Transport Reviews

ISSN: 0144-1647 (Print) 1464-5327 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ttrv20

‘The travail of travelling’: urban transport in South

Africa, 1930–1996

Meshack M. Khosa

To cite this article: Meshack M. Khosa (1998) ‘The travail of travelling’: urban transport in South
Africa, 1930–1996, Transport Reviews, 18:1, 17-33, DOI: 10.1080/01441649808716998

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TRANSPORT REVIEWS, 1998, VOL. 18, NO. 1, 17-33

'The travail of travelling': urban transport in South Africa,

1930-1996
By MESHACK M. KHOSA

Centre for African Research & Transformation, University of Natal, Private Bag X10,
Dalbridge 4014, South Africa. Tel: +27-31-260-1611; Fax: +27-31-260-1635;
Work e-mail: Cart@innov.und.ac.za; Home e-mail: Khosa@iafrica.com

This article reviews the evolution of urban passenger transport policy within
the context of changing economic and political climates in South Africa over the
past seven decades. During key periods in South Africa's development, namely
the 1940s and 1950s, and in the 1980s, the delivery of essential services such as
transport became an area of popular protests and political mobilization. The
transition from politics of protest to the politics of negotiation ushered in a new
era of inclusive and more transparent transport policy formulation in the 1990s.
However, the national transport policy process has become another site of
struggle, negotiation and contestation.

1. Introduction
The 1990s heralded a sea of change in the form of politics in South Africa. The
axis of political activity shifted from the politics of opposition and confrontation to
the politics of negotiation and incorporation. Actually, the onset of negotiations for
a new non-racial constitution generated a dramatically new form of national and
local politics, which was characterized by the need to seek compromises, be
politically inclusive and replace armed confrontation with political debate and
contestation.
This article reviews the evolution of urban passenger transport policy within the
context of changing economic and political climates in South Africa over the past
seven decades. During key periods in South Africa's development, namely the 1940s
and 1950s, and in the 1980s, the delivery of essential services such as transport
became an area of popular protests and political mobilization (Essig 1984, Stadler
1981, Lodge 1983, Swilling 1984, 1985, McCarthy and Swilling 1984, 1985a, 1985b,
1985c, Swilling 1987, Khosa 1995). Popular transport struggles generally mobilized
the energies of Blackj working-class communities (the apartheid system has
systematically fragmented the working class along racial, ethnic and gender lines)
and organizations from diverse political complexions (Khosa, 1995).
For some two million Africans who commute to and from work during peak-
hour periods, transport has imposed heavy penalties and the African workers had to
make incredible sacrifices during their journeys (Pirie 1992). Frontier commuters—
i.e. daily workers travelling from 'homeland' towns (figure 1), across what apartheid
deemed international borders, to 'white' South Africa—are particularly dissatisfied
with the transport system. The 'travail of travel' for frontier commuters, living in
distant places such as KwaNdebele (and working in Pretoria) and Mdantsane (and

† Until 1994, apartheid used a system of racial classification into the following categories:
Africans, Coloureds, Indians and White. The term Black was used to include Africans,
Coloureds and Indians.
0144-1647/98 $12·00 © 1998 Taylor & Francis Ltd.
18 M. M. Khosa
working in East London), begins before dawn. Some travel for up to 300 kilometres
daily. In time transport became a site of popular struggles and a dramatic expression
of tensions and disputes over control, management and affordability of racially
divided spaces (Pirie 1983, Dauskardt 1989).
A large body of literature germane to transport resistance has documented
specific cases in cities, townships and villages in South Africa (Lodge 1983, Pirie
1983, Swilling 1987, 1993, Dauskardt 1989). However, this literature does not
provide a critical appraisal of urban transport within the changing political and
economic contexts in South Africa. The aim in this article is to render a concise
survey of changing state policy towards transport in general, and urban public
transport for Africans in particular.

2. Passenger transport in South Africa

Transport is both an essential part of the economy and an important element in
the quality of everyday life (Feldman 1977, McCall 1977a, 1977b). The separation of
place of residence and place of work under capitalism has been aggravated in South
Africa by the race-zoning policies enshrined in the Native (Urban) Areas Act 1923
and the Group Areas Act 1950. Transport issues are potential flashpoints for the
frustrations of the majority of the African working class. Popular working people's
protests have their immediate origin in the low wages, poor working conditions and
lack of effective representation in transport companies and state transport
institutions (Lodge 1983). Until recently, racially segregated transport conjured up

HOMELANDS OF THE
APARTHEID ERA
LEGEND
Bophuthatswana
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KwaNdebele
Venda
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QwaQwa
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STATE
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ATLANTIC
OCEAN

Cartographic Studio, D*pt. of Geographical & EnviraniMntal SdancM, Unhwany of Natal, Durban:1M6.

Figure 1. Homelands of the apartheid era in South Africa.

 Urban transport in South Africa, 1930-1996 19
images of difference and subordination and transport was an instrument of
marginalization and domination of the African people (Pirie 1986, 1987).
Local transport conditions, such as the infrequency, inadequacy, poor
maintenance, overcrowding, unsheltered terminuses, rude staff and increasing cost
of public bus and train services have sparked off popular protests (Human
Awareness Programme 1982, Perlman 1984, Pirie 1992). There are three popular
modes of urban transport in South Africa: buses, minibus taxis and trains.
The control of bus services is exercised at central Government level by the
Department of Transport (DoT) through Local Road Transportation Boards
(LRTBs), which grant operating permits and approve fares and transport service
levels. The overall transport policy has been the responsibility of the DoT, one of its
most significant policy instruments being the subsidization of bus transport through
passenger subsidies (Khosa 1990).
Until recently, operation of minibus taxis was restricted by the apartheid state
(McCaul 1990). Minibus taxis have a carrying capacity of between 8 and 15
passengers (Khosa 1994). Since the 1980s, the number of minibus taxis has grown to
some 130 000 minibus taxis in South Africa in 1996 (Race Relations Survey 1986-
1996). Of this number, some 60 000 are licensed and the rest operate without any
legal status (Department of Transport 1995).

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Figure 2. New Provinces in South Africa.

20 M. M. Khosa

The rail network in South Africa falls under the control of Spoornet (the railway
authority), as well as the South African Rail Commuter Corporation (SARCC).
Spoornet provides rail transport mainly for goods and containers, but also transport
for passengers travelling distances between major cities. However, the SARCC
provides commuter services in six major metropolitan cities in South Africa:
Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Port Elizabeth
(figure 2).
Because of race-zoning policies introduced by the apartheid state, the average
commuting distance of Africans in South Africa is twice as long as that of Whites
(McCaul 1991). Most White workers generally live no more than 7 km from their
place of work. Africans, however, live on average more than 15 km from their place
of work, with many travelling 100 km and more (McCaul 1992). Almost 63% of
African workers travel at least 16 km between home and workplace, 24% by train,
27% by bus and almost 12% by taxi (van der Reis 1993, Race Relations Survey
1986-1996).
The average distance travelled by commuters by rail is 21 km, while by bus it is
37 km (McCaul 1992). Moreover, transport consumes between 5 and 20% of
African working-class incomes (van der Reis 1993). Transport is often the second
major expense in the family budget after food. Whites, Coloureds and Indians spend
an average of 7-6% of their incomes on travel. In contrast, African commuters spent
11-1% of their income on travel in 1992. Significantly, 43-2% of Africans in
metropolitan areas spend more than 10% of their incomes on travel (van der Reis
1993). Voluminous studies have concluded that the African working people are
dissatisfied with transport, particularly the cost and overcrowding (Human
Awareness Programme 1982, Pirie 1992, Pirie and Khosa 1992).
The need for bus-fare subsidies was closely associated with the inability of the
majority of Africans to pay their transport fares in general, and because of their
location on the outskirts of urban areas in particular (Pirie 1987, Khosa 1990). Even
a Government commission established in the 1940s to investigate transport in
Pretoria, Witwatersrand and Vereeniging concluded that:

Transport charges in relation to workers' wages, or even to the total family income, are
beyond the capacity of the African workers to pay. They certainly cannot afford to pay
anything more in the direction except by reducing still further their hunger diet. (South
Africa 1944: para. 263)

Transport subsidy is the difference between the economic fare and what the
commuter pays (Lipman 1993). Transport subsidies are only applicable to weekly or
monthly tickets. A subsidy amount of R185 million supports some 815 000
passenger trips per day in South Africa (Department of Transport 1996).
Furthermore, about Rl-25 billion was used to subsidize approximately 1-2 million
rail passenger trips per day in six metropolitan areas in South Africa (Department of
Transport 1995). Although the state has been providing transport subsidies to
African workers since the 1950s, transport subsidies do not cover all classes of
labour, nor the unemployed (Khosa 1990).

3. Changing passenger transport policy in South Africa

The transport sector in South Africa has traditionally been characterized by
high levels of Government regulation. Legislation, rather than aiming for an
efficient and competitive system, was used to limit road-rail competition, in
 Urban transport in South Africa, 1930-1996 21
order to foster the financial viability of the state railways. Only recently has the
Government started to re-evaluate the regulatory framework. This sea of change
in the transport sector is not unique to South Africa. Many industrialized
countries, for example, the U.S.A., Australia and the U.K. have experienced
deregulation, commercialization and privatization of public enterprises (Evans
1991, 1994, Harrington and Parolin 1991).
As with other sectors of South African society, passenger transport is in
transition: from regulation to deregulation (as part of the neo-conservative turn—
cf. Thatcherism in the U.K.). In examining this shift, three distinct phases are
identified: first, the era of regulation and protection, c. 1930-1976; secondly, a
period of limited regulation and 'controlled competition', c. 1977-1986; and thirdly,
deregulation and promotion of competition, since 1987.

3.1. Regulation and protection, c. 1930-1976

According to the first national transport commission to be established in South
Africa, the 1929 Le Roux Commission, the state of public transport was one of'great
confusion and disorder' because 'competition was unrestricted and uncontrolled'
before 1930 (South Africa 1947: paras 390 and 391). Echoing a similar assertion, the
Minister of Railways and Harbours called the pre-1930 period an era of 'wasteful
competition' (Hansard (Senate), 990, 25 May 1932).
Following recommendations of the Le Roux Commission, the Motor Carrier
Transportation Act (No. 39) was enacted in 1930 and became the cornerstone
which introduced transport regulation on a scale unprecendented in South Africa:
competition was stifled and transport monopolies were created. The 1930 Act
introduced one Central and ten Local-Road Transportation Boards (LRTBs).
South Africa was geographically demarcated into ten 'proclaimed transport areas'
where LRTBs had powers to police the volume of transport and enforce the
Motor Carrier Transportation Act. Whereas the Central Road Transportation
Board (CRTB) was given a responsibility to coordinate various transport
activities and to eliminate a number of services, the ten LRTBs were given
powers to consider applications for motor carrier certificates in their 'transport
areas'. The CRTB (replaced by the National Transport Commission in 1948,
when the National Party came to power and marked the beginning of the
apartheid system) liaised with LRTBs and handled appeals of applicants rejected
by LRTBs.
The consequences of the 1930 Act were far-reaching. Although the purpose of
the 1930 Act was to protect the railways from competition of road carriers, it
also empowered LRTBs to set up a quota of certificates in order to limit
competition in areas where there were no railways (Act 39 of 1930, Section 5).
The effects of the policy were felt by many African independent operators
throughout South Africa. Strict regulation against practices of taxis was also
introduced (Khosa 1992).
Despite legislative difficulties, African transport entrepreneurs continued to make
persistent efforts in the 1940s to acquire certificates to an extent that perturbed the
established operators who had to go to the effort of opposing applications (South
Africa 1947). Although various amendments to the 1930 Act have been made
(sixteen times between 1930 and 1977), the principles underlying the regulation and
control of transport remained unchanged until the introduction of the Road
Transportation Act (No. 74) of 1977.
22 M. M. Khosa

3.2. From regulation to limited regulation, c. 1977-1986

A number of events were responsible for the shift in state policy from strict
regulation to deregulation in the transport sector. Deregulation of transport was
beginning to take place in the U.S.A. and the U.K. and this fuelled arguments for the
introduction of 'gradual deregulation' in South Africa. The Van Breda Commission
established a foundation for the introduction of the Road Transportation Act
(No. 74) in 1977 (South Africa 1983).
Throughout the course of discussing the Road Transportation Bill in 1977,
Members of Parliament still had fresh memories of the political rebellion which
started in Soweto in 1976. Some MPs warned that if repression and regulation
continued in the transport sector, Africans would be further politicized, resorting to
boycott of bus and train services. Those who favoured maintaining the previous
protection policy were opposed to competition on the gound that it would lead to
oversupply of services on popular routes, which could result in chaos {Hansard
(Senate), cols 2971, 2972, 27 May 1977). The Road Transportation Act was passed in
1977 and began operating in 1978.
In response to an increasing transport subsidy bill, escalating popular protests
against the raising of transport fares in the 1970s and 1980s, and the fiscal crisis of
the apartheid state in the early 1980s, the state appointed a commission of inquiry
which was chaired by Peter Welgemoed (South Africa 1983). The commission's
primary task was to investigate the fiscal crisis in order to find ways of reducing the
cost of transport subsidization. The Welgemoed Commission adjudicated between
the monopoly bus companies, which were concerned about the erosion of their
market, political stability and rising transport costs, and the taxi industry which was
making inroads into the African commuter market, previously controlled by White
monopoly companies (South Africa 1983).
As with the Le Roux Commission in 1929, which recommended protection of the
railways from unfair road competition, the Welgemoed Commission in 1983
recommended that bus companies should be protected by an Act of Parliament from
unfair competition from minibus taxis. What caused an immediate public outcry
against the Welgemoed Commission was its recommendation to ban minibus taxis
and to replace them with 4-seater sedan taxis. The report came to support the
interests of the bus industry and pointed out various advantages of buses and the
conditions of their remaining in business, arguing that smaller vehicles could not
physically render an efficient flow of passengers (South Africa 1983).
After the report of the Welgemoed Commission was published in 1983, draft
legislation based on the report was outlined to amend the Road Transportation Act
(No. 74) of 1977 and proposed that taxis should be defined as vehicles carrying no
more than four passengers, and that licensed minibus taxis be phased out over a
period of four years.
The draft transport Bill was rejected by a wide range of people and organizations
in both the private and public sectors, together with taxi owners, African commuters
and civic associations. A powerful business lobby pointed out that such a move
would destroy faith in 'popular capitalism' (where ordinary people share in the
benefits of the free market enterprise) {Frontline, March 1984). The draft Bill was
largely entrenching the interests of transport capital—bus operators and the South
African Transport Services (SATS).
SATS was a monopoly state-owned transport operator, renamed Transnet and
commercialized in 1990. Transnet has four main subsidiaries: Spoornet, a railway
 Urban transport in South Africa, 1930-1996 23
authority and operation; Portnet, the port authority; Autonet, mainline buses; and
SAA (South African Airways), a national carrier. Although Transnet is 100% state
controlled, it operates on commercial principles.
The Government had already established another transport investigation in 1982,
the National Transport Policy Study (NTPS), to bring transport policy into line with
national policy and constitutional developments. Various organized interest groups
were represented in the NTPS, in contrast to the Welgemoed Commission. However,
the NTPS excluded anti-apartheid organizations, civic associations and trade union
organizations, which were at the time either banned or repressed by the apartheid
state. The NTPS operated through a number of advisory committees, including one
on passenger transport and on which the South African Black Taxi Association
(SABTA, the first Black national taxi organization formed in 1981, and now with a
membership of some 60 000 operators and drivers); the South African Bus
Operators' Association (SABOA, a body which represents mainly White-controlled
bus companies); and the Passenger Transport Association (PTA, representing White
passenger interests), were represented.
The advisory committee on passenger transport recommended that the bus
companies be given a period of protection through 'interim contracts'. These would
convert the existing subsidy, based on passengers carried, into a fixed-price contract
and be valid for a period of three years. During this time, a new process of
competitive tendering would be developed and tested. Bus services operated under
both interim and competitive tendering would be protected from competition by
other bus services, but taxis would be allowed to compete at will with buses (McCaul
1990, Race Relations Survey 1986-1996).
Accordingly, the advisory committee on passenger transport recommended that
the taxi should be defined as a vehicle with up to 16 seats. The bus companies
accepted that the kombi (minibus vehicle carrying between 8 and 16 passengers) taxi
industry had an important role to play in passenger transport. The recommendation
represented an historic compromise between the two traditional rivals: the taxi
industry and the bus industry (McCaul 1990). Contrary to proposals of the
Welgemoed Commission, the NTPS suggestions on taxis were favourable. The
NTPS suggested that 16-seater kombis should be allowed to operate as taxis, and
that illegal operators should be identified and given permits (South Africa 1985).
In line with the late apartheid state's neo-conservative economic policies of
furthering free enterprise, promotion of competition and deregulation, the
Competition Board suggested a complete deregulation of the taxi industry.

3.3. Deregulation of the taxi industry, c. 1987-1990

Another important event in the history of passenger transport occurred in
January 1987 when the White Paper on Transport Policy was tabled and approved in
Parliament (South Africa 1987). The White Paper accepted the Competition Board's
proposals that 15-seater minibuses should be allowed to operate as taxis, and that
entry to the taxi industry should be controlled only by considerations of whether the
operator had met road worthiness and road safety requirements (South Africa 1987:
paras 25 and 32).
The Government accepted the NTPS principles regarding passenger transport
policy to promote deregulation of the passenger transport industry. Although the
state accepted the White Paper in 1987, the new passenger policy was planned for
1992 (this was, however, withdrawn before being debated in Parliament in 1991).
24 M. M. Khosa

Reactions to the White Paper varied from warm acceptance to outright rejection.
The private sector warmly accepted the Government's policy for having taken a
positive step towards the creation of a 'market-driven' transport system (Race
Relations Survey 1986-1996).
In contrast, the organized taxi industry saw the White Paper as a threat to its
interest. For example, the South African Black Taxi Association accused the
Government of introducing deregulation. SABTA saw the White Paper as an 'attempt
to hijack the Black transport sector and resuscitate the power of the White bus
industry' (Business Day, 26 March 1987); it entirely rejected the White Paper, and
suggested an alternative 'phased-in deregulation' over a period of ten years as the
organization felt that Whites have facilities to build their financial empires and use that
financial power to invade the Black taxi industry. This can be inferred from SABTA's
Statement issued at a press conference in 1988; it argued that deregulation is:

the height of the White man's greed. The Whites bend the laws to their advantage, because
deregulation means anybody—including Whites—can operate a taxi. (Business Day, 16
September 1988)

This view was confirmed in an interview with one senior SABTA official, who
said:

SABTA cannot sell its members deregulation . . . If deregulation means that Whites can
own kombis and put them in our routes, we at SABTA find that to be the tip of a White
man's greed. (Interview with SABTA official, 9 August 1989)

Evidence suggests that SABTA wanted to have virtual monopoly in the taxi
industry. In the same way as the railways appealed for protection in 1930, and the
bus industry pleaded for protection in 1983, the legal taxi industry implored the
Government to protect established taxi operators in 1987. The president of
SABTA, James Ngcoya, alleged that the White Paper betrayed the taxi industry
and that operators should no longer trust the Government. Ngcoya formally
announced that the taxi association was cutting links with the Government on 7
February 1987:

The Government has betrayed the Black taxi industry. As a result the taxi man no longer
has any faith in the Government.. . The Government simply cannot be trusted. SABTA
like the rest of the Black community must look to furthering its interests away from the
Government. (City Press, 7 February 1987)

Anxious to maintain cooperation with SABTA, the Government formally

recognized SABTA as a mouthpiece of the taxi industry on 25 September 1987, held
a series of seminars with the taxi industry and a settlement was finally reached
between the Government and SABTA in June 1989 (Business Day, 6 July 1989).

SABTA then became a powerful gatekeeper, as one senior official boasted:

We oppose unnecessary permits . . . We get the Government Gazettes, with the

applications, and the Chairman of local associations phone in and say 'support this, object
to that'. (Interview with SABTA official, August 1989)

The organized taxi industry, which was threatened by the Welgemoed Commission
in 1983 and the White Paper in 1987, successfully carved a new market for itself. The
 Urban transport in South Africa, 1930-1996 25
'social accord' reached between the taxi industry and the Government has,
undoubtedly, ushered in the strengthening of the SABTA monopoly in the taxi
industry: existing taxi operators would be protected before complete deregulation is
introduced.
The foregoing discussion has investigated the shift in state policy from the 1930s,
when regulation was seen as a solution to transport problems, to the 1980s, when
deregulation was introduced in the transport industry. The shift in state policy,
particularly in the transport sector, was in response to a number of events: first, the
economic crises in the 1970s and the ever-increasing transport subsidy bill (Khosa
1990), coupled with the political legitimacy crisis of the apartheid state; and
secondly, the 'politicization' of transport (McCarthy 1986). Outside South Africa,
the deregulation movement in the U.S.A. and U.K. also influenced policy-makers
impressed by the 'benefits' of competition under a free market economy.
Whereas the railways did manage to convince the state of the necessity of a
protection policy in the 1930s, the bus industry failed to have this applied to it in
1983. Threats against the Black taxi industry emerged from two opposite
directions: the first threat came from the Welgemoed Commission in 1983, which
recommended banning of minibus taxis; and the second threat was posed by the
White Paper in 1987, which supported immediate deregulation of passenger
transport. By threatening to withdraw its cooperation from the Government, the
organized taxi industry won a significantly victory—controlling entry to the
transport market.
Although the late apartheid state seemed to have 'succeeded' in promoting a free
market economic state among some African traders, especially taxi operators, it
nevertheless failed to address vital issues. Most notably, deregulation and
privatization policies, as envisaged by the apartheid state, fell short of offering
practical ways of reducing commuter distance and of providing cheaper fares to the
majority of the African working class. In the words of Innes: 'deregulation and
privatisation policies serve the interests of powerful elements among the capitalist
class and offer very little in the advancement of the working class' (Innes 1987: 566).
The 1990s ushered in a transition from the politics of protest to the politics of
negotiation, and from exclusion to inclusion.

4. Transport policy in the era of negotiation, 1990-1994

The institutional base of civil society was eroded by apartheid state repression
and coercion before February 1990. The 1990s altered significantly the contours of
the political map in South Africa. The African National Congress (unbanned in 1990
after three decades) and the National Party, which introduced the apartheid system
in 1948, initiated constitutional negotiations at a political level in 1990. The mass
democratic resistance movement, which had developed to oppose the apartheid
system, and sectors of civil society, had to pursue a new strategy by shifting rapidly
from protest and confrontrational politics to the politics of transformation and
reconstruction.
For civic associations, which had until then fought against the apartheid system,
the events after 1990 opened up new frontiers of struggle (Swilling 1993). There was a
meteoric rise in the number of negotiation fora at local, regional and national levels.
By 1994, there were over 500 sectoral and development fora throughout South
Africa.
26 M. M. Khosa
4.1. The National Transport Policy Forum
The National Transport Policy Forum (NTPF) was launched in February 1992
with the aim of bringing together a range of interest groups which had been excluded
from contributing to the formulation of transport policy.
Members of the NTPF included the African National Congress (which won
62% of the national vote in the elections in April 1994), the South African
National Civic Organization (an umbrella national civic association established in
August 1992), the Congress of South African Trade Unions (the largest trade
union movement with an estimated 1-5 million members, established in 1985), the
Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa ('liberal' tribal chiefs aligned to
the mass of democratic movement), the National African Federated Transport
Organization (an African National Congress aligned transport organization
representing 50 000 transport operators), the Pan-Africanist Congress (a radical
Africanist organization which broke away from the African National Congress in
1959 and won only 1-2% of the national vote), the Southern African Black Taxi
Association (the first national Black taxi organization) and Transnet (a state-
controlled company representing the South African Airways, the South African
Railways and Harbours, established in 1990) and several organizations represent-
ing the private sector.
Through the NTPF, the formulation of transport policy was publicly discussed
and debated by 'credible' representatives. In fact, the NTPF described access to
transport as a basic human right (National Transport Policy Forum 1994). After
two years of debates and discussion, a 'people-centred' transport policy was
published by the NTPF in September 1994 (National Transport Policy Forum
1994).
The NTPF transport policy document outlined strategies to overcome
fragmentation within the transport sector (National Transport Policy Forum
1994: 13-14). Transport was recognized by the NTPF as an instrument of social
transformation:
The transport industry should be used as an instrument of transformation. Emphasis
should therefore be placed on the creation of new businesses and empowerment as a tool
in the economic process. (National Transport Policy Forum 1994: 2)
The process through which the NTPF coordinated transport policy was
developed departs radically from the previous transport policy formulation as it
was a result of debates, consultations and consensus by various stakeholders.

4.2. Transport and the Reconstruction and Development Programme

Although the African National Congress was a member of the NTPF, its
involvement in the working groups and deliberations was largely insignificant.
Actually, the ANC's absence at the launching of the National Transport Policy
Forum's policy document in September 1994 was conspicuous.
The liberation movement in general, and the ANC in particular, had not
prepared a single comprehensive document on transport policy when the first
General Elections took place in 1994. This was in contrast to the health and
education sectors. In the well-publicized Reconstruction and Development
Programme (RDP) document, published four months before the elections in April
1994, transport was given only scant attention, occupying three and half pages of the
147-page document.
 Urban transport in South Africa, 1930-1996 27
In the RDP document, the ANC had suggested that the new Government should
develop 'an effective publicly-owned passenger transport system . . . integrating road,
rail and air transportation' (African National Congress, 1994: 36). In addition, the
ANC argued that urban commuters should be encouraged to use public transport
and actively discouraged from using cars (via parking, access and fuel levies).
Effectively, the ANC declared that 'access to transport', as with health, education
and housing, was a basic human right largely to be met by the new Government:
The needs of women, children and disabled people for affordable and safe transport are
important. Adequate public transport at off-peak hours, and security measures on late-
night and isolated routes, must be provided. Additional subsidies for scholars, pensioners
and others with limited incomes will be considered. (African National Congress 1994: 38)

However, evidence suggests that much of the transport section in the

Reconstruction and Development Programme was largely based on rhetoric, rather
than a rigorous analysis of the transport sector in South Africa. .

5. 'New wine in old bottles? Urban transport under Mandela'

5.1. The Transport Policy Review
Since the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as first President of democratic South
Africa, the transformation of the transport sector and the development of transport
policy have been spearheaded by the 'new' Department of Transport (1995).
Early in 1995, under the new Director-General, Ketso Ghordan, and the ANC
Minister of Transport, Mac Maharaj, the DoT embarked on a process to review and
revise transport policy with a view to formulating a new one. A steering committee,
consisting of 13 representatives from the public and private sectors, was established
by the DoT to guide the policy review process.
Six sectoral working groups were established to analyse issues within specific
transport sectors. These working groups, namely civil aviation, infrastructure, land
freight transport, land passenger transport, road traffic management and shipping,
each dealtwith separate aspects of transport policy. The reports of these sectoral
working groups were submitted to the first transport plenary meeting in July 1995,
when 300 representatives from the private and public institutions and other transport
agencies attended.
In October 1995 the working group focusing on land^transport published its draft
passenger transport policy framework. The land transport working group suggested
that passenger transport was not sufficiently provided for by legislation and, where
passenger transport legislation did exist, it was administered by various authorities at
different levels of Government. The land transport working group suggested that a
single, national Land Transport Act should be drafted to clarify the roles and
functions of these various levels of Government.
Following the first transport policy plenary meeting and several other
seminars held by sectoral working groups, a draft Green Paper on Transport
Policy was compiled. This was further discussed at the second transport plenary,
attended by some 300 public, private and civil sector representatives in February
1996. The Green Paper on Transport Policy was published in March 1996.
Further inputs and submissions were incorporated in April and May 1996. The
White Paper on Transport Policy was finally completed and accepted by Cabinet
in September 1996.
28 M. M. Khosa

5.2. The National Taxi Task Team

Two other transport policy initiatives ran in parallel with the process which
led to the drafting of the White Paper on Transport Policy. These initiatives were
the National Taxi Task Team (consisting of 9 taxi industry representatives, 9
Government representatives and 9 specialist advisers), which was established in
March 1995, and the Task Team on the Restructuring of State Owned
Enterprises.
The objectives of the National Taxi Task Team (NTTT) were to investigate
problems facing the taxi industry, and to formulate solutions and/or options to
ensure the short- and long-term sustainability of the industry (South Africa 1996). In
August 1995 the NTTT embarked on a process of public hearings throughout the
country to obtain input on the problems in the taxi industry. Over 90 days of public
hearings on the taxi industry in some 32 venues in the 9 Provinces took place
between August and December 1995.
The NTTT submitted the report to the Department of Transport and the
recommendations were further approved by Cabinet in January 1996. Key
recommendations from the NTTT included regulation and control of the taxi
industry, its restructuring into more formal business units or cooperatives, and
economic assistance through a 'short-term survival package'. Based on the
recommendations of the NTTT, each of the 9 Provinces has now established a
provincial taxi office and appointed a taxi registrar. The Government is committed
to providing financial assistance to the taxi industry in various forms to facilitate the
establishment of taxi cooperatives and training in business skills. Some of the key
recommendations from the NTTT have been incorporated into the White Paper on
Transport Policy (South Africa 1996).

5.3. The White Paper on Transport Policy, 1996

The White Paper on Transport Policy was ac'cepted by Cabinet in September,
1996. The White Paper promises to:

Provide safe, reliable, effective, efficient, and fully integrated transport operations and
infrastructure which will best meet the needs of freight and passenger customers at
improving levels of service and cost in a fashion which supports Government strategies for
economic and social development whilst being environmentally and economically
sustainable. (South Africa 1996: 3)

In the past, the Government's dominant role has been as a: 'regulator of

bureaucratic detail, a provider of infrastructure, and a transport operator, but has
been weak in policy formulation and in strategic planning' (South Africa 1996: 7).
The new Government intends to reverse this legacy and to focus on policy and
strategy formulation as its prime role, and regulation, which is its responsibility,
with a reduced direct involvement in operations and in the provision of
infrastructure and services to allow a 'more competitive environment'. (South
Africa 1996: 7)
The new political dispensation in South Africa, enshrined in the New
Constitution, and the White Paper on Transport Policy introduce radical changes
in the history of transport. Schedule 4 of the Constitution of the Republic of South
Africa has allocated concurrent responsibility for public transport and road traffic
regulation, and for municipal public transport to the national and provincial
governments. Different tiers of government have been allocated various roles and
 Urban transport in South Africa, 1930-1996 29
responsibilities. For example, the Local Government Transition Act 1993 specifies
the powers and duties of Transitional Metropolitan and Local Councils and includes
the following functions:

(a) metropolitan coordination, land usage and transport planning;

(b) arterial metropolitan roads and storm water drainage, public transport
services; and
(c) traffic matters (Department of Transport 1995).

Each Province is empowered to legislate on public transport, within a broad

national policy framework, and to determine its own transport policies, which
should also guide metropolitan and local transport authorities. Although the
Constitution allows for concurrent powers, the transfer of the functions of bus
subsidy, ports, airports and rail to Provinces has been delayed to enable the
Provinces to establish necessary capacity and institutional arrangement.
The White Paper on Transport Policy promises to offer financial and technical
assistance to the minibus taxis in order to 'improve their financial viability' (South
Africa 1996: 24). With regard to rail passenger transport, the White Paper promises
to 'end the deficit financing system and replace it with a concession system which will
ensure more efficient and effective use of funds' (South Africa 1996: 25).
The White Paper on Transport Policy also recommends 'regulated competition'
to the bus operations. Since the 1940s, the bus industry has been dominated by a few
monopolies in South Africa. For example, PUTCO bus company has been a
recipient of up to 45% of the annual R815 million bus subsidy, with some 35 bus
companies sharing the rest (Department of Transport 1996). The White Paper
commits the new Government to ending the present subsidy system and replacing it
with interim contracts and tender (South Africa 1996: 24).
Also, the White Paper suggests that the right to public transport should become
the cornerstone in the transport policy of future Governments and that transport
planning would thus require a totally new approach.
The central tenet of the White Paper is that all freight and passenger transport
operations should be run on a commercial basis, rather than as a social service
(South Africa 1996). This thrust marked a complete reversal of the ANC's policy
position outlined in the RDP document. This sea change in policy is also reflected on
other national policies, particularly the macro-economic strategy, released in June
1996.

5.4. Evaluation of the new transport environment

In contrast to the previous policy planning process, the NTPF and the
Department of Transport embarked on consultative processes with representatives
of diverse organizations and institutions.
Opposition to some aspects of the White Paper on Transport Policy has largely
come from three main sectors, namely the Black minibus taxi industry, the bus
industry and trade unions. The first sector which has been cautious is the minibus
taxi industry. Although the Government has been engaged with the taxi industry
through the NTTT, a number of taxi associations are sceptical of the Government's
commitment to providing substantial financial resources. In contrast to the previous
Government, the new Government has been willing to commit some significant
resources to the taxi industry. As an example, the new Government established the
30 M. M. Khosa
NTTT, and provided R17 million in the 1995/96 financial year (Department of
Transport 1995).
The second sector which is opposed to some aspects of the new transport policy
is the organized bus industry. As a result of the new policy proposed in the White
Paper on Transport Policy, some bus companies which have been receiving
transport subsidies are likely to lose out in the long run as a competitive tender
system will be introduced. After 2001, the new policy suggests that bus companies
should tender for subsidized transport routes for a fixed period of time. This is in
contrast to the previous policy where only a few companies (35 companies of 1200
bus operators in South Africa) have been beneficiaries of transport subsidies since
the 1950s.
Thirdly, trade unions have consistently opposed deregulation, commercialization
and privatization policies in general, and the White Paper on Transport Policy in
particular. The trade unions' point of departure is that these policies are a threat to
job security. They point out the case of Transnet where over 100 000 jobs have been
lost after the parastal was commercialized.
Until recently, trade unions had consistently argued for a greater state control in
the ownership and provision of transport. From the point of view of poor working
people, transport should be a social service, provided by the state and not by the
private sector. As evidence of continued discontent with the provision of transport in
general, and the transport policy formulation in particular, one may point to several
protest marches between 1990 and 1996, spearheaded by civic associations and trade
union organizations, to the Department of Transport offices throughout South
Africa. Protesters demanded proper state bus subsidies which take account of
average wages.
Opposition to some aspects of the White Paper on Transport Policy is not
surprising as the nature of the policy-making process is a conflict-ridden one. Even
the Minister of Transport, Mac Maharaj, conceded this in his 'Foreword' to the
White Paper, where he said: 'inevitably we are unable to satisfy all views. In the final
analysis Government has to take its own decisions bearing in mind what serves the
national interest.' The contestation in the transport policy formulation process is
around the definition of what constitutes 'national interest'. 'National interest' is
interpreted in various ways by the taxi industry, commuters, bus companies and
trade unions.
The process of policy-making has changed dramatically in the past two and a half
years in South Africa. Whereas in the past transport policies were imposed on a
disenfranchised majority, the new state has embarked upon a consultative and
participatory process in policy formulation in the 1990s.
Clark's (1990) interpretation of deregulation and the withdrawal of the state
from civil society has some relevance in the South African context. Clark argues that
the global retreat of the state has been due to a crisis of state legitimacy precipitated
by global economic crisis. Thus the driving force behind economic restructuring is
not so much the attempt to provide a resolution of the economic crisis as the attempt
to resolve the political crisis of the state by trying to disengage the state politically
from the economic policy formation. This has partly been achieved by the monetarist
restructuring of the state and of its relation to 'the economy as money replaces the
state as the agent of restructuring' (Clarke 1990: 28).
While acknowledging that deregulation, commercialization and privatization in
some areas could help the unemployment crisis by expanding the informal sector, the
 Urban transport in South Africa, 1930-1996 31
unregulated expansion of the informal sector is likely to lead to the expansion of
sweatshops and Dickensian working conditions (Innes 1987).
The urban transport policy in South Africa has been shaped by dynamic global
processes such as deregulation, commercialization and privatization, on the one
hand, and contradictory local processes such as segregation and apartheid prior to
1994, and the imperative of the inclusive and participatory decision-making process
after April 1994, on the other hand.

6. Conclusions
The overall transport policies of the late apartheid state in the 1980s and the early
1990s were privatization, deregulation and devolution—fuelled by the New Right
economic policies in the U.K. and the U.S.A. Since 1994, a general consensus has
been reached that transport policy should be developed within the framework of an
overall economic policy which is also consistent with the needs of the African
majority. Such a policy should aim to develop new transport infrastructure which
supports economic development, reduces the cost of transport, ensures the reduction
of regional economic inequality, and regulates wages and the working conditions in
the transport sector.
Although initial steps have been taken since April 1994, the unfolding national
political change will not itself resolve several crises at a local level. Shrinking
purchasing power on the part of the working people, the legacy of the apartheid
geography of settlement (where the majority of Africans are located on the urban
periphery) and increasing transport costs are likely to spark off outbreaks of popular
transport resistance in the future.
Previously, communities were not properly consulted, nor did they have political
representation regarding transport matters. However, an important weakness in the
recent transport policy formulation process is that they have not had strong
representation from rural areas, metropolitan peripheries and small towns. Long-
term and concrete mechanisms to provide an alternative 'socialized' transport in
which marginalized African working communities have control over transport and
subsidy allocation may enhance the transformation of transport from a 'commodity'
to a social service. Nevertheless, the degree of dislocation of (peripheral) Black
residence and workplace, as well as poverty, are unlikely to change dramatically in
the new political dispensation.
Within the context of South Africa, it is necessary to tackle the spatial
distribution of South African cities in a holistic and pragmatic manner. Sustainable
service provision will only be possible once transport, land use and services planning
are fully integrated. Integrated land use and transport planning, and the provision of
passenger transport in terms of such planning, will enhance the functioning and
efficiency of cities.

Acknowledgments
The research for this paper was funded in part by the Centre for African
Research and Transformation.

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