Transnet’s concessioning plans raise union hackles

In the heavyweight battle between the SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) and Transnet, the bell has rung for round two. Coming out jabbing, Satawu general secretary Zenzo Mahlangu promised the union was ready to take to the streets against Transnet for the second time this year – charging that, while workers were pressing for even greater nationalisation of industry, the company was “running amok” with privatisation plans. It complained that Transnet wanted to: • Get rid of 4 500-kilometres of nonprofitable branch railway lines by concessioning them to private operators, despite a 2001 agreement that they would be retained under state ownership; • sell off its ship repair facilities; • outsource the servicing of properties; • and sell houses currently occupied by Transnet employees to a developer. And in what the union described as “the biggest travesty of all”, it added that the company was now “cooking up plans to privatise SA’s ports”. Mahlangu also attacked on the racism issue, and claimed the group was dragging its feet on two critical issues – addressing issues of racism raised by Satawu, and negotiating a new grading structure. “Transnet is steaming ahead with these plans despite consistent opposition from organised labour in the group,” he said. “They also consistently hide behind what they claim to be national transport policy, but which the National Department of Transport (NDoT) appears to deny.” On the privatisation of the ports, Satawu said it “had it on good authority” that Transnet was secretly working on proposals that were “totally contrary to its developmental mandate”.