National Council of Provinces - 26 October 2010
TUESDAY, 26 OCTOBER 2010 __
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
____
The Council met at 14:00.
The Acting Chairperson (Mr R J Tau) took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation.
ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS – see col 000.
NOTICES OF MOTION
Ms M P THEMBA: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council, I shall move:
That the Council -
(1) notes that 19 October 2010 marked the 33rd anniversary of Press Freedom Day in South Africa, a day when the apartheid regime took a decision to suppress any dissenting voice by muzzling and suppressing the freedom of the media to prevent reporting on the political suppression and abuse of the majority of the people of South Africa; 2) further notes that the ANC remained at the forefront of the fight for press freedom, as a central feature of the fight for liberation of the people of South Africa against the shackles of apartheid, political suppression and socioeconomic marginalisation;
3) acknowledges that almost 16 years since the demise of apartheid in
South Africa the ANC-led government has led a quest to create an
environment free of oppression, persecution and repressive
legislation where the freedom of the press and other essential
elements, such as freedom of expression and freedom of speech form
the cornerstone of our constitutional democracy, are guaranteed and
are protected by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa;
4) further acknowledges the ANC’s call and commitment to engaging the
media and other media formations such as the Press ... [Time
expired.]
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Mr R J Tau): Hon member, unfortunately, your time has expired. Your motion will be printed on the Order Paper in full.
Mr M C MAINE: Chairperson, on behalf of the ANC, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council I shall move:
That the Council - 1) notes that embattled Cope sank into deeper waters yesterday when its president announced the suspension of his deputy president Mbhazima Shilowa, party national organiser Mluleki George and the parliamentary administrator Lolo Mashiane;
2) further notes that in the Western Cape Cope structures are calling
for the provincial executive committee under the leadership of
Mbulelo Ncedana, which is aligned to the now suspended Cope deputy
president, to be disbanded; and
3) takes this opportunity to make a clarion call to all those who left
the ANC to come back home where they belong.
[Applause.][Laughter.]
Mr D B FELDMAN: Chairperson, I give notice on behalf of Cope that on the next sitting day of the Council I shall move:
That the Council debates the failure of the ANC executive to understand the constitutional imperative and inviolability of the separation of powers as demonstrated by the Minister of State Security, in this instance, trying to push the ad hoc committee to approve the Protection of Information Bill, even though it clearly appears to the ad hoc committee to be unconstitutional.
[Applause.] The CHIEF WHIP OF THE COUNCIL: Chairperson, I give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council I shall move:
That the Council -
1) notes with utter disdain reports that the South Gauteng leader of
the DA, Dot Corrigan, receives two salaries from two different
municipalities in the province, one as a councillor in the City of
Johannesburg, and the other as an official and senior municipal
director in the DA-run Midvaal municipality;
2) further notes that when asked about the two salaries in light of
vast unemployment, Corrigan dismissed the queries as professional
jealousy; and
3) takes this opportunity to condemn in the strongest possible terms
the blatant looting of public funds and the silence of the DA,
which has taken the moral high ground on issues of good governance,
but clearly shows its bias and inability to deal with this self-
enrichment and looting of public funds.
Mr K A SINCLAIR: Chairperson, I give notice on behalf of Cope … [Interjections.]
HON MEMBERS: Which one? Mr K A SINCLAIR: The real one. [Laughter.]
Mr K A SINCLAIR: … that on the next sitting day of the Council I shall move:
That the Council debates the failure of the SABC-ANC board …
[Laughter.] Sorry!
… the SABC board and its chairman to fulfil its fiduciary and statutory responsibilities and obligations, leading to the SABC floating as a rudderless ship unable, amongst other things, to broadcast a football match between the South African national side and Mali, and failing in many other regards on account of poor governance, possible political interference and absent leadership.
Mr S S MAZOSIWE: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that at the next sitting of the Council I shall move:
That the Council -
1) notes reports that the flagging Cope is broke and battling to raise
funds for its upcoming national elective conference, scheduled to
be held in the Free State in two weeks’ time;
2) further notes that –
a) infighting over leadership positions between interim
president Mosiuoa Lekota and deputy president Mbhazima
Shilowa, as well as the abuse of party-allocated funding
through political allegiance, have alienated potential
funders and divided the membership of Cope into groups of
those against or for Lekota and Shilowa; and
b) five months after the aborted Centurion conference, where
delegates representing the warring factions caused damage
worth an undisclosed amount of money, Cope is yet to settle
the more than R2 million bill for the St George’s Hotel; and
3) takes this opportunity to call on those who left or were misled
into leaving the ANC by disgruntled individuals and power mongers
who could not accept the internal democratic processes of the ANC,
to come back and rejoin the nation’s quest to advance the lives of
the people of South Africa in and by the ANC-led government.
Mr Z MLENZANA: Chairperson, I hereby give notice on behalf of Cope that on the next sitting day of the Council I shall move:
That the Council debates the shocking announcement by the Hawks to unilaterally call off the investigation into the arms deal … The arms deal! -
… in the face of a specific request by Parliament to continue the probe, and especially as the French, German and English authorities have now been uncovering important information that would have been useful in the probe.
Mr M W MAKHUBELA: Chairperson, I hereby wish to give notice on behalf of the “real” Cope … [Laughter.] … that on the next sitting day I shall move:
That the Council debates the advisability and propriety of using part of the Police budget to fund purchases of luxury vehicles for numerous senior officers, while at the same time allowing them the use of police vehicles as well.
Mr D A WORTH: Chairperson, on behalf of the DA I hereby wish to give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council I shall move:
That the Council -
1) wishes all the learners writing their matric examinations the best
of luck; and
2) acknowledges that the matriculants of today will be the leaders of
the nation in the future. Good luck!
Mr S H PLAATJIE: Chairperson, I hereby wish to give notice on behalf of Cope that on the next sitting day of the Council I shall move:
That the Council debates the extent to which the Minister of Housing has made concrete and visible his statement during his budget debate that “housing is not just about building houses” but that “It is about transforming our residential areas and building communities with closer access to work and social amenities, including sports and recreation facilities”.
NONDISTRIBUTION OF 85 TRACTORS IN MPUMALANGA
(Draft Resolution)
Mrs A N D QIKANI: Chairperson, I move without notice:
That the Council —
1) notes with utter dismay and serious contempt reports that the
Mpumalanga department of agriculture has failed to distribute 85
tractors worth an estimated R34 million;
2) further notes that the tractors donated by President Jacob Zuma
were part of a R500 million government Masibuyele eMasimini
programme which seeks to provide black farmers with hi-tech farming
equipment;
3) takes this opportunity to condemn in the harshest possible terms
such a degree of irresponsible and reckless usage of public funds
and undermining of the President’s commitment to fight rural
poverty, food insecurity and unemployment; and
4) calls on the Mpumalanga Premier and the responsible MEC to ensure
that this incident is investigated and that those responsible are
made to take full responsibility.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
FATAL COLLISION IN KWAZULU-NATAL
(Draft Resolution)
Mr M P JACOBS: Chairperson, I move without notice:
That the Council —
1) notes that a head-on crash on Saturday, 23 October, killed
19 people and injured seven when a bakkie hit a minibus taxi in
eastern KwaZulu-Natal;
2) further notes that the driver of the bakkie allegedly failed to
negotiate a bend and collided head-on with the minibus taxi;
3) acknowledges that road crashes, exacerbated by irresponsible
driving and unroadworthy vehicles, continue to rob our nation and
many families of mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and children;
4) takes this opportunity to convey its profound condolences to the
families of those who lost their lives and wishes a speedy recovery
to those injured; and
5) declares its support for the festive season safe driving programmes
and initiatives by declaring, “Stay alert, stay alive!”
6) Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
CRIME IN MOTHERWELL
(Draft Resolution)
Mr T M H MOFOKENG: Chairperson, I move without notice:
That the Council —
1) notes that the South African Police Service indicates that 80% of
crimes committed in South Africa’s third most populous township,
Motherwell in Port Elizabeth, are alcohol related;
2) further notes that Motherwell, which is located approximately 20 km
from Port Elizabeth, 3 km from Coega and 20 km from Uitenhage, has
106 licensed taverns and hundreds of illegal shebeens, which has
resulted in more cases of violent crime, robbery, drunk driving,
and disorderly arrests; and
3) takes this opportunity to call on the local police station and
provincial commissioner, as well as the Metro Police, to reclaim
the area from criminal elements who display an utter disregard for
the rule of law and the constitutional rights of community members.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
UNFULFILLED PROMISE OF JULIUS MALEMA
(Draft Resolution)
Mr R A LEES: Chairperson, I move without notice:
That the Council —
1) notes that the ANC Youth League has failed to deliver wheelchairs
to the Ikhwezi Lokusa School for children with disabilities;
2) also notes that more than a year after promising these currently
disadvantaged children that they would receive wheelchairs, no
wheelchairs have been delivered;
3) further notes that the leader of the ANC Youth League, Julius
Malema, until recently received protection from the state that cost
millions of rand and was paid for by taxpayers;
4) condemns the unfulfilled promise of wheelchairs made to
disadvantaged children, a promise that seems to have been made more
for political gain than for the benefit of these desperate
children; and
5) therefore calls upon the ANC Youth League to immediately make good
on its promise to supply wheelchairs to the poor children at the
Ikhwezi Lokusa School and to cease to make idle promises simply for
political gain which are hurtful to the very people they purport to
assist.
There being an objection, the motion without notice became a notice of motion.
FAILURE OF KZN DA LEADER TO WALK THE TALK
(Draft Resolution)
Mr D D GAMEDE: Chairperson, I move without notice:
That the Council —
1) notes that the people of KwaZulu-Natal should be clear that the DA
does not walk the talk, this after their KwaZulu-Natal leader was
exposed as someone who is not honest, even with his wife and two
daughters;
2) further notes that John Steenhuisen must not be redeployed to the
national Parliament but must step down to show remorse for his
infidelity with another DA official; and
3) notes the silence of the media on issues that touch the DA.
There being an objection, the motion without notice became a notice of motion. GOOD PERFORMANCE OF SHARKS
(Draft Resolution)
Mnr W F FABER: Voorsitter, ek stel sonder kennisgewing voor: Dat die Raad —
1) kennis neem dat die Sharks-rugbyspan die naweek teen die Westelike
Provinsie in die Curriebeker-eindstryd in Durban, in die Shark Tank
[Haaitenk] speel;
2) verder kennis neem dat die Sharks-rugbyspan die afgelope paar jaar
bewys het dat hulle die span is om mee rekening te hou;
3) onthou dat die Sharks in 2008 die Curriebeker gewen het en weereens
nie sal teleurstel nie;
4) ook kennis neem dat die Sharks se spelpyl die afgelope jaar van die
hoogste gehalte was en ons verwag ook hierdie jaar niks anders teen
die WP nie; en
5) die Sharks-rugbyspan alle sterkte toewens met hulle kragmeting teen
die WP in die Shark Tank [Haaitenk]. (Translation of Afrikaans draft resolution follows.)
[Mr W F FABER: Chairperson, I move without notice:
That the Council –
1) notes that the Sharks rugby team will be playing against Western
Province in this weekend’s Curry Cup final at the Shark Tank in
Durban;
2) further notes that over the past few years the Sharks have proven
to be the rugby team to watch;
3) acknowledges that the Sharks won the Curry Cup in 2008 and once
again will not disappoint;
4) realises that in the past year the Sharks’ game has been of the
highest standard and expects nothing less against Western Province;
and
(5) wishes the Sharks all of the best in their contest against Western Province on Saturday at the Shark Tank in Durban.]
There being an objection, the motion without notice became a notice of motion.
CONDEMNATION OF VIOLENT ATTACKS ON WOMEN
(Draft Resolution)
The CHIEF WHIP OF THE COUNCIL: Chairperson, I move without notice:
That the Council — 1) notes that a pregnant 21-year-old woman was raped and severely assaulted when she, her partner and their 2-year-old son were attacked and robbed at Mabula Game Farm near Ladybrand in the Free State;
2) takes this opportunity to condemn in the harshest possible terms
this inhuman act of criminality which has left the woman and her
family with lifelong trauma; and
3) calls on the police and community to ensure that these heartless
criminals are brought to book to face the full might of the law.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
DROWNING OF ERIC NDLOVU
(Draft Resolution)
Mr A G MATILA: Chairperson, I move without notice:
That the Council —
1) notes that Eric Ndlovu, a 20-year-old matriculant from Orange Farm,
south of Johannesburg, drowned in a swimming pool at Fun Valley,
outside Eldorado Park, after a matric farewell party only two days
before the start of the national senior certificate examinations;
2) further notes that Ndlovu was declared dead on the scene after he
was found on the bottom of the swimming pool;
3) acknowledges that this event has shattered the Ndlovu family, his
fellow learners, friends and the school; and
4) takes this opportunity to convey its profound condolences to the
Ndlovu family and calls on all matriculants, parents and schools to
exercise more caution when planning any matric farewell function
and to prearrange emergency personnel or police to ensure that
tragic incidents such as this one are prevented.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution . FATHER SENTENCED FOR SEXUAL ABUSE OF 19-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER
(Draft Resolution) Ms B P MABE: Chairperson, I move without notice:
That the Council —
1) notes that two weeks ago a father was sentenced in the Paarl
Regional Court to 50 years in prison for raping his 19-year-old
daughter;
2) further notes that -
a) the sexual abuse and physical violation and abuse of the
daughter started when she was 13 years old and eventually she
ran away from home in September 2008 and a missing persons
picture was placed in a local newspaper; and
b) despite her suffering, the courageous young woman completed
her matric and moved out of the area to start a new life; and
3) takes this opportunity to condemn this incident in the harshest
possible terms and pay homage to the daughter who courageously
fought against being trapped into being a victim by fighting back
for justice.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
DEATH OF ROAD USERS
(Draft Resolution)
Mr M P SIBANDE: Chairperson, I move without notice:
That the Council —
1) notes that road accidents caused more than 30 deaths and several
pedestrians were critically injured across South Africa over the
weekend, as stated by the Ministry of Transport on Sunday;
2) further notes that among the South Africans who lost their lives
over the weekend was 15-year-old Mpho Nyembe from Alexandra in
Johannesburg who was killed in a road accident in which eight other
pedestrians — five pupils, a 35-year-old woman with a toddler
strapped to her back, and her 10-year-old son - were critically
injured after being hit by a car driven by a 16-year-old Highlands
North Boys’ High School learner who had taken his parents’ car
without their permission;
3) takes this opportunity to convey its profound condolences to the
families of those who lost their lives and wishes those injured a
speedy recovery; and
4) calls on all South African road users to be responsible as we
approach the festive season by showing their support for the
festive season drive safely programmes and initiatives by declaring
“Stay alert, stay alive!”
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
UNITED NATIONS DAY
(Draft Resolution)
Mr M C MAINE: Chairperson, I move without notice:
That the Council —
1) notes that last Sunday, 24 October, was United Nations Day — a day
which marked the 65th anniversary of the entry into force of the
United Nations Charter in 1945;
2) further notes that the United Nations was established after World
War II in order to maintain international peace and promote co-
operation in solving international economic, social and
humanitarian problems;
3) acknowledges that the United Nations has made profound progress in
facilitating co-operation in international law, international
security, economic development, social progress, human rights and
achievement of world peace; and
4) takes this opportunity to extend and reaffirm its profound support
for this great organisation that has become the founding father of
global humankind and the voice of marginalised communities and
individuals across the globe.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
ACCIDENTS AT LEVEL CROSSINGS IN THE WESTERN CAPE
(Draft Resolution)
Mr A J NYAMBI: Chairperson, I move without notice:
That the Council —
1) notes with profound sadness another incident involving a motor
vehicle and a train at a level crossing in the Western Cape, where
a woman was killed when the car in which she was travelling
collided with a train packed with commuters near Paarl;
2) further notes that this incident has taken place less than two
months after 10 children died when the taxi they were in collided
with a train at the Buttskop level crossing in Blackheath and
barely two weeks after the province held a provincial summit under
the banner of LeadSA to look at the elimination of accidents at
level crossings across the province; and
3) takes this opportunity to convey its profound condolences to the
family of the deceased woman and reiterates its call for Metrorail
to move with regard to speed with regard to programmes to secure
unguarded level crossings that continue to claim the lives of South
Africans.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
ESTABLISHMENT OF AD HOC JOINT COMMITTEE TO CONSIDER CODE OF JUDICAL CONDUCT AND REGULATIONS TO JUDGES’ DISCLOSURE OF REGISTRABLE INTERESTS
(Draft Resolution)
The CHIEF WHIP OF THE COUNCIL: Chair, I move the motion printed in my name on the Order Paper, as follows:
That an ad hoc joint committee be established in terms of Joint Rule 138, subject to the concurrence of the National Assembly, the committee to –
(1) consider the Code of Judicial Conduct and the Regulations on Judges’ Disclosure of Registrable Interests tabled on 20 October 2010 in terms of the Judicial Service Commission Act, Act No 9 of 1994;
(2) conduct public hearings in accordance with the provisions of the Act;
(3) consist of 9 members of the National Council of Provinces and 14 members of the National Assembly, as follows: ANC 8, DA 2, Cope 1, IFP 1 and other parties 2;
(4) exercise those powers in Joint Rule 32 that may assist it in carrying out its task; and
(5) report to the Council by 16 November 2010.
I propose further, Chair, that members who serve in the Ethics Joint Committee deal with the matter and report back to the House.
Question put: That the motion be agreed to.
IN FAVOUR: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, Western Cape.
Motion accordingly agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
NATIONAL TRANSPORT MONTH: BUILDING A RELIABLE AND SAFE PUBLIC TRANSPORT NETWORK
(Subject for Discussion)
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: Chairperson, members of the NCOP, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. I must start by expressing my sincere sympathy and condolences to the family and relatives of the 19 people who were killed last Saturday in a head-on collision between a minibus taxi and a bakkie at Franklin near Kokstad in KwaZulu-Natal and to the family of the 15-year-old Mpho Nyembe from Alexandra in Johannesburg, who was killed in a senseless schoolboy prank on Friday, 22 October. We wish all those injured a speedy recovery.
A few weeks ago we stopped 750 vehicles at a roadblock on the main road entering East London in the Eastern Cape. Out of those 750, in 438 vehicles some of the drivers were found to be drunk! I was there and it was between 09:00 and 11:00 in the morning! The drivers of 438 vehicles were found to be drunk, not wearing seatbelts, or driving stolen or unlicensed vehicles, or taxis without the relevant permits. If this is the picture in just one province and one municipality, we have a serious problem indeed. It is why we are experiencing so many accidents and deaths on our roads.
The roadblocks we are manning are meant to make our roads safer. To date, since 1 October 2010, more than 914 000 vehicles have been stopped through the new National Rolling Enforcement Plan, NREP. By the end of this week we will have exceeded our target of one million cars per month, and we are not going to stop. We are going to intensify the new NREP by stopping one million cars per month until South Africans start to behave.
Our agency, the Road Traffic Management Corporation, RTMC, has a multimedia project which we are rolling out in some schools in South Africa. It is a multimedia project which we intend expanding. We intend having more road safety lessons in it, targeting Grade 11 and 12 learners in preparation for their learner driving licence. We have already signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Basic Education in regard to this matter. We have already started the process of resuscitating the Junior Traffic Training Centres, as well as allowing children to have practical exposure to road safety.
As indicated above, road safety lessons will be taught under Life Skills in all our schools. We are in the process of developing learning materials and working with some private sector industries in putting together different types of modules. This will assist our efforts to reduce road traffic crashes.
In our Budget Vote this year we articulated the importance of the implementation of effective and sustainable road and rail infrastructure networks and services. So, with our students, we want to have a situation in which, when they get their matric certificates, there is a matric certificate in the one hand and a driving licence in the other. The days should be gone when we classify ourselves as a fast-developing country, yet we have 25-year-olds who can’t ride a bicycle, can’t ride a horse, can’t swim, and can’t drive a car. What sort of a developed country is that?
While the role of transport in our economy is well documented, our people are also aware of the importance of transport from their everyday experiences. They go to work, to school, to hospitals and to visit friends and relatives. The presence or absence of an efficient public transport system can be a matter of life and death to a terminally ill person in the rural parts of our country. Transport affects all spheres of our development and human endeavours.
As government, we must show we care about the huge impact that transport has on the lives of our people, as well as on our economic growth and development. Our ability to spearhead growth and development will therefore be partly measured by our success in providing or our failure to provide a transport system consistent with the demands of our economy.
For this reason, I want to make a brief reference to the National Household Travel Survey 2003. According to the survey, 38 million citizens live in households with no access to a car; 14 million learners walk to school; 13,7 million citizens use public transport at least once a week; and 7 million workers and learners use public transport.
Furthermore, there are 10 million vehicles in South Africa, but only 7 million licensed drivers. If we have 7 million licensed drivers, the logical question we must ask is: Who drives the other 3 million vehicles? It is quite clear, however, that despite the growth in motor vehicle use, public transport and walking are still the predominant lifeline forms of mobility for the vast majority of South Africans.
Hon members, it is against this backdrop that in March 2007 Cabinet approved the Public Transport Strategy and Action Plan 2007-20. This was in order to create a lasting legacy of public transportation in South Africa.
The strategy consists of upgraded model fleet facilities, stops and stations; extended hours of operation to between 16 and 24 hours; peak frequencies of 5 to 10 minutes; off-peak frequencies of 10 to 30 minutes; and an hourly night service. Its targets are that 85% of all residents in urban areas will be within one kilometre of the rapid public transport network by 2020; that there will be safe and secure operation monitoring by intelligent transport system control centres; that there will be electronic fare integration and single ticketing when making transfers; that there will be an integrated feeder service, including walking, cycling and taxi networks; and that there will be a car-competitive public transport option which enables strict peak period car use management.
These plans, ladies and gentlemen, require efficient planning, skilled manpower, and funding mechanisms. This approach comprises the Metrorail Rail Priority Corridors and the Gauteng Rapid Rail Link, as well as bus rapid transit corridors. It also includes the recapitalisation and regulation of taxi services. The three spheres of government are already working closely together to ensure the speedy implementation of this plan.
The bus rapid transit, BRT, buses are already operating in the City of Johannesburg and in Cape Town. The department has advanced with BRT plans in metropolitan cities and related provinces, and BRT plans are advanced in the Mangaung, Polokwane, Rustenburg, Mbombela and Buffalo City municipalities.
In line with our public transport strategy and plan, we also have to interrogate the machinery of our road-based public transport in order to develop a national passenger road plan. The plan is now servicing our framework for the integration of the road-based public transport system. Most importantly, it serves as a guide in transforming the subsidised commuter bus regime into an integrated road-based public transport system.
Chairperson, apartheid’s spatial distance must become a thing of the past in a democratic South Africa. In this regard, our public transport strategy also stresses greater emphasis on the improvement of passenger rail services, which are both short- and long-distance services. Our plan is centred on reducing the kilometre distance to time or travelling distance. The journey from Johannesburg to Durban should not be measured in terms of kilometres any more. It takes one hour by air, six hours by car and 12 hours by train to travel from Johannesburg to Durban. It takes 2 hours by air, almost 13 hours by car and almost 20 hours by train from Johannesburg to Cape Town. Yet if one uses the EuroStar, it takes about 2 hours from London to Paris or Brussels. The distance of over 2000 km from Beijing to Shanghai, which is scheduled for completion in 2012, will take about three hours by high-speed train.
There was a time when it was said with some pride that there was no hurry in Africa. There was a time when we lived in splendid isolation from the rest of the world. If we persist with the prevailing notion that there is no hurry in Africa, then the world is going to pass us by. If doing business and moving people and goods in South Africa takes forever, the world is going to pass us by. Throughout the world today people and goods move with speed. The slow strive to become faster, and the faster strive to be faster still, yet our long-distance rail in South Africa has stood still.
Our National Transport Master Plan 2005-50 should therefore move from being a plan to an operation. Our emphasis on passenger rail services is premised on the fact that this is a prime mass mover of our people, particularly workers who commute daily between areas of work and their residences. It makes sense therefore that an efficient rail system would massively assist in the resolution of our public transport problems.
Cabinet has also approved the National Passenger Rail Plan, which is our initiative to secure the future of commuter rail by applying the priority corridor strategy to the rail network throughout the country. The intention is to extend rail services to areas previously not covered and to improve the efficiency of the existing passenger rail lines. Here we have funding challenges for refurbishment of rolling stock and purchasing of new coaches. Committed funding of R16 billion to improve our passenger rail system in the next three years could ease the situation but additional funds are required.
In the past four years, as a department we have had a series of challenges with regard to rail security. Scenes of vandalism, cable theft and vandalism of property have featured prominently at our rail platforms. Special attention has been given to improving security measures within the railway environment. This strategy includes a co-operative agreement with the South African Police Service to invest in security-related infrastructure. To date, the construction of police stations at the Cape Town, Durban, Retreat, Bellville and Philippi stations has been completed.
With the reintroduction of the railway police, we have seen a significant drop in crime on our trains, as well as at our train stations. Crime has been cut down by more than 38% to date.
The move to rail does not mean we must abandon our road network. We are merely seeking to implement the appropriate balance of people and goods on both road and rail. In this regard, the Road Infrastructure Strategic Framework for South Africa identified six critical areas for intervention if our roads are to serve as catalysts for required development.
There is one Minister of Transport, and there are nine provincial MECs, and the municipal mayors, who each have responsibility for sections of the 750 000 km of our country’s road network. Yet an ordinary South African does not care whether a road in a rural area is owned and maintained by the local authority or by the national authority. All they want is for the road to be usable, whether it is raining or not. We have the capacity in the developed authorities, coupled with limited or no capacity at the developing authority level. The other area which is as critical is the development and maintenance of information and decisions in support systems. Information about the state of a road is very important in determining what maintenance work is required and when this should be done. To give a quick illustration, we know that about 80% of our road network is now older than the 20-year design life. This is based on information from 64% of the roads, primarily national, provincial and in some cities. Only 4% of municipal road information was obtainable in this exercise.
The biggest challenge with our roads is that by the time a problem is visible on the surface it means we are somewhat late with remedial action. On the other hand, when the road is deteriorating without showing the stress on the surface, we often do not see the need to make the necessary interventions. For this reason, we have now agreed as Cabinet and Treasury that there will be dedicated funding for road maintenance right across the board from national and provincial to local levels.
In a context such as ours, where there are competing demands on the fiscus, this competition leads to inadequate allocations and delays, which ultimately means we intervene when it is too expensive to do so. This is often prompted by the outcry about potholes, as we have recently witnessed. I encourage all participants to learn from these lessons.
Most industries in South Africa face globalisation and transformation challenges but the South African transport and logistics industry faces its own peculiarities that impact on the country as a whole. This industry comprises tens of thousands of individual truck and bakkie owners, as well as some of South Africa’s largest conglomerates. These all experience reliability and cost-efficiency challenges. They are faced with assets that struggle across inadequate road, rail and port infrastructure. Rail and port services are integral to all freight transport and logistics companies, whether bulk or parcel.
The road versus rail debate has raged since the early 1990s. The spiral, however, started long before that, when maintenance budgets were cut and investment decisions deferred. The downward spiral started when customers started moving off rail. Fewer customers meant less revenue on some routes. This, in turn, made it difficult to justify continued investment in and maintenance of infrastructure. Poor infrastructure resulted in poor service and drove even more customers away. The cycle continues.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is only through huge investment in skills, infrastructure and our knowledge base that our transport system can drive our economy upwards. Lastly, to our matric learners, we hope that as they sit for their examinations the road will rise to meet them. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Mr R J Tau): Thank you very much, hon Minister. May I just bring to the attention of the House the fact that the Minister has disinvested in his response time.
Mr M P JACOBS: Chairperson, hon Chief Whip and hon Minister of Transport – all protocol observed – our theme today is: “Building a reliable and safe public transport network”. This theme should be adopted as our Bible in the Department of Transport, and should be religiously adhered to, because it is our guide. The theme explains the gist of what we should be doing, which needs the co-operation of all road users.
Reliability means that our transport should be consistent in executing its job, meaning consistently and without failure ferrying passengers on time from point A to point B. Our trains and buses should be timekeepers for the ordinary man on the street. Our passengers should have confidence in the services, knowing quite well that they will arrive on time wherever they are being ferried.
Safety means passengers board our buses and trains knowing that their lives are safe. Drivers at all levels should obey the rules of the road and take the interests of their passengers to heart. They must be sensitive, respectful and courteous in their operations. Passengers can take a nap in our modes of transport knowing that they will arrive at work or at home safe. This is the kind of transport system we envisage in our country, but also, the success of our transport system depends on the good infrastructure that we should have.
This debate comes at a time when research is showing that the carnage on our roads is increasing. The most recent carnage occurred at Kokstad over the weekend. Our roads have become death traps. The lives of our people have become cheap. Road hogs have lost respect for the sanctity of life. It is now the norm for a human being to become a statistic of road accidents. Those passengers were family members en route to their workplace, but their lives were cut short by irresponsible road users. We cannot go on like this. We need to do something drastic. We need to give those transgressors little place to hide. One life lost is one life too many.
A recent survey shows that most of the road accidents were caused by drivers with alcohol in their bloodstream. Six out of ten drivers who die in accidents have a high level of alcohol in their blood. An investigation into substance abuse has indicated that 50% of truck drivers and 30% of taxi drivers had been drinking or smoking marijuana when the accidents occurred. Our people are dying, but we are paralysed and simply ball watching.
During this Transport Month we must encourage all drivers to obey the rules and laws of the road in order to reduce road accidents. We need to encourage taxi drivers and their associations to act responsibly to save the lives of their clients. They need to inculcate confidence in their industry. We cannot create lawlessness in this country by condoning the actions of irresponsible drivers. We need to be decisive, strict and on the offensive with regard to the road hogs and transgressors.
We also have to look at ourselves. Some of our traffic officers are corrupt and demand bribes for issuing driving licences and not issuing fines for traffic offences. It has become difficult for an ordinary person to make reservations for learner’s licence and driving licence tests because those officers demand exorbitant amounts for the jobs they are supposed to be doing for free. We need to encourage whistle-blowers and have the assistance of the Hawks, if we do not want to have a corrupt country.
Hhayi-ke Ngqongqoshe wethu, mawusebenze umthetho, futhi mababoshwe. [Very well, our Minister, let the law take its course, and they must be arrested.]
We are prepared to amend laws to give stiff penalties. Let us make road offences treasonable offences.
We applaud the national and Gauteng governments for having introduced the Gautrain, which has become a reliable rail network system. We urge the government to extend this facility to Soweto, Mamelodi, Sebokeng, Matlosana and KwaThema. That is where the majority of our people are. This facility should also be extended to places like Khayelitsha, KwaMashu, Mangaung and KwaZakhele because these are the places where our people need it most. Let us not forget that those are the people who put us into power.
We also applaud the Rea Vaya bus system which was introduced during the Fifa World Cup. We urge that the challenges which bedevilled this industry should be addressed as a matter of urgency, because it should be a reputable transport system. This facility must also be extended to other provinces. We also cannot allow the MyCiTi bus transport system in Cape Town to be a white elephant, because these buses are ferrying “ghosts” to and from the airport — they run almost empty. Let us redirect that service to where it is needed. I thank you. [Applause]
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON: (Mr R J Tau): Hon members, would you please not consult your speakers’ lists, because the one that I have here will not necessarily be the same as the one that you have.
Mr R V CARLISLE: (Western Cape): Thank you, Chair, and also thank you to the Whippery for allowing me to move my position; otherwise I would be in some trouble in the Other Place. It’s an important privilege to be allowed to address you on this subject and also to be here with my hon national Minister. I do want to go to the heart of these kinds of problems. This is Transport Month. Hon Jacobs was speaking, and I am going to be just a little naughty with something he said. He said, “If you travel on the train, you can take a nap.” I want to tell you it is impossible to take a nap if you catch a train from Khayelitsha to Cape Town or from Mabopane to Pretoria, because you are standing up, you are squeezed, you are late and you are travelling in circumstances that are an offence to your human dignity.
That is really where I want to focus the discussion, because this is an issue that transcends party-political divides. It’s got nothing to do with party-political divides. It’s about hard decisions that we as a nation have to make.
Let me say this. When we think of public transport, we should think first of those people who have no alternative but public transport. There are many other people that we think of in addition to these, in regard to public transport. How can we get Mr Smith out of his car and into the train or the bus? Yes, that’s important! But what is really important are the people who live in the southeast of Cape Town, who have no alternative but the train or the taxi or the bus. They must be our first responsibility and our public transport system must first be a people’s public transport system. That has to be the key priority. That is the argument, and I want to use this opportunity, which is a very special one for me, to speak to all nine provinces. I really want to try to convince you that our first responsibility – and it’s not an easy responsibility, as I will spell out in a moment – must be a people’s public transport service. It doesn’t have to be very fancy, but it has to have those things that are important.
Tomorrow I will be travelling in to work from Kuyasa, and I do this frequently. I talk to the people on the train, when you can get near them. You know, those trains are so overcrowded. The hon Minister has made reference to this. In fact, he said in this very place some months ago:
Unless we invest heavily in those trains, in Metrorail, there will be no train service in any city in South Africa in the next 10 years.
We must take heed of those words, and I’m going to come to them.
When you ask people, they say, first of all, the two things that they need most from trains are safety and predictability. That is, not just safety on the trains or on the buses, but safety getting to the transport interchange and going from their destination to their work, and then going back home again afterwards. So, it is not just safety on public transport, but also getting to it. Secondly, transport should be predictable, so that we should not have a situation as we have in Cape Town, as we have in Tshwane, and as we have elsewhere, where the vast majority of people coming to work by public transport are late each day and it’s not their fault. So, it must be predictable, it must be on time and it must be safe.
We need also to remember that because we have upside-down cities created by apartheid, where the poor and those most in need of transport most often live furthest from the city centre or from the places of work, we have a particular problem in this regard. This is really where I seek to gain support for a hard decision from the National Council of Provinces.
The hon Minister has spoken, as have many others, about the success of the Gautrain, and the intention to replicate the Gautrain, perhaps from Johannesburg to Durban, or whatever the case may be.
The hon Minister has spoken about his deep concerns about the roads and the necessity to create a road fund on which we can draw. The hon Minister has also spoken of his deep concerns about Metrorail. At the same time periphery roads are being built, particularly in Gauteng, at a cost of over R65 billion. These roads will be tolled but at the end of the day someone has to pay for them.
Then there is long-distance rail. We would like to see a lot of money going into that. Also, the bus rapid transit, BRT, system, this one here — which has not been without its difficulties — will cost us R5 billion by the time it is finished.
The hard decision that we have to face as a nation is that while all of this is happening tax revenues are dropping like that, and social network requirements are rising. The simple fact of the matter is that we cannot afford all those good things. We can only afford some of those good things. The hard decision we have to make as a nation is: Which good things can we afford, and which can we not afford at this time? Maybe sometime in the future, when we have a growth rate of 15%, like China, or 8%, like India, we can afford them then, but there are some things we cannot afford now.
What I am terrified of is that we will invest in luxuries and neglect the people’s public transport. Taking this opportunity of speaking, as I say, across the nation, which is one I have very seldom, I want to ask you this, also looking at your own constituencies, wherever they may be. What decision do we, as the decision-makers of South Africa, have to come to? What is the order in which we put these things? I want to suggest to you that there are two things that come above all others.
I want to suggest this to you by way of a true story from the Tyhume Valley. In the Tyhume Valley there were once three great educational institutions, where many of the great struggle leaders were educated, and where there was prosperous farming. Now there is only one left. A friend of mine, who is anxious to get farming going again in the Tyhume Valley, and who is looking at the possibility of fragrances, in speaking to the local people there said, “We can do this. We can find funds for this.” And they said to him, “You can find as much funding as you like, but in the Tyhume Valley a bakkie won’t last longer than six months, and you cannot farm without a bakkie.”
I tell you this little story because, unless we can keep our roads usable, what is true of the Tyhume Valley and of Alice is true of the whole country. We must be able to maintain our roads. We need the money to maintain our roads, and the will to maintain our roads must be very high.
The second thing is that we have to reinvest in Metrorail. In my province, you cannot operate the people’s public transport without Metrorail. You can build BRTs till they come out of your ears, but you cannot operate this city of 3,5 million people without Metrorail. The same, to a great extent, is true in Johannesburg and Tshwane.
We have to rebuild Metrorail. Its coaches are so old that they are worse than the “amaphela” [sedan cars that operate as taxis in the townships]. Believe me, they are worse than the “amaphela”. There has been no significant investment in Metrorail for nearly 40 years.
So, in closing, Mr Chairman, my appeal to the provinces is this. Let us look hard at how the nation spends its money. Let us ensure, before it spends it on anything else in the transport field, that it spends it first on the people’s public transport and on the people’s roads. [Applause.]
Mr T M KAUNDA (KwaZulu-Natal): Chairperson, hon Minister and hon members, KwaZulu-Natal, KZN, would like to extend a special word of gratitude to the national Department of Transport led by hon Mr Sibusiso Ndebele for deciding to launch the national Transport Month on 27 September 2010 in our province.
The Minister and his provincial counterpart, KZN MEC for Transport, hon Willies Mchunu, led a tour of the Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu, INK, programme’s underground railway station to mark the launch of Transport Month at Bridge City in KwaMashu. The Minister has rightly emphasised the importance of rail as a key part of our transport plans into the future. We are in agreement that rail remains a pillar of our strategy towards safer roads and the reduction of crashes on our roads. The Minister has also announced that a railway-public transport link is on the cards. This project will link Durban and Johannesburg as one of the busiest corridors in South Africa. This will indeed improve the quality of our public transport.
We are also in agreement that rail is a key part of our strategy to reduce transport-related emissions into the environment, as well as to reduce our country’s carbon footprint. Rail is a key part of preparing our country for this inevitable reduction and an end to fossil fuels, for which the world is also preparing.
During the national launch of Transport Month we as a province pledged ourselves to support all the programmes brought to us by the national Department of Transport. We also appreciated the fact that the Minister officiated at the opening of Transport Month three days before the start of the actual Transport Month, which gave us an opportunity to subsequently have our own provincial launch in Durban on 30 September 2010. We have since had a strong focus on all areas pertaining to transportation, namely the user, the operator and the infrastructure, with a strong emphasis on road safety.
The province of KwaZulu-Natal has experienced an increase in the number of fatalities on our roads during the past few months up until this past weekend, which saw 19 people dying in one incident. With the festive season around the corner, some drastic measures have had to be taken. To this end, we have developed a framework which has provided an opportunity to show renewed direction on ways to achieve increased road safety outcomes and advocate a shared responsibility for road safety among all stakeholders, including government, business and society at large.
We realised that changing the road use culture might take time, and some changes are not possible without the active co-operation of multiple sectors. Hence, we have committed ourselves to creating a safe road environment by reducing road fatalities by 5% a year between 2010 and 2015. We have planned interventions in accordance with the five E’s, that is Education, Enforcement, Engineering, Encouragement and Evaluation.
Each of the three spheres of government has responsibilities in respect of the five E’s on their own road networks in KZN. Each one also has functions that impact on the road networks of other spheres of government. Because of this, close co-operation is required between all spheres of government to achieve the goals set for the reduction of accidents through improved engineering that is informed by effective consultation between the province and local governments. The sharing of road development planning and engineering expertise can only be meaningful if there is proper consultation and collaboration.
The KZN department of transport will develop and implement programmes for improving the driving skills of new and existing drivers. Role models are emerging among truck and taxi drivers, thanks to the national driver contests which are spearheaded by the national Department of Transport and the Road Traffic Management Corporation, RTMC, as well as the provinces. We are scheduled to introduce a pilot project which will be run at selected testing stations, whereby persons who have just obtained their driving licences will be subjected to a mandatory road safety session focusing on basic road safety rules.
In support of the 1 Million Vehicle campaign initiated by the national Department of Transport, KwaZulu-Natal has a target of 170 000 vehicles and drivers to be stopped. Between 1 and 21 October the province’s statistics were as follows: the number of vehicles stopped was 110 155; the number of drivers tested for alcohol was 88 698; the number of drivers without driving licences was 1 364; the statistic for inconsiderate driving was 27; the number of vehicles without a licence was 790; there were 15 307 written charges; there were 20 drunk drivers; the number of vehicles that were suspended was 504; and there were 9 speed arrests.
Other than the road safety campaigns, during the month of October the KZN department of transport engaged in numerous activities in various communities in the province. These activities confirm the commitment by our government to see future economic growth through efficiency in the transport sector.
We have always assured our people — even before the 2010 Fifa World Cup — that whilst our focus was more on 2010 and beyond and despite being adversely affected by the recession, we would not cut costs to the detriment of the people of our province. We have continued to provide transport infrastructure, particularly to our rural communities, against all odds. Some roads and bridges that have been completed are being handed over to the communities during this Transport Month. From 1 October to date we have officially handed over five road infrastructure projects to the value of R314 million.
We are happy that, in line with our policy, the construction costs of these projects always remain an economic benefit to the local communities, where contractors source all materials from the area and employ all available artisans, as well as labour, from the nearby communities, using labour- intensive methods in the interests of job creation. On completion, local roads are maintained by our Zibambele road maintenance programme, which is an exemplary part of the national Expanded Public Works Programme, as it is renowned for creating work opportunities for the poorest of the poor, that is households where there is no food to put on the table, and no money for school fees – ikati lilele eziko [poverty-stricken].
Allow me to conclude by thanking you for this opportunity to share with you our province’s challenges and achievements. The KwaZulu-Natal department of transport, with its minimal funding – we must note, Chairperson, that we require more funds to deal with the backlog that is there still – is committed to creating a safe and reliable transport system throughout the province. I thank you. [Applause.]
Ms M P THEMBA: Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members, comrades and friends, today’s debate comes at an opportune time, when we are approaching the much dreaded period associated with carnage on our roads. It is regrettable that the festive season, which should be a time of joy, family reunion and much needed end of the year relaxation, should turn into a period of sadness for the majority of the people in our country as a result of road accidents.
The ANC government has supported the use of safe modes of transport and the use of safe railways for our people. For example, the formation of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Prasa, was the culmination of the programme set up before 1994. In Gauteng, 600 000 people a day use the railways as a means of transport to commute to work. In Cape Town also, people use rail to commute to work.
The challenge of late trains impacts negatively on the commuters because late trains cause them to arrive at work late, where some employers understand the reasons for their coming late, but mostly employers do not understand, which results in people being dismissed from work.
The people badly affected by a lack of railway networks are the people commuting between the far Eastern Cape and East London, where they are wholly dependent on buses and taxis. The people commuting between North West and Gauteng, and parts of Mpumalanga and Gauteng, also use buses and taxis. These are examples that indicate a dire need for rail transport.
Our commitment as the ANC to making rail transport a mode of choice for freight and passengers is due to the high number of road accidents between Polokwane and Gauteng, and Mpumalanga and Gauteng, especially during peak holiday periods like the Easter Weekend and other festive seasons, which has triggered a lot of discussion documents within the ANC. Now is the time for action to adopt rail as the mode of transport in order to stop the road carnage between the above-mentioned areas. There are other initiatives, like the rail superhighway between Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, which is a strategic move that should be implemented as a matter of urgency.
It is also regrettable that the taxis and buses which are responsible for transporting the majority of our population are competing with cars as culprits in causing road accidents. The only way we can reduce the high fatality rate of accidents is by making rail transport the number one choice for our people. As we are building a reliable and safe road infrastructure, as one of the main contributors to building a modern economy and achieving economic growth, we should equally be emphasising road safety.
The damage of railway infrastructure due to cable theft costs the country R9 billion a year. In Gauteng, it is said, there is a businessman who makes R2 million a week from railway overhead cable theft. The demand for copper makes it lucrative for criminals to steal copper cables. The infrastructure damage results in trains being delayed and cancelled, especially in Gauteng. The cable theft challenge needs legislation to make it much harder for criminals to steal, because currently they don’t take it as a serious crime to steal cables. Trains will not be punctual until the cable theft problem is resolved.
The magnitude of and the human cost associated with road accidents on a yearly basis are detrimental to the achievement of our developmental goals. If we believe that the development of road infrastructure is part of the strategies in regard to job creation, poverty eradication and ending economic marginalisation, we have to recognise the centrality of safety as one of its critical elements.
Let us not fail our people. Let us continue to implement the railway solution as the mode of transport of choice for our people. In saying this, I would like to congratulate the Gauteng government on the success of the Gautrain in reaching the 1 million mark in regard to passengers. The lesson learnt from the Gautrain is that our people are hungry for a reliable, fast and predictable mode of railway transport.
We must use the opportunity of Transport Month to focus the attention of our people on the importance of safety on the roads and also on safety at railway crossings. The latter are challenges, because people living next to the railway lines cross at any time. They use them as streets! This results in neglect of the rules for crossing railway lines. On the Transnet railway network about 150 people die on the railway lines due to this neglect, and sometimes due to deliberate action to commit suicide. The government should assist companies like Transnet by putting in police and employing local communities, who will look after the railway infrastructure.
We support the Minister’s view that road safety is not what you do to a community. The task of ensuring safety on the roads is also not just that of taxis, government and business. The duty to ensure safety on our roads is everybody’s business.
We recognise the work done by the Ministry of Transport and government as a whole in implementing programmes to address road safety, such as the restructuring of the Road Accident Fund and transforming mode-based vehicle recapitalisation into integrated mass rapid public transport networks. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mr H B GROENEWALD: Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members of the NCOP, South Africa’s economy relies on the fast, safe movement of goods and people.
The absence of an integrated transport policy and the lack of co-ordination amongst the different transport authorities have brought about a crisis in the South African transport sector. These factors, coupled with insufficient state funding for the maintenance of infrastructure, have resulted in a deterioration of the transport infrastructure, to the extent that it now jeopardises both the safety of the public and South Africa’s economic growth prospects.
The backlogs in maintenance are as follows: there is R120 billion in the road system; R90 billion in railways; and R22 billion in the minibus-taxi fleets. As far as road safety is concerned, there are more than 10 000 fatal accidents per year, which cost the country more than R40 billion every year. More than 12 000 South Africans are killed each year on our roads. There is also a shortage of 10 000 traffic officers.
With regard to affordability of public transport, about 2,8 million urban dwellers, which is 13% of the urban population, cannot afford public transport. Therefore, they are forced to walk or cycle to where they need to be.
In addition, the absence of law and order in the South African transport system is contributing significantly to the reshaping of cities and the decline of central business districts.
The role of the state in the development and management of the transport system must as far as possible be limited to policy formulation, strategic planning, regulation – including of the environment — and management of allocation of subsidies for uneconomical social services, such as mass transportation on buses, trains and taxis.
The extent to which people are able to use the opportunities available to them depends on how easily they are able to move around their cities and the country. When they cannot move around freely and easily, their life chances are reduced and South Africa as a whole suffers from these lost opportunities.
South Africa has a well-developed road network, but it is deteriorating, particularly in the rural areas. Our rail network is also extensive, but poor management of this sector means there are fewer and fewer trains. Taxis are cheap, but they are not safe and are uncontrolled. Thus individuals’ life chances and national goals are both constrained. The department must work to address these constraints and create a seamless, well-managed and affordable transport network.
South Africa’s road network infrastructure is deteriorating because of inadequate funding and rising costs of construction and maintenance. The state has increasingly relied on private concessions in dealing with this backlog, thus pricing road usage beyond what many can afford.
The department must establish a dedicated road maintenance fund, sourced primarily from the fuel levy, which will enable South Africa to eliminate the R12 billion maintenance backlog over four years. It must also ensure that all toll road concessions are considered, and that a percentage of their profits must go towards community development or a pool for subsidising rural transport. Overloading by heavy-duty vehicles is destroying our roads. There must be mobile weighbridges and measures to catch and severely punish offenders.
South Africa’s unacceptably high accident rate costs the economy dearly. A culture of safe driving must be entrenched through education, zero tolerance of dangerous driving, and higher driver testing and enforcement standards.
The department must in the first place recruit, train and accredit at least 2 000 traffic officers at all levels of government, to international norms and standards; introduce a massive safety drive levelled at motorists and scholars; and reintroduce compulsory basic balance of third party insurance.
Our cities and towns are increasingly congested, as a direct result of the lack of efficient and safe public transport. Taxis, which transport 60% of commuters in the country, are seen to be unsafe, and passengers often become the victims of rivalry and internal feuding. Buses, on the other hand, exist only in the larger cities and are often unreliable and in short supply. Railway services experience delays, crime, and safety problems.
The department must investigate the introduction and expansion of the bus rapid transit system, monorail, commuter light rail, and speed trains wherever feasible and sustainable.
I would have liked to debate airports and ports as well, but unfortunately time will not allow me to in this sitting.
In conclusion, South Africans — individuals and businesses — have had to suffer irritations, inconvenience and the costs of a wholly inadequate transport system for far too long. They deserve better.
The DA wants to see investments and processes put in place to deliver a transport system that is safe … [Time expired.]
Mr D B FELDMAN: Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, on building a reliable and safe public transport network, let me say that roadsafety.co.za this morning carried the following headlines: “Man hit by train in Kempton Park”; “Truck side-swiped on the highway”; “Minibus taxi overturns on the N2 highway”; “Motor vehicle collision on Viking Way”; “One dies after a bakkie overturned on the N1”; and “N2 pile- up leaves one man injured”.
Chairperson, these headlines reflect the harsh reality of life on our roads. Our problems lie with the apartheid era spatial planning. Most of our people live away from cities, either in townships that are far away or in suburbs on the outskirts of the cities.
Our cities do not have continuous pedestrian plazas. We have not made biking mainstream. Trams have long been gone from our cities. We certainly need a reliable, safe and affordable transport network. That a start has been made is very welcome.
Cope is asking: Where do we go from here? In the next 20 years, 65% of the people will be living in a city. Our transport planning must begin with the remodelling of our cities. If the majority of people can travel the distance by walking or cycling, the transport network will be easier to construct and cheaper to operate. If the majority of people, however, have to be ferried into the city and ferried away each evening, the logistics will be daunting.
In Cape Town, the MyCiTi project is expected to lose millions because there are no incentives for people to take buses, or no disincentives for people using cars to work.
Mr Minister, when was it decided that the poor of this country – I refer to the rural poor – did not matter any more? Ministers want to promote multimillion and sometimes billion dollar projects for high-speed rail and train services but somehow they are not able to find money to fix potholes! These are the potholes that minibus taxis are faced with, as thousands of South Africans commute from the townships to their workplaces, day in and day out.
At this juncture, Cope finds it necessary to ask government about what is happening with regard to the bicycle project. Has this project been abandoned? Is there any pilot project in any city to gauge the viability and desirability of using bicycles on a large scale? In Europe the use of bicycles remains as popular as ever. Will the bicycle be part of the means of public transport in South Africa?
A change of mind-set is absolutely essential for public transport to take off. Modal integration will not be possible as long as those with vested interests do their utmost to stall the process. Public transport contracts need to be improved and revisited. Universal access to services needs to be researched to a greater extent. The marketing of services needs more attention. Lastly, a sustainable source of funding needs to be available. I thank you.
Cllr C JOHNSON (Salga): Chairperson of the NCOP, hon Minister, hon members of the NCOP, and hon special guests, indeed, I would like to share with you the legacy that I found in KwaZulu-Natal, particularly in Durban, which the Minister had left behind when I visited KZN last week.
There were no traffic jams during peak hours and there were the initiatives that the Minister took in putting food on the table for rural people. These were some of the initiatives that he took under the Expanded Public Works Programme, EPWP.
I also found the promotion of public transport, instead of the use of private cars by the city of eThekwini under their public transport campaign, The Smart Way To Go; non-motorised transport promotion with the issuing of bicycles; road safety campaigns at public transport facilities; the launch of the Dial-a-Ride accessible transport for the disabled; a career expo on transport; and the issuing of free Durban People Mover passes per day.
I would like to thank all the municipalities in the country where, under the auspices of the South African Local Government Association, Salga, we promoted this as part of their budgets annually.
But what we find in South Africa at the moment is that sometimes in the remoteness of the Northern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Limpopo, as well as Mpumalanga, unplanned settlements are intertwined with highways, and highways are cutting through unplanned settlements – they bisect them. Sir, 4x4s in our cities are never dirtied, but there are rusted bicycles, and also decades-old vehicles on our roads that need to provide the service. We in Salga have told ourselves that we are encouraging municipalities to do something about it.
The transport fraternity defines public transport as the provision of passenger transport services to the public for a fee. It includes buses, minibus taxis and rail for distances that are less than 200 km. I would like to appeal to the media not to call just any minibus which is in an accident a minibus taxi — please, do your research. It excludes air transport, metered taxis, tourist or charter services, and intercity long- distance buses and taxis.
For any public transport to be effective, it needs to service every resident within a kilometre of their place of residence. It also needs to operate for at least 12 to 15 hours a day. It must be affordable and regular. The current public transport system does not take care of the people who most need it; and it forces those who can afford it to use private vehicles.
The poor public transport system undermines people’s basic human rights, because the majority of South Africans do not have access to reliable, affordable, pleasant and clean transport that runs on time, particularly in the rural areas. For them, it is difficult to access public services such as health services, schools, police stations, welfare services, and other life opportunities such as employment and business opportunities.
Statistics from the Department of Transport’s National Household Survey of 2003 indicated that more than 75% had no access to a train station and nearly 40% did not have access to a bus service. Most of these people did not have a car and were virtually stranded.
Chairperson, another factor is that of crime and safety. Numerous people raised the issue of exposure to high levels of crime in their local areas and were worried about their own and their children’s personal safety whilst both waiting for and using public transport. Safety concerns were raised about the largely unregulated minibus taxis that most people are forced to rely on, in the absence of regulated public transport services. Vehicles were identified as unsafe, both because of their poor physical condition and also because of driver behaviour. This is an opportunity where we can have a joint programme between municipalities and the other spheres to address this challenge.
Government is trying to address the lack of a proper transport network through legislation and the establishment of integrated public transport networks. However, the focus seems to be on infrastructure development, not the operation of public transport. Operation of public transport involves routes, schedules, times of operation, marketing, and communication with the public.
The relatively low-density spatial design patterns of South African settlements, combined with the general attitude of the public towards the use of public transport, means that the flagship public transport intervention, the bus rapid transit, BRT, system, will for some time be running at a low capacity, which means the cost per passenger will remain high. The services should therefore not be expected to be financially self- sustaining in the short to medium term. Municipalities should also not be expected to be the only government institutions that carry the burden of subsidising such services.
What we need is for the National Land Transport Act to be operationalised. As a country, we continue to invest in infrastructure that is aimed at supporting private vehicle use, for example, the expansion of the road network to accommodate more vehicles. Government needs to commit in word and practice to a policy direction where the key focus is on public transport. Funding should be focused on supporting this policy direction.
Any new transport initiative – whether community-based or mainstream services such as the BRT system – should not be monitored only in regard to passenger counts and the additional vehicle kilometres, but also in regard to social welfare criteria, such as those laid out in the principles for Batho Pele and the South African Millennium Development Goals.
Lastly, we should support community-level services that are urgently needed to supplement the main radial bus rapid transit route and new rail corridors that are being put in place. These should be routed to provide people in low-income communities with the maximum ready access to work, schools, colleges, medical centres, crèches, shopping centres and places of worship. In order to achieve this, the capacity of the state at local and regional levels to regulate the taxi industry and integrate it into a multimodal system of public transport needs to be improved.
There also appears to be a case for offering fare subsidies to low-income groups who are currently spending a disproportionately large amount of their low income on transport costs – and we know that the apartheid racial divide on spatial settlements is the cause of this. This should form part of a wider package of subsidies that welfare recipients receive from government. I thank you. [Applause.]
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Mr R J Tau): Thank you very much, Cllr Johnson. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your consistency in the activities of the NCOP.
UMntwana M M M ZULU: Sihlalo waleNdlu ohloniphekile, Ngqongqoshe Manzankosi, abahlonishwa abangamalungu aleNdlu, izwe lakithi iNingizimu Afrika yizwe okufuneka siziqhenye ngalo ngoba lapha e-Afrika yilona lizwe engingathi linezinto zokuthutha cishe ezihlelekile.
Kukodwa noma kubili umuntu angakuphawula, njengoba ungumfana wasemakhaya owelusa, kufanele ukubhekelele ukuthi kulezi zifundazwe eziyisishiyagalolunye labo obambisene nabo abangamehlo akho bakwazi kahle kamhlophe ukuthi bavale imigojana esemigwaqweni. Kuyangikhalisa Ngqongqoshe ukuthi umgwaqo ohlanganisa iGoli nesiFundazwe saseNyakatho neNtshonalanga siyakhokha kuwo kodwa ube nemigojana lena ebengikhulume ngayo; kungikhalisa kakhulu lokhu.
Laphaya eMpumalanga kukhona indawo okuthiwa yiCarolina - uma uhamba ubheke kuleli likaMswati leNkosi, uMhlaba weNkosi- uye uthole ukuthi nakhona kunemigodi emgwaqweni. Yizinto okufanele zibhekisiwe ngokubambisana ngoba phela ngiyazi ukuthi ngeke ube namehlo amaningi kangaka okubheka kulo lonke leli.
Uma ngibuya ngiza ekhaya, angisho kuleNdlu ukuthi ezimpini zezigebengu, izigelekeqe lezi zamatekisi, wenza okukhulu okwenza ukuthi zehle izigigaba zokufa kwabantu bebulalelelana nje umhawu noma umhobholo wokuba bacoshe izimali zomphakathi. Yileso sizathu esenza ukuthi abantu bazesabe kakhulu ezokuthutha umphakathi ngoba basuke becabanga ukuthi, hhawu umuntu useziyisa ethuneni! Ngiyawuncoma futhi uMnyango wakho ngoba ukwazile ukuba uqashe amaphoyisa amaningi ogwaqo azobheka ukuthi sigijima kangakanani emigwaqweni yethu. Yilezo zinto okufuneka thina njengezwe laseNingizimu Afrika sizibheke ukuthi ziyenzeka.
Bese ngiyabuya-ke njengomfana owelusa izinkomo, waqhathwa ngibheke ukuthi labo masipala basemakhaya, Manzankosi, ukwazi njengoba nami ngikwazi ukuthi laphaya nje eNtambanana noma kwaNongoma noma eMahlabathini, oNdini noma eNkandla ngeke kukwazi ukuthi sibe nogandaganda abangalungisa imigwaqo leyo esuke iphuma emigwaqweni omkhulu. Siyacela ke ukuthi uma umnyango wakho usubheka onyakeni wezimali ozayo, ubhekisise ukuthi kunganezezeleka kanjani ukuthi babe namandla okuphumelelisa iphupho labantu bakithi lokukhululeka. Phela inkululeko ayisho khona ukuvota kuphela kodwa isho nakho ukuhamba ngokukhululeka emigwaqweni yezwe lakithi. Ngiyabonga. (Translation of isiZulu speech follows.)
[Prince M M M ZULU: Hon Chairperson of this House, hon Minister Manzankosi, hon members of this House, we need to be proud of our country South Africa because it is the country in Africa that has the most organised transport system.
There are one or two issues one can mention about this. As a village boy who was a herd boy, you must ensure that the people with whom you are working, who are your eyes and ears in all the nine provinces, know exactly that they must fix the potholes in the roads. It concerns me, hon Minister, that we pay toll fees on the road that connects Gauteng and the North West province and yet it is full of the potholes that I was talking about. It concerns me a lot.
In Mpumalanga, there is a place called Carolina and on your way in that direction — King Mswati’s land, around the Chief’s place – you find that there are also potholes in those roads. We need co-operation in respect of all these things as one does not have eyes to see everywhere in the country.
Coming closer to home, I would like to say to this House that in criminal wars, the taxi warlords have done a great job, which resulted in the reduction of the killing of people just because they are jealous of each other or because people are greedy for the communities’ money. That is why people are so scared of using public transport, namely because they associate it with death! I also commend your department for employing so many traffic officers who will also monitor the speed at which we travel. These are things that we need to ensure are done in this country.
And when coming back, as someone who was a cattle herd boy and was engaged in stick fighting, I need to look at these local municipalities, hon Manzankosi, since you and I know that in areas like Ntambanana, KwaNongoma, Mahlabathini, oNdini and Nkandla, caterpillars are not used to build roads that connect these areas with the highways. I therefore request that when your department is preparing a budget in the new financial year, you should look at how you can increase their budgets so that they can be empowered to fulfil our people’s dream of freedom. By the way, freedom does not mean voting only, it also means travelling safely on our country’s roads. Thank you.]
Mr M P SIBANDE: Chairperson, Minister Ndebele, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, as we approach its end, it is fitting to wrap up the activities of the Transport Month campaign with a debate in this House. This debate comes at a critical time, when we are engaged in a process of introspection and trying to chart a way forward to speed up the transformation of our economy. A reliable and safe road infrastructure is one of the main ingredients for building a modern economy and achieving economic growth.
In a developing country like ours it is imperative that the development of road infrastructure is linked to strategies for job creation, poverty eradication and ending the economic marginalisation of the majority of our population. The development and maintenance of road infrastructure is more amenable to labour intensity than most other economic activities. Therefore, it is a crucial element of our economic programme of creating more jobs, decent work and sustainable livelihoods.
A focus on reliability and safety in road infrastructure is particularly important as we approach the festive season — a period in our national calendar when we experience a massive increase in road transport accidents, leading to injuries and deaths on our roads. Therefore, we must use this opportunity to call on all members of our communities throughout the country to take responsibility for safety on the roads and help stop the carnage at this time of the year. We must all obey the law and “arrive alive” at our destinations.
As members of the ANC, we welcome this opportune debate in the NCOP and wish to register our support for the Transport Month campaign led by the Ministry. We recognise the work that is being done by the department and the government as a whole in implementing the National Land Transport Strategic Framework and the Public Transport Strategy.
Since 1994 the government has placed a priority on infrastructure development through policy changes, increases in funding and programme implementation. These were aimed at addressing the terrible legacy of apartheid spatial planning based on race. Apartheid and road infrastructure development ensured that black people were confined to geographic spaces that were inaccessible by road and where the infrastructure was limited to ensuring a supply of cheap labour to industries and white designated areas.
Apartheid spatial planning created what was often referred to as two economies in one country. This is particularly evident and more pronounced when one looks at infrastructure development such as road transport. In the majority of provinces which incorporated the former apartheid-created homelands, such as North West, Limpopo and Free State, the road infrastructure condition became dire. Across all provinces the condition of road infrastructure continued to deteriorate as a result of the legacy of underdevelopment, poor planning, massive backlogs, inadequate investment and poor maintenance levels. It is this legacy that the nation has had to deal with since the dawn of democracy in 1994.
The Transport Month campaign gives us an opportunity to take stock of improvement in our road infrastructure as a result of the numerous interventions undertaken so far and the challenges that still remain.
There are a few matters that need to be mentioned – those that detrimentally affect service to our people. These relate to the perceived unco-ordinated manner in which rail transport matters are handled. I will start with the state of the rail network and rail transport. Serious economic consequences have resulted from the country’s stagnating, poorly resourced and desperately inefficient rail system. In the last 15 years its share of the freight market has plunged to just 10%.
Neglect of the rail network, inefficiency and unreliability have impacted greatly on the way businesses view rail transport and resulted in the dependence they have built up on road transporters to move their cargo. However, our roads were not constructed to carry anything like 32 million tons of freight a year. The consistent repair they need is testimony to the destruction wreaked by the overloaded mammoth trucks and tankers.
Nationally, only half of the nation’s 20 000 km of railway lines is fully utilised. On some 35% of the nation’s lines there is very low or no activity. The railways have failed to make the investment in rolling stock and infrastructure demanded by the growing economy. The Spoornet rail monopoly must now dig deep into its pockets to get rail to the stage where it can out-compete the road transport system, which today has a 90% stranglehold on the country’s land cargoes. Aging locomotives and wagons must be replaced. The average age of locomotives is 22 years and that of the wagon fleet is 32 years.
Important railway centres like De Aar and Noupoort in the Northern Cape have become virtual ghost towns due to the scaling down of rail activity, leading to unemployment and the concomitant poverty of the local population. The question remains to be answered: Why has the rail infrastructure been allowed to deteriorate to such an extent that a virtually new system has to be built up from scratch?
Kukhona ekumele ngikudlulise masinyane. Kwi-Cope,kwembulwa kuyembeswa selidumela emasumpeni, kodwa-ke likhona ikhambi elingayisiza. Kufanele sibahlabele isibhuklabhukla esimhlophe sikalamthuthu sibuye sibaphalazise ngentelezi ebizwa ngokuthi iBuyel’ekhaya, sibaphunge ngeDel’amambuka emva kwalokho-ke sibashunqisela nge-Freedom Charter bese benikezwa inkululeko yomgwaqo omkhulu okuthiwa uMshini wami.
I-DA, ngizwe kuthiwa uMnumzane Carlisle uthi ngeke umuntu alale esitimeleni, kuyiqiniso Mnumzane Jacobs, ungalala esitimeleni. Kungenxa yokuthi ngeshwa nje angikholwa ukuthi uNgqongqoshe wake wasigibela noma yisiphi nje isitimela esiya elokishini, ngalokho-ke ngithi kubo i-DA ingochwepheshe bokwakha umgwaqo omkhulu oya kwaLasha. Lokho kubonakale ngobunyoninco bokwakha izindlu zangasese esidlangalaleni endaweni ebizwa ngokuthi kuseMakhaza, eKhayelitsha. Babuye futhi bakha izindlu zangasese ezimbili emphakathini olinganiselwa ezinkulungwaneni eziyisihlanu endaweni ebizwa ngokuthi kuseQolweni, e-Plettenberg Bay, eNtshonalanga Kapa. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[There is something that I must quickly say. Cope is at death’s door. However, there is a remedy that can help them. We must slaughter them a fat white battery chicken and perform a cleansing ritual with an emetic called Go Back Home, and swat them with Del’amambuka after reminding them of the Freedom Charter and granting them the freedom of the ruling party.
With regard to the DA - I heard that Mr Carlisle said a person cannot sleep on the train, but the fact is you can sleep on the train. Unfortunately I don’t believe that the Minister has ever travelled by train to the townships; therefore I say to the DA they are the experts on contributing to the deaths. That is seen through their expertise of building toilets in an open veld at Makhaza in Khayelitsha. They again built two toilets in a community of approximately 5 000 people in a place called Qolweni, in Plettenberg Bay, in the Western Cape.]
ANC policy positions are a guide to government. The struggle for national democratic order in our country can be achieved through an integration of communities by doing away with racial apartheid spatial policies which were expressed in road infrastructure development. For the ANC, development and maintenance of road infrastructure are not only important for economic development, but are also a necessary basic need.
This was aptly described in the ANC foundational governance policy document of 1994, the Reconstruction and Development Programme. It is stated there that the future transport policy had to, inter alia, promote co-ordinated, safe, affordable public transport as a social service; take into account the transport needs of disabled people; ensure comprehensive land- use/transport planning; promote road safety; and review subsidies, both operating and capital.
Bese ngiyabuya futhi ngithi Mhlonishwa, siyakucela, lapho engisuka khona eMpumalanga kunogwaqo omkhulu okuthiwa i-Moloto Road. Abantu bangale eMpumalanga bacela ukuthi kufakwe ulayini wesitimela ozohlanganisa i-Pitoli kanye neKwaMhlanga ngoba iyaziwa ngezingozi i-KwaMhlanga Road; minyaka yonke siyazi ukuthi izibalo zithi bangaki abantu abafayo kuloya mgwaqo. Sekukaningi sikucela lokhu kodwa impendulo singayitholi. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[Where I come from in Mpumalanga, there is a main road called Moloto Road. The people of Mpumalanga request, through you, hon Minister, that a railway line should be built which will connect Pretoria and KwaMhlanga because the KwaMhlanga Road is well known for accidents. We know the yearly statistics of the people who die on that road. We have requested this several times but we have not received any response.]
In addressing the legacy of road infrastructure underdevelopment, the RDP further states that:
… critical “bottlenecks” in the road infrastructure should be improved so that the full capacity of the existing road network can be realised. However the provision of primary road infrastructure must be directed towards and take cognisance of public transport needs.
The planning of transport for metropolitan and major urban areas must be in accordance with an urban/metropolitan growth management plan. A hierarchy of modes should guide the financing of infrastructure improvements and payment of operating subsidies for public transport. Travel modes should not compete. In rural areas, provincial governments and district councils must present public transport plans, including for extensive road building and improvement.
The principles enshrined in the RDP have found their expression in subsequent policies and programmes, in particular the National Land Transport Strategic Framework, and the 2007 Cabinet-approved Public Transport Strategy, which is currently being implemented by government.
Eish, isikhathi sami! [Eish, my time!]
In terms of the National Land Transport Strategic Framework, public transport services, facilities and infrastructure should be designed, provided and developed to promote intermodalism … [Interjections.]
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Mr R J Tau): Hon member, thank you. You should be aware that your time is up.
Mr M P SIBANDE: Okokugcina nje, ngiyabonga kakhulu, Sihlalo. [Kwaphela isikhathi.] [Lastly, thank you very much, Chairperson. [Time expired.]]
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: Chairperson and hon members, thank you very much for the very constructive contributions that have been made. We really want to express our appreciation for that.
I would like to deal with a few issues. On Friday, 22 October, I think it was, we had a meeting with my counterpart, the Minister of Public Enterprises, Ms Barbara Hogan, from the Department of Public Enterprises, together with our two entities – the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Prasa, led by its CEO, Lucky Montana, and Transnet, led by its CEO, Chris Wells.
We had a constructive meeting in which we, as political principals, wanted to bring peace where there had been ructions and disagreements. The meeting ended very well with a full commitment from both Transnet and Prasa to work as the Ministers are doing – in co-operation and in a manner that makes the passengers and the public number one, to be serviced, and not taking into consideration whatever differences there might be. Indeed, we found that those differences were not deep-seated. I am happy to say that that matter was resolved.
Secondly, we are really happy in Transport. Last year we were discussing the issue of the taxi violence. We asked: What about the taxi violence? What has happened is a measure of the success of all of us who raised our voices, saying that this was not acceptable. It is not acceptable in the Western Cape, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal or anywhere. All of us raised our voices.
As we speak, the main concern and pre-occupation of the taxi industry is now more investment, more development of themselves as businesses, and more service to our people. I think quite a lot of progress has been registered in that area. The unanimity of the voices, whether provincial, local, national or across all parties, has been very helpful in ensuring that we put pressure on that industry. Indeed, the focus is now on their developing themselves as proper businesses, and that they can do by giving proper and admirable service to our people. There has been progress in that regard. There is stability now.
Thirdly, as far as the issue of road infrastructure is concerned, the voices that were raised here have been responded to, particularly with regard to the budget. I am sure the Minister of Finance will be raising the question of the dedicated road maintenance fund tomorrow. There can never be enough money, but we need to make sure that nationally we have funds dedicated to maintenance. Provinces and municipalities have dedicated funds for road maintenance.
This is a measure of ourselves and where we stand in the scale of development. You judge the development of a country by four things — does it have clean water, roads, electricity and proper communication? It doesn’t matter which part of the world you are in; you should have those four basic things. It should be taken for granted that they will be there.
We in Transport are saying that all of us, from municipalities, local governments and provinces to the national arena, should make sure that we give ourselves a very tough test. That test is: Is there a school that cannot be reached by road? Is there a clinic that cannot be reached by road, whether it is raining or not? Is there a sports facility or social development facility that cannot be reached by road? It is for us to make sure that it is not just roads in general — we can talk about 16 000 km of blacktop national roads, and that is fine, but it doesn’t answer the question of the person who must have a road in order to go to the clinic or to school or just to entertain himself.
We have called for the creation of road safety councils as community-based structures. We need to have them in all provinces and wards. This is so that when an accident happens, or even before it does, the councils will have ensured that youngsters have been educated on how to cross the roads and so forth. They should ensure that there is no drinking and driving, and that there are no shebeens that just let everybody drink.
If four people are drinking, one of them should be the dedicated driver to take them home. It should just be accepted, the norm, just like when you accept that you can’t simply go into a supermarket and steal a packet of biscuits and put it in your pocket. Similarly, nobody should boast that they drive their cars at 180 km or 200 km per hour, and think that that is socially acceptable. It should just be seen as criminal behaviour, not a social expression of some sort.
So, on the question of road safety councils, this is one of the instruments that society as a whole must have in their hands. It is these that will also access the Road Accident Fund. When we visit a family, as we visited the Nyembe family in Alexandra, we should be able to say what we as the progressive democratic government of South Africa can do in regard to a funeral. We know that every South African who is on the road is insured through the Road Accident Fund. We have up to R10 000 to assist with any funeral of a road accident victim if they don’t have any other assistance. We are able to do that immediately. Then the Road Accident Fund people are there to take the details and move on with it.
In the last financial year we spent R11 billion on the Road Accident Fund, and approximately R5,5 billion of that money was spent on lawyers, which we would like to ensure doesn’t continue to happen. That is just not on. The money should be going to the victims.
The issue of Shova Kalula is still very much there. Sir, 26 100 bikes are to be distributed, and 13 500 had been distributed by March of this year. The 15 000 milestone will be reached by the end of this financial year. So, Shova Kalula is still going on. It has also created micro businesses in six provinces for repairing those bikes. That programme is going very well.
Chairperson and members, thank you very much for the very constructive debate that we have had. It has been a very fitting closure to Transport Month. Those 1 million cars are going to be checked every month, wayawaya [always]. I thank you. [Laughter.] [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
DEEDS REGISTRIES AMENDMENT BILL
(Consideration of Bill and of Report thereon)
Mr G G MOKGORO: Chairperson, thank you for giving me the opportunity to read the statement regarding the Deeds Registries Amendment Bill today, Tuesday, 26 October 2010, in the NCOP.
Chairperson of the NCOP, Chief Whip, Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform in absentia, MECs — of whom I do not see any here — and hon members of this distinguished House, this afternoon I have been given the opportunity to share with the House some of the deliberations of the Select Committee on Land and Environmental Affairs on the Deeds Registries Amendment Bill, which was introduced to Parliament by the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform in August this year.
For your information, hon members, the Deeds Registries Amendment Bill is the legislation that amends the Deeds Registries Act, Act 47 of 1937, which is responsible for the registration of deeds. In South Africa the law does not explicitly guarantee title to land. The system of deeds registration is based on a juristic foundation and longstanding practices and procedures. It is this system which has the effect of guaranteeing titles.
The main purpose for amending the Bill was to substitute certain obsolete expressions and to enhance the application of the Act to conform to the current uniform practices of the deeds registries. The process that the Select Committee on Land and Environmental Affairs followed for processing this section 75 Bill was the same as that followed with the Sectional Titles Amendment Bill, as they were done concurrently. In general the amendments were merely procedural to conform to current legal practices.
In order to fulfil the mandate of the NCOP to facilitate public participation during the legislative process, the committee advertised the Bill for public comment and received two submissions, from the South African Property Owners Association and the Banking Council of South Africa. All the submissions were responded to by the department, and the committee was satisfied with the discussions held around the submissions.
The Select Committee on Land and Environmental Affairs, having considered the Deeds Registries Amendment Bill, referred to it and classified by the Joint Tagging Mechanism, JTM, as a section 75 Bill, supports the Bill with proposed amendments. I thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
Bill, subject to proposed amendments, agreed to in accordance with section 75 of the Constitution.
SECTIONAL TITLES AMENDMENT BILL
(Consideration of Bill and of Report thereon)
Mrs A N D QIKANI: House Chairperson, Chief Whip, hon members, good afternoon. This afternoon I will share with the House some of the deliberations of the Select Committee on Land and Environmental Affairs on the Sectional Titles Amendment Bill, which was introduced to Parliament by the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform.
The Sectional Titles Act, Act 95 of 1986, is the legislation that governs building development where multiple owners hold a type of property ownership known as sectional title units. These areas usually relate to town houses or flats, and include areas that are commonly shared by a group of owners and are known as common property, such as lifts, driveways and parking areas.
The main purpose in amending the Bill was to amend certain definitions; redefine the boundaries between certain sections and common property; regulate substitution of bonds registered in respect of different pieces of land shown on the sectional plan; provide for the issuing of certificates of real rights of extension and certificates of real rights of exclusive use areas; provide for the issuing of a certificate of a registered sectional title in respect of a fraction of an undivided share in a section; further provide for the vesting of rights of exclusive use areas where an owner ceases to be a member of a body corporate; and, finally, provide for the cancellation of an exclusive use of area right.
Therefore, the legislative process that the Select Committee on Land and Environmental Affairs followed for this section 75 Bill firstly entailed getting a briefing by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform. From this it was noted that the main amendment proposed in the Act sought to clarify ambiguity and set out prescribed processes that were unclear in the current Act.
In order to fulfil the mandate of the NCOP in facilitating public participation during the legislative process, the committee advertised the Bill for public comment and received two submissions. The committee thereafter received a follow-up briefing from the department to obtain their responses to the issue raised in the submissions and further held deliberations on the Bill.
Therefore, the Select Committee on Land and Environmental Affairs, having considered the Sectional Titles Amendment Bill referred to it and classified by the Joint Target Mechanism, JTM, as a section 75 Bill, supports the Bill. Thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Mr R J Tau): I shall now put the question. The question is that the Bill, subject to the proposed amendments, be agreed to.
In accordance with Rule 63, I shall first allow political parties to make a declaration of vote if they so wish. Is there any political party that wishes to make a declaration of vote? There is none.
We shall now proceed to vote on the question. Before I call for votes, please press button number one to confirm your presence. There should be lights flashing. Are your lights flashing? If not, the service officers will assist you. Those in favour please press button number four, those against press button number two and those who are abstaining press button number three. Voting is now open. Are there any members who wish to be assisted with manual voting? Please indicate by a show of hands. Have all members voted?
If any member has mistakenly voted in a way that he or she did not wish to, he or she has an opportunity to correct that, whether electronically or manually. In the absence of anyone needing assistance, I request the tally.
Thank you very much, hon members. There were no abstentions and no objections. Therefore the majority of the House voted in favour of the Bill.
Mr K A SINCLAIR: Chairperson, I just want — for the record — to enquire what the exact count of people was who voted in favour of the Bill.
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Mr R J Tau): It was 40.
Mr K A SINCLAIR: 40?
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Mr R J Tau): Yes.
Mr K A SINCLAIR: But, with due respect, Mr Chairperson, it seems to me that there are more than 40, and you indicated that nobody abstained.
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Mr R J Tau): According to our records, we don’t have any abstentions. The records that we have here show no abstentions. [Interjections.] Exactly. Let us not … [Interjections.] The majority of members voted in favour. I therefore declare the Bill, subject to the proposed amendments, agreed to in terms of section 75 of the Constitution. [Applause.]
Bill, subject to proposed amendments, agreed to in accordance with section 75 of the Constitution.
consideration of Report of select committee on co-operative governance and traditional affairs – CONSIDERATION OF termination of interventions in Xhariep district municipality and mohokare local municipality
Consideration of report of select committee on co-operative governance and traditional affairs – intervention in Mafikeng local municipality
Consideration of REPORT OF select committee on co-operative governance and traditional affairs – performance report of Eastern Cape municipalities
Mr M H MOKGOBI: Chairperson, hon members of the House, lest we forget, after next month, which is November, we will be celebrating 10 years of the existence of the transformation of municipalities in this country on 5 December.
This is the report dealing with termination of the interventions in Xhariep District Municipality and Mohokare Local Municipality. The committee agrees with the report, which emphasises ongoing management capacity-building in these two municipalities, precisely because political administrative stability is showing signs of improvement.
Regarding the Mafikeng Local Municipality, the committee recommends that the House approve the intervention and that the Hawks pursue all cases of financial irregularities, fraud and allegations of corruption.
The council vehicles that are alleged to be in the Gauteng province should be tracked down and investigated, and the culprits pursued by law. Improper appointments of 20 contract workers must be corrected and disciplinary procedures must be followed. Corrective measures should be taken against the community services director who refused to serve the community. The administrator should fast-track the appointment of a municipal manager, and facilitate the transfer of skills. The House should receive quarterly reports from the provincial executive.
With regard to the Eastern Cape report – this is the report in regard to section 46 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act — the committee agrees and knows the progress that is emerging in that province, and the House should approve the report but emphasise that there should be ongoing support on service delivery, infrastructure development, and political and administrative instability. I thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
Question put: That Report on Consideration of Termination of Interventions in Xhariep District Municipality and Mohokare Local Municipality be adopted.
IN FAVOUR: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, Western Cape.
Report on Consideration of Termination of Interventions in Xhariep District Municipality and Mohokare Local Municipality accordingly adopted in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
Question put: That Report on Intervention in Mafikeng Local Municipality be adopted.
IN FAVOUR: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, Western Cape. Report on Intervention in Mafikeng Local Municipality accordingly adopted in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
Question put: That Report on Performance Report of Eastern Cape Municipalities be adopted.
IN FAVOUR: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, Western Cape.
Report on Performance Report of Eastern Cape Municipalities accordingly adopted in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
The Council adjourned at 16:37. ____
ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS
MONDAY, 25 OCTOBER 2010
ANNOUNCEMENTS
National Council of Provinces
The Chairperson
-
Referral to Committees of papers tabled
- The following papers are referred to the Select Committee on Trade and International Relations for consideration and report: (a) Accession to the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, tabled in terms of section 231(2) of the Constitution, 1996.
c) Explanatory Memorandum to the Accession to the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
National Assembly and National Council of Provinces
-
Report of the Portfolio Committee and Select Committee on Women, Youth, Children and People with Disabilities: Public hearings on the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act, 116 of 1998, dated 17 February 2010
The committee, having considered oral and written submissions, reports as follows:
-
Introduction
The Portfolio and Select Committees on Women, Youth, Children and People with Disabilities conducted public hearings on the 11 year implementation of the Domestic Violence Act (DVA), No 116 of 1998 on the 28 and 29 October 2009.
- Objectives
The objectives of the public hearings were to:
• Investigate the incidence of human rights violations with respect to
violence and abuse.
• Establish whether the Domestic Violence Act has been effectively
implemented.
• Identify key challenges with respect to the implementation of the
Domestic Violence Act.
• Understand shortcomings in government’s response to domestic violence.
• Identify best practices models that can be scaled up to mitigate
domestic violence.
• Make findings and recommendations – identify short, medium and long
term solutions and action required by Parliament and the Executive.
• Ascertain the impact of the Domestic Violence Act on people,
particularly women, youth, children and persons with disabilities.
- Delegation
The delegation consisted of members of the Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth, Children and People with Disabilities from the National Assembly and the Select Committee on Women, Children and People with Disabilities from the National Council of Provinces.
National Assembly African National Congress (ANC)
Mr DC Kekana Ms NM Madlala Ms P Petersen – Maduna Ms HH Malgas Ms DM Ramodibe Mr GJ Selau Ms B Thompson Ms GK Tseke
Democratic Alliance (DA)
Ms PC Duncan Ms D Robinson
Congress of the People (COPE)
Ms SP Rwexana
Inkatha Freedom Front (IFP)
Ms SP Lebenya Ms HN Makhuba
United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP)
Ms IC Ditshetelo
National Council of Provinces
Eastern Cape Ms AND Qikani
Free State Mr DA Worth
KwaZulu – Natal Prince MMM Zulu
Mpumalanga Ms MP Temba
Northern Cape Mr GG Mokgoro
Limpopo Mr TA Mashamaite
Gauteng Ms BP Mabe
Departments in attendance
• Department of Police, Department of Social Development, Department of
Health, Department of Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities,
Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.
The following provinces were represented:
• Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Gauteng
The committee received 39 submissions from the public including the following organisations and individuals who requested to make oral submissions.
| NAME/ORGANISATION | WRITTEN/ORAL |
|---|---|
| 1. Molo Songololo | Oral |
| 2. MM | Written |
| 3. Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) | Oral |
| Parliamentary Liaison Officer | |
| 4. DG (Lecturer: Criminology and Security Science) | Written |
| 5. Ms CW (NGO: Advice Desk for the Abused) | Oral |
| 6. SD | Oral |
| 7. Restorative Justice Centre | Oral |
| 8. Project Abroad Human Rights Office | Oral |
| 9. Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre | Oral |
| 10. National Institute for Crime Prevention and | Oral |
| Reintegration of | |
| Offender (NICRO) | |
| 11. Resources Aimed at the Prevention of Child Abuse and | Oral |
| Neglect | |
| (RAPCAN) | |
| 12. Rural Education Awareness and Community Health | Oral |
| (REACH) | |
| 13. Cape Law Society | Oral |
| 14. Commission for Gender Equality | Oral |
| 15. Red Cross Children’s Hospital | Oral |
| 16. SG | Written |
| 17. Child Welfare | Oral |
| 18. Childline | Oral |
| 19. Centre for the study of violence and reconciliation | Oral |
| (CSVR) | |
| 20. Khulisa Crime Prevention Initiatives | Written |
| 21. Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Programme | Oral |
| 22. Catholic Commission of Justice and Peace | Written |
| 23. Mrs Msomi (Pietermaritzburg) | Oral |
| (individual) | |
| 24. South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) | Oral |
| 25. Women of Farms Project | Oral |
| 26. AG (Research Office: UCT) | Oral |
| (individual) | |
| 27. Ms UP | Oral |
| (individual) | |
| 28. Ms QS | Oral |
| (individual) | |
| 29. Western Cape Network on Disability and Women of | Oral |
| Action | |
| 30. Disabled People of South Africa | Oral |
| 31. Gender Advocacy Programme (GAP) | Oral |
| 32. Legal Resource Centre and People Opposing Women Abuse | Oral |
| (POWA) | |
| 33. Mosaic | Oral |
| 34. Ms JG | Oral |
| 35. Gun Free Society | Oral |
| 36. Western Cape Network against violence against women | Written |
| 37. Ms EP | Oral |
| 38. South African Human Rights Commission | Oral |
| 39. Women’s Legal Centre | Oral |
- FINDINGS
The committee made the following observations:
4.1 GENERAL
• In the absence of a costing framework of the DVA, service delivery was
severely impeded, hence resulting in the poor implementation of the
Act.
• Gender-based violence disproportionately affects women and children.
Notwithstanding this, the committee acknowledges that based on the
submissions received, persons with disabilities, women and children
living on farms, in rural areas and impoverished environments were
considerably less likely to have access to effective help. As a
result, they may have to endure violent and abusive relationships for
longer and thus experience more serious long-term, consequences than
those with better access to help and resources.
• Patriarchal attitudes and differential power dynamics were at the
heart of domestic violence.
• Many victims of domestic violence were unaware that their rights were
violated and even when they knew, struggled to access the appropriate
support services. Lack of co-ordination
• It was noted in several submissions that there was an over-emphasis on
criminal justice measures to deal with domestic violence and an under-
development of violence prevention measures.
• There was no overarching framework and implementation strategy to deal
with domestic violence holistically.
• It was noted that collaboration and communication between the
different departments involved in providing services to victims of
domestic violence was severely lacking, which resulted in the absence
of a holistic vision of service intervention.
Resourcing
• A number of submissions highlighted the inadequate nature of the
resources available to combat the scourge of domestic violence.
Current departmental budgets were not gender responsive, nor did they
take into consideration the needs of youth and persons with
disabilities. This brings into question how women, children, youth and
persons with disabilities were prioritised in departmental spending.
Lack of reliable data
• It was highlighted that there was a lack of credible administrative
data and related indicators to effectively monitor and evaluate
whether government’s existing programmes were addressing the needs of
victims and perpetrators of domestic violence.
• In addition to a lack of data, available statistics to effectively
monitor and evaluate domestic violence trends were not disaggregated
or reported on timeously.
• Existing information systems between various departments on domestic
violence was not compatible.
• There was no integrated information system to track trends in domestic
violence and determine whether the targets set for reducing its
incidence and rendering the required programmes in a holistic manner
was achieved. It was also not clear what the targets were for reducing
the incidents of domestic violence in the country.
Faith-based sector
• The faith-based sector was identified as a key role player in
providing support and assistance to victims of domestic violence as
religious leaders were often contacted initially for advice. However,
presenters at the public hearings were concerned that religious
leaders did not always provide the help victims sought and, at times,
subjected the victim to secondary abuse.
4.2 PEACE AND SECURITY CLUSTER
Department of Police
Numerous reports of non-compliance by members of the police with provisions of the Domestic Violence Act were made by presenters. These included: Non-compliance • It was noted that there appeared to be a disincentive by police officers to record incidents of domestic violence, abuse or rape, as this would negatively affect their target of reducing contact crimes between 7 - 10% annually. Hence, incidents of rape were often reported as a common assault or turned away, with the same practice being adopted in abuse cases. • Firearms were not always confiscated after being used to threaten victims and the license of the alleged perpetrator suspended. • The safety of persons who had obtained protection orders were being compromised by some police officials’ unwillingness to arrest perpetrators who violated the protection order. • The behaviour of police officials dealing with victims of domestic violence were reported as being demeaning and discriminatory. Police officials discouraged women from taking action. Police officers also often did not inform victims about accessing a protection order or laying a criminal charge. Submissions by individuals working on farms indicated that particularly in the case of farm workers, police responded by saying that they were ‘drunk’ farm women and did not attend to their cases. Numerous incidents were reported citing the appalling attitude of police officials who often subject victims to secondary abuse. • Numerous concerns arose regarding protection orders as it relates to ensuring the safety of persons requesting protection orders, the reluctance and often refusal of police officers to serve the order, or to arrest the perpetrator who has violated the protection order. • It was also highlighted that risk assessment needs to be prioritised, so as to make victim safety a priority. This becomes especially important when victims are told to return the next day, resulting in cases where women did not return to file charges.
Lack of resources • The lack of resources was noted as an impediment that compromised on the ability of the police to act in accordance with the provisions of the Act. There have, for example, been instances where the police have claimed that they had no vehicles available and situations where the areas from which victims call were not in their jurisdiction, particularly in rural areas. Hence the service was not rendered.
Servicing of protection orders • Protection orders often did not serve the purpose they are intended for in that they were not adequately enforced and the victim continued to suffer abuse despite the serving of the protection order. • The cost implications for serving a protection order were not applied uniformly across the country. • Some police officers were reluctant to serve protection orders and in some instances even refused to do so. The undue delay in serving a protection order on an assailant placed the victim in grave danger.
Training • There was insufficient training of SAPS officials to deal with victims of domestic violence. In addition, once-off training was inadequate to ensure officials were equipped to deal with matters related to domestic violence. • Some training of police officials has taken place. However, given the reports of negative attitudes by some police officials, there was a need to review existing training modules and monitor and evaluate their application. The monitoring and evaluation of whether officials require training, at what level, as well as if officials were implementing what they know required serious attention. • It was also highlighted that there was a need to debrief police officials who consistently deal with issues of domestic violence to enable them to cope with their exposure to trauma and remain sensitive to the issue.
Specialised units • Presenters at the public hearings welcomed the re-establishment of specialised units such as the Family Violence Child Protection Unit and Sexual Offences Units (FCS). More clarity was sought as to when and how these units would be introduced, including the provision of adequate resources to these structures. The mandate of these units in relation to domestic violence had been very limited in the past so it was also necessary to clarify their mandate around such cases in future.
Victim Empowerment Programme • Many police stations lack facilities for private consultation due to the absence of trauma rooms or Thuthuzela Centres. As a result, such victims often had to provide statements in environments that were not conducive to confidentiality or safety. • In some instances, lay counsellors assigned to trauma rooms were ill equipped to deal with the counselling needs of victims of domestic violence. The training of these volunteer counsellors was not monitored and/or evaluated. There was also often inadequate supervision of volunteers, as well as a high turnover of volunteers at police stations and trauma rooms. • It also appeared that there was a lack of interdepartmental collaboration between all role players responsible for victim empowerment. • Batho Pele principles were not being applied and the attitude of officials often deterred victims from laying a charge or seeking a protection order.
Record-keeping • Domestic violence should be recognised as a reportable category of crime. It was noted that there appeared to be a disincentive by police officers to record incidents of domestic violence, abuse and rape as this would negatively affect their overall performance rating. • In addition, it was also highlighted that domestic violence registers were not being maintained in the manner required.
Community Police Forums • Community Police Forums did not appear to be dealing with domestic violence. These forums were seen as often being politicised and their effectiveness varied across the country.
Department of Justice and Constitutional Development
Accessibility • For persons with disabilities, access to the criminal justice system remains a problem. An example cited was that localised sign language was not being used within courts, making communication and interpretation difficult. • Courts and police officials needed to become more available in terms of their operating hours. Court services in particular were not available after hours in many areas resulting in limited access, as well as loss of wages for farm women, shift workers and casual employees who have to take time off work to access court. • Victims of domestic violence were subjected to secondary victimisation within the judicial process. • Many court officials were ill-equipped to deal with matters related to domestic violence. • Availability of magistrates after hours was problematic. Secondary victimisation • Victims of domestic violence were subject to secondary victimisation by court officials and undue delay in court processes. • In many instances, victims were not granted a protection order but requested to return with sufficient evidence or a notice to show cause for a protection order to be granted. This often resulted in women having to return home to the perpetrator without any protection. Victims, who have already suffered trauma, were therefore additionally victimised by the institution whose protection they sought. In addition, the court may also allow the alleged perpetrator to provide a notice to show cause for why a protection order should not be issued. • It was noted that there was a lack of privacy in court when dealing with domestic violence cases. Although sensitive, these proceedings were often open to the public.
Specialisation • There was a lack of a child-centred approach in matters related to court processes and children as victims of domestic violence e.g. postponement of cases and long waiting periods, as well as attitudes of court officials which impact negatively on the child.
Co-ordination • Domestic violence was often inter-related with divorce and maintenance matters. Thus, many cases were a combination of criminal and civil matters. However, according to the submissions, many victims of domestic violence report having to engage with the judicial system at multiple points which was costly, confusing and inefficient. Individual cases were not dealt with holistically, which leaves the victim to seek services from multiple points, rather than having all matters dealt with in one place.
4.3 SOCIAL SERVICES CLUSTER
Department of Social Development
Psycho-social support • The current provision of psycho-social services to victims of domestic violence by government was inadequate. Most victims received support from non-governmental organisations that were battling to survive financially and still render a service. • Government psycho-social interventions were rendered from a purely bio- medical perspective as opposed to a developmental and community-based approach that included psycho-social rehabilitation. Where medical intervention was provided, it was often provided initially with little or no follow-through for the victim after a J88 form had been completed. • Overall, there was insufficient attention to ensuring the safety of children, as well as addressing their specific needs which arose from either witnessing domestic violence or being victims of domestic violence. • It was also highlighted that services were not reaching children. Government social workers did not always visit children in their homes, and as such, children had to go to their offices which impeded access. • In many instances, psycho-social services were only offered to the domestic violence victim, thus ignoring the possible needs of other family members such as children, grandparents etc who had witnessed the violence. • The extent and range of psycho-social services offered was limited, for example, there were few support groups for victims of domestic violence.
Shelters • It was highlighted that there was a severe shortage of shelters for women, particularly in rural areas. It was not evident if any measures were in place to address the shortage. • In addition, the limited access to emergency shelters for victims of domestic violence required urgent attention.
Poor co-ordination • There was a lack of synergy between the different programmes within the Department of Social Development. As such, a victim of domestic violence was often not assessed for social security benefits.
Social security • It was noted that in many instances, persons with severe mental illness struggle to access disability grants, and that the South African Social Security Agency must ensure measures to make these services accessible.
Victim Empowerment Programme • The Victim Empowerment Programme had failed many victims of domestic violence, largely due to the inadequate allocation of resources to implement the programme, as well as the Minimum Standards for Service Delivery in Victim Empowerment. • The lack of guidelines for the Victim Empowerment Programme (VEP) severely impedes service delivery.
Lack of human resources • The high case load of social workers had a direct bearing on whether a victim will indeed access a service. There appeared to be an over- reliance on social workers and a lack of a multi-disciplinary team to address domestic violence. Apart from social workers, it was not clear what other cadres of professionals, if any, were employed as part of a multi-disciplinary team to deal with domestic violence in terms of rendering psycho-social interventions.
Department of Health
• Forensic specialists were a scarce resource, which directly impacts on
the ability to provide medico-legal services to victims of domestic
violence.
• It was highlighted that there appeared to be little or no follow-up of
victims of domestic violence after they initially visit a health
facility.
• Health care professionals had been reported to subject victims of
domestic violence to secondary victimisation and were often not held
accountable for this.
• Many health care professionals did not know about the Domestic
Violence Act.
• There was a need for holistic care provisions to victims of domestic
violence, particularly in relation to psycho-social trauma.
Department of Human Settlements
• It was noted that the marital status of the domestic violence
victim/survivor should not hinder access to government services, such
as housing. It was reported that in many instances, women who had RDP
houses were not eligible for additional or new houses as records
indicated that they had already received housing, despite the fact
that the perpetrator was occupying the house or that they had
separated or divorced.
• There was therefore an urgent need to respond to secondary housing for
victims of domestic violence.
• In addition to the need for more shelters, there was also no policy
that made provision for women who exit shelters to access housing.
4.4 GOVERNANCE CLUSTER
Department of Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities
• At present, there was no overarching National Strategic Policy
Framework to combat domestic violence, resulting in a lack of synergy
between departments. The new department which is responsible for the
needs of socially vulnerable groups is well placed to take leadership
in the development of a National Strategic Policy Framework.
• In addition, the department must outline specific programmes to
address high levels of violence against women, children and persons
with disabilities, and to ensure that these programmes are adequately
costed and resourced.
• The department must work collaboratively with other departments to
ensure implementation of the Domestic Violence Act. It must also
ensure the inclusion of organisations addressing domestic violence in
the planning of the National Strategic Policy Framework.
National Planning Commission & Monitoring and Evaluation
• As the primary bodies responsible for planning, monitoring and
evaluation, it was imperative that these two bodies are included in
the development of a National Strategic Policy Framework for domestic
violence
• Monitoring and evaluation was important for oversight in terms of
implementation of the DVA, as well as holding service providers to
account for the effective implementation of the DVA. Commission for Gender Equality
• The role of the Commission of Gender Equality must be strengthened and
closely monitored as an organ of the state and a key role player of
the gender machinery established to address gender discrimination.
- RECOMMENDATIONS
The committee made the following recommendations:
5.1 Legislative amendments
It was recommended that certain sections of the Domestic Violence Act should be amended to effect changes that best speak to the needs of victims of domestic violence.
Amendments to the Domestic Violence Act (DVA)
The discretionary powers of police officials in effecting arrests on perpetrators of domestic violence is highly problematic and highlights the gaps that exist in the combating of crimes of domestic violence. In certain circumstances, police officials were not obligated to arrest suspected perpetrators of domestic violence where suspicion existed of continued abuse of a spouse or intimate partner. It was therefore recommended that the DVA should be amended in order to remove the discretionary powers of police officials in matters relating to domestic violence. In particular, it was recommended that section 3 of the DVA should be amended by replacing the phrase “may arrest” with the phrase “must arrest” in order to ensure that victims of domestic violence were protected against retaliation from or by the abuser.
One of the critical areas in terms of legislative amendments deals with the issue of imminent harm as described in section 8(4)(b) of the DVA. The section speaks to a situation where the police officer, on reasonable grounds, suspects that the complainant may suffer imminent harm as a result of an alleged breach of the protection order, that police officer must arrest the respondent. The notion of imminent harm is not clearly enough dealt with in the DVA. It therefore raises questions around whether a police officer should arrest a respondent for having verbally abused his or her partner. In this regard, it was recommended that clarity should be given to what exactly was meant by ‘imminent harm’ by either a legislative amendment or through the establishment of guidelines through the inclusion of further regulations.
The criminalisation of domestic violence was a proposal that emerged at the public hearings and requires vigorous debate to determine the feasibility of such an amendment to the Act.
The lack of a provision within the DVA in terms of the co-ordination of services between various role players severely impedes service delivery. As such an amendment should be considered in this regard.
Domestic Partnerships Legislation
In terms of domestic partnerships, the DVA is under-utilised by women who cohabit with their partners. It is critical to ensure that legislation is enacted that recognises domestic partnerships and in so doing, grants them legitimacy and entitlements. Currently, women who cohabit, on the dissolution of their relationship, are entitled to nothing but that which they brought to the relationship. They have no legal claim to property or any other assets to whose purchase they have contributed. This group of abused women thus lose substantially and materially when their relationships end.
Costing of DVA
It would be imperative that the proposed new provisions of the Act were costed along with the existing sections to ensure that adequate resources were allocated for its implementation. Clear time frames need to be established as to by when the costing will be completed.
General Recommendations
With the exercise of parliamentary authority and oversight over the executive, the review of the implementation of legislation was constitutionally mandated. However, where an Act contains regulations for the implementation of the legislation, the powers of the legislature were considerably hampered as those regulatory powers were conferred on the Minister in whose department that legislation falls. However, it was critical to note that parliament still conducts oversight over the performance of the Minister and as such can hold the Minister concerned accountable. It was therefore necessary that where legislation deals with domestic violence, that the development of regulations to such legislation does not fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the executive authority alone, but was also subject to legislative scrutiny.
Firearm Control
In terms of the Firearms Control Act, No 60 of 2000, it was recommended that a review of the training received by police officials on the DVA and Firearms Control Act (FCA) should be conducted. In this regard, it was further recommended that such a review highlight the need for improved training with disciplinary consequences for police officers not knowing of, or complying with, the National Instruction on Domestic Violence.
In terms of the seizure of firearms and other weapons used in the perpetration of acts of domestic violence, it was essential that police question witnesses at the scene of a domestic violence incident, search for a firearm and remove it, regardless of the state of the alleged abuser or alleged threats with a firearm.
The safety of victims of domestic violence during the period between the granting of an interim protection order, and the approval of a final protection order in terms of the firearms control legislation had also been brought into question. It remained critical that guidelines should be drafted in order to strengthen the protections afforded to victims of domestic violence by the interim order. These proposed guidelines should focus on the protection of the victim and in particular seek to:
• Introduce more rigorous questions relating to the presence of weapons
in the communal home, whether these firearms are the property and or
registered to the victim or the perpetrator.
• The transferring of the onus for the request to remove firearms from
the communal home from the applicant to the presiding officer.
• Providing for clarity, making it clearer that the firearm must be
removed immediately and not only on the return date when the
protection order is made final.
The Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD)
In terms of oversight over the conduct of the South African Police Service (SAPS), the Independent Complaints Directorate was tasked with reviewing allegations of abuse of police power, particularly where it pertains to situations of domestic violence. However, it has been reported that the South African Police Service Act, No. 68 of 1995, did not afford the ICD sufficient powers to compel the South African Police Service to comply with recommendations that have been made by the ICD. This was particularly problematic as it did not provide victims of domestic violence with sufficient recourse in instances of police misconduct. It was recommended that the South African Police Service Act should be amended in order to widen the scope of the powers and compel the SAPS to comply with recommendations made by the watchdog.
Furthermore, the ICD was currently in advanced discussions around assigning their responsibilities in terms of the DVA to the SAPS Secretariat. In this regard, it would be critical for both the portfolio and select committees to be actively involved in this process in order to ensure that weakness in the ICD are not duplicated in the SAPS Secretariat. Moreover, the committees would need to ascertain what resources the SAPS Secretariat have available to ensure effective oversight over the DVA.
Development of a Performance Monitoring Framework for Courts
As has already been noted, record-keeping at South African courts remains poor. This was further complicated insofar as domestic violence was concerned. Particular problems around the implementation and interpretation of provisions of the DVA were experienced. It was therefore necessary that a performance monitoring framework was implemented to assess the courts’ effective implementation of the Act. This would enable the authorities to:
• Assess the quality and completeness of recordkeeping by the courts.
• The standardisation of processes and procedures across courts
including courts’ working hours and their interpretation and
application of the DVA’s provisions.
• Making it mandatory that all domestic violence applications be dealt
with in private offices where applicants’ confidentiality may be
maintained.
The committee should therefore request the Quality Assurance Division of the Magistrates Commission to outline their current procedures for monitoring court performance in relation to the DVA. It is critical that such a report to Parliament contain specifics about the availability of magistrates after hours to issue interim protection orders where they are urgently required. However, the executive authority responsible for monitoring the conduct of magistrates, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, should present recommendations to the committee on how monitoring could be strengthened and its findings made enforceable by courts.
Service of the Protection Orders
One of the major concerns in terms of the DVA was the servicing of protection orders on respondents. The public hearings demonstrated that that process presented a real obstacle to women’s access to the protections police officials in the service of protection orders was problematic as police officials were unwilling to serve these documents in favour of more pressing police matters. In that regard, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development should rework Regulation 15 of the regulations to the DVA, entitled ‘Service of documents’, in order to ensure that court officials increase their use of the sheriffs and substantially reduce their use of police officials to serve orders. It was further recommended that the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development present these proposed amendments to Parliament.
The costs involved in the serving of protection orders, in certain circumstances, severely hampers the ability of victims of domestic violence to obtain protection orders. This was more so the case in rural areas where victims can ill afford the costs involved in the serving of protection orders on the respondent. The financial threshold for assistance applied in rural areas with respect to sheriff’s services should therefore be lower than those applied in urban areas. The present regulatory framework gives court officials too much discretion in the application of Regulation 15(4) of the regulations to the DVA. Regulation 15(4) states that:
“The complainant or respondent who requires a document to be served in terms of the Act or these regulations, shall be responsible for the costs of such service provided that the clerk of the court may, after consideration of such proof as he or she may require, direct that the State must be responsible for the costs of any service in terms of the Act or these regulations if he or she is satisfied that the complainant or respondent as the case may be, or both the complainant and respondent, do not have the means to pay for such costs at the time when service is required.”
The regulations must therefore also make explicit reference to the courts’ need to take payment of the sheriff’s fees into account when compiling their annual budgets.
One particular concern around the issuing and service of protection orders relates to the accessibility of protection orders to persons with disabilities, especially persons with visual impairments. It was recommended, that in cases where the need arises, protection orders should be accessible e.g. Braille.
Ensuring the Availability of Shelter and Counselling Services
The availability of shelters and counselling services to victims of domestic violence was raised as a serious concern by those who made submissions to the Portfolio and Select Committee on Women, Youth, Children and People with Disabilities. It was noted that the DVA placed no corresponding obligations on health or social service providers to make such services available. This gap weakens referral systems and contributes to fragmented responses to domestic violence by various service providers. In terms of section 19(c) of the DVA, the Minister may make regulations on “any other matter s/he deems necessary or expedient to be prescribed in order to achieve the objects of this Act.” It was therefore recommended that certain regulations governing the availability of shelter and counselling services might be necessary.
In this regard, the Department of Social Development should be consulted around the guidelines for shelters and services to victims of domestic violence. The documents must clearly articulate:
• How counseling services and shelters will be funded.
• The training norms and standards, as well as competencies required by
those working in this field.
• The management and recruitment of volunteers.
• The nature of interventions required to address domestic violence.
Moreover, these documents should note and address the relationship between child abuse and intimate partner violence and describe how both children’s agencies, as well as those dealing with abused women, could address this link.
The Department of Health has health care professionals suitably trained to render counseling services, general emergency and medical care as well as a range of psycho-social services for victims of domestic violence. The DVA does not overtly state the need for health care services should be rendered to victims of domestic violence nor specify the direct role of the Department of Health hereto. Hence, a legislative amendment to this end was proposed with specifications followed up in the regulations.
Once finalised, these guidelines (in relation to counseling, shelter provision, health care) should be submitted to Parliament and gazetted as regulations in terms of section 19(1)(c). This was a particularly critical issue and needed to be ensured that it was appropriately resourced.
5.2 OVERSIGHT
General
• Strategies should be developed to deal with marginalised groups most
vulnerable to domestic violence that do not benefit from the Act’s
protection such as children, persons with disabilities, pensioners,
foreign nationals etc.
• The National Youth Development Agency, the Commission for Gender
Equality and the South African Human Rights Commission should report
annually to Parliament on progress with respect to addressing domestic
violence as per their given mandates.
• A mechanism should be devised within Parliament to ensure that the
implementation of the DVA was overseen by all committees concerned
namely the Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth, Children and People
with Disabilities, the Select Committee on Women, Children and People
with Disabilities, the Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security, the
Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development, the
Portfolio Committee on Health, the Portfolio Committee on Social
Development, the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlement and the
Select Committee on Social Services.
• All relevant departments must report to the respective portfolio
committees on an annual basis in terms of progress with respect to the
DVA, as per the template in Appendix A. A scorecard related to the
implementation of the DVA should be devised for monitoring and
evaluation purposes.
• The Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth, Children and People with
Disabilities must hold the Inter-departmental committee to account and
include the National Treasury to reinforce the importance of
adequately funding programmes that address domestic violence.
• It was imperative that Parliament insists on reports from the
Department of Police on its compliance with the DVA and the Firearms
Control Act as it relates to domestic violence.
• Parliament must request reports on the implementation of measures to
ensure that all firearms are returned when staff go off duty because
of the escalating domestic violence incidents resulting in family
murders committed by officers (e.g. police, South African National
Defence Force soldiers and private security guards) with access to
legal firearms.
• Parliament should oversee that the various government departments
should raise awareness around the existence of the Act and its
importance to be disseminated to all sectors of society in order to
effectively use and implement the DVA.
• In order for Members of the Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth,
Children and People with Disabilities and the Select Committee on
Women, Children and People with Disabilities to conduct effective
oversight with respect to the implementation of the DVA, members
require training on the implications of the DVA.
• The lack of an overarching policy framework to address domestic
violence severely impedes the effectiveness of services rendered to
victims of domestic violence. As such, establishing a framework for
the DVA will ensure service norms and standards, training and
monitoring requirements, reporting channels and the role of
volunteers. The Ministry for Women, Children and Persons with
Disabilities will be best suited to lead such a process for developing
an overarching policy framework.
Policing • Norms and standards regarding training for police must be developed as a matter of priority. This training framework should be included in the South African Police Services National Instructions. • The Department of Police must amend its National Instructions to provide clear guidelines around when police officers should or should not arrest perpetrators of abuse. • A five year plan for the effective policing of domestic violence must be developed. This plan needs to set clear goals, timelines and targets for the effective implementation of the DVA. The role of the SAPS Evaluation Service in monitoring whether these targets are being met or not should be clearly stated. • The referral of victims of domestic violence to health care services and counselling by police officers must be closely monitored as the public hearings revealed that this was not being implemented. • It was imperative that domestic violence registers were maintained and monitored at all police stations. To this end, the officials responsible for monitoring and maintaining the registers must be held to account. • A mechanism should be developed to deal with withdrawals, or situations where women do not wish to lay charges but nonetheless still require help and protection. • It was imperative that sufficient resources such as specialised personnel, forensic specialists, forensic laboratories etc. should be allocated for evidence collection.
JUDICIARY Develop a costed policy and/or legislation around the Family Courts (and other specialised courts) • The status and future of the Family Courts was unclear. It was recommended that a clear policy should be issued in this regard and that the blueprint should be elevated to the status of regulations. Clear timeframes and goals for the proliferation of family courts should be developed. • Engagement with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development with respect to strengthening revisions for specialised courts.
Develop norms and standards around training for court personnel • It is imperative that training standards and norms around the DVA should be clearly established by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. These should include stipulating the basic level of knowledge that magistrates, prosecutors and clerks should demonstrate before being permitted to deal with domestic violence. This training framework should also indicate the basic content of the training, as well as the minimum competence required of those who provide the training. Training should be ongoing, with follow-up courses building on previous training. • In the case of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, this training framework should be included in the revised regulations. • The department should assess the efficacy of training regularly and adapt the training programme where necessary.
Accessibility • It was imperative that a detailed plan should be developed that outlines how courts would be made accessible over the next five years, with specific reference to the needs of children, persons with disabilities and victims of domestic violence and sexual offences. In addition, the issue of after hour access to courts was another crucial issue requiring attention.
Sheriff’s Office • A means test must be developed that assesses on an equitable basis the cost incurred for having a protection order served by the Sheriff’s office.
SOCIAL SERVICES
Victim Empowerment Programme (VEP) • The VEP programme required review in terms of provisions and resourcing as the public hearings revealed that the programme did not serve the needs of victims it is intended for. • Neither the Victims’ Charter nor the Minimum Standards define secondary victimisation. This was problematic as many victims of domestic violence were subjected to secondary victimisation by government officials. It was imperative that this was done so that government departments had an understanding of secondary victimisation and in so doing, were in a position to prevent re-victimisation through appropriate institutional responses. • Re-assess funding criteria for VEP grants to civil society organisations. Grants should be made available to shelters given that they provide a critical service to victims of domestic violence. • Victim Empowerment Legislation: There was a need to expedite the promulgation of appropriate legislation which was developed in close consultation with civil society. • Greater public awareness was required in terms of the rights of victims of domestic violence and the Domestic Violence Act itself. To this end, government must allocate sufficient resources to undertake such an awareness campaign. • Greater synergy was required between the VEP, the Victims’ Charter, the Minimum Standards for Service Delivery and the Uniform Protocol on Victim Management to ensure services were better co-ordinated. This in turn will avoid the duplication of services and the more efficient use of resources. • The management of lay counsellors at Thuthuzela centres has not been working effectively across the country on account of the poor supervision, lack of accountability and often ill-equipped counsellors. A proposal for the establishment of Victim Advocates should be considered, whereby the role is merely to assist the victim throughout the administrative process within justice and police sector to health and social development. Hence, the counselling of victims should be left to appropriately trained professionals that are equipped to deal with domestic violence.
HEALTH SERVICES
Psycho-social support • A review of existing services and programmes must be done to determine where services are absent or need to be up-scaled. • An audit of government personnel rendering psycho-social support should be undertaken to determine where the skills shortages were and a plan should be devised to address the shortfall. Identify a recruitment strategy to increase the cadre of skilled personnel e.g. bursaries for psychologists, occupational therapists etc. • A review of existing programmes was required that was focused on the rehabilitation of perpetrators to determine whether these programmes were effective and could be demonstrated to bring about change in the abusers’ behaviour. Where such programmes could be identified, their replication may be considered. To this end, such programmes must be equipped with suitably-trained personnel and adequately resourced. • It was proposed that Thuthuzela Care Centres and the services offered should be made available for victims of domestic violence and not only be limited to rape survivors.
Effective information systems • An effective systemised screening within and across government departments such as Health, Education and Police, for domestic violence against children and women was lacking. For example, a victim of domestic violence can present numerous times at a health care facility but this information maybe absent at the Department of Police if a case has not been opened. A framework for screening was required and a mechanism for locating pertinent information regarding the victim. This could be achieved by establishing databases at hospitals and schools in order to identify victims of violence. This could monitor trends and incidences of violence as it relates to particular demographics. Databases can also be used to identify and refer victims to the necessary and appropriate psychosocial services based on their specific cases.
Policy and strategy development • The Department of Health should develop a comprehensive health sector policy to deal with domestic violence. Such a policy must clearly outline the roles and responsibilities of health care workers, the training required by health workers to implement the policy, a monitoring and evaluation strategy as well as a budget to effectively implement such a policy. It would be imperative that a policy of this nature should be developed in consultation with civil society organisations rendering services to victims of domestic violence to ensure effective networking and referral between role players concerned. It is Parliament’s role to oversee that the policy is developed and implemented. • It was recommended that the Department of Health should develop a strategy to work with the Department of Police in ensuring that victims of domestic violence are taken to a medico-legal facility to have the incident reported officially. This, in turn, would require that health personnel should be adequately trained and competent in documenting the nature and extent of the injury and be able to testify in a court of law. • In the context of the HIV and AIDS pandemic, the Department of Health should develop a plan stipulating how the existing public communications campaigns will address domestic violence in the current messaging. A targeted strategy was required to deal with women in abusive relationships who had limited choices in terms of applying the Department’s current prevention strategies (abstain, be faithful, use a condom).
Human Settlement
• The Department of Human Settlement was recommended to develop a policy
that addresses the secondary housing needs of domestic violence
victims.
- CONCLUSION
The committees had also agreed to the following:
• All individual cases from the public hearings must be followed up and
that government departments would have to account in this regard in an
official response in writing and through a briefing to the committee.
• The names of individuals that presented at the public hearings will
not be published in the committee’s report and that anonymity would be
adhered to.
• The report will be used as a tool to monitor government departments
again in terms of implementation of the DVA. The committees will
request the relevant government departments responsible for
implementing the DVA to provide a written report (annually) to the
committee on progress with regards to programmes implemented and
services rendered in this regard as well as funding allocated hereto.
• A copy of the strategic report and the committee’s report will be sent
to all those participants and respective government departments.
• Joint oversight with respective portfolio committees to assess the
implementation of the DVA.
The committees agreed that the report should be published in the ATC and debated in the National Assembly House in 2010.
Report to be considered.
TUESDAY, 26 OCTOBER 2010
ANNOUNCEMENTS
National Council of Provinces
The Chairperson
- Message from National Assembly to National Council of Provinces in respect of Bills passed by Assembly and transmitted to Council
(1) Bills passed by National Assembly and transmitted for
concurrence on 26 October 2010:
(a) South African Citizenship Amendment Bill [B 17B – 2010]
(National Assembly – sec 75).
(b) Births and Deaths Registration Amendment Bill [B 18B –
2010] (National Assembly – sec 75).
The Bills have been referred to the Select Committee on Social
Services of the National Council of Provinces.
(c) Magistrates’ Courts Amendment Bill [B 23B – 2010]
(National Assembly – sec 75).
(d) Defence Amendment Bill [B 11B – 2010] (National Assembly –
sec 75).
The Bills have been referred to the Select Committee on
Security and Constitutional Development of the National
Council of Provinces.
TABLINGS
National Assembly and National Council of Provinces
- The Minister of International Relations and Cooperation
a) Report and Financial Statements of the African Renaissance and
International Co-operation Fund for 2009-2010, including the
Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements and
Performance Information for 2009-2010.
b) Agreement between the Government of the Republic of South Africa
and the Government of the Republic of Uganda for the establishment
of a Joint Commission of Cooperation, tabled in terms of section
231(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.
c) Explanatory Memorandum to the Agreement between the Government of
the Republic of South Africa and the Government of the Republic of
Uganda for the establishment of a Joint Commission of Cooperation.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
National Council of Provinces
This report replaces the report of the Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development on the National Instruction 2/2010 published in the ATC of 20 October 2010:
- Report of the Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development on the South African Police Service National Instruction 2/2010, tabled in terms of section 97(5)(b) of the Child Justice Act, 2008 (Act No 75 of 2008), dated 26 October 2010:
The Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development having considered the National Instruction 2/2010, tabled in terms of section 97(5)(b) of the Child Justice Act, reports that it is satisfied with the National Instruction 2/2010. This report replaces the report of the Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development on the National Policy Framework on Child Justice published in the ATC of 20 October 2010:
- Report of the Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development on the National Policy Framework on Child Justice: Section 93 of the Child Justice Act, No 75 of 2008, dated 26 October 2010:
The Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development having considered the National Policy Framework on Child Justice: Section 93 of the Child Justice Act, No 75 of 2008, reports that it is satisfied with the National Policy Framework.