At her first speech since becoming the new Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy admitted that the country’s transport sector is not operating as effectively as it could, but danced around addressing key issues plaguing the industry at this very moment.
At the annual Southern African Transport Conference (SATC), Creecy said that the main areas of focus for her administration will be reviving the country’s rail network, recovering its ports, increasing road safety with particular attention on taxis, and upskilling the workforce.
However, she avoided touching on subjects such as issues at the Road Accident Fund, the procurement of a new driver’s licence card printing machine, the nationwide rollout of the divisive Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act, and what will happen to motorists with outstanding e-toll debt.
New Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy
What’s on the agenda
A significant pillar for Creecy’s department over the next five years will be bringing the freight rail agency Transnet back to its former glory and reducing bottlenecks on the country’s key logistics corridors.
“Areas of focus include key logistics corridors handling commodities that are essential to the export market and economic growth (such as coal and iron ore), addressing backlogs and congestion at strategic border crossings such as Komatipoort and Beitbridge, combatting congestion in key national highway corridors such as the N1 and N3, as well as interventions to combat cable theft and maintenance backlogs at Transnet,” said the new minister.
The Department of Transport (DoT) will continue working alongside the National Logistics Crisis Committee (NLCC) set up in 2023 and follow the guidelines set out by the Freight Logistics Roadmap to ensure these issues are dealt with.
Furthermore, Creecy stated that the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) will forge ahead with the restoration of its dilapidated network which incurred R7.64 billion in damages as a result of theft and vandalism between 2019 and 2023.
As of March 2024, Prasa has resuscitated 31 of its 40 passenger rail corridors and refurbished as many as 263 stations
“I can report today that continuous work is being done to rehabilitate and open up more strategic commuter corridors,” said the minister.
“This will ensure that the public can rely on safe, secure, punctual, and affordable public rail services that will not hinder their participation in the economy.”
Turning focus to commuter safety, Creecy said that road deaths in South Africa have reached unacceptable levels.
“We cannot normalise a situation in which more than 12,000 people are killed on our roads annually. Nor can our country continue to sustain the cost of in excess of 10,000 fatal crashes, which the Road Traffic Management Corporation estimates amounts to roughly R186.5 billion, or 3.3% of our GDP, annually,” said the minister.
“This is totally unacceptable from an economic and a humanitarian perspective. The ministry will prioritise road safety during this term of office so that our roads are safe for those who use them and foster economic activity.”
Part of these efforts will include working with the taxi industry to reduce violence, increase safety for riders, and introduce greener technologies to slash their emissions.
Taxis carry approximately 80% of public transport users and have become part of community life, and they can no longer be ignored, according to the minister.
“What we need to be looking at is how do we make taxis safer for commuters, how do we make taxis greener to achieve our emission target and, of course, how do we work with the taxi industry so that we decrease the levels of conflict and violence that really give the industry a very bad name,” she said.
Acknowledging that the automotive industry is currently facing a skills crisis, which is only expected to worsen as newer technologies are introduced, Creecy said it is vitally important to prepare the workforce for the future through upskilling those already employed in the industry to ensure they are not left behind in the green transition.
Similarly, the DoT’s Green Transport Strategy will ensure the country remains competitive on a global landscape with regard to new-energy vehicles.
“The strategy includes investing in green energy infrastructure; promoting the uptake of alternative fuels such as biogas, and green hydrogen; extending the rail network to provide alternative public transport; and developing ‘green procurement guidelines’ which will promote low carbon technologies,” said the minister.
While these are noble causes, organisations such as the Automobile Association (AA) and Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) have noted that Creecy tip-toed around serious problems affecting the country’s transport industry right now, MoneyWeb reports.
The organisations agree that the issues highlighted by Creecy deserve attention, but that they would have liked the minister to also address the ongoing difficulties at the Road Accident Fund, the DoT’s plans for the country’s new driver’s licence card and accompanying printing machine, the Aarto Act debacle, and e-toll refunds.
Both entities also implore the new minister to involve industry stakeholders in these affairs.
“There is a lot that is riding on this. Transport is a huge and massively important department. It cuts across all other departments and its vital to the economy so it needs to have strong leadership and to be run properly,” said Beard.
“We really do hope that this is the start of a new era in terms of transport and mobility in the country.”
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