Molefe reiterates anti-privatisation stand

The increased incidence
of piracy along Africa’s
east coast is creating new
opportunities for Ngqura as
a hub port.
That was the message
from Transnet CEO Brian
Molefe when he addressed
business and community
leaders in Port Elizabeth
last week.
Outlining plans for the
continued development
of Ngqura as the main
transit hub for South and southern Africa, Molefe
said Transnet would be
investing in the ship-toshore
gantries and other
equipment needed to take
the port’s capacity from
800 000 TEUs a year to
two million.
Molefe said Ngqura was
being marketed as a hub
to the European services
wanting to avoid the Somali
pirates in the Gulf of Aden.
“A number of lines want
to use Ngqura as a hub.
Our navy is taking steps
to ensure the problem of
Somali pirates does not
come to South Africa,”
he said.
South African exporters
and traders would be best
served by a “government
monopoly” that controlled
the ports, he said.
Arguing that ports are
“natural monopolies,”
he said government was
the only entity with the
“appetite for risk” that
would see investment in the
ports and rail infrastructure
ahead of demand.