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Transport Month: MEC must move EC forward

By

Dear MyPE

Eastern Cape Transport MEC Weziwe Tikana will have to do some honest introspection about the performance of her department if she wants to bring any significance to this year’s theme for Transport Month, “Together we move South Africa Forward.”

The DA has a vision of a well-run province where good governance and transparency will take the Eastern Cape forward. For this to happen, we need to ensure government officials sign performance agreements and that their performance is monitored regularly, that consequences for poor performance is implemented and that corruption is stopped.

Unfortunately, the Department of Transport has bumbled from the one scandal to the next and leaves little faith that it is moving forward at all.

This includes:

  • Massive failure of the ITPS system in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro;
  • The R81-million tender scandal surrounding the supply of buses to the Mayibuye Transport Corporation;
  • Millions of rands wasted as some 3 000 fleet vehicles continue to rot away in government garages and the latest, additional scandal around the R100-million tender to auction off the vehicles;
  • Ongoing strike action by provincial traffic officials regarding their outstanding overtime pay;
  • The re-launch of the Mthatha Airport, without the runway lights being up to standard;
  • The Kinkelbosch weighbridge, one of only two in the province, being out of operation for over a year; and
  • Loss of a major source of income due to “face-value” vehicle licence documents not being printed because of the non-availability of specialised paper.

These are not small issues. It affects the daily lives of everyone who use our road networks. It keeps investors away from bringing desperately needed jobs and opportunities to the Eastern Cape.

Rather than having another grand talk-shop, like the one to be held by the MEC in Mthatha on Saturday to launch Transport Month, a forward-thinking plan to clean up the performance of the department would serve the citizens of this province much more effectively.

Regards

Marshall von Buchenroder

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Port Elizabethan

This author is a 'catch-all' for occasional articles and letters written to MyPE. The Author of each article can be found in the signature at the bottom of each individual article.