NORTHERN CAPE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT, SAFETY AND LIAISON
MEC LIMAKATSO KOLOI
BUDGET SPEECH: VOTE 3
NORTHERN CAPE PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURE
28 JULY 2025
Honourable Speaker, Mrs Newreen Klaaste
Honourable Premier, Dr Zamani Saul
Honourable Deputy Speaker, Ms. Sharifa Ferris
My esteemed colleagues in the Executive Council
Honourable members of the legislature
Representatives from the sphere of local government
The Head of Department, Mr. Rodney Pieterse and the senior management of the department.
The Provincial Commissioner of Police, Lt General Koliswa Otola and the senior management of the South African Police Service.
The Free State and Northern Cape Correctional Services Commissioner, Ms. S. Moodley
The Provincial Head of Independent Police Investigative Directorate, Advocate Ontong,
Provincial Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr. Livingstone Sakata
Public Service Commissioner, Mr. Anele Gqoyiya
Stakeholders in the transport and safety fraternity
Representatives from organized labour
All our citizens tuned in on our social media platforms and community radio stations
Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Morning, Dumelang, Goeie More, Molweni,
Honourable Speaker, it is an honor to present the budget vote for the Department of Transport Safety and Liaison for the 2025/26 financial year. The Honourable Premier of the province entrusted the responsibility to me to lead this department on the 21st of January 2025. It is a responsibility that I humbly accept.
Honourable Speaker, a few days ago, on the 18th of July 2025, the country and the world celebrated Nelson Mandela International Day, a day which the United Nations set aside to commemorate and continue the work started by the South African Father of the Nation. As the Department of Transport, Safety and Liaison, we are inspired by what Madiba said in one of his famous quotes, “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb”, This quote by Madiba is of particular relevance for the Department of Transport, Safety and Liaison, as it faced by multiple operational and administrative challenges on a daily basis. Collectively we are facing and resolving the daily difficulties in the department, some of them are short-term, but most need a long-term approach.
As the Department of Transport, Safety and Liaison, Honourable Speaker, we encourage all citizens to support the National Dialogue as announced by our President, his Excellency Cyril Ramaphosa. As per the announcement of the President: “The dialogue will be a people-led, society wide process to reflect on the state of our country in order for us to reimagine our future”.
We believe that crime and the impact of crime will be a central focus of this national conversation, we need people of our province to make meaningful contribution towards this national conversation.
Honourable Speaker, the legislative mandate of this department is derived from schedule 4 of the Constitution read with other relevant pieces of legislation. We regulate Public Transport, Vehicle Licensing, Road Traffic Regulation, conduct Oversight over Policing and implement social crime prevention initiatives in collaboration with civil society.
Honourable Speaker, in his inaugural speech the Honourable Premier of this province, Dr Zamani Saul articulated a vision to create a modern growing and successful province. As we give life to this vision, we will endeavor that our people are and feel safe as they move from point A to point B in safe and reliable public transport. A significant number of people in the province use public transport to commute.
Private sector and our people in general need to feel safe to be able to invest in our towns and city. Crime deter investment and consequently leads to an increase in unemployment.
Honourable Speaker, we are here to account on work done in the previous financial year and to present our plans for the current financial year.
In fulfilling the decision of EXCO to insource security services in the province, the department has successfully transferred 90 security officers from various departments and appointed 152 security officers on the 01st of December 2024. The department is currently in the process of appointing additional 38 security officers who will assume their duties on the 01st of August 2025.
It is estimated that by the time the entire insourcing process is concluded the province would have appointed over 2000 security officers. This will have a significant impact on the livelihood of 2000 households in the Northern Cape Province.
Honourable Speaker, the department obtained an unqualified audit opinion for the 2023/24 financial year, subsequently we were identified by the Office of the Auditor General as a department that has a potential to obtain a clean audit.
We want to report that for the current audit cycle we did not submit our Annual Financial Statements and Annual Performance Report to the Office of the Auditor General for Auditing purposes as required. The Department would like to state that we do have these documents ready for submission. However, we need to report that we currently do not have access to the required documents that must serve as audit evidence to support management assertions in the Annual Financial Statements and Annual Performance Report.
At the end of November 2024 the department was served with a prohibition notice by the Department of Labor and Employment to vacate the building due to Occupational Health and Safety related issues which could not be addressed by the landlord.
The department is currently litigating against the landlord to retrieve necessary documents from the building that was unilaterally locked by the landlord, effectively denying the department access to its records which are required for audit purpose. We trust and hope that the courts will rule in our favor on this matter.
The Department, as required by the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act, informed the Office of the Auditor General, The Audit Committee, National and Provincial Treasury, The Office of the Premier and The Northen Cape Provincial Legislature about this challenge.
Honourable Speaker, through the intervention of the Director General, we managed to secure office accommodation at various government departments for our staff as an interim measure, whilst still awaiting finalization of procurement processes for office space.
Honourable Speaker, the Department will implement our newly adopted organizational structure as from this financial year. This will allow us to fill critical vacant and funded posts to enhance service delivery.
Honourable Speaker, we need report that all Senior Managers of the department subjected themselves to lifestyle audit conducted by Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and we are awaiting the outcome of the audit.
Honourable Speaker, the total allocated budget for the department is four hundred and thirty-nine million, one hundred and ninety-three thousand rands (R439 193 000) for the 2025/26 financial year.
Honourable Speaker, the department has four programmes, and we will allocate the budget as follows:
Programme 1: Administration is allocated one hundred and seventy-nine million, three hundred and five thousand rands (R179 305 000)
Programme 2: Civilian Oversight is allocated thirty-three million, five hundred and sixty thousand rands (R33 560 000)
Programme 3: Transport Operations is allocated ninety-two million, one hundred and seven thousand rands (R92 107 000)
Programme 4: Transport Regulations is allocated one hundred and thirty-four million, two hundred and twenty-one thousand rands (R134 221 000)
Compensation for employees will cost two hundred and seventy million, seven hundred and eighty-three thousand rands (R270 783 000).
Goods and Services are allocated seventy-five million, nine hundred and ninety-four thousand rands (R75 994 000).
The Public Transport Operators Grant (PTOG), is allocated seventy-two million rands (R72 000 000) to provide a reliable public transport service. This grant essentially subsidizes people of the province to go to work, school and to cater for other transport needs they might have.
The Expanded Public Works Programme(EPWP) Grant is allocated six million, three hundred and seventy one thousand rands (R6 371 000).
The Capital Assets are allocated sixteen million, fourty five thousand rands (R16 045 000).
Honourable Speaker, with regard to Revenue Collection, the department is still the main revenue collector for the province. We have a revenue enhancement strategy approved by the Executive Council of the province.
In line with this strategy, the department will employ 56 cashiers and 6 supervisors, mostly young people in various towns and villages, who will be placed at municipalities to collect revenue from the renewal of Vehicle Licenses for the province, while making a contribution to Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP) Priority 1, which talks to Inclusive Growth and Job Creation.
During the 2024/25 financial year we contributed three hundred and seventy-two million rands (R372 million) to the Provincial Revenue fund, and with the implementation of the adopted strategy we will improve revenue collection.
As een van my eerste vergaderings na my aanstelling het ons alle munisipaliteite in die ZF Mgcawu-distrik byeengeroep om uitstaande skuld wat aan die provinsiale regering verskuldig is, te bespreek en hoe dit terugbetaal sal word. Ons kan berig dat munisipaliteite bereidwilligheid aangedui het om terugbetalingsplanne vir oorweging voor te stel. Ons beoog om alle distrikte teen die einde van hierdie finansiële jaar te besoek om skuld wat deur die munisipaliteite aan die provinsiale regering verskuldig is, te bespreek.
Honourable Speaker, with regards to Transport Regulations we can report that during the last Easter Road Safety Campaign in April we had the lowest fatalities in the country, this is due to extensive social mobilization campaign we engaged on, that included all stakeholders in the province.
Our road safety campaign is a 365 days campaign anchored on the Global Decade of Action for Road Safety which aims to reduce 50% of road fatalities and injuries by 2030.
In order to formalize and effectively streamline road safety efforts, the National Department of Transport is reviewing the National Road Safety Strategy 2016 – 2030. The overall reviewed strategy will include the implementation of stricter traffic laws, more effective law enforcement operations and a comprehensive road safety education campaign. The Deputy Minister of Transport will be in the province during August 2025 to oversee the review of the National Road Safety Strategy.
Honourable Speaker, we need to report that in collaboration with the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) the department has started a process to modernize our Vehicle Testing Stations in the province. The department handed over tablets to vehicle testing stations in Kimberley, DEKRA Private Testing Station, Upington Testing Station, Colesberg Testing Station, Calvinia Testing Station, Springbok Testing Station, and Kuruman Testing Station amongst others in the province to assist them to reduce the possibility of corruption and also to drastically reduce testing time.
We intend to install computerized learner license tablets at our Drivers License Testing Centres at Carnavon, Sutherland and Williston during this financial year.
We have suspended one Vehicle Testing Station in the province due to suspected irregularities.
To stamp out fraud and corruption six examiners were arrested for corrupt activities in the licensing environment.
We need to report that we will continue to root out crime and corruption in all Drivers License Testing Centres and Vehicle Testing Stations.
Honourable Speaker, a project plan for the refurbishment of the weigh bridges in Kimberley and Colesberg has been approved, and the necessary refurbishment will commence in the third quarter of this financial year.
Honourable Speaker, we appointed sixteen (16) Provincial Traffic Inspectors in January 2025. This was the first cohort appointed since 2008. We advertised to recruit an additional twenty-three (23) Provincial Traffic Inspectors during this financial year. This will increase road traffic law enforcement officers which will enhance visibility on our roads.
Recently the Honourable Premier handed over twenty (20) vehicles to the value of R10 million for Road Traffic Law Enforcement. This is part of our commitment to enhance safety on our roads.
Honourable Speaker, in terms of Transport Operations, we are still encountering operational difficulties; we have a significant backlog of operating licenses which still needs to be adjudicated on. This backlog has created challenges in the taxi sector. We are however managing the situation with our partners in the transport fraternity. The task team set up by the Honorable Premier to deal with these challenges has completed its work, and will release the report in this quarter.
Honourable Speaker the Provincial Regularity Entity (PRE), which is an entity primarily responsible for the adjudication of operating licenses, is fully functional. The Provincial Regularity Entity convenes quarterly meetings to adjudicate over applications and has decided to rotate their sittings in all districts to make it easier for operators to access hearings.
Honourable Speaker, whilst the department has assisted many of our municipalities in the province with the development of their Integrated Transport Plans (ITPs) in the past, our approach moving forward will be to focus on assisting our five district municipalities with their Integrated Transport Plans (ITPs).
This strategic approach will still take into account all of our local municipalities’ transport planning aspects and accompanying challenges.
Honourable Speaker, the department has allocated seventy two million rands (R72 000 000) as a Grant for Public Transport Operators. This grant is meant to subsidize transport fee for the people of the Northern Cape. The grant essentially reduces bus fares to alleviate financial pressure on our bus commuters. The department had contracted 6 bus operators throughout the whole province. The contracts of two of these six bus operators were terminated due to contractual non-performance and the department is in the process of appointing replacements.
Honourable Speaker, in terms of our continuous efforts of promoting non-motorized transport, the Shova Kalula Bicycle programme provides access to education to a number of learners in the province. This programme was designed to assist learners that stay between three (3) and five (5) kilometers away from school by giving bicycles to them.
Since the inception of this programme in 2005 the department has handed over more than twenty-thousand (20 000) Shova Kalula bicycles in the province. In the 2024/25 financial year we handed over two-hundred and fifty six (256) bicycles.
A total of three hundred and forty five (345) Shova Kalula bicycles will be handed over during this financial year.
Honourable Speaker the Civilian Oversight Directorate, known as the Provincial Secretariat for Police Services is mandated by legislation to do oversight over the South African Police Service (SAPS) in the province.
We will continue to foster good working relations between the SAPS and our communities through Community Police Relations sub-directorate. Crime is a societal matter and we need the involvement of all sectors of society to curb it.
We recently convened a Provincial Crime Indaba in Kuruman to formalize a common plan that will address crime in the province.
The Community Policing Forums at police station level and the various Community Policing Forum boards at district level are at the forefront in the fight against crime. Allow me Honourable Speaker to express my gratitude to all Community Policing Forum members at all police stations, our Community in Blue, our Neighborhood Watch Members for their contribution in the fight against crime. The department intends to convene all of them under one roof to share ideas on how to effectively mobilize society on the fight against crime.
Honourable Speaker, during the State of the Province Address our Honourable Premier pronounced that gender-based violence and femicide has reached alarming levels in the province, and this was reflected in the crime stats released recently. The Premier said that the streets of the Northen Cape are safer than our own homes. The stats have showed us that incidents of Gender Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) happen in the home of the victim or the home of the perpetrator. This means that it is people we trust that are hurting our women and children.
Victim Friendly Facilities in all police stations are vital to ensure we do not have secondary victimization. The department can report that there are 78 Victim Friendly Facilities out of the 92 police stations we have in the province.
Honourable Speaker we will continue to engage Municipalities to establish Community Safety Forums. Most of the municipalities do not have Community Safety Plans nor do they have functional Community Safety Forums. Community Safety Forums are municipal based. We will therefore engage and encourage municipalities to establish Community Safety Forums and to develop Community Safety Plans.
Honourable Speaker, the department will continue with constructive engagements to unblock challenges we face with establishing the Sol Plaatje Safer City project.
Honourable Speaker, we employed one-hundred and twenty seven (127)young people as EPWP Safety Participants to implement social crime prevention programmes in crime weight police stations across the province. This is aimed at reducing crime and simultaneously creating employment opportunities for young people.
Honourable Speaker, the South African Police Services in the Northen Cape, continues to focus on the top 30 crime weight stations in the province. The stabilization and normalization plans are in place to address the contributing police stations towards the reduction of priority crimes. Operation Shanela remains intentional in squeezing crime in the province.
Honourable Speaker, during the 2024/25 financial year, a number of 240 police trainees reported for training at different SAPS training Academies. Thirteen (13) commanders posts were filled during March 2025, which includes eleven (11) Station Commanders and two (2) Employee Health and Wellness (EHW) professionals.
Honourable Speaker, for the 2025/26 financial year, an E-recruitment advert went live on 30 June 2025. Twenty-six thousand one hundred and eighty six (26 186) applications were received from young people in the Northen Cape.
Honourable Speaker, resources to fight crime remains a challenge, the South African Police Service (SAPS) purchased ninety six (96) vehicles, ten (10) vehicles have been delivered and SAPS is awaiting delivery of eighty six (86) more vehicles.
Honourable Speaker, the South African Police Services will repair and renovate various police stations in the province that include, Kathu Police Station, Jan Kemp Dorp Police Station, Port Nolloth Police Station, Vioolsdrift Police Station, Rietfontein Police Station, Brandvlei Police Station, and Middelpos Police Station.
Agbare Speaker, ons sal ons beste prober soos n departement om nie die mense van die Noord-Kaap nie teleurstel nie, daarvan kan ons hulle verseker! Ons sal verseker dat ons paaie veilig is, ons kinders in veiliger strate sal kan speel, en ons vroue veilig sal wees om tot hul volle potensiaal te leef. Ons het die samewerking van elke inwoner van die Noord Kaap nodig om seker te maak ons vat hande en ons beveg geslags gebaseerde geweld
Honourable Speaker, allow me to thank the African National Congress for entrusting me with this responsibility. Honourable Premier, thank you for your leadership and guidance, my colleagues in the Executive, and members of legislature for their support. I need to thank the Head of Department, The Provincial Commissioner of South African Police Service (SAPS) and their respective senior management teams for their support and dedication to serve the people of the Northen Cape.
A word of gratitude goes to the Head of Ministry and the support staff in Ministry for their dedication.
Mmusa Kgotla Mme Newreen Klaaste,
Le Baagi Botlhe Ba Profense Ya Kapa Bokone,
Ke Leboga Go Menagane.
