Transport Month: Pulling the wool over our eyes?

“Every October, South Africa dedicates an entire month to highlight the critical role of transportation in the nation’s economic and social development. Known as Transport Month, this initiative serves as a platform to showcase advancements in the sector, address ongoing challenges, and promote sustainable mobility solutions across the country.” Or is this just a commemorative event to pull the wool over our eyes? JACO DE KLERK reports.

The brief seemed simple: “Write a preview piece on Transport Month for our ninth issue.” The task was a lot more difficult, however. As I started to prep for this article, approaching mid-September, I couldn’t find any information on Transport Month 2024. The only available information was the official communique posted on the South African government’s website (which we’ll get to shortly).

I even asked a popular AI program to write a piece on Transport Month hoping that something would pop up – at least an idea to point me in any direction. This is where the quote in the article’s intro comes from. It is spot on and in line with what the government’s website has to say: “During this month [the] Department of Transport and its entities will showcase transport infrastructure services in aviation; maritime; public transport and roads. This month will also be used to further advance the country’s road safety initiatives, while also creating awareness of the economic benefits of the sector. We aim to raise awareness of the important role of transport in the economy, and to invite participation from civic society and businesses alike, in providing a safer, more affordable, accessible and reliable transport [sector].”

The government information continues: “Our investments in the transport sector are aimed at stimulating development and creating jobs as part of the country’s Nine-Point Plan. These investments will ensure that we build an integrated public transport network across the country. Our investments in rail, roads and public transport [are] changing the way people access their places of work, study and entertainment. These investments will also help to grow our economy, and address the challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality.”

How wonderful. All is well. Unfortunately, there is one snag here: a fellow FOCUS reporter found these exact words in the government’s official communique five years ago, using them to craft his piece, “Transport Month: an opportunity missed?”. I doubled-checked the government’s website and, sure enough, that same information is flagged under “Transport Month 2024”.

Heck, even the Automobile Association (AA) called BS last year: “The reality is that millions of South Africans continue to struggle with inadequate road transport, poor mobility solutions, and deteriorating road infrastructure, and the already weak economy continues to suffer because of the low – or slow – pace of road transport development. We are not convinced that enough is being done to address this dire situation, and observing Transport Month simply papers over the cracks with public events and pronouncements,” the AA said in its piece, “Transport Month is ‘like a car without wheels’”.

It would seem, however, that all hope isn’t lost, and that the rose-coloured spectacles might be coming off. “[Today], we would all agree that an efficient and functioning transport sector that moves people and goods safely, speedily, and affordably across the length and breadth of our country is the key to a successful economy,” said new Transport Minister Barbara Creecy when tabling the department’s Budget Vote at Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Transport in July.

“In recent times, there has been a disconnect between this vision and the realities of our transport system and our national Transport Department. Our sector is not operating as either an effective economic facilitator or as a much-needed social service,” Creecy continued. “Our road systems deteriorated throughout the country and many provinces failed to execute maintenance and new build programmes, resulting in unspent funds being returned to [the] National Treasury.”

The establishment of the National Logistics Crisis Committee (NLCC) was, she said, a response to critically meet the scale of this crisis: “The NLCC has three distinct objectives: improving [the] operational performance of industry supply chains, including freight rail and ports; implementing reforms to modernise the freight transport system for efficiency and competitiveness; and necessary regulatory change or exemptions to enable efficient procurement and adequate funding for network maintenance.” 

Creecy told the committee that a key priority for this financial year is stabilising and improving “governance of the department and its entities”, with critical vacancies to be assessed and filled. “The efficacy of the department’s entities in fulfilling their stated mandates will also be assessed, and reforms such as addressing adverse audit findings and the timeous payment of outstanding invoices will be implemented,” she expanded. 

“Immediate attention will be given to the critical issue of underspending by both departmental entities and provincial departments on finances allocated for road maintenance and road construction. In a country where citizens must daily navigate the hazards of potholes, it is unconscionable that we are returning money to [the] National Treasury,” Creecy insisted. “Given the current status of the transport sector, my first task in this seventh administration is to stabilise the transport system in our country and make our department fit to fulfil its policy-making and regulatory role.”

I really hope things will change, and that I don’t have to once more rehash the same old recycled post on the government’s website five years from now. The AA says it best: “Government is failing to acknowledge that citizens want real, meaningful change, and not the observance of a month where much is said but in which little is done to improve their transport, mobility, and road infrastructure needs.”

It’s time to put the wool away.