Gautrain continues to face problems as the taxpayer continues to fork out more money.

Despite the Gautrain Project being the biggest single infrastructural project in Africa; presently hovering under R30 Billion, replies to questions that I posed to the Minister indicate that there have been an unacceptable 11 disruptions in 2011. Of these 8 were associated with the Concession agreement not being properly fulfilled. The Minister admits that the number of passengers that were affected cannot be determined with any accuracy – another admission of incompetence and failure by his Ministry on this project. Unbelievably and unacceptably, records and statistics in this regard are not kept. 

The other non-Concession related disruptions were because of the unprotected bus driver strikes in August and October when no passengers could travel by bus. In the case of the other disruptions bus services were used to replace train services when interrupted. The replies indicate that in these cases “the impact was thus minimal on passengers’ ability to complete their trips.” However, the Minister cannot substantiate this statement as he admits that passengers that were affected cannot be determined with any accuracy. To add salt to this wound, the replies indicate that no alternative services were provided during the three days of the bus driver strike action.

Throughout all this inconvenience and unacceptable service delivery it is the taxpayer that continues to get the short end of the stick whilst, as indicated by the replies, the Gauteng Provincial Government had no financial losses whilst the Concessionaire collects and retains all fare revenue.  The non-strike related disruption incidents were all “bread and butter” issues which should have been resolved by the Concessionaire – these disruptions should never have happened. Disruptions because of cable thefts, signal cable theft, tunnel flooding and overhead electrical system failures leaves one wondering how all this can take place when so much of the taxpayer’s money has already been spent.

In reply to my questions with regards plans that have been put in place to prevent any further breakdowns; the Minister did not answer the questions except for indicating that plans “to prevent service interruptions are developed and managed in accordance with the Concession

It is clear that, as things stand, the Gautrain will continue to be riddled with these types of problems as it is presently experiencing. I will be writing to the Minister in this regard and will be posing additional questions to enquire what proactive actions are to take place as this situation cannot be left to continue.  

ANC commandeers state-owned Shosholoza Meyl for centenary celebrations

Earlier this month I received received information that train carriages managed by Shosholoza Meyl, the long-distance train company, were commandeered by the ANC for their celebrations. Shosholoza Meyl is a subsidiary of PRASA (Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa). Over that weekend, passengers on Shosholoza Meyl trains en route to Port Elizabeth from Johannesburg were advised that they would be required to disembark in Bloemfontein, where they would travel by bus for the rest of the journey. However, due to the unavailability of buses at Bloemfontein, train passengers climbed off the trains at Middleburg at around 4am on that Saturday.

The reason for this is that trains were required to accommodate attendees of the ANC centenary celebrations. Similar accommodation arrangements were made during the FIFA 2010 World Cup, but in that case arrangements were made in advance, and not at the expense of paying passengers. In this case, the ANC saw fit to misuse public funds to its own ends, with no regard to the inconvenience suffered by passengers forced to alter their travel arrangements.

Given the shortage of accommodation in Bloemfontein over that particular weekend, the ANC should have planned better, knowing that advance arrangements would have to be made for the large number of delegates who would be attending the centenary event.

Many of the passengers who use the services of Shoshaloza Meyl are the elderly (one of them was a 70 year-old woman), who paid for the comfort of a sleeper compartment. Members of poorer communities also use the train for its affordability and safety, as an alternative to taxis that cannot cope with their luggage. Others are tourists who use it for the “rail experience". 

To remove passengers from the trains and put them on buses at Midddleburg instead is a blatant abuse of power. The CEO of PRASA and the MD of Shoshaloza Meyl must answer to the affected commuters for their actions. They need to explain:

• on whose instructions the train was diverted from its normal schedule to Bloemfontein;
• who paid for the costs of this diversion and the hiring of buses to allow for the passengers to continue their journeys;
• whether the ANC paid for the use of the train for the purpose of accommodation and if so, how much;
• whether the affected passengers were compensated for the change of transport mode and any inconvenience which may have been caused;
• why the trains were not able to continue travelling beyond Middleburg, requiring passengers to disembark.

I will be investigating this matter further.

Ministers need to commit to a new year’s resolution: no splurging

Every month in the Zuma administration to date we see revelation after revelation of how our political elite plunder the national purse as if this is their personal money and can do what they wish with it. As a result of questions that the DA posed it emerged that our Minister of Transport, Sbu Ndebele, emerged as one of the cabinet’s high-rolling and high-living ministers. He regularly stays in four- and five-star hotels.  These fancy hotels include the Cullinan Hotel in Cape Town, the Michelangelo Towers, the Cape Grace and the Westin Grand.

Since being elected to office to July 2011 the Minister spent 346 nights in luxurious hotels. That’s just 19 days short of living in hotels for an entire year! Despite a global economic crises and a call by the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, for Ministries to constrain themselves and tighten their belts, it appears that this call has simply been ignored!     

In fact it gets worse; Ndebele’s spokespeople even justify this expenditure as being within the prescribed rules and in compliance with the ministerial handbook. This being an unacceptable justification; if the ministerial handbook allows this then amend the handbook!

Apparently the Transport Ministry claimed that newly appointed ministers and their deputies were “forced” to stay in hotel accommodation in Cape Town and Pretoria whilst the Department of Public Works procured and allocated official accommodation for members of the executive. Why then was this not all done and prepared before-hand – before these politicians came into office? Had this preliminary work all been done by the time ministers and deputy ministers had been sworn in it would’ve meant that billions of rands of our money would’ve been saved.

I challenge all members of the executive to make a new year’s resolution; to stay in the most reasonably priced hotels when absolutely necessary. I won’t hold my breath.

South Africa needs Gross National Happiness

Countries are quite rightly concerned with their Gross Domestic Product, however have you heard of Gross National Happiness (GNH)? When in 1972 Jigme Singye Wangchuck was crowned king of the small Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan he opened his country up to modernisation. He used this unique phrase when he spoke of his commitment to building their economy without compromising their unique culture based on Buddhist values. The Bhutan government suggests that development takes place when material and spiritual development occur simultaneously complimenting and reinforcing each other.

Their Centre for Bhutan Studies developed a sophisticated survey instrument to measure the population’s general level of well-being. Bhutan’s GNH serves as a unifying vision for the country’s five-yearly planning processes as well as all the derived planning documents that guide the economic and development plans for the country. All proposed Bhutan policies must pass a GNH review based on a GNH impact statement similar to our Environmental Impact Assessments required in all development planning.   

GNH has four pillars which are; the promotion of sustainable development, preservation and promotion of cultural values, conservation of the natural environment and the establishment of good governance. Clearly, these principles are universal and not restricted to the Buddhist or a particular philosophy.

Perhaps we need to consider our traditional systems and indicators such as Gross Domestic Product with out-of-the-box thinking and ideas like Gross National Happiness. In so doing we may well be killing two birds with one stone when developing not only our country and our economy but also our people and their well being.

In an attempt to make you happier and provide you more information and an additional channel of communication, please visit and subscribe to my new blog (http://mannydefreitas.blogspot.com).

As we reach the end of 2011, I wish you and yours a very happy 2012.

Even the Minister admits that toll-roads hold no benefits

This year has been a one where the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP), commonly known as the toll-roads project has been in the news extensively. This system that forces motorists to pay for the use of highways in Gauteng was bulldozed through without much thought, consultation or consideration for the road user and the consequences on the economy. The fact that Gauteng is the strongest economy not only in South Africa but in Africa as well makes the issue even more serious.

It is thus interesting that in replies to questions (question number 2598) posed by the DA to the Minister of Transport, he says the following, “In my considered view, and in retrospect, the original feasibility study did not sufficiently weigh up international evidence suggesting that freeways expansion often does not in the medium term solve congestion challenges, and often induces greater demand.” The Minister is effectively admitting a mistake by his Ministry and SANRAL (South African National Roads Agency Limited).

Why then is the Minister insistent on going ahead with this project? The reality is that alternatives were not considered. In fact, the Minister says so in the reply when he says that the feasibility study undertaken in 2007 “also failed to consider alternative solutions to congestion – improving public transport provision, moving more freight onto rail and a curb on urban sprawl.” I’m quoting the Minister directly.

The best Christmas gift that the Minister could give South Africa is to completely scrap the toll-roads project and seek alternative methods of funding what has already been done. After all, the Minister is correct in saying that “the projected benefits to road users may, therefore, unfortunately not be forthcoming.”

Provinces are collapsing because of cadre deployment

The chickens of the ANC’s deployment and jobs for cronies policy are coming to roost. National government admitted earlier this month that three ANC-governed provinces, namely Limpopo, Gauteng and the Free State, are on the brink of economic collapse and are in desperate need of a financial bailout. National government has been forced to dip into its national reserves amounting to billions to rescue these provinces.

The national government has been forced to place eight departments in Limpopo and the Free State under administration. Limpopo, which is the worst fairing province, has asked national treasury for another R1 billion bailout. This is over and above the R757.3 million overdraft just to pay salaries in November. Gauteng, despite it being the continent’s economic hub, needs a bailout of R627 million to pay for salaries and other financial disasters.      

The national government expressed “concern” about the state of financial management and governance and the unsatisfactory spending and overspending.

The root of this problem is simple: people are in positions that they unqualified or incapable of undertaking the duties for which they have been appointed. Officials are appointed based on their political affiliation and even faction. As a result projects are not properly managed if at all because the people who are supposed to do so are not qualified to do so.

This is unsustainable. This month it all came to hilt when these provinces have effectively financially collapsed. Unless the ANC urgently changes their stance on their deployment policy more ANC-governed provinces may well also need to be bailed out.

One thing is for sure, no DA controlled province will need to be bailed out.