The election of Fikile Mbalula as the
Secretary General of the ANC will require
a replacement as Transport Minister in
the Cabinet of President Cyril Ramaphosa,
and the Automobile Association (AA)
urges the President to make a strong
appointment to this position.
“A new appointment in the important
Transport portfolio is inevitable as
Mbalula takes on his new role within the
ruling party. We urge Ramaphosa and
his advisors to appoint a strong leader
in this position capable of prioritising
the needs of citizens who desperately
require safe, affordable, efficient, and
reliable transport solutions and infra-
structure,” notes the AA.
The AA says while there are many
areas that require attention within this
portfolio, the following key issues must
be dealt with urgently by Mbalula’s
replacement:
Urgent prioritising of road safety
in South Africa, which will require
immediate implementation of the Traffic
Law Enforcement Review Committee
recommendations of 2019 which,
amongst others, call for the doubling
of the current number of traffic law
enforcers on the country’s roads.
Along with their counterpart at the
Department of Trade and Industry more
focus on the immediate implementation
of safer vehicle standards, including the
mandating of displaying safety ratings of
vehicles at point of sale, is required.
Along with their counterpart at the
Department of Justice, road offences
need to be prioritised. Currently road
users flout the rules of the road because
of a lack of consequences. For instance,
only eight % of drivers arrested for drunk
driving are prosecuted.
Comprehensive, practical, and
standardised road safety education
needs to be implemented at all schools
and throughout all grades.
Better co-ordination with the
provincial Departments of Transport and
Public Works is necessary to ensure road
infrastructure is maintained, repaired
where necessary, and created where
the need exists. The country’s crumbling
road infrastructure, especially at regional
and provincial level, is cause for great
concern and will only get worse without
immediate intervention.
A stronger focus on resolving public
transport issues is required to make pub-
lic transport more reliable, affordable,
and safer. This includes resolving issues
within the Public Rail Agency (PRASA)
with a view to ensuring this service is
safer and more reliable for more South
Africans and a re-evaluation of the
Patronage Guarantee paid to the private
company Bombela, which operates the
Gautrain. This service receives billions of
Rands in compensation from the govern-
ment annually for low ridership levels,
money which, in the AA’s view, should
be invested in other public transport
initiatives that serve more people.
“There are many other issues which
require attention, and the new Minister
of Transport will have a full plate to deal
with from day one in the position. For
this reason, it is vital that the President
and his advisors appoint someone who is
not only up to the task of managing such
a vast department, but also someone
who has the political will to affect mean-
ingful change,” concludes the AA. BFA
Hyundai Automotive South Africa is now running its head office in Bedfordview and
several of its Gauteng dealerships on solar power when loadshedding occurs.
At the head office, more than 240 solar panels have been fitted on the roof of the
building, delivering 110 kW on a typical spring sunshine day, says Johan Nel, Regional
General Manager at Hyundai Automotive SA.
Nel says the vision is to expand to more dealerships in Hyundai’s network after
studying the present installations and their performance, which would indicate
which system delivers better results and savings: one using solar panels and batter-
ies for power storage, or the other using solar panels with an inverter only. BFA
Hyundai goes green at HQ
January 2023 | BUSINESS FLEET AFRICA
WWW.BUSINESSFLEETAFRICA.CO.ZA
Strong leadership needed at
department of transport