Transportation

Is 2010 all about the stadiums?

by Siyanda Nombika

In the run up to 2010, much has been reported in various media about the upgrading of stadiums and the progress being made in terms of their construction. Of course, the stadiums will form the primary venues for 2010 events. But are the stadiums the only instruments that will be utilized in 2010?

The Department of Transportation has done a great job in terms of designing and launching a comprehensive transportation plan for the 2010 event.  We need to bear in mind, though, that an impressive document in black and white does not mean that something significant is actually happening. Indeed many strategies and policies on paper never saw the light of day; rather, they ended up gathering dust on some shelf This raises serious concerns about issues of effective implementation.

The public transport infrastructure and system fund has allocated a budget to upgrade KwaMashu, Durban and KwaMnyandu Train Stations but so far there have been no attempts made to upgrade these facilities. Metro-rail trains are currently inadequate for South African society. In a recent spate of incidents, trains have been burnt in the City of Tswana, by the disgruntled public, in response to the poor service delivered by metro-rail. Tswana was not the first city to have undergone attacks; places like Umlazi have faced similar plight for people's frustration with poor service delivery. So, what are the positive indications that point to Metro-rail being able to accommodate people from all over the world, if they are currently failing to satisfy approximately only 38% of South Africa's population?

In a recent interview with Dr Sultan Khan, further concerns were raised:

''2 years ago government provided the Durban Transport (Remant Alton) with a R20 million to upgrade its infrastructure for the 2010 event. So far no improvements have been made. Instead the situation is getting worse, buses are breaking down every now and then, sometimes you find people stranded on the roads. So the privatization of the company was not done properly and the issue needs real investigation. Monday newspaper commented that the company is heading for liquidation. Also COSATU complained about the impact the company privatization has had on the workers. ''

Governments Taxi-Recapitalization Programme

In October 2006 Government allocated about R7,7 billion for the Taxi-Recapitalization to get under way with hope that by 2010 there would be safer taxis on South African roads. The programme has been nothing but a major failure because the taxi owners view the R50 000 scrapping allowance as inadequate for them to get back to business. This is because the new mini bus taxis are in themselves expensive and are difficult to maintain because of rising costs. Another factor that illustrates its failure is that the current rate of this programme is about 884 taxis a month but the required amount is 2833 taxis a month, as the government aims to scrap 80% of the old taxis. Clearly, the programme is unable to keep up with even the basic demand, let alone the additional demand that an international event will require.

''The government is placing more focus on upgrading the roads rather than the transportation itself. By 2010 Transportation will not be properly ready because each department depends on the other stakeholders. The Taxi Recapitalization Programme is moving at a slow pace, it has not yet achieved its required percentage. So it is practically impossible for the bus and railway industry to be ready if the taxi industry is not ready, because they all depend on each other.'' Commented Dr Sultan Khan

Also, within the taxi industry there seems to be a number of violent clashes due to power struggles over the ownership of certain routes, which may be perceived as predominantly taxi routes. Recently, the SABC news reported an incident reflective of this sort of violence, when taxi owners burnt buses in Botshabelo, east of Bloemfontein. These issues of territorial struggle and violence make it difficult for the other plans to be implemented. Only once these are addressed and resolved correctly, can the rest of the programme proceed along with other structural programmes that need to be implemented.

''The privatization of both Durban Transport and Metro-rail make it very difficult to implement certain transportation programmes. What is far worse is the fact that the Taxi-Recapitalization Programme is being run by the provincial government. Therefore it becomes impossible to regulate the transportation industry, especially in KwaZulu-Natal. The programme to upgrade Warwick Junction began after all the transportation programmes were rolled out. But this programme is becoming a major success in terms of finishing in the estimated time and it is easy to regulate. So with the current state of the transportation it becomes very difficult to regulate and to roll out programmes as there are major stakeholders that need to be consulted and begged first.'' Dr Sultan Khan

The current state of the 2010 committee for transportation clearly allows critics to doubt that transportation will be in order by 2010. Committee members seem to have multiple responsibilities and are not paying enough attention to the transportation project. This was addressed in Parliament recently, when responsibility and commitment was questioned. Germany and other countries which have previously hosted the Soccer World Cup, had assigned teams of specialists to deal directly with similar projects to upgrade infrastructure, and the overall mission was completed successfully. So in this instant it all goes down to the incompetence of the sector and the other related and involved sectors. We need to bear in mind that neglecting infrastructure will be to our detriment.

In June of 2009 the country will be hosting the Confederation Cup which is an event prior to the World Cup soccer tournament. This event is for testing whether the stadiums are ready for the big event. However this tournament has a very high attendance by people around the world, including foreign reporters who usually want to observe the current state of the hosting country. So the focus is not only on the stadiums but it is also on, for example, transportation, restaurants, accommodation and structures that will be utilized during the event. As a priority, South Africa needs to focus on completing the improvements to infrastructure by 2009 rather than 2010. With the international community holding their breath and watching, 2009 will serve as a mirror for 2010.

Siyanda Nombika is an Honours Student (HRM) with the School of Management Studies, UKZN

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