A two-day transport indaba held in Soweto ended on Monday, with Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe hailing it as a success.
“This was a very robust, constructive and historic indaba to improve the transport system in South Africa,” the minister told reporters at the conclusion of the indaba, which was held at the University of Johannesburg’s Soweto campus.
The indaba was attended by the minister, provincial ministers, the director general of the Department of Transport, provincial heads of transport departments, organised labour and commuter organisations.
During the indaba, delegates broke into three commissions that focused on the public transport strategy, the 2010 transport plan and the national road safety strategy.
Delegates at the conference also endorsed three strategies focusing on improving road safety, reducing road deaths and improving roads for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
Road safety is a very critical issue in South Africa, with thousands being killed in accidents each year, Radebe said.
“The Road Traffic Management Cooperation [RTMC] was mandated to play a coordinating role to ensure results in the intensification of … law enforcement levels,” he said.
Radebe also said a strategy needs to be implemented that works at creating safer areas for cyclists and pedestrians. “About 40% of people who die on roads are pedestrians,” he said.
The minister told reporters it was important to use the appropriate spheres of government when implementing specific policies, citing the importance of local government in making the process work.
He said the RTMC would need to work with the local authorities, and that government would continue to support municipalities in improving transport facilities nationally.
Investments and improvements to the transport system were a lasting legacy for the country, Radebe added, saying there are plans to build infrastructure linking areas around Johannesburg for the 2010 World Cup, but that these ventures would also improve long-term infrastructure for people living in Soweto, for example.
For the World Cup, Radebe said it was also necessary for South Africa to provide a world-class eco-friendly public transport system, an approach that would have broader, long-term benefits as well.
“As transport incentives … lift clubs will reduce emissions,” Radebe told the Mail & Guardian Online. And through the course of preparing for 2010, “even the infrastructure will take into account environmental elements”.
Commenting on public transport for the 2010 World Cup, he said the government would intensify its communications strategy to ensure “that our people were on board” with developments around the event.
Radebe said public transport should generally be prioritised in terms of safety. “Control and regulation of the industry as a whole must be implemented and intensified,” he said.
Government’s taxi recapitalisation programme was also overwhelmingly supported within the taxi industry, despite the few resisting change. “The taxi recapitalisation programme is on track. It is irreversible,” the minister said.
The scrapping of taxis, which would start on Saturday, should be closely monitored to “prevent recycling of old taxi vehicle parts”.
Regarding possible incentives for commuters to use public transport and travel in groups, Radebe said: “From the transport perspective we need to build more roads, but that is not adequate enough.”
He said that lately, South Africans had an increasing amount of “disposable income” and through this, there was a tendency to want to buy cars, instead of using public transport.
“Education and communication is important,” Radebe said, adding that if people knew there were 150Â 000 cars on the Ben Schoeman highway every day, they would be more inclined to form lift clubs or travel in groups, instead of as “lone rangers”.
“Communication to drivers is not yet properly received,” he said, regarding the way incentives, such as the trial high-occupancy lane, were calling out to motorists. But he added that he was “overall very happy with the results” of Monday’s trial run.
Resolutions taken at Sunday and Monday’s indaba would be presented to Cabinet for further deliberations during the 2007 Cabinet lekgotla [meeting], Radebe said.
It was proposed that two consultative workshops — one in January and the other in June — be held in order to review the decisions taken at the indaba, he said.