South Africa’s freight community was at one with the hope that President Cyril Ramaphosa would emphasise the need for nationwide logistical progress ahead of his Opening of Parliament Address on July 18, particularly to restore faith in the government’s economic renewal ability.
Speaking to Freight News ahead of the Opening Address, Dr Juanita Maree, chief executive of the South African Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff), said: “As the key enabler of the national economy, and generator of growth and employment, the logistics and freight forwarding sectors stand this evening before the seventh parliament of our beloved country to renew our collective commitment to work together, to collaborate to secure the full recovery and stabilisation of South Africa's supply chain logistics' network.”
However, it is only when the industry takes stock of what Ramaphosa said, that the freight community will have an idea of the president’s sincerity in enabling economic growth through the logistics and supply chain sectors.
She said much depends on the Government of National Unity's (GNU) ability to alleviate poverty and ensure job creation through strong leadership and an efficient, fluid and robust logistics network.
“Collectively, the logistics sector impacts the full spectrum of South Africa's GDP contributors.
“The realisation of regional and international trade policies depends on the restoration, development and actualisation of our logistics infrastructure to perform at full capacity,” she said.
Maree highlighted seven key focus points that the GNU should strive for:
- Reach and sustain demonstrated capacity.
- Restoration of Transnet's harbours, port and rail systems, and infrastructure.
- Incremental development of infrastructure and operator concessionary strategies for private sector participation.
- Integration through planned multi-modal strategies and the introduction of the specialised industrial zone freight-village concept.
- Sector-specific incentivised skills development programmes.
- Boost small, micro and medium enterprise (SMME) participation.
- Tailored programmes, including system automation initiatives.
