Limpopo Leader - University of Limpopo

Getting from A to B in SATHE TRANSPORTATION CHALLENGEwWE ALL KNOW THE MAINELEMENTS OF THE SOUTHAFRICAN TRANSPORTATIONSTORY: INADEQUATE PUBLICTRANSPORT, SPORADIC TAXIWARS, CONGESTED ROADS,HIGH ACCIDENT RATES, ANDAN UNDER-UTILISED RAILWAYSYSTEM. It’s very often quite anightmare trying to get around.Little wonder, therefore, thatconsiderable interest was shownin a lecture on the subject deliveredin March on the Turfloop campusof the University of Limpopo.‘Transport Management inSouth Africa: Challenges andProspects’ was presented byDr Oliver Page of the Universityof Michigan TransportationResearch Institute in the UnitedStates. Page was well-qualified todeal with such a subject, havingworked earlier this decade as atransportation researcher withSouth Africa’s CSIR for five years.A delegation from the CSIRtravelled from Pretoria to attendPage’s presentation, as didrepresentatives from the transportdepartment of the Limpopoprovincial government. Thepresence of these bodies on theTurfloop campus was significantbecause the University ofLimpopo, in collaboration with theCSIR, had designed a Bachelor ofAdministration in TransportManagement degree that kickedoff in 2005 with nearly 50 students.Most of them had been awardedfull bursaries from Limpopoprovince in exchange for a threeyearemployment commitment tothe Department of Transport.A further 50 have been enrolledeach year since then in a dealthat is worth R17-million overseven years. (See story in box onpage 7: Is Limpopo provincegetting its money’s worth?)P A G E 4