Transport South Africa

Fix city's public transport system

2007-01-31T11:23:00.000-08:00

Cape Argus: January 29, 2007
Cosatu and a commuter group have called on transport authorities to overhaul the city's "shameful" public transport system before it was too late.

They warned that time was running out, and the province had to start implementing its plans for the 2010 World Cup soon.

Rail Commuter Action Group spokesperson Leslie van Minnen, said: "The time for talking is finished. The government and Metrorail have been discussing their problems and plans for over six years … It's now the case of getting down and doing something.

"They must get the shameful public transport into order and stop talking.

"Our system is in such a dire state, it's embarrassing … especially the rail system … and it can't be improved in three years.

"It's an absolute joke to think the city or any other city is going to be ready for the event (2010).

"We've been fighting with Metrorail and the Transport Minister since 2001. Nothing has changed.

"They've installed a few CCTV cameras at some stations … have put some fencing around certain stations and more recently introduced the railway police. We appreciate that, but these are not priority issues," Van Minnen said.

"We need to improve the infrastructure first. We've got an ageing and unreliable rail system … our trains are very old, between 20 to 30 years old and they are not serviced properly because of poor management and poor maintenance.

"They don't have the political will or expertise available to improve the system to change the Third World commuter system into a respectable world class system. It will take an absolute miracle for them to change such system," he said.

Commuting is also dangerous, with frequent reports of injuries and death. The Rail Commuter Action Group is representing 51 commuters injured in railway accidents in a class action lawsuit against Metrorail, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe and other authorities.

The case is due to be heard in the Cape High Court this year.

Metrorail said its 2010 plans were on track and it was ready to implement them from next month.

However, Cosatu's provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich described the government's promises that the city's public transport system would be ready by 2010 as "gimmick".

"We need to have a more comprehensive plan, and we must start implementing it," he said.

Ehrenreich said buses and trains, which were getting "huge subsidies" from the government, were in a very poor state.

"It's ridiculous to think that we are to link the improvement of public transport to 2010.

"We've got no public transport in the Western Cape after 8pm; the buses and taxis are in such a bad state. There have been a lot of new townships in the past few years, but nothing has been done to improve public transport in those areas.

"The only thing that we are seeing is the building and expansion of freeways to accommodate more private vehicles.

"We also hear of the airport rail link to transport visitors and the rich from the airport to their hotels in the city. People from the Cape Flats are not even going to be part of the World Cup because tickets for the matches will be too expensive anyway.

"The government is just conning people … it is deceiving people to think everything will be running smoothly during the World Cup. It's a gimmick," he said.

Denis Lillie, the project director for the 2010 Fifa World Cup at the provincial Department of Transport and Public Works, said planned projects were expected to become "live projects" as from next month.

"In principle everything is in place. We are working closely with the city, the national government and the Treasury to ensure that everything is done on time.

"In February we will have a complete overlay of where we are … we will be getting final details of every plan and then we expect to formalise the whole process afterwards."

Lillie said the consultation process, which looked at visitor numbers, was expected to be completed in two to three weeks. This would give the government an idea of how the event would impact public transport.

The city and the province were already identifying venues for park-and-ride facilities near train stations and at some educational institutions where people would leave their cars and use public transport to matches at Green Point Stadium and fan parks across the city.

The University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch University were some of the venues earmarked for parking and accommodation for visitors.

Lillie said the government was looking at getting better bus coaches before the end of 2009 to operate in the city before the World Cup. Additional trains are to be added to the rolling stock in the province.

But Lillie said not everything would disappear after 2010. "The buses, for instance, would be released back to serve local communities after the World Cup.

"We want a transport service for all residents in the city, not just our visitors. We are looking at how the Cape Flats can benefit by having fan parks closer to people.

"We are considering Philippi as one of the venues for fan parks," he said.

Metrorail spokesperson Riana Scott said R80-million had been set aside to upgrade Heideveld, Langa, Athlone and Netreg stations.

"These are expected to improve the access to the facility and also the security of the people using the trains. The professional team for revitalisation of Cape Town station has already been appointed," she said.

Meanwhile, commuters who spoke to the Cape Argus expressed frustration at the hitches involved in the daily grind of getting to and from work.

When Nowellyn van der Merwe of Heideveld, ap-proached by the Cape Argus after he had just got off an evening train home. He had been hanging outside the carriage because of overcrowding.

"I've been using trains for the last eight years and things are getting worse on the Mitchell's Plain line every day," he said.

"Trains are always late every morning, and there's no good communication from Metrorail on why they are always late.

"The only thing they tell us is that trains are either being delayed or cancelled. This does not only create problems of overcrowding inside trains, but it becomes risky because people stand in between carriages just to get to work or back home.

"Windows are broken and when it rains in winter the water just comes in.

"I don't see how things will change for 2010, or at least not for local people, maybe for tourists," he said.

Deborah Carelse travels to the city daily by bus.

"The buses are literally falling apart and they break down all the time, especially the ones in Mitchell's Plain," she said.

"This delays commuters a great deal. Sometimes we have to board a bus with an open flap on its floor and … you can actually see the ground.

"It looks like all the old ones are being dumped here. They never come on time …

"The complaints department never bothers to resolve your complaints … they always promise to come back to you, but they never do," she said.

Golden Arrow did not respond to a list of questions submitted from the Cape Argus.

Battle against road deaths a failure

2007-01-26T23:40:00.001-08:00

January 17 2007
The battle to reduce road deaths significantly was lost again over the festive season, the Committee for Active Road Safety (Cars), said on Wednesday.

Ian Auret, the chairperson of Cars, which is sponsored by the Bridgestone tyre company, said even though there was a small reduction in deaths compared to a year ago, the number of fatalities "would be unacceptable in most civilised countries".

Measures to improve road safety did not work and an effective strategy was needed, he said.

"The problem becomes quite frightening when one considers that the fatality figures recorded and reported over the festive period are not really that much different to the figures recorded every

nth of the year; we just publicise the festive season figures more dramatically."

On Wednesday, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said 1 645 people died on the roads between December 1 and January 10, down slightly from 1 726 the year before.

Radebe said more than 13 000 people die each year on the roads.

Bicycles and bakkies may be answer for rural school transport

2007-01-26T23:38:00.000-08:00

THE Eastern Cape Education Department says it needs R60million to provide
transport to rural pupils in the province.

The department’s finance boss, Tracy Cumming, said the current R30m pupil transport budget was insufficient to attract service providers.

The subsidy translates to R50 per pupil per month.

Cumming was responding to concerns from members of the provincial Legislature that some schools in the province were unreachable by car and that rural pupils still had to walk long distances to schools.

She said buses could not reach some schools, making bakkies the only viable mode of transport.

National transport laws have banned the use of bakkies as passenger vehicles.

It emerged that pupils at Holy Cross near Flagstaff had to write one of their exam papers late last year because officials needed a four-wheel drive vehicle to deliver question papers.

During an education oversight committee meeting last week a department official said former MEC Mkhangeli Matomela had negotiated with car maker Tata to design a bakkie to ferry pupils.

Apparently, the provincial Education Department proposed this to the national Education and Transport Departments, but neither had yet responded.

However, MPL Phaki Hobongwana advised the new MEC, Johnny Makgato, not to continue talks with Tata, saying earlier negotiations with DaimlerChrysler, begun after the infamous 2004 Amalinda bakkie accident in which six schoolchildren were killed, were at an advanced stage.

The department had sought permission from Transport Minister Jeff Radebe to pilot five converted bakkies, but it is not clear what happened to the application.

Hobongwana said while bakkies were suitable for urban pupils, the sheer number of rural school children meant that only buses were a viable solution to their transport problem.

Education committee chairperson Mahlubandile Qwase said the ongoing problem was a bad reflection and the department should tackle it this year.

Qwase said the provision of buses posed a solution to the problem.

Other MPLs suggested a massive roll out of bicycles.

Provincial transport spokesperson Ncedo Kumbaca said plans were also afoot to use horse-drawn carts as one of the solutions to the problem.

Kumbaca said buses would be made available to 166 routes in the former Transkei sometime this year.

Only Radebe could authorise the use of bakkies to ferry passengers, he said.

Radebe’s spokesperson, Sam Monareng, said the department had launched a project to provide one million bicycles over 10 years to the country’s rural schoolchildren.

Quit dithering

2007-01-26T23:37:00.000-08:00

A 12-year-old girl was raped in a forest this week while on her way to school. The attack prompted Captain Jackson Manatha to urge parents to organise transport to take their children to school.

Clearly his motives were noble, but given the school transport crisis, Manatha’s comment would have been laughable were the issue not one in which the lives of our children are at stake.

This week alone:

A 16-year-old schoolgirl was killed when she was flung from the back of an out-of-control bakkie taking children to school. Five other children were seriously hurt.
Police arrested the drivers of two buses carrying over 300 children to school – more than double the allowed number certified for the vehicles.
The very next day traffic authorities in Bizana impounded three more buses overloaded with pupils.

The latest incidents come, we are told, as the provincial Education Department scrambles to find the most suitable mode of transport for pupils, mostly from rural villages around the Eastern Cape.

During an education oversight committee meeting last week it emerged that former Education MEC Mkhangeli Matomela had negotiated with car maker Tata to design a bakkie to ferry pupils to school.

However, MPL Phaki Hobongwana advised new MEC, Johnny Makgato, not to continue talks with Tata, saying earlier negotiations with DaimlerChrysler were at an advanced stage.

Subsequent probing by the Dispatch revealed that the department sought permission from Transport Minister Jeff Radebe to pilot five converted bakkies – but his stance is that using bakkies as passenger vehicles for a fee is illegal.

Into this mix comes the news that plans are afoot by the provincial Transport Department to use horse-drawn carts as one of the solutions to the problem.

There is also talk of a massive roll out of bicycles. Bicycles? Imagine a Grade 1 pupil on an oversized bicycle trying to pedal up an Eastern Cape dirt track. Imagine also, the same Grade 1 trying to retain ownership of that bike.

Why is it that more than two years have passed since the ghastly 2004 Amalinda bakkie accident that claimed six lives – and still nothing tangible is on the table?

Why is it that one hand of government seems not to know what the other is doing, and the issue appears stuck in the bog of inertia that has trapped much of officialdom in our struggling province?

What are they waiting for? Another child to be raped walking to school? A catastrophe the size of a tsunami to shift them out of neutral? Or perhaps, like certain members of the Ndlambe Municipality, gifts?

Gautrain robbed us of our palace

2007-01-20T08:10:00.000-08:00

January 12 2007
"I feel that an unjust decision was made to move us out of a palace which I made beautifully and furnished to my satisfaction."

That was how a disappointed Moosa Sayanvalla, on behalf of his mother Zohra, described the expropriation of his property in Marlboro Gardens, north of Johannesburg, to make way for the Gautrain project. He said the property was worth R5,5-million.

Sayanvalla agreed to a R1,5-million settlement in the Johannesburg High Court on Thursday.

Zohra Sayanvalla, Mahomed Ebrahim Ismail and Nazir Ahmed Loonat had made an urgent application in the High Court on Thursday to fend off the speedy expropriation of their homes.

In November, the families were notified by letter that their houses had been expropriated by the province in October and they had to vacate their premises by January 6.

The three applicants took the matter to court on December 28 but the application was postponed to January 11, 2007 as Transport Minister Jeff Radebe and Gauteng Public Transport MEC Ignatius Jacobs were not available at the time.

The applicants argued that their properties were worth between R3-million and R11-million. During proceedings, the parties reached an out-of-court agreement in which Sayanvalla would be the first to be compensated.

The applicants are to be offered interim accommodation until the end of February. The matter will go to arbitration for the final determination of compensation.

Speaking outside court, Moosa Sayanvalla said the state attorneys had conceded that they had offered them one-third of the value of their property.

The plaintiffs' lawyer, Zahir Omar, said the compensation offered to the residents was abnormally low.

Gautrain project leader Jack van der Merwe confirmed an out-of-court settlement had been reached. He said the extension on obtaining land would not affect the construction timetable or add to the project's cost.

Spoornet cancels fully-booked trains

2007-01-20T07:11:00.000-08:00

January 19 2007 at 02:59PM

A Cape Town tourism operator is fighting mad after Spoornet cancelled three charter trains it had fully booked with German tourists for 2007.

The cancellation of the trains, which were booked as long ago as 2005, would not only seriously damage his company but also make a huge dent in South Africa's image in Europe in the face of the 2010 World Cup, said Andreas Lappe, owner of Penguin Tours.

'There was no agreement that the train would continue this year'
The special Diamond of Africa charter trains, which Lappe has been running with partners for several years, may not run this year after Spoornet officials withdrew staff and locomotives. Spoornet managers told him they did not have enough locomotives or staff to run the three trains, Lappe said.

This was confirmed by Molatwane Likhethe of Spoornet, who said the parastatal had notified the operators as early as June last year of the discontinued services.

"There was no agreement that the train would continue this year," he said.

He said they were facing challenges that included limited resources and staff shortages.

Now Lappe has turned to Transnet chief Maria Ramos and Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk in a last-ditch attempt to get the trains rolling.

"Our first train is supposed to run on March 15. The tourists have their aircraft and accommodation booked and have paid," Lappe said.

He differed with Likhethe, however, on when notice was given.

"Spoornet told me in November that they would not be running the trains, but by then we had already done all our bookings. The charter trains are very popular with the tourists and many who book are repeat visitors and who spend a lot of money to come here; and also here in South Africa."

Lappe, a former German citizen who moved to South Africa 16 years ago, said visitors from Germany were already concerned over South Africa's real interests in providing proper tourism facilities and whether the country was really capable of hosting the 2010 World Cup.

"When something like this happens, they get an answer to their question that we should not be giving them," he said.

"I spent a lot of money upgrading the carriages I use, despite the fact that I knew that I was not going to have the carriages forever.

"The train of 10 carriages is standing in Johannesburg and my partner and I hold the keys because we fear break-ins, but there is no locomotive.

"Since they told us they did not have locomotives, they have put three trains of their own on the schedule," Lappe said.

"I think the real reason they are doing this is they want to own the charter business."

Lappe said another charter operator, Shongololo, would also not be able to run trains this year. Rovos Rail would be able to, because it had a 20-year contract with Spoornet.

"I hope Ms Ramos and Mr Van Schalkwyk act on this. Ramos has a great reputation for efficiency," he said.

Booming car sales hobble RAF

2007-01-05T08:01:00.000-08:00

South Africa's booming car sales have hit the Road Accident Fund hard as accidents increase and more people claim compensation.

This was according to the RAF's latest annual report, which attributed the increase in claims to an increase in motor vehicles on the roads and increased public awareness of the fund.

About 1 million new vehicles have been added to the country's roads due to an expanding domestic economy enabling more people to afford cars.

For the RAF, the boom has meant a corresponding increase in vehicles involved in accidents and people claiming compensation.

The fund settled a whopping R5,131-billion of claims last year, compared to R3,105-billion in the previous financial year.

The National Treasury gave the RAF R2,7-billion in March after it technically went bankrupt due to mismanagement, fraud and corruption.

The insolvency saw outstanding claims soar to the current 443 399 from 216 648 in 2002.

Transport Minister Jeff Radebe appointed businessman Jacob Modise as the new chief executive and a new board of directors, chaired by businesswoman Danisa Baloyi.

Modise and the new board came up with a "Rescue Plan" to turn the RAF into a financially healthy organisation. Radebe approved the plan in May.

Modise says the full results of the plan will only be realised between 2008 and 2010.

The controversial RAF Amendment Act, which limits the sum accident victims can claim from the fund to R160 000, was passed into law last year.

In the 2006 financial year, 6 500 claimants received about R1 billion for loss of earnings benefits at an average of R155 000 per claim. The loss of earnings category generally caters for the middle to higher income group.

About 2 700 claimants received about R332-million in loss of support benefits in the same period at an average of R125 000 per claim while 71 000 claimants received R355 million for medical benefits at some R5 000 per claim.

About 30 claims, 53 percent of them by foreigners, seek an average of R13,3-million each from the RAF, and this remains outstanding as the fund estimates outstanding liability on those claims at at least R5-million each.

Approximately 128 000 claimants' legal and other experts received more than R800-million - an average of R6 250 each - in payouts while the fund spent R520 million on its own legal and other experts as a result of litigation.

With transport one of the key components to the country's successful hosting of the soccer World Cup in three years' time, the RAF is gearing itself to deal with accidents that might occur during the event. A stated priority is to make tourists from outside countries understand how accident compensation works in South Africa.

The income for the RAF comes from a special levy on petrol and diesel sold. The levy was increased from 26c to 31.5c per litre last year, which resulted in an increase in income to R6,079-billion for the fund. The increase in the levy was also a result of increased consumption of fuel due to the high volume of vehicles.

However, sectors such as agriculture, forestry, sea fisheries and coastal shipping, the NSIR, rail freight and mining are granted concessions and do not pay the RAF the diesel levy.

The SA Revenue Service administers the concession as a refund, which amounted to R527-million last year.

A report of the board blames the fund's poor financial health partly on receiving the fuel levy from the treasury on a monthly basis, the escalation in the number of claims submitted, administration, human resources, investigation and litigation costs.

Auditor-general Shauket Fakie drew attention to the fact that the fund's claims continued to outstrip income from the fuel levy.

The RAF has a net deficit of R18,37-billion, indicating that the fuel levy is not sufficient to cover the money required to settle all the claims and operational expenses.

Minister fails to reach taxi scrapping target

2007-01-01T12:02:00.000-08:00

Government's aim to scrap 10 000 old taxis by the end of the year in its multi-billion-rand taxi recapitalisation programme has not been met, the department of transport said yesterday. "The target as such is not what we intended to achieve because of procedures in the scrapping process," said Sam Monareng, the department spokesperson.

Scrapping has been launched in four provinces, the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and the Northern Cape. Jeff Radebe, the transport minister, told taxi operators in March this year that he intended to have 10 000 of the country's oldest taxis scrapped by December. The department aims to recapitalise 85% of old taxis by 2010.

Taxi operators who voluntarily have old taxis destroyed will receive a R50 000 scrapping allowance and new safety compliant vehicles are the targeted replacements. Monareng said more than 6 000 taxi operators had volunteered to scrap their taxis but the target had not yet been met. Figures were still being collated on the number of scrapped taxis and new department-approved vehicles on the road.

Thabiso Molelekwa of the SA Taxi Council (Santaco), which supports the government process, said over 300 Santaco members had submitted vehicles in three provinces. The scrapping process launched in Bloemfontein in October showcased new minibuses including 14, 15 and 16 seaters and new midibuses with 22, 26 and 45 seats.

Alpheus Mlalazi, the National Taxi Alliance general-secretary, said the new SA Bureau of Standards certified vehicles sold for nearly double current minibus prices of R142 000. New minibuses cost between R250 000 and R300 000, he said.

While many taxis should not be on the road, the "ill-thought" process did not focus on what the taxi industry could afford, Mlalazi said. Santaco said it had also noted the increased price-tag of the new vehicles.

The council would also source cheaper vehicles that were safety compliant. The R7.7 billion recapitalisation programme aims at scrapping old taxis, introducing new and safe vehicles, industry regulation, empowerment and law enforcement. National Taxi Alliance figures were 200 000 taxis on the roads while government figures pointed to 120 000, Mlalazi said.

University of Pretoria research in 2003 found that the taxis formed 65% of all passenger trips and moved five to 10 million people a day. The industry was said to turn over R15 million daily.

Metrorail slammed for speeding trains

2006-12-23T13:51:00.000-08:00

Human error was the "root cause" of the horror accident at the Faure level crossing near Cape Town that killed 20 farm workers last month.

So says the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) - but it says the South African Rail Commuter Corporation (SARCC) and Metrorail also "have a shared responsibility" for the incident.

The RSR's independent investigation made a "conclusive finding" that the truck driver could be blamed for the collision that took place shortly on November 13.

The report states that the condition of the truck and overloading of the vehicle with 30 farm workers may have contributed to the accident.

But the report also strongly condemns the SARCC/Metrorail, referred to as the operator, for allowing trains to travel through an unprotected level crossing at speeds of 90km an hour.

It argued that the operator should have a shared responsibility in promoting the safety of railways and crossings.

"The current practice is that the responsibility for averting a potential level crossing lies with the road user exclusively and is not shared with the train driver.

"It is therefore our view that this practice does nothing to promote safety on our railways and the rail operator should have a shared responsibility in this regard."

Pule Mabe, national spokesperson for SARCC/Metrorail, said the recommendations of the report had been noted and respected.

But, he said, the company would wait until the findings of the SAPS before it would consider taking the recommended corrective steps. In a statement released by Metrorail shortly after the collision, the operator denied responsibility for the accident.

"The company further reacts strongly to allegations that rail signals may be at fault.

"In this regard, SARCC-Metrorail maintains that the crossing in question - and all others, for that matter - conforms fully to the statutory requirements. It must also be noted that the accident has nothing to do with commuter rail and the state of our infrastructure.

"It is an accident at a level crossing on a road leading to a private property. The level crossings meet all legal standards which require drivers and passengers as well as pedestrians to take extra care when approaching railway crossing."

This was challenged by the RSR's findings and the regulator has ordered that the speed at the Faure level crossing must be reduced to 40km with immediate effect, pending a risk assessment on the site .

It was also suggested that the "high-risk" Faure level crossing may be removed completely.

The SARCC/Metrorail risk assessment must extend to all unprotected level crossings nationally and an action plan of interventions has to be submitted to the RSR.

Mabe said yesterday that while SARCC/Metrorail accepted "some responsibility" for the accident, it was still busy with its own investigation.

Farm workers in the Faure area complained after the accident that trains seldom whistled when they sped through the crossings.

The RSR report says there are no special procedures in place for train drivers when approaching such a level crossing. The driver is only allowed to apply emergency brakes when there is an obstruction across the tracks, and by this stage it is often too late to stop the train.

The regulator has directed SARCC/Metrorail to launch an intensive speed-monitoring programme that will include speed awareness programmes. Drivers will be trained to sound their sirens when approaching all level crossings.

The SARCC/Metrorail has also been ordered to adapt all coaches with equipment that will improve the audibility of trains in poor weather conditions.

Of the RSR report, Mabe said: "We will seek to continue improving safety. We will find a way to integrated this report into the work we are already doing." He said SARCC/Metrorail had contributed R200 000 to the families of those killed in the accident.

Fred Van Zyl, manager of Faure farms, was one of the first to arrive on the accident scene. He welcomed the findings of the RSR. "This is a good thing. We have a huge problem here."

He said one of the workers on his farm has lodged a complaint with Metrorail last week after she narrowly escaped being hit by a train at the same crossing.

"Again, the train did not use its siren."

Van Zyl said he hoped the SARCC/Metrorail would implement the corrective steps.

Marius Fransman, MEC for Transport, said that he had not yet received the report and therefore could not comment on its findings. Jeff Radebe, Minister of Transport, still had to "apply his mind" to the report before he could respond to the findings.

Govt ire at Radebe speeding allegations

2006-12-23T13:50:00.000-08:00

The Department of Transport is unhappy about ongoing allegations that Transport Minister Jeff Radebe’s vehicle broke the speed limit after he officially launched this year’s Arrive Alive campaign.

The campaign launch was held at Rayton and the ministerial vehicle was apparently seen speeding while taking Radebe back to Pretoria afterwards.

The apparent offence on December 5 went unpunished and the incident was reported in the Afrikaans daily Beeld.

The department commented that executive political leaders (the President, his deputy, Cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers) are allowed to disobey traffic signs in the execution of their duties while being escorted by VIP Unit personnel.

This is in terms of the Road Traffic Management Act.

“The Ministry continues to be disturbed by allegations that Minister Radebe’s driver drove beyond the speed limit on that day.

“No one has so far presented any evidence to corroborate these allegations, including Beeld newspaper.

“If the allegations persist we will have no choice but to consider our legal options against any party continuing to perpetrate them,” Transport Department spokesman Collen Msibi said.

IFP lays complaint against Transport minister

2006-12-23T13:49:00.000-08:00

The Inkatha Freedom Party's chief whip Koos van der Merwe on Friday laid a complaint — under the Public Protector Act — against Transport Minister Jeff Radebe for disobeying traffic laws and causing danger to other road users as well as setting a bad example.

Van der Merwe said he was shocked to see a report that Radebe had presented a speech at a national road safety project in Pretoria where he urged motorists not to speed — and was later seen speeding at an alleged 150km/h.

Van der Merwe said: "What a scandalous example set by the Minister of Transport, who warns others not to speed and then arrogantly and contemptuously ignores his own warning. To add insult to injury, Minister Radebe's spokesperson, Collen Msibi, is quoted as saying that senior government officials may travel faster than the speed limit."

Msibi was reported as saying that qualified members of the VIP unit were authorised by law to ignore rules. Beeld newspaper reported him as saying that article 176 of the Traffic Control Act said police officials — who drove ministers — "may disregard traffic signs in the execution of their duties".

Van der Merwe said: "I am, however, advised that there is nothing in the law that grants ministers the right to disobey the laws of this land.

"To argue that ministers are transported in cars driven by others who contravene traffic rules, is of course no excuse, because the minister will certainly know when the driver is committing a crime and it is then his duty as a minister to intervene and stop the driver.

"I am therefore lodging a serious complaint against minister Radebe; and I call on the Public Protector to investigate this matter in terms of, inter alia, section 182 of the Constitution. I call on the Public Protector to investigate these complaints and to take appropriate action immediately.

"I suggest that it be made abundantly clear to ministers that they are not above the law and if they are party to contraventions of the law, they are to be criminally prosecuted. We will also inform President Mbeki of our complaint against his minister," said Van der Merwe.

Car crashes cost SA R43bn

2006-12-23T13:48:00.000-08:00

More than 13 000 people die every year on South African roads costing the economy R43bn, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said on Sunday.

He said economic growth contributed to the increase of accidents as the number of vehicles on the road was increasing.

"More South Africans are able to buy vehicles. Just last year alone, more than 600 000 vehicles were bought which translated to a drastic increase in our vehicle population and more drivers on our roads," said Radebe.

"These factors mean that a great number of drivers are entering our roads on a daily basis leading to a steady increase in road accidents."

He said his department had intensified its Arrive Alive campaign with deployment of 8 000 traffic officials and 193 patrol vehicles on hazardous routes countrywide.

Radebe was speaking at the closing ceremony of the 16 Days of Activism Against Women and Child Abuse campaign held at Danie Kuis Stadium in Upington.

He received a Torch of Peace from Northern Cape premier Dipuo Peters.

Peters said the 16 Days of Activism Against Women and Child Abuse campaign must be used as an organising strategy to eliminate all forms of violence and abuse against women by raising awareness about gender-based violence.

Speeding MPs will be fined

2006-12-23T13:47:00.000-08:00

Cabinet ministers caught exceeding the speed limit will be fined, say the Johannesburg metro police.

Chief superintendent Wayne Minnaar said it was only when they travelled in cars driven and escorted by emergency personnel that they were exempt from fines.

He said: "Every person must obey the law. There is no individual above the law. If a minister speeds without an escort, he will be fined."

It was reported this week that a convoy carrying Transport Minister Jeff Radebe sped away from the launch of a traffic safety campaign at which he warned that speed caused 75% of road crashes.

Convoy 'has no speed limit'

Minnaar said such cavalcades had to speed to prevent their charges becoming "sitting ducks. We have to ensure the safety and security of the individual. That is paramount.

"Now to be able to ensure the person is safe and secure, we have to move the person quickly along the freeway."

Minnaar said there were also certain "manoeuvres" officers performed along the way.

There was "no limit" to how fast a convoy could travel, nor was there any ideal speed - as long as the person being escorted was safe.

The law said that emergency personnel - including the South Afrian Police Service, metro police, ambulance, fire and civil defence personnel - were exempt from traffic violations while executing their duties.

Wrangle could delay new airport

2006-12-23T13:40:00.000-08:00

A looming legal battle over a tender worth billions of rands looks set to delay the construction of the King Shaka International Airport at La Mercy, following accusations that one bidder's confidential information was given to its rival.

Building of the airport, bedevilled by delays and controversy for years, was meant to start in March, to be completed in time for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

A Section 21 company, Dube TradePort, had been set up by the KwaZulu-Natal government to facilitate the airport's development, but there have been questions raised about why Durban International Airport is being upgraded. To cut through the red tape, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe stepped in to fast-track the project to be ready by 2010.

While the preferred bidder is due to be announced on Thursday, a series of communications detailing accusations and counter-accusations of improprieties has now culminated in letters threatening legal action.

Shortcomings
The short-listed bidders in the Request for Proposal - the Indiza Group Consortium, headed by Grinaker-LTA, and Ilembe consortium, led by Group Five and Wilson Bailey Holmes - were announced by Premier S'bu Ndebele in September.

Although Grinaker-LTA and Group Five are at opposing sides of the La Mercy bid, both companies were part of a consortium which vied for the bid to develop the N2 Wild Coast toll road.

After an initial go-ahead by the Department of Environmental Affairs, the project was sent back to the drawing board after it was found that a non-executive director of Group Five, Rufus Maruma, founded the company which did the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the N2 development.

On November 24 Indiza was informed that, because of alleged non-compliance with essential minimum requirements, its bid would not go forward for a detailed evaluation.

According to letters, the Indiza Group claims details of its bid had been provided to its competitor, and that its bid had not been properly considered.

Tender rules
In documents in the possession of the Sunday Tribune, the Indiza consortium, in correspondence with Dube TradePort, claimed, "We consider that there has been a serious breach of procedure by Dube TradePort, which has prejudiced our position and the process of fair adjudication."

In a letter dated November 10, Dube TradePort informed Indiza it had several concerns regarding its bid and advised the consortium it fell short of "substantial and material compliance" with the project's minimum requirements.

It listed the shortcomings, including performance guarantees and BEE-preferential procurement policies, and invited Indiza to make representations on whether the bid "should be rejected for non-compliance or not".

The letter also informed Indiza that, as Illembe had an interest in its decision on whether it wanted to pull out of the bid, it (Illembe) would be invited to make presentations on the same sections of the proposal.

A letter to the Ilembe Consortium, outlining areas of concern regarding Indiza's bid, was attached. In the letter, dated November 13, the project leader was informed "a concern has arisen that the bid submitted by the other bidding consortium may be substantially and materially non-compliant in a number of respects".

The letter said that due to confidentiality clauses it could not send a detailed copy of the communications to Indiza without its permission, but supplied a summary "in general terms" for Illembe to make a representations on the issues.

It mentioned paragraphs in the Request for Proposal document relating to Indiza's submission that had appeared to fail, and set them out "in order to permit (Ilembe) to address representations" to meet certain minimum requirements.

The Indiza Group expressed to Dube TradePort that they were seriously concerned that, contrary to a non-closure agreement, it had "unilaterally decided to provide our competitor with details of our bid".

"We strongly disagree with your actions that are tantamount to involving Ilembe in the adjudication of our bid. We believe that this is prejudicial to the future owners of the airport, Acsa (Airports Company of South Africa) and the province, as we submitted a value for money, technically competent proposal."

Dube TradePort's response denied the company had acted contrary to the non-disclosure agreement. The document also remonstrated with Indiza that its representatives had been in contact with members of the evaluation committee, and that it was not permitted.

Meanwhile, Dube TradePort had also taken legal advice, and, in a letter this week from Von Klemperers Attorneys, accused the Grinaker-LTA Indiza group of adopting the "extraordinary course of deliberately submitting a non-compliant bid". The contention that the purposeful non-compliance was to gain unfair advantage over any rivals, was rejected in a responding lawyers letter, as "absurd".

The Dube TradePort lawyers' letter said the development of the airport was of national and international importance. It said that the project had to be completed for the World Cup in 2010, making decisions on preferred bids unalterable.

According to the master schedule of the developers, the Airports Company of South Africa and Dube TradePort, construction is due to start in March next year. This is pending the approval of the environmental impact assessment report by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.

According to Kay Naidoo, an attorney specialising in tenders and contracts, speaking in general terms on tender process, there were certain rules to be followed and clauses of confidentiality within the process.

Naidoo said if a developer communicated with one of the bidders, the same information was shared with the other bidding parties.

After the closing date of the tender, valid bidders may be informed about areas where they fell short and will have a set amount of days to rectify shortcomings.

The parties involved said they could not comment on the issue.

Joanne Winter, from Dube TradePort's Procurement office said, "Unfortunately, it is our policy not to comment on the process or on individual bid submissions at this stage, and certain matters fall within a confidentiality clause contained in the Request for Proposal."

Transnet to reveal business case for Ngqura port

2006-12-23T12:37:00.000-08:00

Transnet is expected to soon release its business case to get the port of Ngqura fully operational, a project that will cost more than double the initial estimates.

Transnet CEO Maria Ramos recently disclosed that the R3,8bn price tag for the port was almost double the original budget, which would put the overrun at about R2bn. The cost overrun has largely been due to delays in getting the project off the ground.

Replying to a question in Parliament by Democratic Alliance MP Eddie Trent, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said yesterday the business case for the port had been submitted to the Transnet board of directors for consideration.

Transnet spokesman John Dludlu said final details of the business case would not be released until Erwin had approved the plan and signed off the detailed budget. The business case was expected to determine such details as the time frames for the final commissioning of the port, the number of cranes to be purchased and the number of berths for ships, among others.

“Once all the requisite approvals are in place, we will disclose the relevant details,” Dludlu said.

The basic infrastructure for the port such as the breakwater has been completed, but little else.

Trent found it problematic that the business case for making the port operational was only now being considered, as it should have been included in the original feasibility study. “I can’t believe that they are only deciding about this now. It is just unbelievable.

“The business community needs to be informed as to what is happening and when the port will come on stream,” Trent said.

Gautrain beneficiaries condemned

2006-12-23T09:54:00.000-08:00

The South African Communist Party has added its voice in condemning government ministers who will benefit from the Gautrain Project.

The SACP was "deeply disturbed and outraged" at the fact that these ministers were personal beneficiaries from the project, which constitutes a "very grave conflict of interests", the group said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Of even more serious concern to us is the fact that some of the government ministers are both decision-makers and beneficiaries in this wasteful Gautrain project."

The SACP's statement follows Cosatu's outrage at press reports on Sunday suggesting that numerous government ministers, including Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, Education Minister Naledi Pandor, Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and the Speaker in the National Assembly Baleka Mbete stood to gain from the Gautrain.

The SACP warned against what it called 'parasitic capitalism' — where individuals use their positions to access resources for personal benefit, at the same time impacting on the workers and the poor in the country.

It said that the allegations now raise questions as to the legitimacy of the project, which may have more to do with the interests of those who are going to benefit than with the necessity and rationality of the project.

"Nothing short of a credible investigation and explanation from cabinet will satisfy the millions of our people that occupation of government positions are not being used for private personal benefit," the group said.

Outrage at ANC links to Gautrain

2006-11-27T12:57:00.000-08:00

THE Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) was outraged by reports that two cabinet ministers and National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete had shares in the consortium that is building the Gautrain, a Cosatu spokesman said yesterday.

“The reports reinforced the belief expressed at Cosatu’s recent congress that a worryingly growing number of African National Congress (ANC) and government leaders had a personal self-enrichment culture,” spokesman Patrick Craven said.

He was responding to a report in the Sunday Times that Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and Education Minister Naledi Pandor were part of the shareholding structure of the Bombela consortium, which won the R23bn Gautrain bid.

Unless the ministers, Mbete and the “long list of ANC officials” implicated in the report refuted these allegations, greed and selfishness had clearly overtaken the culture of service for the people, Craven said in a statement.

The Sunday Times reported that the ministers confirmed they had taken part in cabinet meetings at which the Gautrain project was discussed and approved last December — against the advice of Parliament’s portfolio committee on transport.

The newspaper said Mapisa-Nqakula and Mbete had shares in Dyambu Holdings, while Pandor was involved in Black Management Forum Investments (BMFI).

Mapisa-Nqakula’s spokesman was quoted as saying that when the minister had sat in cabinet meetings, she was unaware that Dyambu was part of the Bombela consortium.

Pandor denied her shareholding in BMFI constituted a conflict of interest. “I am an ordinary shareholder and not involved in decision making in BMFI,” the minister said.

Who gets the gravy on the Gautrain?

2006-11-26T10:50:00.000-08:00

TWO Cabinet ministers and a deputy minister, as well as National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete, have shares in the consortium that is building the high-speed Gautrain.

The shareholding structure in the Bombela Consortium, which won the R23-billion bid, has been a closely guarded secret, but the Sunday Times has established that Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa- Nqakula, Education Minister Naledi Pandor and Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge stand to benefit from the Gautrain project.

The two ministers sat in a Cabinet meeting that approved the project in December 2005 against the advice of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Transport. MPs objected because they believed the train served the already comfortable middle class and excluded vast portions of society through its ticket pricing and connections to other transport nodes.

Cosatu and other civil-society groups have also questioned the wisdom of spending so much money on the train when general public transport is in such poor shape.

The government argues that it will ease congestion on the Johannesburg-Tshwane highway, the busiest stretch of road in the country.

Mapisa-Nqakula and Mbete have shares in Dyambu Holdings, while Pandor is involved in Black Management Forum Investments (BMFI). Both companies and 11 others have a 25% stake — worth R5-billion — in Gautrain through Strategic Partners Group, which is the empowerment partner in Bombela.

Mapisa-Nqakula yesterday confirmed, through her spokesman, Mike Ramagoma, that she had taken part in Cabinet meetings at which the Gautrain project was discussed and approved. She was unaware at the time that Dyambu was part of the Gautrain consortium. “If the minister had been aware that Dyambu was involved in Gautrain, she would have recused herself from Cabinet discussions on Gautrain,” he said.

Pandor yesterday confirmed her shareholding in BMFI but denied her involvement constituted a conflict of interest. “I am an ordinary shareholder in BMFI. I am not a director of the company and I am not involved in decision-making,” she said.

Mbete’s spokesman, Luzuko Jacobs, had not responded to questions at the time of going to press.

Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, Deputy Minister of Provincial and Local Government Nomatyala Hangana and Gauteng MEC for Housing Nomvula Mokonyane were among the founders of Dyambu.

All three said this week they had since cut ties with the company.

Barbara Jensen, spokesman for the Gautrain project, denied that Dyambu had any shares in it : “On the basis of information supplied by Bombela to the Gautrain project team and which was confirmed by the Gautrain political committee, nothing indicated the shareholding of Dyambu Holdings.”

But tender committee documents in the possession of the Sunday Times show otherwise.

Other high-profile beneficiaries of the Gautrain tender include:

Mavivi Myakayaka-Manzini, ANC head of international affairs;
Businessman Tokyo Sexwale;
Malose Kekana, chief executive of the Umsobomvu Youth Fund;
Wiseman Nkuhlu, former special economic adviser to President Thabo Mbeki;
Nolitha Fakude, an executive director at Sasol;
Bheki Sibiya, chief executive of Business Unity SA; and
Danisa Baloyi, a prominent businesswoman.

Myakayaka-Manzini and Madlala- Routledge are also shareholders in Dyambu.

Sexwale’s Mvelaphanda Holdings is involved in Gautrain through transport company Unitrans, which has been awarded a multimillion- rand contract to provide bus feeder services for the railway.

Kekana, Nkuhlu, Fakude and Sibiya are shareholders in BMFI, while Baloyi is linked to TSM Enterprises, another Bombela partner.

Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa announced Bombela as the preferred bidder for Gautrain in July last year. The concession — which includes three foreign firms — will run for 20 years. Construction of the first link in the Gautrain network, between OR Tambo International Airport and Sandton, began last month.

The Gautrain saga comes amid criticism that large government tenders mainly benefit a well-connected elite.

Critical shortage of air traffic controllers

2006-11-22T12:47:00.000-08:00

THE aviation industry was facing an acute shortage of air traffic controllers, resulting in staff poaching among air traffic and navigation service providers, delegates to the 17th International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers Associations has heard.

The shortage of qualified air traffic controllers has led to some staff being forced to work longer shifts than internationally recommended, a move that could compromise air safety if no preventative measures are taken soon.

Addressing delegates to the conference in Midrand, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said governments and the aviation industry needed to invest not only in infrastructure, but also in the education and training of new air traffic controllers .

“To minimise the risks associated with aircraft navigation, it is imperative that air traffic controllers go through internationally recognised training and standards of the operations of air traffic navigation systems,” said Radebe.

He said there was a 13% shortage of air traffic controllers globally.

According to a recent study by the Development Bank of Southern Africa, about $200bn is needed to bring Africa’s 617 main airports up to standard.

Global airlines lobby group the International Air Transport Association said recently that it was concerned that the Group of Eight — a group of the world’s most industrialised nations — had pledged a “truly disappointing” $800m for aviation-related projects.

Radebe said government was concerned that Africa contributed less than 4% of the global air traffic and yet had the highest number of air crashes.

“Our goal is not simply to maintain a safe system, but also improve aviation safety through education and training,” Radebe said.

SA’s only commercial air-traffic controller, Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS), has recruited air-traffic controllers from Scotland and Ireland to make up air-controller shortages in the country.

Radebe said ATNS would spent R125m to train 50 new recruits a year over the next five years. A further R786m has been invested on buying new navigation equipment for SA’s major airports.

SA youths risk death on ultimate thrill ride

2006-11-16T05:36:00.000-08:00

One of his friends may have died in front of his eyes but 19-year-old Leepile is in no mood to listen to pleas to stop "train surfing" through South Africa's sprawling Soweto township.

"We feel like we are in another world when doing it, in heaven or something. It's like we are floating, and don't fear anything," says the teenager.

"Girls just love it and fall for us," adds Leepile, who is a member of a gang of train-surfers known as the Vandals.

For the youths of Soweto, a poverty-wracked dustbowl next to Johannesburg, the desire to seek out the ultimate thrill is all too often overwhelming.

The death of four youngsters in the last three weeks has failed to deter their friends from practising as stuntmen on the top of locomotives hurtling towards the centre of the City of Gold.

Some of the daredevils try to limbo-dance under bridges while others do "the gravel", which involves dragging their heels along the ground from a moving train.

Another popular trick is to "staff ride" by jumping off one of the front carriages and leaping back on another a few seconds later.

The consequences of failure can frequently end in death, whether by slamming into a 3 000-volt electricity cable or landing badly after jumping.

"It is way out of hand. The problem is too big to handle now. It is stupidity on the side of the kids," says Johannesburg Emergency Services chief superintendent Malcolm Midgely.

"More often than not, they get electrocuted from overhead wires, collide with poles or tunnels, or just fall off."

Transport Minister Jeff Radebe condemned the craze as "abhorrent and totally disturbing" when he launched a new railway safety body last month.

But his outburst failed to dissuade 15-year-old Thato "Jananda" Thage from trying his luck on the roof of the Soweto-Johannesburg train several days later, egged on by fellow members of the Vandals gang who had been drinking.

He was killed immediately when he smashed into an overhead pole which contained an electric cable.

"Jananda forgot to go down quickly ... He died right in front of my eyes," recalls his friend Julius Moeketsi.

The group were out train surfing as a tribute to another of their gang who had fallen to his death a few days earlier.

"We just thought it would be appropriate to give our friend, a fitting farewell by doing what we did with him before he died," says Julius.

"But after our friend died, we were arrested by the police ... We weren't even able to bury our friend."

Julius also had a scrape with death on the same journey, and bears the scars on his neck that he sustained when he fell onto a platform.

Parents are at loss as how they can stop their children from putting their lives on the line.

Thato's father blamed his late son's teachers, saying they were well aware of what he was up to when he should have been in class.

"The school failed me. They fail us as parents. We take kids to school knowing that they are safely under their supervision," said Molefe Thage.

"We don't know what they do during the day at school, and if they misbehave, we need to be informed as parents. Their responsibility is not to teach only, but teach and guide the kids. I am disappointed."

The headteacher at Thato's old high school said he knew that pupils had been train surfing for some time, but "there was nothing we could do about it".

"When these kids commit suicide, it's not our problem," Steve Monyemorathoe told Agence France-Presse.

"It is the responsibility of the parents. These children are not taught good from bad ... We have tried to speak to these kids but they don't listen."

Some however do seem to have learnt the lessons of the recent tragedies.

"How can I go back? My friend is dead, he died right in front of me," Thato's friend, Romeo Ndebele.

"I don't want to be a statistic. I quit."

Fuel-leak drama heads for court

2006-11-08T05:04:00.000-08:00

Charges of criminal neglect are being planned against Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) and criminal charges against its executive head and the mayor of Ekurhuleni after a massive aviation-fuel leak at OR Tambo International Airport.

It is estimated that between 500 000 and a million litres of fuel leaked into a storm-water drain at the airport and Blaauw Pan, a protected wetland about a kilometre downstream.

There have been two previous leaks - in July last year and September this year.

Conservation organisations described this spill as an environmental disaster.

Acsa became aware of the situation at 05:30, but residents from nearby Bonaero Park said the stench drifting in from the airport woke them about 03:00.

All fuel supplies to the airport were suspended until 07:25 as a precautionary measure and at least six flights were delayed, according to an Acsa statement.

South African Airways flights that were due to take off at 06:00 left shortly before 08:00, said SAA spokesperson Jacqui O'Sullivan.

This spill was about three times as big as the previous leakage, when about 200 000 litres seeped from a burst fuel pipe.

Nicole Barlow, chairperson of the Gauteng Environmental and Conservation Association, said at least half a million litres and maybe as much as a million litres of fuel was spilt.

Acsa spokesperson Solomon Makgale said they complied with international safety standards and it was not yet clear how much fuel had been lost.

The department of water affairs and forestry called an emergency meeting with Acsa.

The deputy director of water quality management, Marius Keet, said legal steps were being taken against Acsa after the September spill and Tuesday's giant leak would be added to the charges.

If negligence was proven, Acsa would be prosecuted. Acsa said it had launched its own investigation.

The law compels the authorities and managers to take steps to ensure that water remains potable.

Barlow said in a statement that the spill in July last year was possibly an accident, the second in September was "blatant neglect" and the third was "criminal".

Separate criminal charges in terms of article 29 of the Water Act are to be filed against Acsa head Monhla Hlahla and the executive mayor of Ekurhuleni, Duma Nkosi, by Barlow and Dr Pieter van Eeden, a pollution ecologist and chairperson of the Blauuw Pan Conservationary, after this week's incident.

Makgale said the previous spill had just been cleaned up and the soil was still rehabilitating.

The latest fuel leak was on to a concrete area where aircraft were parked.

Recap plan will wreck taxi industry

2006-11-03T07:13:00.000-08:00

Malakia Mabada entered the taxi industry in 1970 and prospered... but he now fears the government's proposed taxi recapitalisation programme could spell the ruin of the business he has spent decades building up.

"I brought up my children, some of whom are now doctors and accountants, with the money I earned operating taxis," said Mabada, 66, vice-chairperson of the Dobsonville, Roodepoort, Leratong, Johannesburg Taxi Association (Dorljota), which operates from the Roodepoort taxi rank.

He owns a fleet of 13 taxis - six of which are new minibuses.

"I bought my taxis for about R159 000 each. I am still paying off the six new Toyota minibuses. With the government's taxi recapitalisation plans and all this talk about scrapping taxis, I don't know - I am still paying the instalments on all six," Mabada said.

"And the money we make is not much - about R300 to R400 a day," he said.

Mabada, who said he had been paying taxes since 1998, was not sure how much he paid in taxes annually, saying he left that matter in the hands of his bookkeeper.

The government's plans to scrap old taxis and introduce new ones has provoked uproar in the taxi industry.

The government's long-delayed multi-billion rand taxi recapitalisation programme is aimed at replacing the ageing taxi vehicle fleet with safer and more efficient vehicles in the next seven years.

A R50 000 scrapping allowance will be paid to registered taxi operators - at a total cost of R7,7-billion to the government.

The programme was initially scheduled to be implemented in 2000, but has been delayed many times.

Government seeks to set compulsory safety standards and requirements for passengers, pay a once-off scrapping allowance to qualifying operators, improve accessibility for the disabled and introduce a newer fleet to reduce vehicle repairs.

The plan has touched a raw nerve in the industry - particularly in the ranks of the National Taxi Alliance, which is leading the resistance to the plan's implementation.

Taxi drivers and owners staged a protest that greatly disrupted the main route between Johannesburg and Pretoria.

The organisation has given the government seven days to resolve the matter through discussions.

If this fails, they say, a five-day strike will follow.

"Maybe Transport Minister Jeff Radebe doesn't understand what is happening out there.

"It's not that we don't want this recap.

"When we started with this issue, they said the 18-seater would relieve the 16-seater, but that if we wanted a 35-seater, then we would have to hand in two combis. So we queried that.

"Where would the other taxi drivers work if that happened?" asked Mabada.

"This would mean that one out of every two drivers would lose their job, their livelihood."

The Dorljota executive said government was sending mixed messages about the issue.

"We don't even know what type of a car we are going to be given. We don't agree with the R50 000 being offered because we bought our cars for about R200 000.

"What can you do with R50 000? It is going to burden us with debt," said Mabada.

The Dorljota executive said it was not happy with the terms of the new operating licences, since taxi operators preferred the conditions of the old taxi permits.

Dorljota vice-secretary Thami Sifuba said: "With the old permits, the situation was that if you died anyone in the family could carry on and operate the taxi you left behind.

"Old people, even older than 65, was able to make a living that way.

"We don't have pension and retirement funds in the taxi industry.

"But with this new operating licence, you can't do that."

Mabada said even though operators had agreed to the conversion to the new licence, none of them knew what it looked like.

"No one can show it to you. Our cars get impounded and we have been told that we have to pay R1 200 if we want a permit."

SA roads among the deadliest in the world

2006-11-02T05:11:00.000-08:00

South Africa's ageing road infrastructure has reached its "sell-by" date with daily reports of giant potholes, cracks and dangerously uneven surfaces on major arterial roads.

The deteriorating condition of roads could have a negative impact on road accident figures, particularly over the festive season.

This is according to Dr Chris Hlabisa, the Chief Director of Implementation in the KwaZulu-Natal Transport Department and Deputy President of the South African Road Federation.

He added that upgrading the country's road systems was "imperative".

Speaking separately at a two-day Transport Indaba in Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday, Transport MEC Bheki Cele said his department's preparations for the soccer 2010 World Cup were on track.

He said his department would be working with all stakeholders to ensure that KwaZulu-Natal had a safe, reliable, affordable and efficient public transport system by 2010.

Hlabisa said a "dire lack of technical skills", particularly in the civil engineering sector, was a major problem.

"Many South African roads have long passed their 25-year lifespan. And this is a major problem when there are not enough skilled people to put the situation right."

The National Road Safety Strategy last week revealed that South Africa's roads were among the deadliest in the world.

National Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said investment was needed in maintaining, upgrading and rehabilitating the road and rail networks.

In KwaZulu-Natal, a major concern was the state of roads in the Umzimkulu area that was inherited from the Eastern Cape.

Blood in the streets

2006-11-01T07:21:00.000-08:00

This is what South Africans have been threatened with if government goes ahead with the taxi recap programme.

Anti-recap rhetoric from National Taxi Association (NTA) includes threats of making the security guard strike seem like a picnic in comparison with what taxi owners will do.

A week and a half a go, Department of Transport spokesperson, Collen Msibi was asked if there was concern over the elements within the taxi industry that were seemingly holding the country to ransom. Msibi’s reply was swift and emphatic – those who opposed the programme were a small minority and that the government’s initiative was supported by 99% of taxi owners. Clearly the department was not worried.

Last Friday, Gauteng’s commuter traffic ground to a halt as taxis affiliated to the NTA blockaded freeways, clashed with police and turned on innocent motorists while they vented their opposition to the recap programme. The government and the South African public were subsequently warned that “blood will flow in the streets” if the recap was pushed ahead.

If Msibi is correct and 1% of the industry was to blame for Friday’s mayhem, then 1 400 taxis would have been responsible, if the government estimate of 140 000 vehicles on the roads is accurate. At least 15 000 taxis were part of the protests in Gauteng alone, but according to NTA spokesperson Sicelo Mabaso estimating the number of taxis on the roads is futile because he says the government doesn’t have a clue.

Mabaso says as long as Transport Minister Jeff Radebe keeps implementing his programme without talking to stakeholders, the protests will continue. “We wanted to let the world know about our problems,” says Mabaso and adds that taxi operators in the country have been pushed too far.

The NTA’s main gripe with the process is affordability. According to the programme, R50 000 is what each taxi owner will be given by government, at a total cost of R7,5bn. The R50 000 would be used as a deposit on a new approved specialised vehicle. Mabaso says these new vehicles are far too expensive, ranging in price from R250 000 to R300 000 meaning the consumer will pay a lot more for taxi fares.

“I have not seen the law that forces people to buy what they cannot afford,” says Mabaso

The NTA is also miffed with the rubber stamping process of the minister’s ideas. Referring to the recent indaba held two weeks ago preceding the recap announcement, Mabaso says it was more of an imbizo. “An indaba means you discuss things and work together strategically, but an imbizo is when you sit down and get told what the chief wants you to do. This was an imbizo”.

One of the taxi associations that is working with the government in the recap programme is the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) which says it represents most of the taxi owners in the country. Spokesperson Tabisho Molelekwa says Santaco is participating with government on the taxi recapitalisation programme and was present at the indaba as well as last weekend’s recap launch.

According to Molelekwa the culprits responsible for Friday’s chaos were a largely Gauteng-based grouping. “Anybody who makes a noise in Gauteng will have a large following”, he says.

While Molelekwa was sure of Santaco’s relationship with government saying that common ground is always found on issues of disagreement, his perception of Santaco’s representation was clearly one the NTA will find presumptuous.

According to Molelekwa, Santaco represents “everybody, including those that say they’re not represented”. This would de facto mean that Santaco represents those miscreants who brought Africa’s financial capital to a standstill, even though Molelekwa said that it was not their members who caused all the trouble.

Gauteng goes HOV positive

2006-11-01T07:17:00.000-08:00

The controversial high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane on a 36km stretch of the Ben Schoeman Highway is on the verge of becoming permanent.

And discussions are also on the cards to implement it on all major roads throughout Gauteng.
The provincial government experimented with a lane dedicated to vehicles with three or more people last week, as part of Public Transport Month.

It applied to the south-bound highway from 6am to 9am and switched to the north-bound side from 3.30pm to 6.30pm.

A team of Metro Police officers was there to assist motorists on how to use the lane. Information was also provided on billboards provided by the SA National Roads Agency.

But the initiative was not without controversy, because the majority of motorists felt it caused traffic jams, and slowed them down unnecessarily.

Despite this, the authorities, among them Transport Minister Jeff Radebe, reported they were satisfied with the way it operated.

MEC for Public Transport, Roads and Works Ignatius Jacobs said the high-occupancy lane “was the only way to go” towards cutting traffic congestion between Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Jacobs said: “We are studying statistics and reviewing information gathered. We will then formulate a policy on the matter. Together with the Minister we will be making an announcement in that regard shortly.”

Jacobs said those who complained about sitting in a traffic jam, while the reserved lane had no cars, should understand that was the purpose of the initiative. “The intention was to encourage people to use public transport or form lift clubs so they can travel without hiccups on the high-occupancy vehicles lane,” he said.

This is a complete rip-off

2006-11-01T07:11:00.000-08:00

Why is the ruling party in the eThekwini council so keen to fork out millions of rand in hard-earned money from ratepayers to bail out a private bus company?

Is it because most of the company shareholders are African National Congress bigwigs?

Those were some of the questions posed by the opposition parties during a heated debate when the ANC-dominated council agreed to approve R20-million funding to bail out the financially-strained Remant Alton (Pty) Ltd, which has a four-year contract to run the city's bus fleet.

The debate was ignited by the Democratic Alliance's demand that the bus company provides financial statements before being bailed out.

The debate later resulted in angry IFP members walking out of a meeting citing ANC councillors' arrogance.

Municipal speaker James Nxumalo failed to persuade the councillors from staging a walkout from the meeting which was also attended by the national Minister of Public Works, Thoko Didiza.

The IFP's Theresa Nzuza challenged the municipality to reveal the shareholders of the bus company, which she said were provincial ANC heavy- weights.

The municipality argues that it is fundamentally necessary to subsidise the bus company because the provincial and national governments have failed to do so.

Council says that if the money is not provided for the company, the city could see itself plunged into a transport crisis. But the opposition parties believe that there is something more to it than that.

"If the provincial and national governments saw fit not to subsidise Remant Alton, then why should the municipality? Actually, who are the shareholders at the Remant Alton? If the ANC can honestly answer this one, the communities of eThekwini will be shocked to the bone. So the IFP says no to this comradeship," said Nzuza.

Nzuza said her party was concerned the subsidy would be taken from the penalties on rates.

"What a disgrace! People are struggling out there with rates payment that is soaring very high and yet have to finance a privately owned business. Communities are paying a bus fare to the bus company, so they cannot be made to pay twice. This is a complete rip-off," she said.

She said the R20-million was equal to 555 RDP houses.

ANC's Sipho Ngwenya said it was important for council to assist the company to cope with the growing number of commuters, arguing that even the municipality struggled to operate the buses before it privatised the service.

"It was always running on deficit and every one knows that. We are not putting money forward for the company but for our people who will suffer if there are not enough buses," he said.

The DA's Peter Collins said the terms and conditions of the contract between the eThekwini Municipality and the bus company stated that under no circumstances would additional claims for financial assistance be entertained.

"Remant Alton, a private company instituted for profit, purchased Durban Transport with a clear intention of making money. Beset with financial difficulties the company now turns to council to bail it out," he said.

According to briefing documents given to councillors one of the main contributing factors to the bus company's financial troubles was the loss of 59 buses due to a fire at an Umlazi depot earlier in 2006.

At the time there were reports that the fire was caused by arson.

Railways in bad repair

2006-10-31T00:37:00.000-08:00

Railway infrastructure in SA is in an “unacceptably bad state of repair” and its technologically is outdated, says the Railway Safety Regulator.

This poor infrastructure was the cause of major railway accidents, burdening operators with huge costs, the regulator said in its 2005-06 annual report tabled in Parliament.

The report noted that Spoornet experienced 1994 collisions and derailments in the year to March, compared with 1436 in the previous year, while Metrorail’s figures were 412 and 75 respectively.

Spoornet had 1558 security-related incidents, against 1767 in the previous year, while Metrorail had 1240 (908).

The report said the risk profile of operators Spoornet and Metrorail remained “unacceptably high”, and managing this risk contributed to higher costs.

Apart from poor infrastructure, a major contributory factor in accidents was human error. This indicated poor management and lack of a safety culture at the operators.

The regulator said the rise in Metrorail’s security-related incidents — including theft, muggings, rape, murder as well as vandalism and acts of sabotage — reflected an “alarming state of affairs, which must be urgently brought under control by the operators”.

The cost of the railway incidents for Metrorail amounted to R156m compared with R43m in the previous year, and at Spoornet it was R700m (R693m).

These costs indicated a “significant effect on safety, the economy and the public fiscus”, which might spiral out of control if not controlled adequately, the report said.

It also said said there was a generally negative perception of the rail sector’s safety, security and operational efficiency.

The 2003 national travel survey established that 63% of train commuters were dissatisfied with security on trains.

Face off with taxi operators

2006-10-30T07:09:00.000-08:00

GOVERNMENT has vowed to forge ahead with its taxi recapitalisation programme despite violent opposition from dissident taxi operators which led to gridlock and traffic chaos on main routes in Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Mounting tension over the controversial R7,7bn initiative has raised fears that taxi drivers may embark on rolling mass action, raising questions about the ability of government to implement the project.

Thousands of commuters were trapped in traffic as more than 3000 members of the National Taxi Alliance marched to the Union Buildings, demanding that the programme be cancelled.

"Taxi recapitalisation should be scrapped with immediate effect because it is unaffordable, unrealistic, retrogressive," said spokesman for the NTA Alpheus Mlalazi.

However, the transport department said it would continue with its plan to scrap the first batch of old taxis in Botshabelo, Free State, this Saturday. Department spokesman Collen Msibi said 10 new taxi models would also be launched at the event.

The introduction of safer taxis is one of the key elements in government's plan to integrate the taxi industry into the formal public transport system. The removal of rickety taxis from the roads will help reduce road fatalities. More than 14000 people die each year due mainly to bad driving and unroadworthy vehicles.

Although the NTA has called for a review of the taxi recapitalisation programme, its counterpart, Santaco, said it was fully behind the transformation of the taxi industry.

Santaco said although it had reservations about the "meagre" R50 000 scrapping allowance that government is offering for every scrapped taxi, it will continue to engage with the transport authorities for an increment in future.

It said it also wanted operating licences to be renewable every seven years -- like those of buses, instead of the three to five years.

Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said 10000 old taxis would be scrapped by the end of the year. He said taxi operators have a choice of either using the money as a deposit for a new vehicle or take it as a voluntary exit package.

Blood will flow

2006-10-29T11:14:00.000-08:00

Thousands of taxi drivers and owners have vowed that blood will flow if government insists on pursuing its taxi recapitalisation programme.

A Pretoria taxi driver said if the programme went ahead they would stop the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

"There will be riots like this country has never seen before. We are giving government an early warning so it realises how serious we are.

"If it wants to play with fire then it is going to get burnt," he said, waving a fake coffin with Transport Minister Jeff Radebe's face pinned to it.

The threats, made by scores of taxi associations, came as nearly 10 000 taxi drivers, owners and operators in 700 taxis took to the capital's streets. They were escorted by heavily armed police.

The demonstration led to several taxis and buses being stoned and set alight and saw three taxi drivers and two police officers getting injured in running battles.

During fierce clashes in and around the city, police on several occasions opened fire with rubber bullets on the demonstrators, who came from KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, North West, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Gauteng.

Protesters, waving banners reading "Radebe we don't want to be charity cases" and "Jeff and puppets leave our taxis alone", sang songs that referred to Radebe and his supporters as "tshwenes" (baboons).

Thousands of motorists were forced to take alternative routes as protesters, led by senior National Taxi Alliance members, swarmed through Pretoria's central business district while making their way to the Union Buildings, where they handed over a memorandum.

Taxi drivers also blocked paramedics from ER24.

More than 4 000 members of the Mamelodi Local and Long Distance Taxi Association (Malldta), which is Pretoria's largest taxi association, have vowed they will not let the recapitalisation process go ahead.

Taxi owners Elvis Mgidi and Peter Rakavha said the programme was "total rubbish".

"The only one who is winning in this ridiculous deal is government. We cannot possibly accept the government's offer of R50 000 for vehicles valued at R150 000 and then be expected to pay another R250 000 for the new taxis.

"It does not make sense and if government insists then blood will flow on the streets of Pretoria and elsewhere in the country," they threatened.

Rakavha said the various associations were giving the government a week to either increase the money offered to taxi owners or to scrap the plan entirely.

"If they do not heed our warnings then we will bring this country to a standstill."

ER24's Werner Vermaak confirmed their vehicles were blocked while responding to emergencies in and around Pretoria and West Rand.

"Taxi drivers blocked off several areas, making it extremely difficult for ambulances to attend to emergencies.

"Two ER24 ambulances were blocked off in Pretorius Street by taxi drivers, who formed a gridlock around the vehicles.

"On the N1 at the Samrand off-ramp near Centurion an ambulance responding to an accident was forced to stop when taxis blocked its path," he said.

Police spokesperson Inspector Anton Breedt confirmed the shooting incidents, which occurred in Diepsloot after taxi drivers blocked roads with burning tyres when police tried to disperse the crowds.

He said three taxi drivers were assaulted in Paul Kruger Street, DF Malan Drive and at the N4 tollgate near Bronkhorstspruit.

A police inspector and a superintendent were stoned while trying to rescue a taxi driver, who was being dragged from his vehicle.

Breedt said several taxis were attacked in Mamelodi and on the corners of Potgieter and Church and Van der Walt and Vermeulen streets.

Taxi protests wreak havoc

2006-10-27T09:59:00.000-07:00

The government's taxi-recapitalisation programme in its current form should be scrapped, taxi owners and drivers demanded in Pretoria.

Thousands marched to the Union Buildings where they handed a memorandum on the issue to a representative of the Department of Transport.

The memorandum contains several demands, including that a feasibility study be done of the recapitalisation plan, an increase on the R50 000 scrapping allowance, and the lifting of a moratorium on the issuing of new taxi permits and operating licences.

The protesters shoved street vendors out of the way and carried a cardboard coffin with Transport Minister Jeff Radebe's name on it, and chanted slogans. Some marchers urinated on the cardboard coffin.

Most retail shops had closed and the protesters broke out in a rendition of former deputy president Jacob Zuma's trademark song Umshini Wam as they made their way to the Union Buildings.

Earlier there were reports of shots being fired across the city, but police were unable to confirm this. Police tow trucks and armoured vehicles were on stand-by. Metro police officers were also handed shotguns with rubber bullets.

A group of taxi drivers reportedly blocked traffic on the N1 north-bound near the Shell Ultra City.

The protest had already caused severe traffic problems in Pretoria and more was to come as protesters were due to march back to the centre of the city.

"All roads leading into the city centre have been blocked by a massive entourage of taxi drivers going in and taxi drivers are ignoring all traffic signals," said spokesperson Mel Vosloo earlier in the day.

The drivers were also said to be taking up all lanes and moving at a snail's pace, delaying motorists behind them.

Pretoria police spokesperson Anton Breedt said taxi drivers were seen pelting one of the new recapitalisation taxis with stones in the city centre.

Thousands of commuters were also left without transport in the Cape Peninsula, South African Broadcasting Corporation radio news reported.

Several incidents of stone throwing were reported at Mew Way in Khayelitsha and Du Noon near Table View. A woman was slightly injured at Du Noon and a bus driver was injured when his bus was stoned. Both were taken to hospital.

The taxi rank in Cape Town was deserted, resulting in the bus service struggling to cope.

In Diepsloot, north-west of Johannesburg, taxi drivers burnt tyres on the R511 route and attacked police and emergency-services officials with stones.

Emergency-services spokesperson Malcolm Midgley said police were attacked at 5.30am on Friday by taxi drivers who saw them as a threat to their march. "No was injured in the incident as contingency plans had been in place to deal with this kinds of problems," he said.

Other incidents were reported on the M2 highway between Mooi Street and Joe Slovo Drive.

Chaos as taxi drivers strike

2006-10-26T08:22:00.000-07:00

A bus was set alight and two hijacked during a violent protest by taxi drivers in Cape Town, the Golden Arrow bus company said.

One of the hijacked buses had been used to block off the N2 highway.

"There have been numerous stonings and several bus passengers and drivers have been injured by shattered glass," said the company's general manager, Francois Meyer.

Because of the danger, the company was currently not operating in the Nyanga, Khayelitsha's Site C, Potsdam and Du Noon areas.

Police were not immediately able to confirm reports that members of the force fired rubber bullets to disperse drivers as they embarked on an illegal march from the Cape Flats to Cape Town.

In a memorandum of demands distributed to the media, the drivers protested against what they said was harassment by law enforcement officials.

"Officers must stop hiding behind bridges and bushes," they said.

They said no taxi driver should be arrested on the road as this left commuters stranded.

They also asked for "separate cells" at police stations, and called for the cancellation of all outstanding traffic fines and warrants "as they were accumulated because of the problems we are highlighting.

"City police must stop assaulting and harassing taxi drivers should this continue taxi drivers will be forced to defend themselves," the statement read.

Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association spokesperson Alfred Maseti told Sapa that when drivers began marching from ranks including Nyanga and Khayelitsha, the police stopped them as the march was illegal.

"And then the rubber bullets fly," he said. He had not received any reports of injuries.

He said it was the drivers themselves who had decided to go on strike, rather than any of the recognised taxi associations.

"We did try to stop them on several occasions, but at this point in time it was beyond our power. They said they are sick and tired," he said.

Law enforcement officials said one of the roads blockaded with vehicles by taxi drivers was the Borcherd's Quarry road, which is the access road from the N2 to Cape Town International Airport.

There was a strong police presence at various points along the N2.

Democratic Alliance provincial spokesperson for transport Robin Carlisle said the taxi blockades and demonstrations had to be dealt with firmly and as a matter of urgency.

"The public not only expects the police to disperse the taxis, but that arrests are made and taxis are impounded," he said.

"Both provincial and municipal officials have at last commenced with regulating the taxi industry. If they lose their nerve now the industry will be out of control for years to come."

The government was not going to do anything about it

2006-10-25T07:03:00.000-07:00

The top Gauteng government official implicated in a R5-million tender scandal is being investigated.

Following an exposè by The Star, the Gauteng MEC for Public Transport, Roads and Public Works, Ignatius Jacobs, said that he has appointed auditing firm, Price Waterhouse Coopers to investigate allegations of corruption against his head of department, Sibusiso Buthelezi.

The Star reported that Buthelezi had awarded a R5-million tender to Integrasol, a company headed by Nomusa Mufamadi, without following proper tender procedures. Mufamadi, who is the managing director of Integrasol, is the wife of Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi.

At the time of the initial publication, Buthelezi acknowledged he did not follow normal tender procedures when he awarded the tender for the conversion of taxi permits to operating licences to Mufamadi. He said then that he did not advertise the tender "because it was a matter of urgency" and that he was impressed with Mufamadi's academic qualifications.

Jacobs said he needed speedy resolution of the matter. "The matter was in the public domain and an impression was created that the government was not going to do anything about it. It is on that basis that I appointed independent investigators."

He said he appointed Price Waterhouse Coopers because Gauteng Auditor-General Andronica Masemola had also raised the same concerns about Buthelezi in her 2005/6 report.

The report found that Buthelezi issued three tenders worth R9,5-million, R3,1-million and R5-million but failed to provide the A-G with substantial reasons for doing so.

The reasons are still outstanding and the A-G has recommended that a special audit be done to investigate the awarding of these tenders.

The report stated that the R9,5-million tender was to be paid out in two years, but payment was made within seven months. The report also stated that there were no supportive documents outlining the value of the contract after its completion.

The report further stated that it was not clear what the tender was for.

Masemola stated in her report: "A contract to the value of R4 938 115 was awarded to a contractor that was different from the contractor recommended and approved by the department acquisition committee (DAC) in terms of the Procurement Preferential Points System. DAC approval overriding the recommendation could not be obtained."

During the standing committee on public accounts meeting in Gauteng on Monday, Buthelezi agreed he had overturned the DAC's decision, saying he had the authority to do so.

He is now being probed for repeating the same mistake he made on June 27, when Buthelezi wrote an e-mail to the DAC - which operates as a tender board for the Transport Department - instructing it to appoint Integrasol to help with the conversion of taxi permits.

DAC head Mzwandile Kibi replied to the e-mail on July 5, asking Buthelezi to give his committee reasons why they should deviate from normal tender procedures.

Kibi advised Buthelezi to seek legal advice before making such a submission to them.

"I have no comment," is all Buthelezi could say when contacted by The Star.

I want clean audits

2006-10-25T06:56:00.000-07:00

The Gauteng Department of Transport has failed to clarify to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) where more than R200 million in unauthorised expenditure went in the 2004/2005 financial year.

In addition the head of department admitted to Scopa that he had overruled a decision by his acquisitions committee when he awarded a multimillion-rand taxi recapitalisation contract to Integrasol, the company of Minister Sydney Mufamadi’s wife Nomusa.

In a presentation to Scopa, department head Sibisisu Buthelezi clarified just over R13,3 million in seemingly unauthorised expenditure, saying it had related to “levies budgeted as part of salaries, but classified as transfers in the chart of accounts”.

An amount of R38,8 million had been “spent through municipalities”.

No documentary clarification was given on the bulk of the unauthorised expenditure, totalling R200 577 727 through public works transfers and subsidies.

According to Ignatius Jacobs, MEC for Transport in Gauteng, “The problem is that provincial offices were bought and their monetary affairs were transferred with them.”

In the financial reporting process “one step had been missed”, but he would not expand on this. He said he had looked at 10 years’ audit results to identify recurring issues in the department’s finances.

“I want clean audits,” Jacobs said. “I have introduced a turn-around strategy in the department. This year we will get a clean audit.”

Too many lone rangers

2006-10-24T23:36:00.000-07:00

Frustration reigned supreme as the high-occupancy vehicle lane (HOV) initiative kicked off on the Ben Schoeman/N1 highway in Gauteng.

Motorists were locked in bumper- to-bumper traffic as many in desperation ignored the HOV rule, and traffic came to a standstill.

The HOV lane project is part of the Department of Transport’s activities for Transport Month, and will be piloted for the duration of this week.

The Citizen received a flood of letters from frustrated motorists saying it took them up to two hours longer to get to work.

Jacobs and Minister for Transport Jeff Radebe were on the scene of the HOV pilot early yesterday.
Radebe said he was pleased at how free-flowing the highway traffic was at 7.20am. But there were still many “lone rangers”, and more communication was needed to convince commuters they should share rides.

Life in the fast lane

2006-10-23T11:13:00.000-07:00

Twenty-five minutes from the Old Pretoria Road outside Midrand to Grayston Drive, Sandton.

That's how long it took motorists travelling in the High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane on Monday morning, at the start of a pilot project to ease the traffic flow between Joburg and Pretoria.

It was surprising how fast traffic was flowing in the fast lane, with a maximum speed of 80km/h maintained for most of the way.

Gauteng MEC for transport, Ignatius Jacobs, was in high spirits as the first day of the pilot programme appeared to be working.

"It's going well, although there are some teething problems," was his assessment at about 7am.

Jacobs said that although there were too many single motorists making use of the HOV lane, this would be sorted out once police started issuing tickets.

"Transport is the heartbeat of the economy... we must keep it moving," he said.

While the HOV lane seemed to be working, many taxis did not make use of it and instead were clogging up the two slower lanes. It also appeared that at least 80 percent of the vehicles using the HOV lane had only one or two occupants.

Life was not that fast for motorists travelling the other lanes of the N1. Another Star team, travelling in the middle lane, managed only 2km in 15 minutes as the road was mostly taken up by single-occupant cars. While some single drivers cheated by going into the fast lane, they were quickly redirected by metro police along the way.

The experiment to reserve the right-hand lane for vehicles with three or more occupants began on Monday and will continue until Friday.

It will apply to the south-bound highway from 6am to 9am, and will switch to the north-bound highway in the afternoon, between 3pm and 6pm.

The left (or slow lane) crawled along for an hour on a two-kilometre stretch of road.

The left lane was jammed with taxis and single occupant cars. It was a nightmare of a journey into Joburg.

We have talked for a very, very long time

2006-10-23T07:15:00.001-07:00

Transport Minister Jeff Radebe has warned taxi operators who planned to go on strike against the taxi recapitalisation programme to do so within the law.

"Our view as government is that ... it must be done within the prescript of the law," the minister told reporters at a press briefing held on the periphery of a two-day transport indaba in Soweto.

"The taxi recapitalisation programme is on an irreversible path," he said.

Radebe was reacting to reports earlier suggesting that taxi operators in the country had planned to go on strike to oppose the programme.

On Saturday next week, Radebe and leaders of the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) would start the process of scrapping some taxis as part of the government's taxi recapitalisation programme.

He said Santaco had always supported the government's efforts to transform the taxi industry, including the taxi recapitalisation programme.

Gauteng transport MEC Ignatius Jacobs, who was one of the MECs flanking Radebe during the press conference, came out in support of the minister.

"We have talked for a very, very long time. We can't continue any more," he said.

We have talked for a very, very long time

2006-10-23T07:15:00.000-07:00

SA’s roads among the deadliest in world

2006-10-20T13:11:00.000-07:00

SA falls far outside global best practice in terms of road safety. Its roads are among the deadliest in the world, a new study has shown.

According to the survey, conducted by the transport department, at least 16 fatalities were reported for every 10000 vehicles in SA last year.

The National Road Safety Strategy released last week by the transport department says SA falls far behind France, Germany, the US, the UK, Spain, Sweden and Australia in terms of road deaths. It is ahead of Egypt, Hong Kong, Turkey, Kenya and Korea, which have much higher death rates.

The study says that more than 14000 people die on SA’s roads annually, 40000 are seriously injured and 7000 more are permanently disabled. About half of those killed are pedestrians.

Such deaths and injuries cost the economy R43bn annually.

Against the backdrop of these figures, the South African Petroleum Industry Association (Sapia) and the transport department signed a declaration of intent yesterday to promote road-safety awareness among pedestrians and motorists.

“Many of those who are killed are wage earners, leaving families destitute,” Transport Minister Jeff Radebe says.

The study says traffic-related fatalities are fast catching up with HIV/AIDS, heart attacks and violence as the leading causes of death in SA.

“In terms of unnatural deaths, traffic-related fatalities fall in the seventh place, after HIV/AIDS, heart and lung disease, homicide and violence and strokes,” the report says.

SA’s transport department cites the “unacceptably high” level of “lawlessness” on local roads as the main cause of road accidents.

The department says 97% of back-seat passengers do not wear seatbelts, 30% of trucks have at least one tyre that is smooth or damaged, 20% of minibus taxi drivers drive without a valid professional driving permit, and that 4,3% of drivers use their vehicles while under the influence of alcohol.

“These levels must be reduced, which can only be achieved through more effective enforcement.”

The report also shows that 17% of drivers exceed the speed limit, 36% of front-seat passengers do not wear seatbelts, and that 3,5% of motorists drive with defective lights.

Motorists also tend to drive very old vehicles. The average age of a minibus taxi in SA is 13 years. Buses and trucks fare only marginally better with an average age of 12 years.

Most sedans on SA’s roads are about 10 years old.

Radebe says there were more than 265000 trucks in SA in April this year. More than 28000 of these vehicles were found to be unroadworthy.

“This state of affairs has a negative effect on the road infrastructure and road safety. On average, 13000 people die on our roads every year, (with) 6,56% of these fatalities being as a result of accidents involving trucks,” says Radebe.

SA had a total of 7,9-million registered vehicles at the end of December last year, of which 4,6-million were motor cars.

The transport department says the number of registered vehicles increases by about 7% a year.

The report attributes the majority (95%) of accidents to “poor driver behaviour and attitude”, while road and vehicle conditions contribute only 2% and 3%, respectively.

Traffic is hell

2006-10-17T22:49:00.000-07:00

EVER-INCREASING traffic congestion on major routes into SA’s cities has made it “hell” for commuters driving to work and back, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel conceded.

Briefing journalists ahead of tabling the 2006 provincial and local government budgets and expenditure reviews in the National Council of Provinces, he warned that something had to be done before 2010, when the country hosted the Soccer World Cup.

He pointed to Cape Town and Johannesburg as examples of the congestion crisis. "Transport is a difficult issue... because if left unattended, the crisis deepens very rapidly. We have a rather peculiar planning problem, and planning is one of those issues that is largely a municipal function — I’m talking about spatial planning.

“In [Cape Town], one of the areas of most rapid growth of middle-class housing has been on the northern fringes from Tableview out past Blouberg.

“Now I don’t get to see it in the morning, but I imagine that trying to get through Otto du Plessis Drive in the mornings, or back in the afternoons, must be hell for people.

“Now this [suburban growth] was allowed to happen without any significant investment in a rail system, or some system that would discourage individuals driving their cars up that road.”

Investment was urgently needed in this type of infrastructure. "It has to be very urgent... but there’s nothing on the table that suggests you’ve got to crack it.”

Manuel said it was quicker to fly to Johannesburg from Cape Town in the mornings than to try driving there from Pretoria.

“On the average, it might — if you leave Pretoria between 7am and 7.30am — take you two-and-a-half to three hours to reach Johannesburg.

“Somebody travelling from Pretoria to Johannesburg [compared to] any of us flying from Cape Town to Johannesburg — we’re likely to get to the point before they do. It’s quite unnatural.”

Manuel said he was raising the transport issue — among others highlighted in the reviews — because it was one on which all three spheres of government needed to act on very closely, so appropriate investments could be made.

"These kinds of investment are not very sexy, not very green, but I think that all of us would recognise that they are exceedingly necessary.”

Last year, an additional 600 000 new vehicles were registered in SA. Half of these had been bought in Gauteng, which had 7 538km of roads.

“The total number of registered vehicles (in SA) was just under 7,4 million, of which almost 2,9 million are in Gauteng.

“We can’t be too far off when you reach a point [in that province] where you take every vehicle end to end, and there’s more metal than asphalt! That’s something we should all be concerned about,” Manuel said.

Speaking later in the NCOP, he said members should question whether enough roads were being planned and provided. “Not just the resurfacing of roads that people are driving on now, but are we spending sufficient on roads to take all of these cars? Because if everything is gridlocked by 2010, we’re going to have a very serious problem,” he said.

Gautrain is a pet that will be very hungry

2006-10-17T04:50:00.000-07:00

If the Gautrain transports fewer than 120 000 people annually, Gautengers could have to pay up to R400m every year to keep the project on track.

The Gautrain project leader, Jack van der Merwe, said subsidies, which would have to be paid if the train didn't transport the minimum number of passengers, were estimated at between R200m and R400m.

These figures were mentioned during the visit of the parliamentary portfolio committee members for transport to the Gauteng legislature.

The province would have to pay the subsidy because the national government won't be held responsible.

James Swart, Democratic Alliance MEC and spokesperson for transport said the increasing costs were making the Gautrain project a white elephant: "It's a pet that will be very hungry."

He said considering the high costs at present, it was worrying that it could increase even more.

"The initial Gautrain estimate was R7bn, but it's already costing more than R22bn. If the costs are going to increase even more, how much will Gautengers have to pay to subsidise the project?"

He thought increasing costs would also rob the government of essential investments in other transport environments.

"If we're going to pay so much on subsidies, what's going to happen about financing public transport systems, building roads and maintenance?"

Nice work if you can get it

2006-10-14T07:43:00.000-07:00

The regime paid Gautrain Rapid Rail Link preferred bidder Bombela R86m to keep design engineers and other experts on its payroll for the past five years while negotiations on the final contract continued.

Of this, R21m was paid to the consortium’s empowerment arm, Strategic Partners Group.

This amount does not include the undisclosed monthly retainer paid to runner-up Gauliwe until this April to ensure it did not take on any contracts until the deal with Bombela had been finalised.

Gautrain project leader Jack van der Merwe said yesterday the money was a portion of proven costs by the consortium for surveys and other work done over the past five years. It forms part of the R21,9bn cost of the project.

“You can’t make people work on a project for years without compensation,” he said.

During a briefing to Parliament’s transport portfolio committee on Wednesday, however, Van der Merwe referred to the R86m as costs paid to Bombela to reserve expertise.

The issue of costs arose earlier this week when Van der Merwe was questioned by the committee on the extent to which small black-owned companies were benefiting from the project.

Van der Merwe said the civil engineering contract portion of the project was worth R9bn, 3% of which would go to subcontracting and procurement by empowerment firms, small, medium and micro enterprises and companies owned by women.

“This is a large part of the contract requirements from government,” he said.

The project is the largest public-private partnership in SA.

According to Van der Merwe, careful structuring of responsibilities and risk allocation of all parties in the public-private partnership ensures that Gautrain does not cost government more than the R21,9bn budgeted for.

In terms of the agreement, Bombela is responsible for delivering the Gautrain at a fixed base price within a certain period.

It makes the Bombela consortium responsible for the turnkey contractor that is responsible for constructing the Gautrain system as well as the contractor appointed to operate and maintain the Gautrain service.

Carnage on the roads

2006-10-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

THE current level of lawlessness on South African roads was unacceptably high, with 95% of accidents taking place as a direct result of one or more traffic offences, according to the new national road safety strategy, released by the national transport department.

There were more than 14000 road deaths a year in SA while an additional 40000 people were seriously injured and 7000 were permanently disabled.

Deaths and injuries related to road accidents cost the economy R43bn annually. In terms of unnatural deaths, traffic-related fatalities fall into seventh place after HIV/AIDS, heart and lung disease, homicide, violence and strokes.

97% of back-seat passengers do not wear seatbelts, 30% of trucks have at least one tyre that is smooth or damaged, 20% of minibus taxi drivers drive without valid professional driving permits and 4,3% of drivers use their vehicles while under the influence of alcohol.

The survey, conducted last year, also showed that 17% of drivers exceeded the speed limit, 36% of front-seat passengers did not wear seatbelts and 3,5% of motorists drove with defective headlights.

Motorists also tended to drive very old vehicles. The average age of a minibus taxi in SA was 13 years, and trucks and buses were a marginally better 12 years. Most sedans on the roads were about 10 years old.

No guarantee Gautrain will be ready for 2010

2006-10-11T23:32:00.000-07:00

The Gautrain is expected to be ready for the 2010 Soccer World Cup but there are no guarantees, the project leader said.

"The section for the people landing here for the soccer will be ready," Gautrain Project Leader Jack van der Merwe told the portfolio committee on transport at a briefing in Johannesburg, but would not guarantee this.

"We'd rather be late than be sorry ... The volume of work is such that you can't rush it."

Van der Merwe emphasised that the R20-billion Gautrain is primarily for Gauteng commuters, not the soccer tournament, and that it could not be rushed to ensure it was finished for the soccer tourists.

"You cannot spend this amount of money for a four-week event ... This train is not being built for the Soccer World Cup, but it would be nice to have it finished in time."

He said the Gautrain was planned before South Africa was chosen to host the World Cup.

Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe officially launched the work on the project on September 28. The first phase, needed for the World Cup as it connects OR Tambo International airport to Sandton, will take 45 months, giving a completion date of June 2010.

The World Cup is usually held over June to July.

The committee was at the Gautrain Project offices for its second briefing on the project, following a briefing in Cape Town last year.

The committee oversees the national transport budget, which will spend R3-billion on the Gautrain this year.

Committee chairperson Jeremy Cronin said it was important to maximise the benefits of the Gautrain, particularly for the poorer communities, due to the huge cost. "We've never spent R20-billion on public transport before."

This also meant making sure the Gautrain links well with existing public transport.

The Gautrain has had more public input than any other project in South Africa, the committee was told.

"We have the biggest register of interested parties in the history of South Africa. We have had 147 public meetings," said Van der Merwe.

"There is no other project in the history of this country that has had such consultation ... From an EIA (environmental impact assessment) perspective you can show me nothing in this country that's been done more thoroughly than this."

Minister to meet owners of gutted taxis

2006-10-11T05:03:00.000-07:00

Jeff Radebe, the minister of transport, has indicated that he would like to meet with the taxi owners whose vehicles were gutted by fire at the Nyanga taxi rank yesterday morning. Colin Msibi, the ministerial spokesperson, says Radebe travelled by train from Cape Town to Khayelitsha today, encouraging commuters to support the rail expansion programme.

Msibi says the minister's invitation should not be interpreted as a guarantee for financial assistance nor any precondition to the taxi recapitalisation programme.

Airport boss grounded

2006-10-08T15:20:00.000-07:00

Ben Mehale, the man central to Limpopo’s R25.6 million International Transport Convention (ITC) scandal, may be sacked as the managing director of Polokwane International Airport.

The Gateway Airports Authority Limited board (Gaal) suspended Mehale this week to quash negative publicity generated by legislature hearings into the ITC.

The convention was organised by Mehale while he was at the helm of the province’s roads and transport department in 2005.

Auditor-General Shauket Fakie found the ITC was fraught with irregularities and had made a measly income of R2.2 million, despite assurances to cabinet that it would rake in R25.5 million.

The Standing Committee on Public Accounts’ (Scopa) gruelling public questions had forced Mehale to crack up and apologise to committee members for the mess.

Gaal chairperson Pat Malabela said the hearings were denting the airport’s image.

Premier Sello Moloto’s office was also concerned with the negative publicity and had tried to derail the hearings.

“The negative publicity on our MD was not doing us any good, and we suspended him pending the Scopa findings,” Malabela said.

Scopa heard that monies were diverted to the ITC at the expense of road maintenance, learner transport and administration projects.

Scopa heard that every ITC tender was rigged. Tenders were invited for infrastructure, entertainment, medical services, advertising and insurance.

Infrastructure, for which the department paid R15.6 million, was never built.

United Independent Front leader Ike Kekana and Democratic Alliance leader Michael Holford called on Moloto to sack transport MEC Stan Motimele.

Forensic auditors recommended that Mehale and all staff members involved in organising the ITC be charged internally and criminally.

Mehale’s appointment to the transport department in 1996 was criticised as the interviewing panel found he had “no applicable tertiary qualifications for the job”.

Mehale was “redeployed” to the airport about 18 months ago under a barrage of complaints about maladministration in the department.

Back on the job

2006-10-08T08:08:00.000-07:00

THE national railway safety regulator yesterday appointed 12 retired railway engineers as safety inspectors in a bid to stem the recent tide of freight and commuter rail accidents. Although their race and age are not stated, they are probably white guys who were forced to retire at the ripe old age of 50 in order to make way for the "previously disadvantaged".

The regulator, set up two years ago, has not had permanent inspectors until now. It had an ad hoc structure which was overwhelmed by a recent spate of derailments and other train accidents.

Inspectors would conduct safety audits and inspections, undertake investigations and enforce compliance. The regulator can serve notices on operators to stop operating if they fail to comply with safety standards.

Rail safety regulator CEO Mosenngwa Mofi said the 12 “seasoned” engineers would also mentor young black engineers as part of a skills transfer programme.

Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said government was concerned about the “unacceptably” high costs associated with the accidents and the high level of risk to passengers. He attributed SA’s poor railway safety record to ageing infrastructure. “It is on this basis that government has taken major strides to address these concerns through, amongst others, increasing capital investments to improve our railways,” said Radebe.

There had been a disturbing number of accidents involving trains ferrying dangerous materials. In the past two years alone rail utility Spoornet had had 418 incidents of leaking tankers, 117 derailed tankers, 661 incidents of decanting and 53 cases of spillage. Spoornet’s general freight business regularly transports hazardous sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid, petrol, diesel, paraffin and jet fuel.

In May last year, the dedicated coal export line running between the Richards Bay Coal Terminal and Mpumalanga coal mines was closed for a week following the derailment of a 150-wagon train. A Spoornet inquiry found that “the accident could have been avoided had the driver stuck to the prescribed safety measures”.

Industry analysts said the causes of derailments included ageing rolling stock, poor signaling systems and driver fatigue.

South African-flag branded taxis

2006-10-07T05:03:00.000-07:00

The first fleet of South African-flag branded taxis under government's R7,7-billion taxi recapitalisation programme was expected to make its appearance on South Africa's roads before month-end, Transport spokesperson Collin Msibi said. Government expected to unveil the first specification-compliant taxis on October 28, the date on which the new branding would also be made public.

Consultations between the Transport Department and the Arts and Culture Department on the use of the South African flag on the new fleet of white-painted mini- and midi bus taxis had been concluded. The livery of the taxis would be identical in all respects except on rear windscreens, which had been set aside for individual advertising.

Transport Minister Jeff Radebe urged that the South African flag, which would be used as part of the branding, should be respected, as it was a national symbol.

The Department of Transport was not able to comment on the percentage of taxi operators that had applied for permit conversions, saying that the latest figures would be made available to the department only later.

Train surfing is abhorrent

2006-10-05T02:55:00.000-07:00

"Train surfing" by youngsters is an abhorrent and totally disturbing activity, Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe said.

He was referring to the dangerous game of climbing on the roofs of moving railway carriages, or climbing in and out of trains while in motion.

"While watching [the] South African Broadcasting Corporation's Special Assignment programme on Tuesday night, I was totally horrified on seeing young people doing that on trains without law-enforcement agencies doing a thing."

SA roads are crumbling

2006-10-04T07:20:00.000-07:00

South Africa’s road system is deteriorating at a rate that will have serious consequences for the country's economy, says the Committee for Active Road Safety (CARS). The rate of deterioration is alarming and is posing an increasingly serious threat also to the safety of road users.

This general deterioration is not due to a lack of money. Ian Auret, chairman of CARS, said economists had said budgets specified for the building and upkeep of the roads in the provinces were not being spent.

He added that certain parts of the country’s national highways had become so bad that using them at night had become completely inadvisable.

An urgent appeal has now been raised to do something about eliminating the “Beware of Potholes” signs on our national roads as well. “The longer it is neglected the more costly the eventual remedy will be”, said Auret.

Government reverses taxi deadlines

2006-10-03T02:28:00.000-07:00

The South African government has backtracked on the implementation date of its amended compulsory specifications for the new vehicles to spearhead its R7.7 billion taxi recapitalisation project.

Transport minister Jeff Radebe said that all new taxi vehicles for the project must by the end of next year be fully compliant with the safety regulations published on September 4.

Previously, all new taxi vehicles had to comply with the new specifications from September 4.

The roll-out of the scrapping of old taxi vehicles would be launched in Botshabelo in the Free State on October 28, and would proceed in earnest thereafter in the other provinces.

The transport department previously indicated it intended to unveil taxis that complied with the specifications this month. It has a target of scrapping 10 000 old vehicles by the end of this year.

The new specs published last month, among other things, reintroduced and backdated to January 1 rollover protection for minibus taxis, and meant taxi owners would not be able to register vehicles bought since September 4 unless they were compliant.

However, the department last month confirmed that not a single taxi vehicle to date had been certified by the SA Bureau of Standards (SABS) as complying with these new specifications.

The concession on the implementation date followed Radebe hosting an "all-inclusive stakeholders' meeting" on the project after an outcry over the amended specifications by vehicle manufacturers.

The meeting was attended by representatives of motor manufacturers, the taxi industry, financial institutions, the SABS and commuter bodies.

Radebe said it had been agreed that vehicles must "substantially" comply with the new regulations but must be fully compliant with the safety regulations published on September 2 last year.

It had also been agreed that manufacturers would submit vehicles for certification to the SABS "as a matter of urgency".

Jolyon Nash, an executive director of McCarthy Limited, said the new date meant there would be enough time to implement the required changes to taxi vehicles.

McCarthy Motor Holdings is a shareholder in GAZ South Africa, which last year introduced the 16-seater GAZelle into the local market and will be launching a minibus of Chinese origin in the first quarter of next year.

Ride in comfort between airport and hotel

2006-10-02T02:22:00.000-07:00

The 2010 Soccer World Cup will have come and gone before South Africans are able to ride on the Gautrain - if they are able to afford the fare. Tourists will save some time on the journey from airport to hotel. How they get to the soccer is another matter.

As Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa and Transport Minister Jeff Radebe announced this week the commencement of construction of the R20bn high-speed train service, it emerged that local soccer fans and workers would only be able to use the service from 2011.

Shilowa said work on the link to Tshwane and Johannesburg's Park Station would be completed and tested by March 2011.

"The Sandton to Johannesburg International Airport as well as the link between Sandton and Midrand will be completed and tested in 45 months, in time for the Soccer World Cup in 2010."

The thousands of foreigners, especially Europeans expected here for the football extravaganza will be able to ride in comfort between the airport and the hotels in Sandton and Midrand.

Overstating the obvious

2006-10-02T02:18:00.000-07:00

Here we have some profound insight from the South African regime. Increasing traffic congestion makes it impossible to sustain the economic growth of cities like Johannesburg on the basis of private car use, Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe said.

About 160 000 cars a day travel between Tshwane and Johannesburg on the Ben Schoeman highway, Radebe said in launching Transport Month at the Midrand fire department.

While the Gautrain will go a long way in addressing this, South Africa's future prosperity depends on increased investment in public transport.

"We are ... under no illusions about the magnitude of the task at hand ..."

The government has to ensure the public transport system is in line with national policy imperatives and contributes to economic growth and development.

Cities like Tshwane, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban need a world-class infrastructure and transport system that maximises economic efficiency, said Radebe.

The October Transport Month campaign will encourage people to walk, cycle, use public transport or carry several people per vehicle.

Wrong side of the tracks

2006-10-02T02:12:00.000-07:00

Staff-riding, the South African practice of boarding or alighting from a moving train, grew out of necessity rather than the lack of sporting facilities. Passengers would do it in order to avoid ticket officials, robbers to elude their victims and hawkers to get back to their trading spot before the train left the station.

However, as with many cultural phenomena originating out of the townships, pushing the style envelope soon became as fundamental as mastering the basic technique. It was thus that “the spiderman”, a Soweto version of the worldwide phenomenon of train surfing, was born.

This rather extreme sport is today the preserve of daredevil thugs known as mvonqas, who hide on top of moving trains after robbing passengers, and school-dodging boys, referred to as cheese-boys.

The cheese-boys are regarded as the stylistic innovators of the sport, dreaming up new moves in a haze of vodka and papsak.

Sporting neo-mythical monikers such as Sisqo, Bin Laden, Bitch Nigga and M’Rider, most of them are part of a loose-knit 20-odd member collective known as Rough Riders, some of whom have been surfing and stockpiling styles for up to six years. “Most people played with one foot [on the platform], we play with two,” says the 18-year-old Mzembe, trying to articulate the evolution of the sport. “Way back there were no styles, but we added them. They come here to learn from us.”

Mzembe started staff-riding during the security guard strike of 2000. He boasts two scars from his exploits one across the forehead from being hit by a cable pole and a massive one across his left ankle, after his leg was hit by a railway traffic light. Two of his friends died recently from riding.

Out in the Soweto stations, as the electrocutions and wipe-outs pile up, peer pressure, lax security, nonchalant police officers and an increasing audience are conspiring to raise the bar for surfers. It’s a virtual renaissance out there and the only way out is death.

Fast tracking the Gautrain

2006-10-01T01:02:00.000-07:00

WITH construction of the Gautrain officially kicking off yesterday, the Bombela consortium has set itself a stiff target to have the first phase of the project completed in time for the 2010 Soccer World Cup -- leaving no margin for error.

Completion of the first leg of the 80km rapid rail line was a condition in the bid agreement for the Soccer World Cup, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe recently confirmed. This means that the links between Johannesburg International Airport and Sandton and Midrand should be operational by 2010.

The 20-year concession agreement for construction, operation and maintenance of the project was finally signed yesterday, but it left aspects of financial closure yet to be reached with lenders Rand Merchant and Standard banks, which will inject R3bn into the project.

While Radebe yesterday virtually committed to the first leg of the R25,4bn project being ready, saying it would operate more than 15 hours a day during the World Cup, Sean Flanagan of the Bombela steering committee pointed out that the consortium was contractually obliged to finish the first leg within 45 months, which meant it could in fact miss the deadline.

Gautrain project leader Jack van der Merwe said staff were developing a programme on "how to pull back that time". With a project of its size usually taking about 14 years to complete, Bombela will aim to reduce that time frame to just over 10 years, from its beginnings in 2000, making it a "fast project".

The project will see investors, which include Canadian firm Bombardier, construction company Murray and Roberts and Bouygues Travaux Publics of France, invest $500m.

Concerns have also been raised about the immense cost of the project. Most of the materials, equipment and the train itself are not manufactured in SA.

However, the concession agreement came with social, economic and development obligations, which set targets for the local procurement of goods and subcontracting, Bombela CE Denis Bouvette said. And in terms of a national industrial participation programme, foreign partners are obliged to make investment commitments worth R1,2bn to SA.

The great taxi debacle

2006-09-28T03:53:00.000-07:00

Taxi bodies have red-carded the South African regime's taxi recapitalisation programme which comes into force next week, labelling it an "impossible" move.

Junaid Peters, chairperson of the Western Cape Provincial Taxi Council, said all provincial taxi councils would meet Transport Minister Jeff Radebe to voice their grievances Thursday.

The meeting comes just two days before the deadline for taxi operators to convert to the new licensing system. The programme also includes the introduction of a new government-approved taxi.

Peters said there was no way the government could go ahead with the programme under the current conditions. "The government continues to raise the bar on safety standards and this could make the vehicles too expensive for the average operator," Peters said.

Radebe is set to unveil the new taxi next month, designated National Transport Month, said spokesperson Collen Msibi. He added that by last month 98 percent, or 115 000 taxi operators, countrywide had already converted to the new operating licence.

The unveiling of the new taxi coincides with the start of the government's seven-year scrapping process, during which unroadworthy taxis will be scrapped and owners paid R50 000 towards buying the new government-approved vehicle.

The new taxi can be built by any manufacturer, as long as it adheres to the government specifications. But taxi operators say the programme is unworkable. They are also threatening legal action because some operators have already invested in new vehicles which no longer meet the new government standards.

Toyota SA has also criticised the process, saying that its Siyaya bus has been rendered non-compliant.

A DaimlerChrysler spokesman said its taxi had been given the green light.

But Peters claimed that of the current fleet of newer minibuses produced, not one had been certified as complying with the new prescriptions. Peters said his organisation was also considering taking legal action against the government over the Russian-made GAZelles, which were mechanically un-sound.

Msibi said taxi operators who had recently bought new taxis would not have wasted their money, as they still had seven years before the vehicle had to be scrapped. "We are starting the scrapping process with the oldest vehicles," he said. "As long as a vehicle remains roadworthy, it will be allowed to operate."

Peters said: "The government's continued setting of safety prescriptions too high might lead to vehicle manufacturers setting up vehicle prices too high, and in that way, it might be difficult for the average taximen to access them."

And he said the vehicle manufacturers too, like Toyota South African, would be highly inconvenienced. He said the new specifications would need to be approved and tested by the SA Bureau of Standards.

Msibi said a request by the Western Cape Taxi Council that the scrapping allowance of R50 000 be increased to R100 000 would never be considered.

Peters was adamant that the government was not ready to launch the programme.

Stuff the environment

2006-09-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

Another big South African mess in the making - an airport in the middle of nowhere that nobody wants.

The La Mercy Environmental Forum is to submit a comprehensive report to the provincial government over concerns about the environmental impact scoping report which has been drafted for the Dube Tradeport.

The forum, made up of the Dolphin Coast, Umhlanga, La Lucia, Ballito and Tongaat ratepayers associations and the Durban Wings Club at Virginia Airport, is concerned that Premier S'bu Ndebele and Transport Minister Jeff Radebe have given hope that the development would go ahead when there were still several independent studies which had not been conducted.

The forum's chairperson, Terry Bengis, said one of the main concerns was that while the scoping report dealt with the Dube Tradeport during its operation, there had been no assessment of the impact during the construction phase.

"They do not have an environmental management plan during the construction. This is an airport with a runway 3,7km long, 60m wide and 1,5m deep.

"There is a large amount of sand and crushed stone required (and) they don't explain where they will get stone from or how they will transport this to the site."

Bengis said there was nothing in the report which explained what would be done about dust control and sanitation during the building phase.

He said the issue of access to the Dube Tradeport site had also not been dealt with. "They are proposing that the fuel farm (to be established at the airport to supply planes) be replenished by road tankers.

"They will need between 40 and 50 fuel tankers a day. What about the potential damage to road and access to the port? The R102 road from Phoenix to Verulam is congested and the M4 on the other side is just as horribly congested, so what are they doing about road access?" he asked.

Bengis, who was a consultant on the expansions at Johannesburg International Airport (now the OR Thambo International Airport), said a project of that size needed an independent study.

"There are incredible emissions in such a big project and there are many other social issues. Three residential areas are going to be severely affected in terms of noise pollution."

He said the forum could not see the reason for moving the regional airport at a cost of more than R2,5-billion to another location where it would still not be able to handle international traffic because of Durban's weather conditions.

"International flights have been found to be a total non-starter for the Dube Tradeport.

"Durban cannot handle these flights because of high temperatures and humidity (which would make it difficult for large aircraft to land), so all we are going to get is a new regional airport," he said.

From the people who came up with the Gautrain

2006-09-26T04:59:00.000-07:00

From the same provincial regime who will bring you the Gautrain (some day) comes a solution to traffic congestion on the highway. Johannesburg city council is planning a Car Free Day, badly.

Members of the Gauteng legislature transport portfolio committee have objected to a lack of consultation over the transport department's plan to address congestion, which includes a decision to reserve a lane on the N1 for public transport or vehicles with more than one passenger.

The South African National Roads Agency (Sanra) said on Friday that it would open an additional lane on the shoulder between Allandale and Buccleuch interchanges during congested periods from October 1. Spokesman Connie Nel said from next month the N1's right-hand lane would be dedicated to vehicles carrying two or more people. Nel said the move was aimed at encouraging the use of lift clubs and public transport.

However, members of the provincial committee had complained that there are a number of problems with the document due to be implemented in a week, saying there was no opportunity to send it back to the department for revision.

The primary concern is the lack of time frames, targets or dates for the implementation of projects that are part of the National Traffic Information System plan aimed at dealing with congestion.

Democratic Alliance transport spokesman James Swart was critical of the lack of information on the proposal to reserve a lane of the N1. This was to be a pilot project to assess whether it would improve or worsen congestion.

"We believe it will turn the daily traffic on the road from congested to chaotic. A proper solution would be to first improve the performance of public transport systems … so there is a viable alternative," he said.

Johannesburg city council members also lodged objections last week about the lack of information on Public Transport Month and Car Free Day. This was after a plan for their implementation was presented to the council for approval hardly a week before the project started.

The report mentions media campaigns, and leaflets to be distributed at centres and key intersections informing the public of the campaign and encouraging ride-sharing. This has yet to materialise despite Car Free Day being scheduled for Friday October 20.

Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said recently that congestion, particularly in Gauteng's major arterial roads, was of major concern to government as one of the impediments to economic growth. The N1 carries 160,000 vehicles a day while the Soweto Highway, the second- busiest, carries 85,000.

Upgrade roads or forget growth

2006-09-23T08:23:00.000-07:00

The South African regime spends very little on roads. The only new roads constructed since 1994 have been toll roads. Even existing highways are being tolled. Regional roads are falling into a state of disrepair that rivals the rest of dark Africa.

If South Africa did not spend at least five times more on upgrading the transport system nationally, the country would never achieve its target of eight percent economic growth.

This was the message from the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE), which has compiled a report on "The State of Transport" to be presented to Transport Minister Jeff Radebe.

The report calls for a fundamental re-examination of the country's entire land transport system, and for action and implementation instead of more policies, studies and plans.

At the organisation's annual meeting in Durbanville on Thursday, SAICE chairperson Jan Coetzee said this year the national budget for transport was only 1,4 percent of the country's GDP.

"We need to spend at least five percent of GDP on transport to achieve an eigtht percent economic growth. If we don't spend on transport, it will have a serious impact on the economy," he said.

Every R1 spent on transport, added R1,27 to the GDP, and for every R1-billion spent on roads, 9 000 direct jobs were created and 15 000 indirect jobs.

A committee of SAICE members had compiled a study of all policy documents over the past 15 years, as well as compiling statistics on transport. They found that while good policy and legislation had been developed, little had been implemented.

It was government policy at all three levels to give public transport the highest priority, yet little had changed for the "average person in the street catching a bus or taxi" in the past 15 years.

"Have we changed anything to improve the quality of public transport? Have we made it better and safer?" Coetzee said.

There is an urgent need to shift from transport policy and planning to implementing and making the plans operational.

"It is essential we relook, fundamentally, the entire land transport system. We need to improve the basic transport service, which has not changed much. We've got all the legislation and policies. We can't only do taxi recapitalisation and say now we've improved public transport. We have to look at the whole system," Coetzee said.

The National Household Travel Survey of 2003 found that 1.3-million South Africans travelled more than an hour to reach work, he said.

The committee said it was essential to develop public transport corridors which served large numbers of people and reduced travelling time by 30%. These improvements would also lure private car users to public transport. Road congestion wasted about millions every year from people "sitting on the highways".

A major problem in South Africa was the lack of transportation engineers. There was a ratio of one engineer to 3 000 South Africans. Developed countries had one to every 150 to 450 people.

With the high staff turnover at most government authorities, the authorities simply could not deliver on transport."This high turnover has a serious impact on delivery."

SA had an high road death rate: 9 068 people had died in 1988 and 14 126 in 2005. Of these, 41 percent were pedestrians.

We deny it all

2006-09-22T05:02:00.000-07:00

As expected, the regime denies having anything to do with the whole mess.

Transport Minister Jeff Radebe has denied reports that Russian-made GAZelle minibuses have been approved for the Taxi Recap Programme, adding that an announcement in this regard is due in October.

"The SABS (South African Bureau of Standards) has not certified any vehicles.

"We will only be unveiling the vehicles that have met the Taxi Recapitalisation Programme safety standards by October this year," the minister told the media in Cape Town on Monday.

A Sunday newspaper ran a story at the weekend, featuring several taxi operators complaining of mechanical problems in GAZelle vehicles they had recently purchased.

The report alleged the vehicle distributor, GAZ SA, was currently recalling all the 500 16-seater buses it has sold in the country, as a result of mounting anger among taxi owners who had purchased the vehicles.

I'm not big on maths

2006-09-22T04:30:00.000-07:00

The South African regime is known for huge leaps in logic. Here we have the minister of Transport explaining that a project that is scheduled to be completed in 54 months will be ready for World Cup 2010 which is 45 months away!

CONSTRUCTION on the long-delayed Gautrain project will begin at the end of this month and the bulk of the project will be completed just before the 2010 Soccer World Cup, says Transport Minister Jeff Radebe.

“Nothing will stand in the way of the project, it was a critical part of SA’s bid book and it will be completed in time for the World Cup,” Radebe said yesterday.

Construction had been delayed months while government and preferred bidder Bombela haggled over the details of the final contract. Both sides then opted for a series of smaller agreements. These agreements together will become part of the final contract, said Gautrain project spokesman Ingrid Jensen.

Radebe said the link between Sandton and Johannesburg International Airport, and the Sandton to Midrand link, would be completed by the start of the competition.

“Certain enabling works, such as the relocation of services, are being undertaken to expedite the construction of the project that is planned for completion in 54 months.”

He said the bus transport feeder system would also be operational in time for the tournament.

Even the plan is late

2006-09-19T03:12:00.000-07:00

With the 2010 Soccer World Cup around the corner, the South African regime has suddenly realised that they have a problem with transport. They are still working on a plan, and already want FIFA to move the tournament back two weeks.

THE 2010 Soccer World Cup was going to stretch South Africa’s transport capacity to its limits, and in some cases beyond, Parliament’s portfolio committees on sport and recreation and transport heard yesterday.

Briefing MPs on his department’s still-to-be-released 2010 Transport Action Plan, the deputy director-general of integrated planning and intersphere co-ordination, Mathabatha Makonyama, said the event would require 60 trains, about 2400 buses and at least 6000 minibus taxis.

South Africa’s domestic airlines would be stretched to beyond their current capacity.

Initial analysis “confirms that the scale and dynamics of the 2010 events will be unlike anything ever experienced in South Africa before.

“It will require planning and co-ordination beyond any transport management experience the country has ever faced”.

MPs expressed concern about existing traffic congestion in cities such as Johannesburg and Cape Town, and asked how the department planned to sort this problem out for World Cup visitors.

The ANC’s Cas Saloojee noted it sometimes took four hours to travel from Johannesburg International Airport to his home in the city, and said “fundamental changes” were required to the road and air transport systems.

“It doesn’t appear to me these types of problems are being licked...we are running into very serious problems.”

Makonyama said one of the options his department was looking at was bringing forward university and school winter holidays in 2010. This was seen as a “Plan B” should it not be possible to convince Fifa to set back the 2010 start date to late June, to coincide with the normal holiday dates. The effect of such a move would reduce transport on the roads of the host cities, and make available university residences for use by visitors.

Makonyama said his department’s 2010 transport plan should have been made public several weeks ago, but officials were busy “improving” it, and the document would be released in October by transport Minister Jeff Radebe.

The wheels are coming off

2006-09-17T05:18:00.000-07:00

The regimes taxi recapitalisation programme have replaced old Japanese deathtraps with new Russian deathtraps. Another South African success story.

AN IMPORTED Russian minibus aimed at making South Africa’s roads safer is a “death trap” on wheels. The vehicle, called the GAZelle, was built to secure a slice of the government’s R7.7-billion taxi recapitalisation programme — and has met all its safety specifications.

But the Sunday Times can reveal that a massive countrywide recall of all 500 of the 16-seater buses sold is under way as the distributor, GAZ SA, battles to sort out a litany of mechanical problems and deal with angry owners who are slipping into debt. This is the fourth recall since the launch of the GAZelle in South Africa in March last year.

In a Sunday Times investigation, taxi owners claimed that the GAZelle, which was specifically designed in Russia for South Africa, was a “death trap” and said it was only a matter of time before people were killed because of it.

They said they had been left with vehicles that spent more time in the workshop than on the road earning money. Many said they had received no help from the distributor.

Several lawyer’s letters from owners have been sent to GAZ SA and its partner Santaco Trading, an arm of the South African National Taxi Council, demanding that they take back vehicles and pay off the bank loans taken out to buy them.

Among a host of problems owners said they had to deal with are:
•Wheel rims that keep cracking and that have had to be replaced four or five times;
•Poor-quality tyres that keep bursting;
•Dashboards cracking, windscreens that pop out, differentials and prop shafts that break, often being replaced three or four times;
•Poor service, and a shortage of spares — leaving vehicles standing for up to three months while they wait for them to come from Russia;
•Door handles that fall off, defective gear levers and leaking roofs.

Many said they faced financial ruin and health problems from the stress of not earning money to pay their installments because their vehicles kept breaking down.

Department of Transport spokesman Collen Msibi said the government was not aware of the problems but was “alarmed” by what it had been told.

Within months of the first 140 vehicles being sold in South Africa, GAZ SA had recalled them as engines and gearboxes failed. As GAZ SA battled to fix the problems, the second recall went out after rims began cracking, posing a deadly threat to motorists, passengers and drivers. Hundreds were replaced. But shortly after this, a third recall was sent out as the replacement rims also cracked.

GAZ SA and its partners — McCarthy Motors, a Russian consortium and Santaco Trading — began pumping millions into fixing vehicles, replacing others and helping owners out of debt.

Brand Pretorius, the chief executive of McCarthy Motors, said everything possible was being done to support GAZ owners and sort out a situation that had caused him a “huge headache”.

“An encyclopedia of reports has been sent to GAZ Russia. We will consider the future of the GAZelle in mid-October, when a Russian team comes to South Africa.”

GAZ SA’s board had approved the fourth recall, of all 500 vehicles, two weeks ago.

Pretorius said mobile service units had been introduced, warranties had been extended and banks had begun supplying the partners with arrears reports.

The first prototype vehicles were tested by the SA Bureau of Standards, and Santaco Trading had sent others to a private company for specialist durability tests. Theuns Blom, senior manager of the SABS’s Automotive Regulatory Department, said that the GAZelle had undergone internationally accepted tests, but they were conducted on only one new vehicle.

Such tests would not necessarily detect potential hazards such as metal fatigue, many mechanical problems, and weak rims.

On Friday, outgoing GAZ SA managing director Terry Gregory said the company had already paid customers’ bank installments to the tune of R350000 to R360000, as well as about R1.5-million in “goodwill claims” for latent defects discovered after warranties had expired.

In December the replacement rims began failing, and rims made with increased strength were brought from Russia. Even these began failing. Rims were sourced and produced locally, but on a limited basis because they were not the exact size needed.

Gregory said the windscreen sealant, gear boxes, hoses and pumps had collapsed because of the hot conditions in South Africa, and engines failed because thermostats had been set for a cold climate.

The train will arrive a little late

2006-09-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

The jewel in the regime's transport crown, the Gautrian, spent years in the planning. The project has officially started and it is already six months behind schedule.

DELAYS in the Gautrain project cost construction group Murray & Roberts R500 million in lost revenue in the past financial year, Business Report wrote yesterday.

M&R is part of the Bombela consortium, which won the contract for the R20 billion Gautrain project. Its share is worth R4,5bn.

M&R chief executive Brian Bruce said major infrastructure delivery projects were being delayed by the “inordinate amount of time” spent on environmental and process issues before the government was prepared to sign a contract.

There has been a six-month delay in the start of construction of the Gautrain.

The delay had resulted in M&R suffering from “overhead under-recovery” because it had not been able to take on other construction projects, Bruce said.

Bruce said if construction on the Gautrain began without further delay, there was “a chance” of delivering the first phase, the link between Johannesburg International Airport and Sandton, in time for the 2010 soccer World Cup.

No bus? Better take the car, then.

2006-09-09T00:21:00.000-07:00

South African traffic is going to be gridlocked any time now, due to a lack on ANY new infrastructure in the cities. The highway were built in the days of apartheid, and no new ones have been added by the regime. Trains are a hazard to your health. Coach doors are missing, and criminals are on the prowl.

SOUTH Africans really love their cars. You can tell this is the case, because you can buy almost anything in Johannesburg without having to actually get out of your car. At any given street corner, you are bound to be accosted by salesmen of every description hoping to flog Rolex watches or Hermes scarves at truly amazingly low prices. Sunglasses will be thrust at those who have unwisely decided to travel with their windows down. You always seem to be able to buy plastic coat-hangers. You would think, eventually the coat hanger market would become saturated, but apparently not.

The reason South Africans love their cars is obvious; it’s extremely difficult to get around without one. Our taxi system is cheap but chaotic and dangerous. Nowhere can you actually hail a cab, an omission that seems incredible for a city the size of Johannesburg. The trains haul millions of South Africans to work every day, but stations are scattered and inconvenient. Travelling long distances in trains is almost comically slow or absurdly expensive. And buses operate infrequently.

If you don’t have a car you are condemned to make your way via a massively complex and expensive accumulation of modes of transport, even if you want to travel relatively short distances. The alternative is to fork out a small fortune at high interest rates on a car. The consequence of this poor public transport system is that large numbers of poor and modestly wealthy people are practically forced into the car market.

In the past three years, the new car market has doubled. This, echoed in sales of second-hand cars, has led to a new array of problems, none of which seem to be occupying sufficiently the minds of our city administrators or the national government. The first problem is that the road system is in crisis. The slow growth in traffic for such a long time has meant that government has been slow to change its current policy of minimal maintenance and little expansion. Traffic jams that were once confined to rush hour are now stretching into longer time periods and becoming almost day-long affairs.

The other problem is the knock-on effect this pent-up demand places on public transport. Since public transport shares resources with private transport, particularly in SA, it too is under strain. Yet improving the public transport constitutes the easiest short-term solution to easing pressure on the roads. The Gautrain project is the single, major government transport initiative. But its function is more concerned with tourists than with commuters.

No problem here, we are only $2 billion short

2006-09-08T00:45:00.000-07:00

Notice the mention of a lack of skills, especially engineers. Those engineers were forced out by racial quotas in the first place. Or they got tired of crime. They have packed up and left for Australia, New Zealand, Canada and who knows wehere else...

The maintenance backlog for Western Cape roads stands at R14,4 billion, the bulk of which is needed for municipal roads. But Transport and Public Works MEC Marius Fransman has denied there is any crisis. Road conditions in the province are cause for great concern, with potholes widespread. Earlier this year, Fransman said R1-billion was earmarked to be spent on provincial roads over the next three years.

Fransman told the Cape Argus that a recent assessment had shown that the maintenance backlog for municipal roads was about R12-billion. The backlog for provincial roads was R2,4-billion.
But he added: "Generally we are satisfied that our road infrastructure is better than in other provinces.

"There is no crisis. Last year we were able to spend all our money earmarked for road infrastructure, which includes maintenance."

Elizabeth Thompson, the city's mayoral committee member for transport and roads, admitted that Cape Town's roads had been neglected for the past 10 years. She blamed loss of skills and insufficient funding.

"We have lost a tremendous amount of skills over the last few years after a moratorium was placed on the filling of vacancies. So many people left. We recently placed a number of adverts for engineers and project managers."

Truth in advertising

2006-09-06T05:43:00.000-07:00

Typical South African taxi - fast and deadly, you will meet your doom in one. Actually, it's just decorated with an advertisement for bug killer spray. But the message works in an unintended way.

Metrorail loses court bid

2006-09-05T15:43:00.000-07:00

25/07/2006 12:44 - (SA)

Cape Town - Almost five years since the death of Juan van Minnen galvanised Western Cape train commuters, the Cape High Court on Tuesday ruled against Transnet and the South African Rail Commuter Corporation.

Transnet and three defendants, including Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe, were seeking relief from the court on a number of technicalities related to a class action against them.

However, Judge Wilfred Thring, in a handed-down written judgement, ruled against the defendants.

The judgment paves the way for the class action, in which 51 plaintiffs, including the Rail Commuters Action Group started by Juan's father after his death, to continue to trial, unless the judgment is appealed.

Van Minnen, a final-year engineering student, was travelling home by train around 19:00 on a Friday in June 2001 when he was stabbed. He died the next day in hospital.

At the heart of the matter, which has also wound its way to the Constitutional Court during the course of the legal skirmishes, is the claim by the plaintiffs that Metrorail and the SA Rail Commuter Corporation have a legal duty to protect the lives and property of people who travel by train.

Read more