Five years on, Ports Regulator to focus on compliance and efficiency

The end of March this year may mark the end of the first tenure cycle of the Ports Regulator of South Africa, but it also heralds the next cycle that will see major growth for the organisation, according to its chairperson, Gloria Serobe. “In the next cycle we will see its development characterised by expanding activities into new mandate areas and growing the capacity of the Regulator,” she said at a briefing in Johannesburg last week. “It will also see much greater level of concentration by the Regulator on matters related to the Ports Act compliance and efficiency.” She said the Regulator had achieved a great deal in the past five years, having overcome some major obstacles and stumbling blocks along the way. “Looking back it is now clear when we were tasked to set up the Regulator that the simple task set was actually an understatement and much larger than anyone envisioned.” Serobe said five years ago there was no staff, no building, no policies, and no systems, while the subordinate regulation was yet to be determined. “Every step was a grinding slog, and we came to appreciate the nuances of setting up a critical public entity from scratch,” she said. “During the period from establishment until the third quarter of financial year 2011/2012 the Regulator operated under certain resource and budgetary constraints that made the tasks even more difficult.” During all this a Regulatory Framework was developed allowing the Regulator to achieve its main objectives of exercising economic regulation of the port system in line with the government’s strategic objectives, promoting equity of access to ports and to facilities and services provided in ports and also monitoring the activities of the National Ports Authority to ensure that it performed its functions in accordance with the Ports Act of 2005. “Every country must in its own interest and at its own pace develop a regulatory framework that is appropriate for its policy context and level of economic development. We believe we have achieved this for South Africa,” said Serobe.