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20 June 2006

Madam Speaker and Deputy Speaker,
Honourable Premier,
Honourable members,
Executive mayors and councillors,
Traditional leaders,
Esteemed guests,
Friends and comrades,
Ladies and gentlemen;

Madam Speaker, I stand before you and your august House to give account of the progress on the promises made this time around last year to outline our plans and goals for the ensuing year and to present our plea to honourable members to grant us the resources to carry out our plans in the advancement of our mission and vision in the Department. All this is in an endeavour to ensure that the ‘age of hope’ has practical meaning to our people and to create a better life for all.

Madam Speaker, without doubt there will be a debate on this budget vote. Those that will come to flatter us will please us. Those that will complain and criticise will never hurt us as they can only teach us to work harder and smarter so that we may better please those we shall serve next. The only ones that will hurt us are those that say nothing for they will thus refuse us permission to correct our errors and improve our service.

We gather here knowing that due to policies that our government has adopted and is implementing our country is experiencing the economy’s longest period of expansion and growth, enabling us to respond to the increasing urbanisation and industrialisation which characterises our province as having three features that are undeveloped, underdeveloped as well as developed.

The amount of resources that government has been appropriating and spending on the roads and transport vote in the last two years and what is estimated for spending in the next three financial years is an indication of our commitment to deal with this challenge and reduce the cost of doing business in our province.

The enormous challenge we face is to implement programmes that are informed by the social condition of our people that understand that economic benefit for the few is morally, politically and economically unsustainable if the majority of the people, the poor are excluded from reaping the promises of political liberation. The tasks of the present include the need to use the power of the developmental state towards transforming our transport system from merely being the heartbeat of the economy to being the backbone of development itself.

Honourable members, I wish to use this opportunity this afternoon to assure you that in the course of our planning we are and will remain fully cognisant of the threats and opportunities that result from regional disparities that are the legacy of apartheid and its economic distortions. These distortions threaten to lock some regions into a self perpetuating process of underdevelopment and marginalisation with adverse social consequences for the great majority of our people.

It is therefore incumbent on us to deliberately, systematically, directly and without any hesitation address these distortions and seek to achieve balanced economic development in our province. We must seize the opportunity that this period of high growth trajectory presents to us to ensure that the potential and capacity of the regions can be fully harnessed to the benefit of all the habitants of our province. This requires bold action and ambitious implementation programme.

Madam Speaker, there is much that remains to be done in respect of gender mainstreaming we must redouble all our efforts to ensure that our people and government realise that we cannot have real development unless we place women at the centre of all development plans and programmes.

This year we celebrate 50 years of the Women's March to the Union Buildings in Pretoria where the women declared that:
"We shall not rest until we have won for our children their fundamental rights of freedom, justice and equality."

Two years before this in 1954, women had come together to draw up the Women's Charter. In this document they aimed among other things “to co-operate with all other organisations that have similar aims in South Africa as well as throughout the world. And to strive for permanent peace throughout the world".

With this march and this Charter the women opened the road to a different future and asserted the alternative values of a different order the values of equality, justice and the emancipation of women, among others.

They recognised that the struggle for women's equality was a part of a broader international struggle for peace and justice in the world.

True to this spirit last year we hosted a successful woman in construction seminar with an aim to encourage more women to participate in construction activities and partner with established construction companies in order for them to learn from such companies.

Honourable members, as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of our Constitution we continue to be inspired by the struggle of our youth who through their own efforts 30 years ago ensured that the students of today enjoy a better life than those of yesterday.

We cannot truly celebrate the tenth anniversary of our Constitution without paying tribute to the workers' struggle which paved the way for our freedom, especially since 2006 is the 60th anniversary of the historic African Mineworkers’ strike of 1946.

It is in the spirit of all these heroic struggles of the Bhambatha Rebellion, of Satyagraha, of the workers' struggle, of the women's march, of the student uprising that we today are a real part of a democratic South Africa, a country that is writing its own history "a glorious and dignified history."

As we begin the age of hope we must similarly consciously seek to give hope to the hopeless and ensure that we fully support the Joint Initiative Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) programme which serves as a tool for the realisation of the goals set by the Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA).

Madam Speaker, development theories has proven that we live in an unequal world where 80 percent of our people live below the poverty datum line and 20 percent live a “good life” as demonstrated by the first world countries. These sentiments were echoed by the former leader and president of Haiti Mr Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Honourable members, allow me to quote from his words; “The world is like a table. 20 percent live on the table and 80 percent survive underneath it. Our work cannot be to move a few from under the table onto the table or vice versa. Our task is to move the table to change its position if necessary and all to sit together around the table.”

We committed ourselves last year that we will as a matter of principle at the beginning of each financial year identify a set of flagship projects that will become yardsticks to test policy options and customise our service delivery options. In this financial year we will continue with some flagship projects identified last year while introducing new projects namely;

* Taxi Recapitalisation Project
* Moloto Rail Development Corridor
* Non-Motorised Transport
* Siyatentela Project
* Restructuring of Government Motor Transport
* 2010 Soccer World Cup
* Restructuring of Bus Subsidy Scheme

Roads infrastructure

Madam Speaker, we cannot over emphasise the need to continue to increase investment in transport infrastructure both as part of a developmental state intervention to stimulating economic growth, creating jobs and fighting poverty.

As a rule the high initial investment of upgrading a road from gravel to surfaced standard is offset by the reduced maintenance and user operating costs when the average daily traffic on the road increases by 500 vehicles per month, therefore the maintenance and road user cost is very dependant on the topography, drainage structures and rainfall of the area.

Under ideal conditions of light to medium traffic, a gravel surface when properly maintained can last up to seven maintenance free years. From every road user’s perspective, every road should be surfaced. The fact of the matter is that this province will for many years to come be stuck with a significant gravel road network. These roads include important access roads to rural communities and to areas of socio economic activities often being public transport routes to work opportunities and public facilities such as schools and clinics.

Apart from the proclaimed provincial gravel road network of 9 400 km, there is a further 21 000 km of gravel road in the province. Around 12 000 km of these roads is access roads to public facilities in deep rural areas and also include ring roads connecting villages. We are in a process of evaluating models that will ensure that these roads are maintained to appropriate service levels.

In the province we have in excess of 2 000 km of surfaced roads in urgent need of resealing, and a further 1900km of un-surfaced roads that need upgrading to surfaced roads. It is therefore evident that the budget allocated is very limited but we hope that this situation will improve over the next Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period. In the meantime we will continue with the work which is currently in progress on maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction of our roads.

In ensuring that we create safer roads, the Department will continue with the implementation of a world class Bridge Management System (BMS). Under this system all our bridges will continuously be inspected in a prescribed way and all relevant details recorded in a prescribed format. Coupled with this system will be our efforts to fight poverty and create jobs. To this end we will set aside 50 percent of all bridge maintenance projects to youth and women. This BMS has revealed that we have a backlog of around R50 million in critical bridge repairs and a total need of R280 million for bridge repairs in the province.

The President, in his 2005 State of the Nation address made an announcement that three power stations will be commissioned in the province. Since that announcement we have witnessed an increase of more than 1000 truck loads of coal per day to Majuba and more than 500 truckloads of coal per day to Thuthuka Power Station and this number is expected to increase further. According to the information provided by the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME), more than 140 coalmines are expected to be opened soon.

Madam Speaker, we are sharing this information in order to indicate to this august house of the current imbalances between the use of roads and rail. Our records for example indicates that since 2003 to date, the number of heavy vehicles (trucks) have increased dramatically by more than 70 percent. This dramatic increase of trucks has therefore put more stress on our roads.

Honourable members, we should be aware that the state of our roads particularly in the Gert Sibande Region requires an integrated approach that involves all stakeholders and since this matter has become a national call, we were able to engage in fruitful discussions with Eskom, national Department of Transport and DPE through the leadership of the Premier. As a result of this engagement we were able to come up with short and long-term solution of which amongst them includes the creation of Coal Grid Road Network, finalize the overloading strategy and exploration of alternative funding. The long-term solution is the resuscitation of the rail infrastructure so that we are able to move a sizeable number of road coal haulage to rail.

Madam Speaker, we have therefore set aside R21,580 million for the roll over of the overloading control infrastructure which will be used for rebuilding of a Weighbridge in Ermelo and upgrading of the Kinross and KwaMhlanga Weighbridges. In this context we have also established an overloading control unit in the Department that will deal with overloading control in the entire province in a similar way as the one currently operating on the N4 road.

As we have reflected last year, we will continue with the implementation of the learnership projects which are at their last stages at a cost of R19 million. These projects include 45 learners who are currently based on the following projects Fernie to Diepdale, GaMatlala to Magakadibeng as well as Gutshwakop to Luphisi.

In the last financial year we have created 2 617 jobs through road construction, maintenance and rehabilitation and this number comprise of 46 percent youth, 24 percent women and one percent people with disabilities. This number is very small compared to the many unemployed poor people of our province. We will continue with our efforts to create jobs, being mindful of the fact that our people’s needs are unlimited and our resources are limited.

Our routine road maintenance budget has increased from R87 million in the last financial year to R116 million in this financial year, with R37,2 million for Gert Sibande Region, R26 million for Ehlanzeni Region, R22,4 million in Nkangala Region and R30 million allocated to Head Office for resealing, road signs and Siyatentela Project.

As part of our routine road maintenance strategy therefore the Department has been able to reduce the number of pothole claims from 73 claims in 2004 to 53 in 2005 as well as the total number of eight claims as of May 2006. Madam Speaker, this is a remarkable savings and a sign that so many lives have been saved through accidents caused by potholes.

In our efforts to reduce pressure from our budget we will through the Road Infrastructure Strategic Framework (RISF) for South Africa continues to identify some of our strategic economic routes with a view to transfer them to South African National Roads Agency limited (SANRAL).

Madam Speaker, let me take this opportunity to indicate the roads that we have through this process been able to transfer in the 2005/06 financial year, N2 from (Ermelo to Piet Retief) 159 km, R23 from (Rotanda, Balfour, Standerton to Volksrust) 164 km, R40 from (Barbeton to Nelspruit) 33 km and N11 from (Middleburg to Marble Hall) 121 km, which makes 476 81 km.

Similarly, this financial year we intend transferring the last badge of 916 km of roads to SANRAL which are R33 from (Commondale to (R555) Stoffberg) 246 km, R38 from (Bethal to Kaapmuiden) 246 km, R35 from (Amersfort to Middelburg) 150 km, R40 from (White River to Marite River Bridge) 98 km, R40 from (Barberton to Bulembu border) 45 km as well as the R50 from (Standerton to Gauteng boundary) 130 km.

In the Gert Sibande Region we will continue with the reconstruction of roads from Bethal to Morgenzon, Kinross to Standerton then complete Bethal to Middleburg and complete the upgrade of the road from Driefontein to Piet Retief.

At Nkangala Region we will also continue with the completion of roads from Vlaglagte to Moteti (Moloto Phase three), complete the gravelling of the Gamatlala to NoGaneng Road and complete the Matlerekeng to Motsanangoana as well as the Senotlelo to Lefiso.

In response to the undertaking we made just six months after the 1994 democratic breakthrough we will at Ehlanzeni Region begin with the construction of the Matsulu access route to the east of the N4 which will see the people of Matsulu traveling less than 16 km per day, 80 km per week, 320 km per month which will result in the reduction of the cost of doing business. In the same vein this will give the community of Matsulu to have more than one choice to exit or enter Matsulu.

As part of the implementation of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) which forms part of our work and mindful of the role these programmes play in creating jobs and fighting poverty, we will register as EPWP the Sandriver to Nyongane, Gamatlala to Noganeng, Steenbok to Khombaso as well as the Siyantentela Road Maintenaince Projects targeted at rural women headed households.

The declaration of October as a Public Transport Month has come with good results since our Department was able to identify a community that was divided by nature. By this we are referring to Ntombe Village and a river called Ntombe in the Gert Sibande Region that made it very difficult for the people of Ntombe Village to have easy access to public facilities such as clinics, schools, police stations and other public facilities. Now that the Department has successfully constructed a foot bridge there is easy accessibility to public facilities irrespective of the flow of the river.

Madam Speaker, in partnership with the Department of Public Works, Department of Local Government and Housing, Ehlanzeni District Municipality and Nkomazi Local Municipality we are currently conducting a feasibility study in relation to the maximum utilisation of the Nkomazi Precast Concrete Factory as a Multi-Facet Labour Intensive Project (MFLIP). Honourable members, the success of this project will have a huge positive impact to the women and youth of Nkomazi in terms of fighting poverty, unemployment as well as the development of emerging contractors.

As part of ensuring that we improve quality of construction and maintenance, we will conduct a technical skills audit within the Department and appoint a programme manager for quality control and programme management services. The absence of a programme manager and inadequate capacity on the roads section has made us to be highly dependant on consultants who sometimes collude with some contractors to do poor workmanship.

Public transport

Honourable members, globalisation which essentially refers to developments that lead to the shrinkage of space and time is attributable to two things. One is the developments in Information Technology (IT) and the other is the improvements in the field of transport.

Our challenge in transport is about the reduced costs of doing business, improving the quality of life and increasing workforce productivity. Public transport therefore must focus primarily on the needs of the urban poor, the rural disadvantaged and isolated communities.

Our key focus area is with the development of policies, programmes and initiatives that provide an overall framework in which co-ordinated, integrated and targeted public transport takes place with the ultimate aim of moving towards building a future where public transport will be a viable alternative for all travellers.

As indicated in our last year speech that the taxi recapitalisation project will get off the ground. We are happy to report that we have just successfully concluded the implementation of the first stage of this project, which is the application for conversion of permits to operating licenses.

We once again commend all those taxi operators in the province for responding overwhelmingly to our call to come forward and convert their permits. As on close of business on 31 May 2006 our operating licensing board registered a record of about 9 517 permits which is above the forecast of 7 005 as well as about 517 Be Legal Campaign (BLC) and about 458 Special Legalisation Process (SLP). This discrepancy is in part attributed to the submission of some dormant permits as well as poor record keeping of SLPs and BLCs.

Madam Speaker, in our province the conversion process went smoothly. This Department would like to send a strong message of warning to all those who did not submit their permits for conversion, urging them to refrain from operating because those operations would be regarded as illegal and if found their vehicles will be impounded.

Our operating licensing board is busy with the processing of these applications and I have instructed them to carry out this task expeditiously and timeously. We must indicate that those operators who have not received their operating licenses will not be penalised as long as they have a receipt showing that they have applied.

The board will also continue to receive applications after the cut off date. The successful processing of these late applications will depend on stated acceptable reasons provided by the operators that reasons for late submission were not of their own doing.

As announced by Minister Jeff Radebe we can confirm without any fear of contradiction that the taxi vehicle that meets the safety requirement is now available in the market at the price ranging from R140,000 excluding the scrapping allowance of R50,000. We expect that there will be six and 11 different models for taxi owners to choose from across the three vehicle categories.

The scrapping agency as announced by the Minister will enable us to begin next month with the implementation of the second stage of the taxi recapitalisation programme which is the scrapping of old vehicles for those who voluntarily wish to exit the taxi industry and for those who wish to recapitalise first and vehicles found to have reached an age limit.

Honourable members, government law enforcement strategy is a critical component of the taxi recapitalisation process as it presents government with an opportunity to intervene in the industry by addressing quite a number of compliance and regulatory issues. In this context our law enforcement initiatives and actions will continue and intensify in the following areas:

* un-roadworthy vehicles
* operators deviating from prescribed routes
* operators operating contrary to the conditions of their permits/operating licenses
* taxi piracy (operators found not in possession of any single document to validate any claim made by the driver/operator)
* operators/drivers and members found in possession of stolen and suspicious stolen vehicles
* operators/drivers and members found operating illegally imported vehicles.

The challenge that we confront as a province is the shortage of transport inspectors who are tasked with law enforcement of the above issues.

During the public transport month held in October 2005 in particular the car free day, we have witnessed a number of shortcomings and weaknesses of our public transport system which then necessitated that our government should move with speed to finalise the Model Tender Contracts which will be inclusive of all other modes of public transport and introduces competitive tendering in a regulated environment.

Honourable members, I must however emphasise that as we review the current operation of the old system towards a more equitable system where the commuter is paramount we will be sensitive to the current needs and structures of all operators. Our intention is to put in place better co-ordination of routes and integration of fare and ticketing systems.

Madam Speaker, corridor development remains one of our core projects and our aim is to optimise and integrate all activities along the corridors to improve efficiency. In this context we shall be conducting a detailed feasibility study on the Moloto Rail Development Corridor which is aimed at improving passenger mobility and reducing the number of vehicles from the road. Every one of us in this house is aware that the Moloto Road in particular has, because of its notoriety been given the name of “killer road.” The construction of this rail would certainly reduce the number of fatalities in this road because many people would migrate to the rail. I must also indicate that this project is part of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) projects in the province.

As part of resuscitating the Maputo Development Corridor and identifying other development corridors in the province we shall be launching the Maputo Freight Forum. The Maputo Corridor Logistics Initiative (MCLI) will be the Secretariat of this forum and the national Department of Transport has since allocated an amount of R300 000 on our behalf to enable MCLI to undertake this responsibility.

We are currently in a process of developing a provincial aviation strategy that seeks to address development requirements particularly as they relate to the role that aviation plays to boost tourism, promote business travel, extend the role of general aviation which offers low cost airlines and also to promote suitable air freight capacity. In this regard we shall during the course of this financial year convene an aviation summit.

In preparation for the 2010 Soccer World Cup we will this year update the current public transport record with a view to develop the public transport plan for the Mbombela Municipality. We will continue and support construction related matters development of public transport facilities in the Hazyview, White River, Kabokweni and Pienaar areas with a view to ensure that the legacy of the 2010 World Cup is retained. Through the multi modal strategy we will further support the development of a multi modal public transport facility that will see the link between rails, taxi’s and buses.

Over the past year through the Shovakalula project and in partnership with the Department of Education, we have been able to distribute about 200 bicycles to learners who are not covered by the scholar transport that is in the vicinity of four to five kilometres. We will this financial year establish about five bicycle shops that will be closer to communities in order to facilitate easy access for parts and repairs.

During the course of this financial year we will as part of a process to increase rural mobility launch a Rural Transport Strategy (RTS) which is aimed at promoting easy access to transport by the rural people in order to have access to economic opportunities, with more focus on the following municipalities Albert Luthuli and Mkhondo Municipality in the Gert Sibande District, Dr JS Moroka and Thembisile Municipality in Nkangala District, Nkomazi, Buschbuckridge and part of Mbombela Municipality in Ehlanzeni District.

In relation to the Multi Modal Facilities (MMF) we will be working closely with various municipalities to upgrade public transport facilities in the following towns being Nelspruit, Middelburg, Ermelo, Witbank and Secunda in Mbalenhle.

Traffic management

Madam Speaker, our road traffic fatalities continue to increase at an alarming degree with a substantial number of passengers and pedestrians dying on our roads. Our roads have turned into graves, our families live in constant fear of not coming back home in one piece from our respective places of work.

The tasks of turning this culture around and replacing it by one of care, peace, love, compassion, respect for the law and mutual respect on our roads requires the full participation of every citizen and the investment of all the resources at our disposal including prayer for safety of lives from accidents on our roads.

In the same fashion that we have raised the level of consciousness of our people around HIV/AIDS, we also need to do the same with road safety. It is only through a collective effort by all of us as road safety activists that we can turn the tide against deaths and make our roads safe for everyone. This responsibility should be a shared responsibility we cannot do it alone as a Department. All of us must act together and advocate the importance of road safety in our communities.

Madam Speaker, the statistics are showing that road accidents are still claiming and maiming too many lives of our people despite the appeals we have made year in and year out to all road users both motorist and pedestrians to behave responsible on our roads. Our analysis reflects that most of the accidents occurred over weekends and in the evenings between 18h00 and 20h00, with 39 percent being passengers 31 percent pedestrians and 30 percent drivers.

The appeals and messages that “Don’t Fool Yourself! Speed Kills! Don’t Drink and Drive! Arrive Alive” are well known to all of us. It is very obvious that the continuing of unnecessary loss of lives and injuries on our roads communicates the message that there are irresponsible people among us who still refuse to respect the rules that govern our conduct on the road.

Our traffic law enforcement in the context of “Sivutha Umlilo” will have to double their efforts and work harder in order to ensure that those who continue to misbehave and break the rules of the road are caught and severely punished.

We also want to encourage and commend the partnership we formed with companies such as BP, Sasol, SAB as well as the decision taken by some celebrities to become our road safety ambassadors which will enhance our work and integrate our efforts to have more meaningful impact. As part of our RSS we managed to host the National Driver of the Year Competition which was preceded by the Provincial Driver of the Year Competition. For the first time provincial best drivers were awarded trophies and cash prizes.

Madam Speaker, we want to commend all our sponsors such as Buscor and ABSA, who have made it possible for this competition to be a success and we further wish to appeal to those companies operating heavy vehicles to allow their drivers to participate in this competition as this will improve their driving skills and thereby contribute to road safety.

We also need to commend the work of the Moral Regeneration Movement (NRM) in the renewal of our attitude and behavioural change to bring back the element of ubuntu. It can only be through this attitude and behaviour change that we shall be in a position to reduce the number of widowers, orphans, people with disabilities and any other emotional suffering as a result of people dying on our roads. We urge our churches to continue playing this role of complementing our efforts in this regard.

In this respect we need to reach out to our public passenger drivers who must begin to see their passengers not as loads but as human beings, as fathers, mothers and breadwinners in whose hands many lives depend and most importantly as customers of the very passenger drivers. Once we manage to change these attitudes, positive results will be realised and our roads will cease to be graveyards of our people.

As we pointed out in our speech last year we will roll out the best practice model in seven more municipalities in our quest to prevent fraud and corruption at all our testing stations. We have also intervened in some of the municipalities where fraud and corruption was detected and found to be rife. The issuing of fraudulent drivers license has and is still undermining our efforts to reduce accidents and fatalities on our roads. That is the reason why we are geared towards the immediate appointment of traffic officers who would in the immediate future receive specialised training in order to curb fraud and corruption more especially in the licensing and testing centres.

During the past financial year we successfully held a Road Safety Summit which was attended by almost all our stakeholders. One of the objectives of the summit was to come up with strategies to deal with challenges of road safety and traffic law enforcement.

The summit has among other resolutions agreed that the Department must revisit the current policy on the provision of subsidised vehicles to employees of the Department which is not in the interest of the state. Madam Speaker, I wish to report to this august house that this matter has now been reviewed and have since taken a decision that subsidised vehicles will be provided only if it is in the interest of the state in relation to traffic management and what is in the interest of the State is the visibility of our traffic officers.

Administration and financial control

Madam Speaker, if we truly believe and define our State as a developmental State, then we have a task to build the capacity of the state to deliver and intervene from time to time. For this purpose we have set aside R1,6 million on staff development programmes with the help of training providers and institutions of higher learning.

We have also successfully lobbied the private sector and working in partnership with the Department of Education, we have embarked on a pilot project with TSB where 155 learners from grade 10 to 12 are participating in a Star School programme for extra science and mathematics classes on Saturdays.

About 20 learners will be placed in winter classes with the help of Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) on aviation related fields in Johannesburg. This will further enhance our work of encouraging learners to take careers on aviation.

Madam Speaker, the shortage of skills more especially in the field of engineering (civil and mechanical), technical areas and project management is a serious cause for concern. As a result of this skills gap the department is highly dependent on consultants.

As a measure to address this skills gap, we have started awarding bursaries to more than 40 learners and we intend to continue this financial year and beyond as and when funds allows. 23 of them are part time and nine of them are studying civil engineering of which three of them are females.

The lack of capacity in financial management has had a negative impact on our financial management and control. Be that as it may we have now put all our financial control systems in place inclusive of expenditure management system. This is aimed at ensuring that our service providers are paid within 30 days of receipt and acceptance of the invoice in compliance with the PFMA.

We must however report to this august House, that regardless of these weaknesses we have however managed to spend 98 percent of our 2005/06 budget as adjusted.

We would as a matter of extreme urgency come up with revenue enhancement strategy that would enable our Department to improve our revenue collection which among others includes to revisit the traffic fees with an aim of increasing them, taking over payment of traffic fines from Department of Justice to ensure maximum payment of fines which will also serve as a deterrent improve registration centres in order to encourage more people to register their vehicles in the province and in this regard we will therefore engage companies such as Telkom, Eskom, car rentals whose vehicles are currently registered in terms of their head office location but also run permanent businesses in the province.

With regards to service delivery improvement initiatives the Department has upgraded its Transversal Unit and renamed it Special Programmes and Transformation (SPT) in order to deal with the challenges of transformation as well as special programmes. We further wish to state categorically that we will continue and give preference to women in our attempt to deal with the imbalances of the past more especially in the filling in of posts in the senior management position.

Madam Speaker, honourable members, our fight for human dignity, social development and economic prosperity requires that we reach out to every corner of our province and mobilise support for this noble course of the impoverished majority of our people.

Part of our strategy is to improve communication and also to ensure that the inhabitants of this province have access to information and are also able to exercise their rights in relation to freedom of expression. We have produced a newsletter for the Department and we now are enthusiastic to announce that later this afternoon we would be launching our departmental website which would serve as a tool to ensure openness, transparency and maximum participation of all the people of this province.

Madam Speaker, now comes my plea to your august House and in front of your honourable members. I kick off by quoting from Hendrik Van Loon when he said: “I have come to have very profound and deep rooted doubts whether science as practiced by the human race will ever do anything to make this world a better and happier place to live in or will ever stop contributing to our general misery.”

I want this House to concur with me when I assert that our generation is the first one in many centuries to have both the correct vision and the necessary free hand to change for the better the course of human suffering, bondage and deprivation. Those of our fore fathers that were blessed with such vision clearly lacked the free hand due to our sad history.

The Department is determined to make use of human and capital resources and all that is necessary and available to effectively and efficiently contribute to the efforts of the provincial government to make a change out there. I have no doubt that you are convinced of the appropriateness of our endeavours to this end.

The overwhelming mandate given to us by the people of our province at the last general elections focuses on three areas:

* the need to accelerate growth and promote equitable economic development of our country and its people

* stepping up efforts to achieve social cohesion and to nurture national identity, to realise the goals of non-racialism, non-sexism through a deepening and expansion of democracy

* installing robust mechanisms and systems to monitor and evaluate progress on all objectives, strategies and plans of government in relation to the above priorities.

Honourable members, the strategies, plans and expenditure commitments of the department of roads and transport proceed from this medium term framework and seek to align its budgetary patterns with it.

This speaks directly to the needs of the majority of our people who in terms of the mandate of the Department of Roads and Transport we are obliged to provide safe, affordable and accessible public transport infrastructure.

I therefore take this opportunity to table an amount of R961 821 000 for 2006/07 financial year for approval by this august house, which is outlined as follows:
* Administration - R118 629 000
* Roads Infrastructure - R691 781 000
* Public Transport - R28 517 000
* Traffic Management - R122 894 000

In conclusion, let me pay special tribute to the hardworking women and men of the Department of Roads and Transport under the capable leadership of Ms TN Msibi with a poem called ‘Ode to an old pair of shoes.’ It goes:
“Brothers and Sisters we are
Great burdens we bear
All day we are bitterly pressed
And yet this to you I would say
We are full all day
And empty when we go to bed.”

I also take this opportunity to thank the members of the portfolio committee under the able leadership of the Chairperson, honourable DD Mabuza for the excellent co-operation they have displayed and accorded the Department. Most importantly, I thank the honourable Premier and members of the Executive Council (ExCo) for the unswerving support for all our endeavours to deliver on our constitutional mandate.

Thank you!

Issued by: Department of Roads and Transport, Mpumalanga Provincial Government
20 June 2006