POLOKWANE – She made this appeal during the tabling of the department’s budget on Thursday, 5 April.
“Our law enforcement needs to implement proper systems to deal with challenges in the industry and we need to look into regulating the industry, supervising the programme of driving schools and monitoring their outcomes. In this regard, the department plans to develop provincial legislation to regulate this industry. Added to this, one of the most immediate measures we want to embark on is to resuscitate the driving schools’ forum,” she said.
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Corruption
The perception exists that corruption is institutionalised in the Department of Transport countrywide, Makhurupetje said, and the department needs to put in place a corruption-busting strategy covering more than just the traffic component.
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“The start of this is the Anti-Fraud Unit of the department, together with other law enforcement agencies like the Hawks, that have arrested 40 officers in 2017/18. Three civilians acting as intermediaries of licence applicants and examiners were also arrested.”
She assured the public the programme will continue until corruption at every level in the department has been eradicated.
Traffic management
Makhurupetje congratulated officials on the success of Operation Ndadzi, launched on 1 November 2017, leading to a reduction of 17% in festive season fatalities. She added Easter weekend statistics, to be released this week, will be higher, however, as the result of three separate incidents involving minibus taxis killing 17 people.
The possible cause of these accidents are attributed to reckless driving. Makhurupetje thanked partners in the private sector for their assistance and for creating training opportunities for the youth.
The department started piloting the Traffic Contravention Management system from this month. The system will assist with the management of traffic written notices, expose habitual offenders and will be linked to eNaTIS, helping to improve the department’s ability to collect revenue.
Bus transport
Makhurupetje said a plan to restructure the current subsidy regime needs to be put in place during this financial year to address the historical disparities and the growing demand for subsidised services.
“The contracts need to be re-advertised, but they must first be preceded by a provincial public transport audit (phase 1) followed by the design of the integrated public transport networks (phase 2).”
An estimated 30 million passengers transported by 18 bus operators in the province benefited through the bus subsidy system in the last financial year. Some 893 buses rendered subsidised services in undertaking 34 million kilometre at a cost of R711 million. A total of 1 786 direct jobs were sustained benefiting permanent employees by various companies to administer the operations of subsidised buses. Insufficient funding, however, prohibits the introduction of new services or the approval of additional trips in existing areas.
An Electronic Vehicle Trip Monitoring System installed in 425 buses rendering subsidised commuter services, aimed to ensure more effective and efficient subsidised operations, realised a saving of around R25 million on subsidy payments since the introduction of the system in August last year.
Taxi services
Altogether R5 million has been set aside for the Limpopo Taxi Council in an effort to assist the industry with administration and transformation. A taxi indaba is planned for October to look into a variety of challenges within the industry.
Gateway Airports Authority Limited (Gaal)
Makhurupetje said problems at Gaal largely emanate from management instability.
“Over the past few years, Gaal had four boards of directors and four different CEOs. The department, with the assistance of Treasury, has now taken charge of the situation and is well on the way of stabilising Gaal. A new board of directors has been appointed for three years and the board and the department is in the process of appointing a CEO. The new management at Gaal will embark on a turnaround strategy for the entity as first priority with the aim to develop Gaal into a self-sustainable entity which contributes to the economic development of the province,” Makhurupetje said.
An amount of R53,4 million will be transferred to the entity to fulfill its mandate. Altogether R3 million is budgeted for maintenance of infrastructure which includes maintenance of runways, taxiways, landing lights and flood lights among others.
2018/19 budget
The total budget for 2018/19 is R2,106 billion, a 7,3% increase on the 2017/18 budget. Included in the budget is a Public Transport Operation Conditional Grant amounting to R356 million.
Of the budget, R620,9 million will go for administration, R868,9 million for transport operations and R616,3 million for transport regulation.
Compensation of employees is budgeted at R975,3 million, goods and services at R291,8 million, transfers and subsidies at R802 million and payment for capital assets at R37 billion.
The department contributes almost 47% of the provincial revenue out of traffic functions and is estimating to collect over half a million Rand in the 2018/19 financial year.
