Durban — The Parliamentary portfolio committee on transport has recommended that the Department of Transport submit a report within 30 days on the reasons for the rise in aviation accidents.
The committee raised concerns over the rise in aircraft accidents. Furthermore, the committee spoke of an alleged inspection by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) which was believed to have happened in August.
DA MP Christian Hunsinger said a little bird had alerted him to an inspection that took place last month, and a report was generated following the inspection. He said the report had mentioned significant security concerns in its findings.
“Apparently this report is in the hands of four people, which includes the minister and deputy minister of transport. This report has not been shared with staff, authorities or the public, however, we need to establish whether such an inspection took place and if there is indeed a report,” he said.
ANC MP Lawrence MacDonald said aviation safety was paramount in ensuring the safety of passengers because if an aeroplane fell out of the sky, people would lose their lives.
The committee in its meeting further discussed some of the findings in the report of the portfolio committee on transport on the 2022/23 first quarter expenditure of the Department of Transport.
The budget allocation of the Department of Transport stands at R69.1 billion, and by the end of the first quarter of the financial year, the department had spent R15.5bn of the total available budget. The department had projected that it would have spent R15.7bn by this time, and this translated into a delay in spending of R124.3 million.
Some of the findings included the implementation of the scholar transport programme since the spate of recent accidents indicated that vehicles transporting pupils were not roadworthy or suitable for transporting children.
The committee was concerned that repaired potholes seemed not to last for longer than a week, and that the department should look into this.
The committee further noted that the Provincial Road Maintenance Grant (PRMG) allocation to provinces was insufficient, and there was a need to improve weighbridge use to prevent overloaded freight vehicles from damaging road infrastructure.
Concerns were raised about the vacancy rate in the department and the continued underspending of compensation for employees and goods and services. The recommendations were for the Department of Transport to provide a report within 30 days, and the reasons as well as remedies to prevent future underspending on the compensation of employees in the administration programme.
The department needed to implement more checks and balances on scholar transport regulation and operation to ensure correct licensed vehicles were used, driven by properly licensed drivers, and that vehicles were roadworthy and not overloaded.
The department was told to improve the oversight implemented over the Public Transport Network Grant (PTNG) budget and progress on projects linked there to applicable municipalities.
The department was also to ensure that more weighbridges and law enforcement operations were operating for effective monitoring of the loading of trucks.
There was also a call to improve monitoring and oversight over the PRMG projects to ensure that funds were spent to better the quality of roads in all provinces.
Daily News