SALGA gears up for Transport Month: “Together shaping the future of Transport”

Posted: 02 October 2020

The Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula launched Transport Month on Thursday, 01 October 2020 in KwaZulu-Natal province.

During the entire month, all three spheres of government, state entities and private corporations in the transport industry will showcase transport infrastructure services in aviation; maritime; public transport and roads.

The month is used to further advance the country’s road safety initiatives, creating awareness of the economic benefits of the sector, jobs created through infrastructure and other service delivery programmes.

The 2020 theme for Transport Month is, “Together shaping the future of Transport”.

Mbalula, during the launch spoke on how Transport Month would also be used to raise awareness about the contribution of transport to economic development.

He used the occasion to call on South Africa’s civil society organisations and the private sector to contribute to a safer, more affordable, accessible and reliable transport system for the country across all modes of transport.

The Covid-19 pandemic has taken a toll on local government and national government-funded infrastructure projects. Many of these were delayed due to government mandated lockdown regulations aimed at curbing the spread of the disease. This also had a knock-on effect on government’s efforts to find a final resolution to the e-toll matter.

During this month, SALGA will roll-out carefully selected programmes as a contribution to the road infrastructure agenda.

Plans are underway to fast track the guidelines for the development and management of Intermodal Public Transport Facilities. As such, a virtual panel discussion will be held where municipalities will be able to share best practices to enhance peer learning among municipalities.

Other webinars to be held are aimed at ascertaining the “Overview of the Rural Gravel Roads Programme” and “Assisting Municipal Readiness for AARTO”.

SALGA as the representative body of organized local government has followed due process to solicit inputs from municipalities and consolidated response on the then AARTO Bill through SALGA governance structures.

The consolidated response covered areas of the workability, the need to improve road safety and user behaviour, the intergovernmental relations (IGR) requirements, communication and awareness processes, training, capacitation and resourcing of municipalities, financial systems management, provision to manage potential unintended consequences, monitoring and evaluation and note the lessons learnt from the pilot in the Tshwane and Johannesburg municipalities, to be ideally incorporated in the rollout program.

The national government has recognized the need to address road safety and has developed the “Road to Safety Strategy” as well as the Arrive Alive Program that is currently going into its eighth phase.

At the provincial level, certain programmes have been running for several years. However, despite these programmes and efforts, reports indicate a rising accident trend in South Africa as a whole.

Despite the magnitude of the road safety problems within the jurisdictions of local government, and although the responsibility for remedial measures usually falls within the sphere of government, there has to date been little attempt to involve local government in the national and provincial strategies.

The National Department of Transport has also allocated R4,5 billion to fixing the notorious Moloto road over the next five years.

"We listened to the pleas of local communities and road users and have responded by transferring the totality of the Moloto road across the provinces of Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo to SANRAL, and allocating more resources for its upgrade," said Mbalula.