The Road Freight Association listened with keen ears and bated breath for the waypoints to be listed by President Cyril Ramaphosa during his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Thursday.
Ramaphosa’s speech followed his creation some 18 months ago of the National Logistics Crisis Committee (NLCC) to address the collapse of the state-controlled infrastructure and operations of the country.
One would have opined, at least, that the president would have read the reports that dutifully came across his desk during 2025 – and that the steps that had been taken, in light of the massive spending, would have at least been outlined during his Sona.
That would have given the nation an “easy” follow-through with the next steps that would be happening, with timelines, not just wide, cursory references to what is being planned. In that approach, there is no change at all.
Instead, there are vast generalisations of where we could be heading and what is planned.
There is no doubt the country faces four major challenges – water, electricity, crime and the movement of goods and people efficiently and effectively around and through the country to underpin economic activity (development, growth, sustainability and inclusion).
While the president made some comments regarding singular events, there are many aspects that have remained in the background and have not been brought into the light for sharp review and repair. Specifically, from a road freight perspective, these include:
Challenges in the labour environment
• A severe shortage of experienced and new drivers due to the poaching of experienced and “incident-free” drivers by countries around the world and in the African region.
• An ageing workforce with common ages for drivers being late 40s and 50s.
• Poor management of work and rest periods with horrendous cases reported during 2025.
• Intrusion by systems that undermine rates and routes.
• Increasing health issues (vision, hypertension, stress, diabetes and obesity) due to ageing drivers, long hours and conditions on the road. Reliable/dependable driver burnout due to overworking.
• High cost of skills development and basic training.
• Lack of appetite from younger generation to follow a career as a freight driver,
• Retaining the experienced drivers (find opportunities “outside” the sector).
Supply chain disruptions
- Congestion at ports and intermodal facilities.
- Deteriorating roads, unusually severe floods that have destroyed logistics points.
- Increasing political /social unrest and protests.
Rising operating costs and business rescue/closure/distress
• Fuel volatility, insurance risk rates, and new technology often “required/demanded” by overseas customers.
Severe price increases in capital expenditure, related expenditure/ fleet maintenance/replacement
• Key challenges facing road freight operators include infrastructure bottlenecks, intense pressure to meet rising freight demand while facing sustainability concerns by being pressured to move loads for lower and lower rates.
- Regulatory hurdles that can potentially “kill” road freight. Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto), corruption in authorities, cargo hijacking and theft, licensing (driver and vehicle) and permitting hurdles.
While these are all very focused on the road freight sector, they remain core to operational dysfunction, and it is critical that these be addressed.
The developments in the Transnet space are the initial tentative steps towards the sustainable intermodal and symbiotic freight logistics chain that has been spoken about so often.
Sona 2026 needed to clearly define the next interventions to support and grow real development in 2026. This was lacking. A lot of the burden is placed on the private sector to implement – however, the clear roadmap from the president still seemed to be missing.
Rail integration in a sustainable and reliable manner is key to future logistics success. The road freight sector will play its role, as it always has, in assisting the intermodal freight link to road, rail, sea and air to work together, to ensure South Africa becomes the hub that those using freight logistics networks will want to use.
