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Policy &Regulation
Volume 1 Issue 1
May 2010

THE STATE OF POLICY AND POLICY

DEVELOPMENT IN TRANSPORT

Jabulani Mzaliya
The State of Policy and Policy Development In Transport
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Disclaimer:

This is a discussion paper developed for the transport family. It does not have any bearing on the
policy intentions of the Department of Transport or of government but is used as a stimulus to
promote policy-making and policy reviews in the transport sector.

First published in 2018 by

Jabulani Mzaliya
DIRECTOR
TRANSPOREG
PostNet Suite 117
Private Bag X121
Halfway House
1687
Cell: 0829060890
Tweeter: @Mangondwane

©2018 Jabulani Mzaliya

ISBN 978-0-6399480-4-1

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
written permission from the copyright holder.

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Comment
Oh! No! Not Another

Public dialoguing in transport policy in the South African transport environment is

relatively unsophisticated. The Department of Transport or its agencies, decide on a
policy position and immediately implement, the interested sector objects or accepts. If
there is general acceptance, there is no problem, but if the interests of certain
stakeholders are going to be harmed, there is a bitter struggle between Government and
those interested parties. Both the Taxi Recapitalization Programme and the Bus Raid
Transport are examples of these struggles. For this and other reasons, the issue of policy
dialogue in transport is important if we are to accept that even when the Government has
to provide it, those to whom transport should be provided should have a say on the
timing, the standards and the quality of this provision.

The consortium is a private sector informal group of transport policy enthusiasts who
want to encourage debate on transport issues. Because of its informality, it also has
elements of flexibility of membership. There is no formal invitation, and there is no
formal exclusion. If interested parties have a point to make, they are free to do so.

We plan for this dialogue to be a monthly contribution, citing some policy parameters
and areas which should be the subject of public debate, covering all traditional transport
modes, from aviation to rail to road and maritime. We may have the temptation to look
ahead to space transportation, once this has taken root in South Africa. There are also
new areas of transportation which have yet been engaged upon in policy, such as golf
carts, Segways, quads and others. The final decision about what should be a South
African transport policy position shall remain the province of the Department of
Transport. This initiative is not a replacement of this huge responsibility on the
Department of Transport.

In short, we shall not be so limited as not to explore the full spectrum of the transport
sector, while at the same time we shall not be as daring as to embark on policy wish lists
which do not have any relevance in the South African transport jurisdiction.

Enjoy the first contribution.

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THE STATE OF POLICY AND POLICY DEVELOPMENT IN THE
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT
A: INTRODUCTION
This document identifies some of the problems
and challenges in the transport policy
development sector.
Highlights of the article It departs from the premise that
some of the problems that afflict
 Domination of the transport sector are as a result
Consultants of the lack of clarity around
 Long consultation consultative policy processes
processes which leads to lack of
 Unnecessary legal understanding about what is
intended by Government. It argues
challenges from
stakeholders that the implementation of
 Interspherical strategies without agreed-upon
policies that should underpin them
disconnects
are the nub of the problems, and
 Technophobia
this leads to interested parties and
 Weak domestication
of global protocols stakeholders having a loophole of
accepting some sections of the
 Strategy and
strategy with which they agree, but
implementation
also rejecting those they are not
plans precede policy
comfortable with. The glue that
acceptance
packages the strategy is policy.
 Intradepartmental
Sometimes in haste to solve certain
rivalry
problems of implementation,
 Reliance on a single
projects are embarked upon
source document
 Interdepartmental
without policy directives. This
leads to further complications if
competition the objectives of the strategy
 Domination of
become elusive.
agencies
 Low culture of This document also highlights
reading draft policies that have already
 Over-interference of been developed, but the pace with
National Treasury which they are released for internal
 Poor accountability and external consultation leads
by agencies them to be overtaken by events.
 Unavailability of
statistics It calls for the Department to
release these documents for public
consultation. It also identifies
neglected and some new policy
areas which should be developed
with urgency, unless South Africa
wants to be overtaken by events at
both national and global levels.
Finally, the document argues for the
restructuring of the Department of Transport to
be reviewed because this restructuring will
adulterate the policy function, and subject it to the
whims of the line functions that should implement
them. In this scenario, the objectivity of policy
development will be lost, as policy positions are tailor-
made to correspond to the resource and the skills which
reside in those line function departments. In order not to
overburden themselves, line functions are more than
likely to shortchange policy development.
The issues raised in this document result in the
Department being a bastion of policy conservatism
or as an able mortgagor of its policy development
responsibilities to external instances. So when it is
said that government Departments are responsible for
policy, this rings hollow for the Department of
Transport. Policy proposals which seek progressive
approaches to the transportation environment are not
taken on board. The argument being that no other
country in the continent has such policies as if policy
gaps in all African countries are the same and that
South Africa, in spite of her advanced transport sector
in comparison to the continent’s, has to template its
policies by policy developments in the continent
exclusively. Alternatively, if a policy does not exist
anywhere, or it has not gained currency in major
transport jurisdictions, then it does not deserve to be
discussed in South Africa, as if South Africans have no
right to policy innovation.
B: DISCUSSION
B.1 The Shortcoming of Single- Source
Reliance For Policy
1. With even bolder calls by the new administration
that there should be implementation and more
implementation, there is a strong directive that
the “minutiae” of policymaking has to be put on
the back burner. Correctly so, as the early years
of democratic transition were consumed by a
frenzy of policymaking, with Parliament
enacting new policies and pieces of legislation to
overhaul apartheid legacies. This directive
should not, however, be of general application,
and that certainly, it should not apply to the
transport sector, as the line Department of
Transport, sixteen years later, still operates
largely by a 1996 policy document, the White
Paper On National Transport Policy. In the
fast-moving transport environment, a fourteen
year of document may as well be considered a
historical document.
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2. Although there is a much-referenced
document, Moving South Africa (MSA),
there is no evidence that beyond being a
source of reference, this document was
approved by Cabinet.
3. There have, of course, been
implementation at strategy and project
levels by the Department, but drilling
“The Transport deeper into these implementation issues
environment is so is made weaker by the absence of policy
dynamic that to underpin these strategies and
policy positions projects. Bereft of policy precedents,
that were relevant strategies become leaps of faith and shorts
in 1996 are now in the dark. Incessant challenges to the
obsolete or implementation of some of the
require serious Department’s projects arise as a matter of
revamp” course. When there are no agreed-upon
policies between stakeholders and the
Department, backflips against informal
agreements are bound to result, as they
have in the cases of the Taxi
Recapitalization Project (TRP) and the
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).
4. Three issues emanate from heavy reliance on
this “historical” document.
a) Firstly, it being a White Paper, there
were no cogent policies to unpack what
had been “identified” in it. So while
indeed a policy issue is “identified” in
the White Paper, there is no clear
enunciation of policy positions briefly
referred therein (the White Paper). This
leads the document to minimalist
interpretations should there be no
desire to implement policy, and to
maximalist interpretations should
particular officials prefer certain
areas of policy. Under these
circumstances, policy implementation
becomes a matter of preference and
fancy rather than civic duty. White
Papers were intended to be holding
policy positions until comprehensive
policies were developed, but in the
Department of Transport’s case, this
holding became a permanent feature,
and what was supposed to be a means to
an end, became an end in itself.
b) Secondly, the transport environment
is so dynamic that some of the policy
positions that were in vogue in 1996
have now been rendered obsolete, or
require serious revamp. They require review
and revision. When this puts into doubt the
very policy positions, it raises issues of the
need for the review of the White Paper itself,
so that it can “identify” new transport issues,
upon identification of which they too would
need to be unpacked. The deification of this
single document to Biblical proportions
became self-defeating, as its review would
create the impression of the absence of any
semblance of transport policy point of
reference. When the process of the White
Paper review was suggested, there were
counter suggestions of changing the word
“review” to “update”, as the originally
suggested word would portend a policy
vacuum and create even more problems than
solutions intended.
c) Thirdly, the departure to more implementation
left the unattended transport policies
development in an even bigger quandary.
Calls for implementation presuppose an
abundance of policy clarity for such
implementation to be embarked upon, but
evidence within the transport sector does
not support this. The urgency for the
transport sector becomes a double demand that
the Department should both develop
outstanding policies while also implementing
them. This becomes a self-defeating exercise
because of the time lag needed for the public
participation process in policy formulation. It
may well be within bounds of reasonability
to assume that the implementation of
transport-related inputs into the five
manifesto objectives of the new
administration, in the absence of policy, will
be minimal. The absence of strong transport
inputs into any developmental agenda
threatens the attainment of all development
goals envisaged, largely because of the
overarching nature of transportation to the
achievements of the five objectives. It can be
safely assumed that the developmental state
owes its success to a strong transport policy
agenda.
5. A policy department that has not comprehensively
developed policies to discharge its primary
mandate will have little success and inclination to
respond to policies of a cross-cutting nature. Its
contribution in a Government that is driven by
cluster approach is severely compromised.
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B.2 Lack of Objective Policy
Development
6. Programmes and projects have
been dutifully engaged in by the
“A Department that has South African transport
not developed policies
environment, but the precursor
for its own mandate, is documents of policy giving effect
unlikely to contribute to
to these projects have been absent.
a government that is This accounts for the stop-start
driven by a cluster
projects because of the absence of
approach.” agreed upon and consulted upon
policy positions ahead of
implementation.
7. Both the Taxi Recapitalization Project and
the Bus Rapid Transit suffer from this
shortcoming of not being presaged on an
acceptable policy consensus ahead of
implementation. This has led to an untenable
situation where policy development follows
policy implementation and policy
developers lose their objectivity as they
have to give effect to fait accompli positions
that have been necessitated by
implementation. Strategies will precede
policies upon which they were supposed to
be based, and only when strategies hit brick
walls and crisis of rejection do policy
directives get solicited. These policies have
to be worked backwards in a manner that
does not nullify the areas of strategy
implementation that were already underway.
Policy thus justifies expenditure rather than
expenditure justifying policy. This also
denudes the policy development process of
its contemplative import, with the need to
produce policy as soon as possible to close
loops in the strategy.
B.3 The Spread of Transport
Responsibilities
8. The spread of transport responsibilities
across the three spheres of government is a
constitutional issue but also an Achilles heel
of transport policy co-ordination. Envisaged
as a tool to enhance transport service
delivery, the arrangement has been beset by
the crisis of decentralisation resulting in
arguments about turfs, with local government
agencies invariably choosing those policy
implementations areas which appeal to local
politicians but shorn of a national strategic
view. The contestation about the Gautrain project
and the conditionalities put by the Department of
Transport to secure funding for it is an example of
this. Alternatively, local politicians would feign
budgetary constraints if they are required to
implement transport policies which they do not like,
and even when the finances are sourced from
national fiscus, the implementation of those policies
still falls short, or local government would seek
unending budget lines financial year after financial
year.
9. The spreading of the responsibilities across the three
spheres has not at all been assisted by the absence
of provincial transport White Papers, and even
less available are local transport policies which
should find resonance and necessary cascades from
the national one. The governance structures are
usually different, and other transport provincials
departments do not have policy units a situation
which is more serious in local governments. For
policy guidance, these spheres look up to the
national office which itself is so afflicted by internal
discords that it is ineffective, as shall be explained
throughout this analysis.
10. Often neglected in the policy lacuna, and causing
more confusion at local government level are the
policy and implementation conflicts that sometimes
arise between district municipalities (where they
exist) and the local municipalities that coalesce into
it. This problem gets complicated if these are
controlled by opposing political parties.
B.4 Historical Tendencies in Policy
Development
11. At national level, the development of policies
becomes hostage to the historical configuration
of the Department of Transport. With policy
development initially embedded in the line function
units which are supposed to implement those
policies, resistance to a stand-alone, and therefore
objective policy branch, is subtly, and more often,
openly, resisted.
12. The policy branch is at different times
euphemistically referred to as an academic enclave
removed from transport dynamics, developing
policies in the cloistered environment of its offices.
When engagement is required, the line functions do
not provide these or do not read preliminary
documents at all. These line functions are asked,
year after year if they have any policies that they
require to be developed in a particular year, and the
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returns are always in the negative. This
indicates to the Policy Branch that there is
comfort with the vagueness of the 1996
historical document.
13. It is no wonder that the umpteenth
“EXCO, restructuring of the Department dissolves
which the Policy Branch. Detested for cross-
becomes the cutting and thus able to direct, through
policy, operations at all, except for two line
terrain
where senior functions (Human Resources Policy
executives development is centralised in the
meet, Department of Public Service and
Administration and the Procurement
discussion of
Policies in the National Treasury), it creates
policy issues
enemies and disturbs comfort zones.
is deftly
Granted permission to think out of the box
avoided or
postponed ad and to be adventurous, it is given the status
infinitum. If above other line functions. The aphorism,
“Policy Leads,” is toxic and detested. But
policy issues
that is from where the cause for resistance
are raised,
emanates as new policy proposals are seen
senior
managers as intrusions when they seek to reduce
request more duplications and synergise operations
through policy.
time to go
through the
policy B.5 Multiple Centres of Policy
proposals, Development
and these
requests
14. Line functions which used to develop
become
policies continue to do so even when there
permanent
is now a stand-alone policy branch. The
items.”
Policy Branch is then required to endorse a
policy they were not part of developing and
views that go against the policy proposal
are not taken kindly to. This leads to
multi-centres of policy development, and
because of this unwillingness to comment
on policy documents if the line function is
also working on the same policy document.
The two branches, the Policy Branch and
the line function, do not “talk” to each
other, both literary and figuratively, and in
the silence, the line function cannibalises
those aspects of policy to which they had
not been alive to, from the policy
arguments of the Policy Branch. This is
wasteful duplication.
15. The other centre of policy development also
discussed in this document is with the
agency itself. Like an internal line function,
the tendency is for the agency to develop
policy that will self-sustain rather than
respond to the needs of the South African
public. In instances where an agency or parastatal
wields more power than the line function or the
policy unit, the shape of policy takes the whim of
the parastatal.
B.6 Juniorization and Low Quality of
Inputs Into Policy Discussions
16. Requests for line functions to be part of the
policy development processes are ignored.
Those policies which the Policy Branch develops
regardless of the request for cooperation by the
line function, and which the Policy Branch feels
are necessary from its scanning the global
transport policy environment are similarly
ignored, again using the convenient Lack of
consultation. To input into policy proposals that
have been developed independently of them, line
functions delegate to junior officials who are
thrown into the deep end. As it happens, policy
positions cannot be as adventurous as to respond
to new challenges in the transport environment.
17. In the absence of solid inputs from line
functions which should execute them, it
becomes difficult to ascertain whether policies
can be executed. Policy proposals cannot be as
comprehensive as to compromise the budget that
line functions have, or cannot be overarching as
to be above the capacity of the available
personnel to execute them. Juniorization
becomes pervasive with attendants presenting
themselves to mark the attendance register rather
than contribute meaningfully to the policy drafts.
Attendants do not have the mandate to make
decisions but to take notes back to their seniors,
who would forever be unable to respond to
provide their views and directives, or caught up
in meetings of lesser importance than the
development of policy. In most cases junior are
made aware of the meetings a few minutes
before they take place, are not briefed on the
content of the meeting. Even if they were
diligent to engage in the meetings, the time given
to them to prepare is too short to make
meaningful contributions. This could be the
intention rather than oversight on the part of the
senior managers.
B.7 The Role of EXCO
19. EXCO, which becomes the terrain where
senior executives meet, discussion of policy
issues is deftly avoided or postponed ad
infinitum. If policy issues are raised, senior
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managers request more time to go through
the policy proposals, and these requests
become permanent items. There may be
occasions where urgent issues necessitate
postponement, but the general trend is that
policy issues are considered cumbersome
because documents have to be read before
there can be arguments for or against a
policy position. Some of the documents to
ground the need for a policy position are
unavoidably long, but the inability to read
them ahead of EXCO meetings reveals a
shortcoming outside the transport domain
– scanning documents for understanding –
which requires solutions through a basic
skill of reading.
20. Long and informative texts are avoided in
spite of the provision of Executive
Summaries and highlighting of important
parts of the document. Oral submissions
“Regulatory
amendments without supportive texts become
frequent. Policy, as we understand it,
become default
positions for proper cannot be argued only from an oral
perspective. Alternatively, the instrument
policy
development.” of avoidance is the very basis of
submitting the document to senior
managers – to consult, but “lack of
consultation” is used as a sharp tool for
avoidance. Some of the draft documents
would have been delivered to senior
managers three months in advance of the
EXCO meetings, but at EXCO they would
feign to have recently received them. One
or two voices would be honest to admit
that they did not get the time to read
through, but texts not having been read do
not make for a productive discussion.
21. In defence of EXCO, it can be argued that
there were two issues with which it is
“Agentification has eternally seized:
been the major cause
of policy vacuums and a) Those issues of compliance which are
inconsistencies. There so time-bound that failure to discuss
is an assumption that and finalise them would render the
once an agency has Department in breach of non-
been excised from the compliance, accusations and penalties,
Department, there is such as the Auditor-General’s Report,
no expectation for the the need to respond to the requests of
Department to the Portfolio Committee or to respond
formulate policy for to Cabinet instructions.
it.”
b) Some line function branches are in
such a state of disarray that if their
problems are not discussed, the whole
edifice of the Department is bound to collapse,
under the weight of underperformance. For
example, the Human Resources Branch bore
the brunt of many of the pressures to improve
its performance, and that is not surprising in an
organisation that is bottom heavy.
B.8 Long External Consultation
Processes
22. Policy formulation also suffers from long
external consultative processes. Stakeholders
with various chapters would present different
views on policy proposals and urgencies at
different times. But this external consultation
proves to be far smoother and progressive than
internal consultation processes because external
stakeholders require policy certainly as opposed
to the officials’ desire for continuation of
comfort zones. Sometimes when a stakeholder
has taken a certain position, changing economic
or operational circumstances make them alter
their positions, and the whole process of seeking
consensus starts again.
23. Consulting other Departments on policy,
particularly those that will be impacted by new
policy proposals is a requirement. But the
priorities and urgencies of the Departments
are not similar, and what is crucial for the
mandate of one Departmental may be on the
lower scale of priority in another.
24. Government departments and civil servants who
serve them are a special interest group and are
bound to identify “earmarks” in policy
development of another Department or avoid
commenting on policies that will not be in their
best interests.
25. Outside the domain of Government Department,
delays may also be occasioned by specialist
professional groups who may detest Government
intrusion into their domain. These would not be
averse to drag the policy processes through
courts.
B.9 Substituting Policy Development
Through Amending Regulations
26. Regulatory amendments become shortcutting
mechanisms to avoid the long processes of
policy review and formulation. These
amendments become more of a rule rather than
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an exception. Granted, amendments are
often occasioned by a need to respond to
an urgent problem which would have been
captured by an extensive policy process,
had such a policy process been embarked
upon in the first place. Popular
participation in this practice is usually
compromised as public participation has
broader appeal and reach compared to the
discussion within the parliamentary
processes. However, in a democratic
setting, it does not answer the democratic
policy formulation requirements. One
weakness of policy development, its
elitism, is cruelly re-emphasized through
amendments to regulations. Short-
circuiting, of course, leads to cost
efficiencies, but who said democratic
participation was cheap?
27. The issue of amending regulations could
sometimes be required and necessary;
otherwise there would be no provision for
it in the legislative procedures. The point
being made here is its abuse as an
alternative for policy development.
B.10 Interdepartmental Rivalry and
Competition
28. Interdepartmental rivalry and
contestation for turfs, in spite of the
general acceptance of the clustered
approach, still bedevils the system of
policy formulation across Government
and DOT is no exception. There seems, at
times, to be total denial that over and
above the system of clusters, there is one
Government that all Departments should
serve and that the success of a policy area
in one sphere is a necessary input into the
others. The resistance is also part of the
self -preservation of civil servants referred
to earlier. Because of its overarching
influence, transport touches, albeit in
unequal measures, most, if not all
Departments. That Department resists any
formulation of transport policy that may
have a tangential reference to another
Department. (See also B8 above)
29. This does not mean that the Department of
Transport is innocent and can be as
obstructive to the development of policies
of other Departments as the others can to
its own. This area of responding to other
government policies which impact on transport
should also be seen as a priority performance
area for the Department of Transport.
B.11 The “Overlordship” of National
Treasury
30. National Treasury is a key government
department in controlling the purse strings of the
State, but when it spreads its wings into deciding
which policies should be developed, it goes
beyond its mandate. Concerned with the costs
implications, National Treasury does not
appreciate that the development of policy has a
long time lag for consultation and no sooner are
policy discussions started, than they ask where
the money to implement the policy will come
from. Policies are not developed because they
are affordable, but because they are necessary.
To use affordability as the only measure of
policy acceptance is a shortcoming. In any event,
policy developers are not usually concerned with
immediate or total implementation in one
financial year, and that at any rate, the green
light for the implementation of policy is subject
to Cabinet’s time framing and approval.
31. This problem of the overlordship of National
Treasury over all Government processes
(including the Cabinet’s) has been identified by
other Departments and solutions may have to be
found in broader Cabinet interventions about its
powers and functions. The cost implications of
policy are not determined when policy is
developed, because the final policies will have to
be based on the inputs of many stakeholders.
The implementation of policy carries cost
factors. It should be at this point that the role of
the National Treasury should be clarified as their
interference at an early stage emphasizes this
overlordship.
32. Policy development processes are in themselves
cost-effective, and the preliminary stages should
allow for the aspirational aspects of Government
policy for later implementation than the blocking
of policy development for fear that the
implementation will be cost-prohibitive. It is
within this context that the role of National
Treasury should be reconfigured.
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B.12 Global Obligations demands on the new entity to be guided by policy,

but being put out to pasture with not so much
policy directives. Because of the likelihood of
33. Related to interdepartmental rivalry are
line functionaries to be migrated with the new
obligations at a global level and their
agencies, there is less inclination for them to
impact on transport policies. Specific to
develop policies that will proscribe their
transport would be aviation, maritime and
operations post-migration.
now climate change. The DOT is usually
invited to global engagements such as the
36. Left to their own devices, entities so migrated
climate change conferences, but inputs
assume a life of their own; develop policies what
into their policies on transport
would sustain and self-preserve with devastating
perspectives are not there. So we arrive at
results. In this event, CEOs assume a role bigger
a situation where a policy that has to be
than that of the Department that creates it, and the
implemented by transport service
tail wags the dog. When they do well, agencies
providers and operators is developed from
have less inclination to take directives from the
an environmental or an energy perspective
Department, and when they are in financial straits,
without any effort of a synergistic
they remember that they are its creation. Financial
approach to the other attended issues.
dependence and independence determine the
power distance and levels of co-operation, and
34. Aligning national policies to global
policy development and review becomes a
obligations would require the Policy
casualty of this arrangement as self-developed
Branch to be aware of these global
“Skills transfer engagements. As it currently happens,
policies sometimes fail to fall within the
becomes a tick in the parameters of the national agenda.
global engagements are attended to by
box for the first two
line function Departments without
groups of policy 37. The proliferation of agencies has its downside of
reference to the Policy Branch for
developers. They only privatizing Government and perpetuating some
issues that may require national policy
have to state that they of the concerns raised in this document. If there is
development or nationalization of those
will transfer skills a need for an agency, there must be strong
global agreements. With a weak report
even when they do not structures in place within the Department to
back system, it is not always possible to
mean it. So it is that control them and make accountable to the
know what policy issues arise in the
sixteen years later, Department. Because of their insatiable need for
global domain if the Policy Branch is not
most policies of the financial resources, they sometimes approach
involved from the onset. When it is
Department are National Treasury directly and armed with
required to develop a policy the origin of
formulated information at their disposal superior to the line
which it was not part of, it becomes
externally.” Department who should have been approached by
impossible for the Policy Branch to
the agency in the first place there is no inclination
capture the essence of what the policy
of the National Treasury to educate the agencies
should be about. With little help from the
on the correct protocols.
line function which does not have a proper
report back, any policy that is so
38. And so it happens that when Departments make
developed is bound to be weak.
bids for their budgets to National Treasury, the
budgetary requirements of the agencies have been
B.13 Proliferation of Agencies preloaded. This disturbs the Strategic and the
budgetary plans of the line function departments.
35. Agentification has been the major cause of
policy vacuums and inconsistencies. There B.14 Consultants and Skills and Skills
is an assumption that once an agency has
Transfer
been excised from the Department, there is
no expectation for the Department to
formulate policy for it. This becomes a 39. Then there is a question of consultants, skills
replay of the historical arrangement of the and skills transfer, the latter of which is more
Department where line functions made their of a wish than a reality. With the dawn of
policies, but the difference here is that the democracy in 1994, policy formulation was a raft
“line function” is now external. Migration of White Papers drafted largely by White
to the external domain becomes a craftily academics and consultants of different
managed exercise, with minimal onerous persuasions, and a few Blacks who were not in

10
 The State of Policy and Policy Development In Transport
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hiding or in prison, or who were roped in Some may be up to the task, but because they
as co-authors by their White liberal may display an aptitude for policy
counterparts. Among these were liberal development which unsettles the positions of
“This
intellectuals who, in the 1980s and early their supervisors, or the consultants, their
dependence on
1990s, excelled in policy analyses, not so industry and capability are ignored. The
consultants is
much because of their love for the external ones append themselves to either of
accentuated if you
imminent democratization as their desire the first two dominant groups and become the
consider that
to safeguard their material possessions Black faces of policy formulation – the
when officials
and class positions post- democratization. rainbow nation justification - when in fact they
even ask
Factored in their policy analyses, would do not contribute much, except to help clinch
consultants to
be these elements of status preservation. the tender on BEE representivity grounds.
draft Terms of
Even when the paralysis group steps out of its
Reference for the
40.Three schools of these consultants are own shadow of self-doubt and want to effect
work that they
discernible with notorious residuality on policy changes pronto, they have limitations
will be bidding
the new government’s trajectories such as and are labouring in futility under the
for, consultants
the development state. domination of the first two.
might as well be
allowed to write
a) Firstly, there is a minimalist group 41. Skills transfer becomes a tick in the box for the
their own
which wants to prevent the first two groups of policy developers. They only
cheques.”
immediate and universal applicability have to state that they will transfer skills even
of policy as much as possible. In when they do not mean it. So it is that
relation to transport, there is a heavy
urban transport slant where this group is a) Sixteen years later, most policies of the
largely based. These minimalist liberals Department are formulated externally with
are mainly from former English- internal people to whom skills should have
speaking universities, and their been transferred not rising to the occasion to
“Lack of trust approach is that while there is a need learn. The dependency on the same service
and doubting of for policy shifts, these policies cannot providers continues unabated.
their capabilities be executed at once. In line with liberal
becomes acute if philosophy, they advocate a gradualist b) The internal paralysis group, which has to
it is in areas of and evolutionary approach. It only oversee the policy formulation of the
policy that is needs basic skills of comparative reactionary and the minimalists groups, views
considered analysis to recognize that while they external service providers with
“unfamiliar to hated the decaying apartheid state, they unwarranted respect to the extent of
Blacks, such as do not automatically love the new neglecting their responsibilities of
aviation, maritime political dispensation. supervising them. Because of their perceived
and climate expertise, what the external service providers
change policy b) Secondly, there is a reactionary group propose becomes gospel truth, and neither
development. which wants to preserve the old interpretations nor modifications are
Black policy system to the best of its ability by entertained
developers are citing impossibilities, shortage of
considered adept financial resources and a host of other c) Senior officials doubt the capability of
at developing measures to render the new departments people who report to them to evolve policy
such mundane unworkable. These are largely found in positions on their own, and it does not matter
policy aspects as former Afrikaans academic institutions the level of the officials’ level of expertise and
rural transport or are retired Departmental officials education – colour seems to be the determinant
policies, even who served the old order. They argue of their incapability. Lack of trust and
when they have that things have always happened this doubting of their capabilities becomes acute
lived all of their way, and no other way would succeed if it is in areas of policy that is considered
lives in cities.” other than the one they worked under. “unfamiliar to Blacks, such as aviation,
maritime and climate change policy
c) Lastly, there is a paralysis group – a development. Black policy developers are
collection of in-house policy considered adept at developing such mundane
developers and external ones, all policy aspects as rural transport policies, even
African, who command the least when they have lived all of their lives in cities.
respect from the senior management.

11
The State of Policy and Policy Development In Transport
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d) Even if junior officials could have the
audacity to challenge the first two
groups, these groups are so embedded
in the offices of the senior officials
that they approach them directly to
report the petulance of junior officials
and their questioning of policies that are
usually needed with urgency.
42. Dependence on consultants is
astonishingly pervasive. This breeds
some levels of superciliousness among
them. The investment which the
Department makes with employing new
personnel and training them to be experts
in the policy fields does not yield
dividends. Many of these recruits get
Departmental bursaries to attend policy
development courses, but they are not
given a chance to display the knowledge
that they have gained. This dependence on
consultants is accentuated if you consider
that when officials even ask consultants to
draft Terms of Reference for the work that
they will be bidding for, consultants might
as well be allowed to write their cheques.
43. Another problem is the subcontracting of
tenders for policy development in the
same manner of subcontracting of other
areas of DOT work. Many intellectuals
take an academic rather than an
administrative (government) approach.
Graduate and undergraduate students are
roped in to assist in the development of
policy as part of their practical orientation.
Invariably quality is compromised, and in
spite of this practice having taken place
over the years, there has been no new
corps of Black policy developers to
emerge from such “practical” training.
Policy continues to be reviewed through
the prism of white culture and white
privilege.
44. The arrogance of consultants who see
themselves as indispensable to the
performance of the Department is also an
area of great concern. Once these have
been given a task, reporting against time
frames agreed upon, is ignored. If they
report, the “complexity” of the issues that
they wish to report flowers the whole
reporting session, meaning that even if
they are reporting, the officials who had
commissioned the task in the first place
have no idea on what is being reported on.
Failure to honour reporting time frames also
results from consultants taking more work that
they will have time to execute.
B.15 Racialized Service Providers
41. Black external policy developers come in
short supply. Blacks tender for the most menial
of Government contracts such as catering,
security and cleaning, i.e. those that replicate
their status in society. The marketplace for
Blacks-for-hire is evident after tender briefing
sessions. Long after the briefing has been made,
White companies approach any Black person
and quickly form joint ventures (JVs) which are
aimed at the colouring aspect rather shared
expertise and knowledge. Blacks are also willing
to offer themselves for these unbecoming
relationships even when they are aware that they
would only be token partners. Many marriages
of “tenderpreneur” convenience, with no
consummation of skills transfer in sight, are
hatched. Such marriages replay the old
tendencies and perpetuate the old weaknesses of
policy formulation.
B.16 Genderized and Spatialized
Service Providers
45. Women service providers are also in short
supply, and they are confined to the traditional
roles that emphasize the patriarchal tendencies
of our society. So while they are in short supply
in policy development, there is an oversupply of
them in traditional roles of women such as in
cleaning and catering, as mentioned in Par 41
above.
46. There is also the marginalization of rural
service providers in policy development even
when issues of policy relate to the environment
they are familiar with. Therefore apart from the
transport policy environment being dominated by
urban transport, those that are developed for
rural areas are also developed from an urban
prism.
B.17 Prioritization of Aesthetical
Presentations
47. There is a tendency to embellish resumes and bid
documents, without any skills from the
Departmental bid adjudicators to verify the
12
 The State of Policy and Policy Development In Transport
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information supplied. The resumes of
these service providers balloons, and by
the sheer number of pages in their bid
documents, most of which has nothing to
“If these policy do with the subject matter at hand,
documents are becomes a criterion for deciding whether
they are equal to the task or not. A “thin”
developed by
submission is despised even if it answers
Africans, there directly to the requirements of the
are doubts about Terms of Reference. The thickness of the
appropriateness of bids has much to do with the previous
“language.”” work which the White bidders did for the
decayed State, and the nuances of the
democratic, majoritarian requirements of
the new policies are lost in this
“experience.”
48. The sourcing of bid evaluators and
adjudicators from across the Department
is welcome in so far as it spreads the
responsibility and encourages objectivity
but ends there. It does little else because
the bid adjudicators from the other line
functions have no inkling of what the
policy is about, hence their susceptibility
to the aesthetics of the bid presentation
rather than content. Infatuated by the
aesthetics of the bid documents, caring
less about the need to spread the
government business, and oblivious to
encouraging new businesses, preferred
bidders become your “usual suspects.”
This sometimes overlooks the fact some
of the preferred bidders are given extra
responsibilities without having delivered
on the previous ones, and in the process,
the quality of work and their delivery
dates, suffer.
B.18 Intra-departmental Competition
49. Intradepartmental rivalry also creates
problems. Vertical mobility within
Department becomes a rate race. It is
immaterial whether the competitors are in
different line units – there is a propensity
to thwart the vertical mobility of others
within their line functions. The terrain for
this tussle is the EXCO where senior
officials overextend themselves in
negative criticisms of the work of others,
even when they have not dutifully
engaged with it. When less able
supervisors are put in charge of more able
junior officials, thwarting vertical
mobility becomes the preoccupation of the
supervisor even when exposition of progress
stands to benefit his or her unit. So it is that
when junior officials present policy proposals to
their supervisors to submit to EXCO, these are
not submitted for fear that EXCO would
recognize the industry of the junior official more
than that of the supervisor. Many junior officials
leave not because they want greener pastures or
because they hate the Department, but because
spaces for professional advancement are closed
for them by their supervisors.
50. This rivalry is injurious to the progress of the
Department and compromises the achievement
of its mandate. There is a need to inculcate co-
operation from the outset with those branches
which will have to take policies to their logical
conclusions of legislation. The Legislation
Branch has got to be roped in early in policy
development so that they will have a sense of
what they will be expected to do in future.
B.19 Lack of Transport Statistics
51. Transport statistics collection upon which
strong policies can be developed is weak.
Those that are available are outdated, cannot be
verified, or are externally based in such a manner
that they serve particular interests. Policies are as
good as statistics that back them. Efforts have
been made to set up a statistics unit within the
Policy Branch, but it has not taken root because
statistics collection is a laborious exercise.
Private interests hoard statistics that should be
publicly available. Statistics that are there are not
centralized as line functions are reluctant to
divulge their data. Suggestions have been made
for the development of a Transport Data Act
which will compel the submission of statistics
and for the Annual Transport Statistics,
mysteriously suspended, to be revived.
B.20 Using Language Proficiency As A
Diversion
52. In the unlikely event that the internal policy
developers come out with a draft policy
document, the fissures of South African society
play themselves out in a cruel manner. If
Africans develop these documents, there are
doubts about the appropriateness of
“language.” Reminiscent of the complaints that
come out of former White only radio stations
about appropriate diction and mispronunciation,
13
 The State of Policy and Policy Development In Transport
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“There is a mistaken
notion that technology is
an expensive policy
intervention in transport
service provision. There
is lack of realization that
technology costs, in spite
of “technonationalism,”
progressively get
reduced as it becomes
globally accessible.”
B.21 Shortage of Technical Experts
53.
54.
B.22
55.
a gremlin, grammatical error or a
misspelling becomes a cancerous tumour
that destroys the import of the whole
document instead of fixing the offending
part. The essence of the document is lost,
and documents are rejected because of
their perceived weak English language.
These fissures are more played out in the
colour domain, but of late there is a new
tendency of conflict over the
appropriateness of language among
Blacks themselves, between the so-called
Model C and Bantu Education graduates –
or between township schools and former
suburban students.
The Department of Transport, perhaps
like all other Government Departments,
is bottom heavy. There are more
administrators than experts and technical
employees. With the agentification
mentioned in Par 50 above, it is clear that
many experts and technical experts
migrate with the excised agencies. This,
however, does not mean that the
Department should be heavy with pen
pushers, because oversight of the agencies
is lost, and the power and relation distance
between the two, i.e. agencies and the
Department, gets swung in favour of the
agencies. The issue of the tail wagging the
dog mentioned earlier in Par. 33 above
replaying itself.
The sourcing and retention of technical
experts would require interventions of a
remunerative nature, and this is a public
sector-wide problem which may find
solutions outside the Department of
Transport. But the internal rudimentaries
of Retention Policies, Career Pathing and
Succession Plans will have to be explored
to their fullest.
Aversion For Technology
There is aversion for technology and
technophobia abounds, either its use for
purposes of consultation as well as
development of policies that have to be
executed through the mediation of
technology. For example, the Draft
Intelligent Transport Systems Policy was
circulated internally. There was no single
internal response. It was taken through the
Cabinet Committee system which suggested that
the matter be consulted further with the
Department of Communications. Two years
later, the document is still with this Department,
and the change of administration has become a
convenient excuse for it not to be pursued
further. (See also Part 55 (k))
56. There is a mistaken notion that technology is an
expensive policy intervention in transport
service provision. There is lack of realization that
technology costs, in spite of “techno-nationalism,”
progressively get reduced as it becomes globally
accessible. In addition, technology can also be
integrated to suit particular needs. Technology
ages, but obsolete technology from developed
countries could be of relevance to developing
transport provisions, and upgrading over time can
be the solution rather than the technophobia that
has become pervasive.
57. This does not mean that the Department should fall
prey to substandard technologies, but to emphasize
that the low utilization of technologies in
developing countries widens the technological
distance between them and their developed
counterparts.
B.23 Existing Draft Policy Documents
58. The Policy Unit has developed a number of policy
documents which need either to be approved by
Cabinet or require further internal consultation.
The number of these policy documents may require
that no new policies be developed unless they are
of an urgent nature so that those that are already in
Draft form should be finalized. These policies are
briefly stated below:
a) After the hard lessons learnt from the Taxi
Recapitalization Programme (TRP) was
embarked upon without any comprehensive
policy to explain the programme in detail, the
National Department got involved in the Bus
Rapid Transit debacle without having
developed any policy for it. Aware of the need
for working with speed to develop such a
policy a Draft Bus Rapid Transit Policy was
developed and has been in existence since July
2009. It has suffered the same fate of no
comments from senior management and the
line function branch. This has happened
notwithstanding the evidence that the
14
 The State of Policy and Policy Development In Transport
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“There is also the problems which afflict BRT
marginalization of deployment could be attributable to the
rural service lack of understanding of the policy
providers in policy upon which it is based. The stop and
development even starts of the BRT (and the TRP) could
when issues of be solved by all parties agreeing to the
policy relate to the policy that should underpin them.
environment they
are familiar with. b) A 2006 Policy discussion document
Therefore apart which sought to link the causalities
from the transport between transport, environment and
policy health, known as the Transport
environment Environment and Health Charter got
being dominated bogged down in endless discussions
by urban with the Department of Environmental
transport, those Affairs which has to approve policies
that are developed which impact on their environmental
for rural areas are mandate. It has not been released to the
also developed public. From it, a number of
from an urban environmental-friendly transport
prism.” policies can be further developed, and
the Cycling Policy (mentioned in Par.
55 © below) was as a result of the
identification of this mode of in the
protection of the environment.
c) A Draft Cycling Policy developed the
same year, suffers scepticism as to its
need because of the marginalization of
the cycling community, notwithstanding
the daily harrowing stories of the
hegemony of the motor vehicle drivers
in our road network. To its credit, there
was a Departmental directive about
combining the Cycling Policy with the
Walking Policy and the Animal Drawn
Transport Policy into a Non-Motorized
Transport Policy. This too has been
over-consulted upon and needs Cabinet
approval.
d) When a Scholar Transportation
Policy was finalized, collegial
discussions with the Department of
Education were held. Fearing the loss of
the controls of the funding for this
project, some DOE officials oppose the
policy. As it happens, there is confusion
about where this responsibility resides
between the provincial Departments of
Transport and Education. Year after
year, service providers are not paid in
time which has negative effects on the
provision of education, particularly for
the poor students, with bus operators
withdrawing their services at crucial times of
the education calendar year.
e) The Maritime Transport Policy was
finalized, consulted upon on two rounds with
stakeholders. It was accepted, and the South
African Maritime Safety Agency (SAMSA)
was ready to implement certain aspects of it.
Submitted through the normal channels for
Cabinet approval to be released for public
comments, it is still somewhere in the
Department document submission processes.
f) The Civil Aviation Policy was painstakingly
put together with great assistance from the line
function. Before it could be finalized, there
were calls for the urgency of an Airlift
Strategy to precede it. The Airlift Strategy was
finalized and accepted by Cabinet, but there
came then the onerous task of aligning the
policy to the strategy. After finalization, this
policy was also submitted through the normal
channels for Cabinet to approve its release for
public comments, but no directive has been
given about how it will be disposed of.
g) Gathering dust somewhere in the Department
is a Draft Policy document on Senior
Citizen Drivers. There is evidence that this
issue will seize transport authorities in the near
future as “Baby Boomers” live longer, and
most elderly people are now livingly
independently than compared to forebears and
can afford to look after themselves because of
improvements in health and medicine. This
may indeed be a forward-looking policy in
spite of the youthfulness of our demographics.
Not many jurisdictions have been immersed in
intergenerational policy discourses, and
debates about senior citizen drivers raise more
heat than light. But the policy was proposed
for that particular reason – that because of the
emotions involved, the earlier it is released for
discussion, the better for longer periods of
public consultation.
h) A Draft Congestion Pricing Policy was
developed to guide metros that may decide to
adopt such a policy in future. The road
network is getting congested, more so in cities
than in outlying areas. This document is
unconsulted within the Department, and it is a
fair conclusion that when cities embark on
such policies, there will be no document to
provide policy guidance.
15
 The State of Policy and Policy Development In Transport
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i) A Draft Rail Gauge Width Policy,
which calls for the broadening of the
“With policy rail gauge from the colonial one, was
development done internally in 2005. Internal
initially opposition to it was fierce, even when
embedded in there was knowledge that the Gautrain
the line was going to be based on a wider rail
function units gauge as is the trend in other rail
which are jurisdictions. This document is still
supposed to within the DOT, and with the Moloto
implement rail now been mooted, it would be
those policies, prudent to have this policy finalized.
resistance to a Narrow gauge has outlived its
stand-alone, usefulness in other rail jurisdictions,
and therefore and with the need for faster and safer
objective policy trains and new technologies, wide
branch, is (international) gauge is the way to go.
subtly, and
more often, j) A Draft Intermodal Cargo Transfer
openly, resisted. Policy, which proposes the transfer of
certain categories of cargo from road to
rail, was also finalized and widely
consulted. Although there have been
calls from many transport experts for
the maximization of rail usage for
freight to protect the road network, the
policy document which gives effect to
these is lying unutilized.
k) A Draft Intelligent Transport
Systems Policy (See Par 52 above) is
awaiting comments from the
Department of Communications. There
is a need for the DOT to brief the new
leadership of both Departments of this
policy and for it to be finalized. This is
a low hanging fruit as the Cabinet
Committee has already given a directive
about how it should be dealt with.
B.24 Policies Requiring Urgent
Development
59. There are other policies which would
require to be developed while these
quoted above are being taken through the
processes of approvals and further
consultation. These policies are listed
below:
a) When an argument was made for the
need of an Anti-Train Surfing Policy
in light of the growing tendency
particularly in the Soweto bound trains,
with about eighteen children having
been killed, it was resisted, Many of the
officials do not interact with trains, and are
thus oblivious to the daily sufferings of
township residents who use trains. As it
happens, the policy has not been developed.
Meanwhile, the practice has not ended in spite
of the rail transport parastatal to stem it.
b) When the issue of a Scrappage Policy was
raised, it was not supported. It did not matter
that the taxi scrapping is taking place outside
any policy framework and that a
comprehensive scrappage policy would
respond to some of the challenges of climate
change. In the United States jurisdiction, there
is a policy known as the “Cash for Clankers”,
but there is little understanding in the
Department for the need for this type of policy
for South Africa. Coming with new generation
policies makes the proposers feel out of place
than forward thinking, even more so when
traditional transport policies have themselves
not been developed.
c) There is a raft of other policies of an
interdisciplinary nature which would require
to be developed, for instance, those that marry
transport and psychology would require in-
depth thinking about where the two meet. For
instance, what makes drivers of certain
vehicles think that they have the right to drive
faster than others? What leads to the driver’s
lack of respect for other road users such as
pedestrians and cyclists? What determines the
behaviour of taxi drivers and how can policy
respond to this? The interface in policy
between transport and alternative energies also
calls for deeper insight into policy
development. But before these are developed,
there is a need for policies mentioned in
Section B. 23 to be finalized.
C: CONCLUSION/
RECOMMENDATIONS
The issues which have been raised here may project a
Department that has been relaxed in the performance of
its policy development functions, Far from it. The fact
there are so many draft policy documents signifies that
there was work done, but the issue of consultation or
the processing of these policies beyond that which the
Policy Branch could do itself requires to be stepped up.
The problems that are experienced in the
Implementation of some of the projects, notably the
16
 The State of Policy and Policy Development In Transport
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Recommendations Taxi recapitalization Programme and the BRT

which crop up from time to time, and many (g) The Department of Transport should
others that may come up, is as a result of the encourage the development of policies that can
 Release all
absence of agreed-upon policies before be done internally, and only outsource those
draft policies
implementation. This loophole has to be closed that are so complicated that they would require
for public
as a matter of urgency. external assistance. If policy development is so
comments
outsourced, contract management by DOT
 Present draft
To deal with the issues that have been raised in supervisors should also be enhanced rather
policies to new
this document, there is an urgent need for the than reduced.
Admin
Department of Transport to consider the
 Revive the following recommendations: (h) The structures of the provincial and local
National governments should be synchronized and
Transport (a) The draft policies that have been synergized to reflect the national structure so
Policy Co- developed for public consultation that there are points-people to discuss policy
ordinating should be released for this purpose. issues at these tiers of Government.
Committee Those that require Cabinet approval
 Synchronize should be sent through the Cabinet (i) There is a need for the formation of transport
the structure of process, and those that are with the policy development alliances. More and more
the other Departments for their inputs academic institutions and logistics companies
Department should be followed up. are setting up transport bodies of some sort,
with other and there is a need to work with them to
spheres (b) There is a need for presentations on develop transport policies.
 Use technology these policies to be made to the new
for Administration as some of them were (j) “Domesticate” all international and global
consultation developed during the previous obligations into South African policy and
 Reduce Administration. Since some of them legislation, particularly those where the
outsourcing were developed some time ago, EXCO Department of Transport is represented such as
policy may also need some presentations to be aviation and maritime fields.
development made to them.
 Form transport
policy alliances (c) To deal with the issue of uncoordinated
ENDS
 Domesticate policies at the three spheres of
global Government, a National Transport
protocols Policy Co-ordinating Committee needs
to be finalized. There should be
representatives from the three tiers of
Government.

(d) The restructuring of the Department of

Transport should be reviewed in a
manner that will leave the Policy branch
untouched, to guarantee the objectivity
of policy development and review.

(e) The use of the internet as a tool for

consultative purposes should be
enhanced, but the normal consultations
of communities and stakeholders should
also not be cancelled as not all South
Africans have access to new
technologies.

(f) EXCO should reject all the

development of Strategies and projects
which do not have approved policy
positions to underpin them.

17