Port authorities are pulling out all the stops to find a solution to the ongoing go-slow.
Cape Town port manager Mpumi Dweba Kwetana told the Exporters’ Club Western Cape last week that she could only speak about the Western Cape ports and that all efforts were being made to bring the labour action to a halt.
“I understand that you want to know what Transnet is doing in terms of the current go-slow that is negatively impacting on the country,” she said referring to the illegal industrial action. “We are engaging with our employees to make sure we can resolve this issue,” she said.
At the Port of Cape Town a meeting had been held last Thursday night at 9pm, said Kwetana, highlighting the fact that the port’s management were available day and night to address concerns.
Earlier in the week President Cyril Ramaphosa instructed the Minister of Trade and Industry, Ebrahim Patel, and Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, to intervene in the go slow. This came after rising tensions brought operations at the Port of Ngqura in the Eastern Cape to a near standstill.
In a statement Ramaphosa said the country could not aim to grow an economy on the basis of exporting value-added products but then fail to meet obligations to get goods to international markets on time.
Kwetana said they were aware of the negative impact the go-slow had caused not just to exporters in the Western Cape, but to the entire country.
