Programme Director,
HOD; Mr Steven Jonkers,
Provincial Commissioner, Lt. General Basson
Senior Management of the department,

Members of the Defence (the South African Army, the South African Navy)
Members of the South African Police Service
Stakeholder’s presents,
Members of the Media,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Good afternoon,

I am deeply honoured and privileged this afternoon to officially launch the 2013 October Transport month. From today going forward, we encourage all stakeholders including members of the media present here today and the public to follow our departmental Transport Month programme as well as participating in all of our scheduled activities across the province,

The month of October has been proclaimed as Transport Month in October 2005. The theme for 2013 Transport month is “celebrating 20 years of delivering efficient, safe and reliable transport services”.

The aim of having an October Transport Month is to highlight the importance of Transport in linking communities to social and economic hubs. Every year on or about the 1st October the Minister of Transport launches Transport Month and the Provinces are doing likewise.

The main objective of transport is it by road, air, rail or water is to make every city, town, and village accessible for ease of economic trade. The department of Transport Safety and Liaison has taken a deliberate decision to invest in infrastructure and capacity building of its youth in this particular transport month.  

As the department of Transport, Safety and Liaison we will approach our activities from an integrated approach with all our stakeholders in the transport industry and social cluster.

Our focus will in the main be on aspects such as:

• Public transport
• Road safety
• Transport regulations compliance
• Drug trafficking and human trafficking by means of transport
• Transport infrastructure projects
• Careers in the transport industry, etc.

This engagement will create a platform for us in order to reflect on the current state of our transport systems and implement targeted development of “making transport the heartbeat of the economy and social development”.

The targeted deliberate development growth will be integrated with the department`s long term plans which are campaigns primarily aimed at youth, adults, road users, pedestrians and by large the broader community with the aim engaging them on road safety matters and to take ownership of the responsibility of being responsible road users.

I am proud to announce that the team that represented the province at the National Road Safety Debate has done us proud and secured 2nd position , under the  conversation “ Road safety education is the better instrument compared to law enforcement in changing road user behaviour”.

As we roll out our transport month activities and the continuous execution of our mandate, we remain conscious of the United Nation (UN) Decade of Action for `Road Safety 2011-2020” in order to continue striving for the reduction of road fatalities. The achievement of this objective requires the involvement, of all of us and not only of government.

As an interconnecting province (N1 & N12 Cape town ‘Tourism Corridor’, N7 & N8 Namibia ‘Mining Corridor’) we will in the coming months deepen the awareness of using our roads safely as road users drive through to their various destinations and also not miss out on positioning ourselves as a tourism possibility.   

The department is continuing to make meaningful progress in eliminating poverty and reducing inequality within its borders, and as a result we are playing our role in writing a new story about our communities (province) especially the youth that is plagued by the social ills that emanate from the abuse of substances like alcohol, drugs and consequently lead to crime.

Through Transport programs embedded in transport month, we as the department envision where opportunity is determined not by birth, but by ability, education and hard work. Above all, we need to expose our people to non traditional careers and ensure that more people are working.

We need to make the most of all our people, their goodwill, skills and resources. This will spark a cycle of development that expands opportunities, builds capabilities and raises living standards.

In tandem with the above and as result of various partnerships the department has therefore deemed it fit to partner with the South African Defence;

• The South African Army
• The South African Air Force
• The South African Navy

And the South African Police Services.

In order to deliver effectively on the mandate of creation of jobs as encapsulated in the National Development Plan DTSL will prioritize skills development to get our youth off the streets and away from the evils that are born as a result of not been engaged.

The department has recognized that young people bear the brunt of unemployment thus we have therefore adopted a “youth lens” in positioning our departmental programs.

In partnership with the Defence we will continue to invest in significant resources in recruitment, development, deployment of key technical and managerial skills to facilitate growth within the transport sector whether road, air, rail or water.

This will happen on an annual basis wherein the above strategic partners will walk this road with us application by application from our youth across the width and breath of our vast province, as we remove them from the street and substance abuse accompanied by crime, into structured forward looking life changing opportunities.

The department will be hosting 2000 young people from across the province wherein opportunities on careers within the South African Army, South African Air Force, and the South African Navy as well as the South African Police Services opportunities will be exposed to them.  The rationale is to reignite the dream of every young person towards reaching for a better life. 

In addition to the above the city, the Sol Plaatjie Local Municipal area and the Francis Baard district will be host to no less than 200 Naval Officers from Simmons Town from 2nd to 4th October 2013 and 100 another from the senior Defence Arm of our country.     

As we continue to find expose our communities to non traditional means of doing things we have as a department taken a conscious decision to bring aviation to the people through the arm of the defence, the South African Air Force which in itself is a mode of transportation but unfortunately not at everyone’s easy affordability reach.                               

Douglas Belmont Project (infrastructure)

Income, through employment or social security, is critical to defining living standards, but our communities need more than income! They need adequate nutrition, they need transport to get to work on safe roads, and they desire safe communities devoid of crime as a result of substance abuse. These elements require strategic partnerships and action either from individuals, government, communities or the private sector.

The launch of the crime prevention strategy seeks to ensure that the current generation does not live in fear within its own communities, thus the renewed deliberate strategy with the South African Police Services in getting rid of substance abuse and the effects thereof, but critical to this strategy is to retain and rehabilitate our youth as they are the future.    

The infrastructural projects that the department has are meant to meet fiscal, social, and infrastructure policy rationale for the Northern Cape Province. The most important fiscal goal of infrastructural projects is to facilitate economic growth and promote increased streamlined trade, through the use of resources within the province for the benefit of current and future generations.

This will not only provide manufacturing or production benefits, but it will also provide unique benefits of local, centralized development efforts. These are generally created to revitalize distressed urban areas. The most successful programs not only specialize in a specific product or industry, but are also located within close proximity to transportation outlets and supported by dense and efficient infrastructure.

Ladies and Gentlemen allow me to present the October month 2013 transport month programme for the Department of Transport, Safety and Liaison:

The above mentioned is a plan for our collective future. It is up to all of us to make it work. We speak of a future with expanding opportunities. We speak of a future we must shape, because we care and because we cannot miss the opportunity to do so. The plan we hand over today is about the continued actions that all of us must take to secure the future charted in our Constitution.

The plan is about our dreams and aspirations and detailed actionable steps to achieve them.

I thank you

Member of Executive Council

Mr M Jack