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FILE | Accident between a truck and a minibus outside Worcester in the Boland, Western Cape on May 23, 2025.
Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy says her department is working to meet the UN target of halving road fatalities by 2030.
She was delivering her Budget Vote in Parliament. Statistics from the department indicate that 12 000 lives are lost every year on the country’s roads.
The Department of Transport says it wants South Africa’s roads to be safer. It says road fatalities cost the economy about R200 billion annually.
“To ensure greater safety on our roads and reduce the devastating toll road accidents have on our lives and reduce road fatalities by 40 percent by 2030 so we reach the UN target of halving road accidents by 2030,” says Creecy.
However, some of the opposition parties were having none of that. Arguing that the budget is not addressing the crucial matters facing ordinary people.
“We also reject the increase in fuel levy which will bring more suffering to citizens that impose huge transport cost and cause serious damage, even the proposed VAT would have done,” says MKP MP Lucky Montana.
“We see no plans in this budget that seeks to revive Transnet and to get many trucks off our roads, how many more lives must be lost on the roads in order for this department to act decisively to save our people,” says Mazwikayise Blose, EFF MP.
The department also says the reform of the Road Accident Fund is under way. It says this will restore the fund’s financial health and ensure timely compensation of victims.
“We are committed to halving road fatalities by 2030 and encouragingly our efforts are beginning to yield measurable results in the first five months of 2025. Fatal road crashes have declined by 8 percent and fatalities have decreased by 9 percent compared to the same period last year. These are not statistics, they represent saved lives,” says Mkhuleko Hlengwa, Deputy Minister of Transport.
The Department also says SAA is pursuing a bold route expansion strategy to strengthen its regional and global footprint.
Adding that it’s operating independently without bail outs while remaining open to a strategic equity partner.
