuals who ventured into property markets. Our dedicated focus should yield positive results towards job creation and poverty alleviation and simultaneously enabling us to make a positive contribution in bridging the gap between the first and the second economy.

PROGRAMME BUDGET 2005/06
1. Administration: 130,794
2. Public Works: 254,804
3. Road Infrastructure: 307,840
4. Transport Management: 17,735
5. Traffic Management: 118,161
6. CBPWP: 11,118
Total
: 840,452

Issued by: Department of Public Works, Roads & Transport, Free State Provincial Government
14 April 2005