The towns of Musina on the Zimbabwean border and Komatipoort on the eastern border with Mozambique have been expanding rapidly and play an important role in maintaining South Africa’s position as the powerhouse of the sub-continent and the gateway to Africa. FTW’s Kevin Mayhew visited the frontline to see for himself what has been achieved. Clearing and forwarding sector drives explosive growth Massive new investment in facilities THE TALE of two towns - Musina and Komatipoort – has its origins in geography as they became important last posts in South Africa before entering countries through which the Republic imports and exports to other African countries. In the ten years since South Africa’s trade routes into the continent opened up, the importance of these economic arteries has become more apparent – whether by road or by rail. In both towns there has been an explosion of growth and the prices of property – if you can get any – reflects that the travails of African countries to the north aside, there are still billions of rands of traffic passing through the two towns either as exports or imports for South Africa or for transhipment to other countries. And the towns are benefiting. They have risen to the challenge, with massive new investment in proper facilities. At Komatipoort it is the Nkomazi Border Plaza which has taken clearing and forwarding agents out of caravans and other semi-permanent structures and put them in offices. Its developers plan major expansion which is geared to servicing the logistics industry. In Musina the same has occurred with new buildings at the border post and overnight trucking facilities and office accommodation at the Gateway Truck Stop, just kilometres from the border. In both centres, the clearing and forwarding industry is the employment of choice for most people. It drives the salary scales and is one of the top employers and injectors of money into the local fiscus. The clearing and forwarding sector also sees its potential for providing employment and opportunities for previously disadvantaged individuals, with training programmes in both centres to try to bring more people into the system as employees and ultimately as owners of their own concerns. One of the outstanding features of clearing and forwarding in Musina is the extraordinary presence of women in the industry – which flies against the norm for the country. But all of this does not come at no cost. The Musina local municipality councillor responsible for transport and disaster management, Gabriel Ramushwana, says there is a high cost to providing the road and policing infrastructure for the town’s heavy traffic. “We have to spend a lot of money on facilities to try to stop the damage to the roads by keeping loads legal. The transporters are not always concerned about overloading and speeds,” he explained. At Komatipoort, the importance of its position has been clearly factored into the success of the Mpumalanga province’s ambitious Maputo Corridor Logistics Initiative (MCLI), which has the blessing of both the South African and Mozambican governments. Headquartered in Nelspruit, its founder and chief executive, Brenda Horne, has taken her integrated logistics concept and converted it into one of the most important and successful blueprints for developing key logistics corridors in the country. In 2005, for instance, she intends to focus on making certain that the National Freight Logistics Strategy is pursued with vigour as she realises its importance. She is also driving a process to centralise cargo statistics for the MCLI, so that people have an accurate picture of cargo transportation capacity on the route. Ultimately, she foresees this being part of a national register embracing all the key transportation routes in the country. “We have become a network facilitator for all elements in the supply chain, from central government to shipping agencies to road transport. We have a singular aim and that is to make our corridor plug Gauteng and Mpumalanga into the import and export outlets of Mozambique by road and rail most cost effectively,” she explains. Horne says the Mozambique authorities, Maputo port, and the country’s railway operator, CFM, have all bought into the concept and prepared the way for South Africa to take up the Mozambican option. Another important player in the success of Mpumalanga is the Mpumalanga Investment Initiative. It has the task of promoting the province to investors overseas and the success of the MCLI is of utmost importance to its efforts, according to its export advisor, Andrew Bülter. “In the last five years there has been a dramatic increase in investment in the province and with improved efficiencies which are planned for Maputo port, we believe that it will become a further drawcard for the area,” he added.
