South Africa’s slew of bad
news from violent strikes
to political tension pose a
massive challenge to the
Transnet Market Demand
Strategy, but the organisation
has no other choice but
to forge ahead, said Karl
Socikwa chief executive of
Transnet Port Terminals.
Delivering the keynote
address at the Western Cape
Exporter of the Year awards
last week, Socikwa said
there was no denying the
impact of ongoing violent
strike action, increased
political tensions on the road
to Mangaung and the low
economic activity.
“Then we are also facing
worsening global economic
activities, while we have to
deal with the downgrading
of the country by Moody’s.
The local manufacturing
sector is in virtual recession
due to lacklustre demand
in global markets,” he said.
“Yes, we could say we are in
a desperate situation, but our
position as Transnet is very
clear and that is that we have
to keep on going. More so
than ever before.”
He said now was not
the time to back out of
investing in much-needed
infrastructure, but the
situation has called for more
innovative thinking on how
to do things.
“We are committed to
the MDS that will entail
R302 billion of expenditure
which is to be invested in the
replacement and expansion
of a variety of infrastructure
projects with the aim of
boosting economic growth.
Yes, the low levels of
economic activity do pose
a massive threat to this
programme, but we will
continue with it.”
He said spending money
on capital infrastructure was
never an easy exercise as one
had to borrow large sums of
money and in doing so had
to convince investors that
their money was being spent
responsibly.
“Despite the bad news
plaguing South Africa at
present we remain confident
that we can do just that,”
said Socikwa.
CAPTION
Karl Socikwa … ‘We are committed
to the MDS.’
