13 October 1998
Honourable MEC, Mayor of Greater Germiston, Councillor Sambo,
Management of Intersite and S.A Rail Commuter Corporation
Honoured Guests
Ladies And Gentlemen.
We are meeting today during the Masakhane focus week. We are enjoined to reflect on the progress we have made and continue to make to build our communities, drawing on the strength, ingenuity and co-operation between the government, the private sector and the community to improve the living conditions in our areas.
I am sure that we are all agreed that despite the enormous problems that we have jointly inherited, we are beginning to see progress in our provision of the much-desired infrastructure and rehabilitation of the precious community facilities.
This community, like many others throughout the country, has seen some of the most brutal acts of violence that were deliberately and consciously planned and executed on innocent people both young and old.
However, you have demonstrated to all of us the power and ability to rise from a debilitating and desperate situation to forge ahead.
In this week of Masakhane a lesson that comes out of Katlehong is that the genesis for progress in any community is stability and peace. It therefore gives me great pleasure to be amongst the people of this important community as we witness the R47-million investment for infrastructure to our people.
This investment is part of the RDP projects, which this government implements as a mandate that has been given by the people of this country.
The investment is particularly important because for over five years the people of this community were unable to utilise a very important resource because train services were terminated in November 1993 due to political conflict and subsequently the railway line was damaged and vandalised.
We all know that transport is central to our lives. It links families and friends, forges closer cooperation between and within communities, it makes our workers to be mobile, it ensures that we are able to provide the much-needed services, be they health, education and welfare grants.
But most importantly, transport is the lifeblood of our economy. In our integrated development planning of new settlements and delivery of services, you would always find that transport is at the heart of any programme.
It is imperative that we have safe, reliable and cost efficient transport system. I am happy that in the discussions on this project, all stakeholders have been involved - the community, the local contractors, representatives of other transport modes such as taxis, the government and the private sector.
This collaboration is the necessary condition for progress in our country, and we should always remember that none of the stakeholders would succeed without the other.
Chairperson,
Apartheid left us a sad legacy. A legacy of disjointed transports system, dilapidated infrastructure and uncoordinated services. The result is that today, there is chaos and at times violent conflict at many large transport vies for a bigger stake of the passengers.
We have begun to give attention to the coordination and integration of public transport services and infrastructure and I am confident that this will be of a major benefit to commuters.
In the past, too much attention was given to the needs of the private motorist at the expense of the public transport. The failure to prioritise has had a very negative impact on the majority of our people in terms of unacceptably high travel costs and a lot of travel time.
The upgrading and improvement of facilities such as Kwesine station is part of the government's quest to bring a better life to the people of this country. Thousands and thousands of people everyday uses these facilities.
It is important that as the government delivers these services, we all play our part in that we should both protect our resources and assets and pay for the use of these facilities.
If we fail to do that, these important resources will not last. Let us take community ownership of these assets and urge every member of our community to respect that which belongs to all of us.
We should discourage this attitude that treats public property with disrespect, where people find it easy to damage and vandalise our collective assets.
Ladies and gentlemen, I look forward, as I am sure you all do, to the day when I can stand on this same spot and view a brand new station. Good luck to you all in the completion of this project. I have no doubt you would be successful.
I would like to thank everyone involved in this project, the Department of Transport, the Greater Germiston Council, the Intersite Property Management Services, the South African Rail Commuter Corporation, the consulting engineers, Ndodana, Becker and Associates, the caterers, the workers and most importantly the community of Katlehong.
Thank you.