Edition April 2026

The Gauteng Provincial Government has set the wheels in motion for a significant overhaul of its fragmented public transport system.

Experienced Civil Engineering Technologist, Dorothy Mabuza, has been tasked with the herculean effort of breathing life into the newly established Gauteng Transport Authority (TAG).

Before assuming the role at the turn of the year, she already boasted an illustrious 27-year career at, among others, the City of Johannesburg and City of Ekurhuleni, where she led the Rea Vaya and Harambe Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems, respectively. 

An entity of the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport,  the TAG is responsible for overseeing integrated transport planning across the country’s economic hub. The entity is also expected to drive the development of a cohesive, accessible and efficient public transport network in the province.

When Mabuza welcomes the Public Sector Manager (PSM) magazine team into her office in Midrand, she is still gathering her senses after spending almost an hour navigating traffic amid a treacherous deluge.

The experience offers but a snapshot of some of the challenges the authority seeks to address as it embarks on the voyage.

As of March 2026, the entity had four employees – including Mabuza – and a fully constituted board of directors in place since November 2025. 

“At least from a governance perspective, the TAG is very much intact,” she sets out.

So busy has she been that she already feels “part of the furniture”, as she puts it in jest.

“It is evident with the congestion on our roads that there is a problem. We have a disintegrated public transport system, mobility without ease. Our problem statement, really, is to integrate all transport across the province, integrate the provision of transport facilities across the province,” she said.

Innovative solutions 

The TAG has adopted various initiatives and programmes to achieve this vision.

“We identified a single ticketing concept that will bring together the entire province. That will enable seamless mobility across all modes of transport,” she said.

She concedes that the transport system in Gauteng is currently fragmented. One of the blights crippling the system was the increase in freight logistics, she expands.

“We know the impact; its fatalities, congestion and the degradation of road infrastructure because it cannot carry the load of the freight. Unless we either expand the capacity of roads, dedicate networks for freight, or, as a strategy that we are now adopting, migrate freight to rail – at least the better part of it,” she explained.

Mabuza adds that the TAG has identified key strategic drivers that will support the entity in establishing a strong foundation.

“We have also identified matrices and tools that will enable strategy implementation and realisation. That will be your people, your systems and your processes”.

Building structures

Regarding human capital, the TAG is currently finalising its organisational structure, beginning with a high-level framework that outlines C-suite positions. The detailed micro-structure is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of the 2026/27 financial year.

“We are positioning the TAG as a high-end entity that will share skills, notes and insights within the transport sector in the country and on the continent.

“In terms of the systems, we are still reliant on the GMA [Gautrain Management Agency] platform insofar as ICT [Information and communications technology] is concerned, but we have already mapped out our ICT architecture. We are building on the governance framework of ICT, which will then form the broader control environment of the entity,” she outlines.

Although the entity is governed by the Transport Authority for Gauteng Act, 2019 (Act 2 of 2019), it will rely on the National Land Transport Act (NLTA), 2009 (Act 5 of 2009) to clarify and distinguish the roles of the three spheres of government.

“Within a municipal context, they are responsible for planning in their space. From a provincial setting, we have to consolidate the plans and coordinate,” she explains.

Collaborative approach 

In this regard, the TAG has adopted a collaborative, partnership-driven approach. Mabuza notes that the entity recognises its role at a coordination level, ensuring that the parastatal consolidates plans effectively.

“Municipalities, according to the NLTA [of 2009], have a duty to produce those integrated transport plans, which should be approved or concurred with by the MEC to enable the implementation of projects. The TAG is then assigned to ensure that there is consolidation and coordination to enable the realisation of these programmes on the ground and to develop policies.

Plans were under way to approve an overarching strategy by the end of March 2026.

“That will be cascaded to municipalities as a framework within which municipalities must operate and align their plans,” she says, emphasising that the primary objective was to create a seamless Gauteng city region. “We are taking a cue from the broader Gauteng provincial strategic direction”.

Financial strategy

While the entity is currently funded through the fiscus, Mabuza said the TAG has begun developing a financial sustainability strategy to outline potential revenue streams.

“We have so far identified multimodal facilities integration as one of our key programmes. Inasmuch as we are commencing with the single ticketing system, the ultimate deliverable is to have that facility, but the single ticketing system should be supported by the relevant infrastructure and the relevant set-up, which we believe will bring together most modes of transport.

“We have had high-level discussions with various potential funders, and we are having follow-up meetings on the potential possibilities for them to fund our projects.

"We are quite switched on to the fact that there might be an expectation that we should be a going-concern entity. At this point in time, we do not have a large asset base cover, but what we think can at least work in our favour would be our capacitation, the human resource part of it, from a transactionary perspective,” she said.

Mabuza said the entity is also hopeful that the environmental, social and governance framework will play a role in enhancing its bankability. She added that the identified projects are being structured with a commercialised perspective.

“For instance, when we provide those facilities, what value can we derive from them through possible revenue generation – advertising, ranking facilities. It will not be your normal taxi rank; we are looking at a space that will also enable people to do various things, such as retail facilities and outdoor advertising within the very same precinct”.

She said the entity will conduct roadshows and roundtable discussions on an ongoing basis to build relationships and strengthen stakeholder engagement.