Deputy Minister of Transport, Hon. Mkhuleko Hlengwa | Trailblazer

Driving Change

By Jessie Taylor

Since his appointment in July 2024, Deputy Minister Hlengwa has become a visible force in driving reforms, oversight and public engagement in the transport sector. This Transport Month, his work provides an inspiring lens through which to consider how political leadership, accountability, and innovation can link to safer roads, better infrastructure, and more inclusive mobility.

Transport Month (October) provides a natural platform to elevate public awareness, mobilise stakeholders and accelerate visible action. Under Deputy Minister Hlengwa’s guidance, this year’s programme emphasises several strategic lines:

• Road safety as a life and economic imperative: reinforcing that each road death is also a lost contribution to social and productive capacity.

• Local infrastructure delivery and maintenance: showing that government is not only planning, but actively inspecting, funding and correcting deviations.

A Focus On Road Safety Reform

Deputy Minister Hlengwa is actively engaging across the country in road safety consultations, infrastructure inspections, regulatory reform, and stakeholder dialogues. He recently led stakeholder consultations in KwaZulu-Natal for the review of the National Road Safety Strategy (NRSS), delivering the opening address and signalling a deeper participatory approach to safety policy. He also conducted a site inspection of Provincial Road Maintenance Grant (PRMG) projects in the Western Cape, working alongside provincial counterparts to assess road conditions and prioritise interventions.

These engagements illustrate a central theme of his approach: political presence in the field, not just in the corridors of power. That visibility, paired with a readiness to hold institutions accountable, marks him as a trailblazer in the transport domain.

Transport Month always carries a strong road safety message, and Deputy Minister Hlengwa has been vocal about moving from rhetoric to measurable progress. In his recent address at the Department of Transport’s Budget Vote, he highlighted the need to revisit the National Road Safety Strategy and accelerate visible traffic law enforcement across all provinces. He noted that recent Easter holiday statistics showed a 32.5% reduction in crashes compared to 2024 and a 45.6% decrease in fatalities, attributing this to more coordinated enforcement, sustained public awareness campaigns, and multisphere collaboration.

Under his watch, the Department is preparing to roll out the Administration and Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) system nationwide, beginning with municipalities ready to adopt. The move is intended to institutionalise demerits, tighten compliance and shift road user behaviour. Deputy Minister Hlengwa sees this as essential not just to reduce loss of life, but to relieve pressure on the Road Accident Fund and restore public confidence in regulation.

Infrastructure Oversight and Logistical Troughput

Transport Month is not only about behaviour on roads, it is also about ensuring the machinery of transport is efficient, responsive and expanding where needed. Hlengwa’s engagements reveal clear priorities in infrastructure and logistics.

He recently took part in a joint site inspection at the Port of Durban, assessing infrastructure upgrades and operational improvements with the Department of Monitoring and

Evaluation and port stakeholders. He emphasised that to reduce costs for users, reclaim competitiveness, and support regional trade, South Africa must modernise its port system. He outlined projects such as channel deepening, berth expansion, and logistics park development to relieve congestion and enable larger container vessels.

He also pointed out that vessel congestion has eased: at a peak, 24 vessels waited for docking; by May 2025, the number waiting was zero, thanks to greater tug capacity, additional cranes, and process improvements.

Closer to road networks, his inspection of PRMG-funded provincial road projects in the Western Cape shows his commitment to everyday mobility. These roads may not attract headlines, but for rural and periurban citizens, they matter deeply for access to work, health, education and markets.

What sets Deputy Minister Hlengwa apart is the blend of oversight, presence and reform orientation. His time as SCOPA chair revealed his capacity for institutional scrutiny; now, as Deputy Minister, he is applying that same mindset to infrastructure, safety, regulation and stakeholder inclusion. He is less a distant bureaucrat and more a hands-on political actor who visits sites, speaks publicly, and presses for accountability.

His approach shows that transport leadership is not about roads and vehicles alone but about connecting communities, enabling trade, reducing risk, and restoring confidence in the public sector. For emerging public sector leaders, watching how Deputy Minister Hlengwa uses Transport Month as a lever to push infrastructure, policy and behaviour is instructive.

Source: Government of South Africa | Department of Transport