By Gavin du Venage
SPOORNET IS to drop its ten regional managers and replace them with a system of corridor managers as part of a largescale reorganisation exercise that was announced last week.
C.e. Braam le Roux said last week the regional managers would be dropped on November 1. Logistics control would become a single channel that monitored rail shipments from the beginning of the journey to the end.
This is one of the changes that will allow us to manage freight in a completely different way, he said.
Le Roux said technology made it possible to control a freight train from start to finish, instead of handing it over from one regional manager to another as it moved across the country.
Spoornet's three-year restructuring exercise is one of the most dramatic ever to take place in the transport parastatal.
Other changes to be made soon include: l Replacing the six operational departments with 20 business divisions; l Replacing the existing management structure with 60 business managers, a third of whom will be black; l Seeking out local and international business partners.
Le Roux said the 20 business units would be able to form their own partnerships with the private sector, even going as far as to allow business to take control of these joint ventures.
We can learn to extract value without controlling the process, he said.
However, Spoornet was not considering outright privatisation just yet, he said.
There is a lot we can still do without going that route. Le Roux was reluctant to be drawn on the possibility of retrenchments. He said the emphasis was on reorganisation of posts rather than retrenchment.
Spoornet executive director Mafike Makwanazi said the restructuring would form the basis for future development.
This is the first step only. Our goal is to be fairly competitive within the next three years, he said.
