The extent to which people are able to use the opportunities available is dependent on how easily they are able to move around their towns, their cities and their country. Apartheid left South Africa with a fragmented spatial framework that institutionalised salient aspects of race-based disadvantage. When individuals cannot move around freely and easily, their access to economic opportunities is impaired.
South Africa has a well-developed road network, but it is deteriorating, particularly outside metropolitan areas and national roads. Our rail network is also extensive but poor management of this sector means there are fewer and fewer trains. Taxis are cheap, but often unsafe and poorly controlled. The subsidisation of buses has not kept pace with inflation, and the state of subsidised bus services is rapidly deteriorating. Thus individual life chances and national goals are both constrained. A DA government will work to address these constraints and create a seamless, well managed and affordable transport network.