The South African economy would come to a standstill without the dedication of the country’s road freight operators, who have kept the wheels turning during the most difficult times facing the country.
This was the word from Road Freight Association chairman, Penwell Lunga, who was speaking at the association’s annual conference in Ballito at the weekend. The high-profile RFA conference was hosted for the first time as an in-person event since 2019, after the pandemic led to the cancellation of the 2020 event.
Lunga commended business owners for their strength during the recent Covid-19 pandemic, the civil unrest and riots of July 2021 and the devastating KwaZulu Natal floods in April.
“You showed your resilience during Covid-19. Your assets and the lives of your people were on the line. We congratulated you last year and little did we know that, during July last year, this sector and our country were going to go through political unrest we have never seen in our young democracy. Lives were lost and your assets were damaged in Gauteng as well as in KwaZulu Natal.”
He said the sector had also dealt with violent protests against the hiring of foreign national employees in recent years.
“Lives were lost and disruptions were caused to your value chain and to those of your customers, and then in this province we had to face severe floods that we had not seen in decades.”
He added that, apart from domestic challenges, the sector had also risen to meet the impact of disruptions to global supply chains and the rising fuel prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“These are all the difficulties you as an industry and business owners are dealing with as we speak. Usually, in times like these, when people are faced with such difficult situations, the first option is to call in the experts. There is no guarantee that anyone can find the solutions to the problems. The second option we have is to give up and go home,” said Lunga.
“Unfortunately, because of the service you provide to the country and what you make possible for the people of this country and beyond, that is not an option. I call on you to collaborate to invest your time and resources to help us as an industry and to do your part, because without your trucks, SA will stop.”
Lunga said the RFA had recently taken a board decision to further strengthen its collaboration with the Department of Transport and Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula.
“We took a resolution as a board that, despite the fact we have a wonderful relationship with the minister and his department, we are going to increase our collaboration because SA needs this sector,” he said.
RFA CEO, Gavin Kelly, said it had been a “shocker of a year”. He called for a moment of silence in honour of economist Mike Schussler, who died recently. He described Schussler as an “embedded economist” who was a “big part of the RFA” and whose wisdom had greatly assisted it.
“A lot of hugely bad things have happened to us as a country in past 18 to 24 months,” said Kelly.
He said the RFA was fortunate to have kept its membership numbers stable in recent years despite the difficult economic times that had led to many business closures, adding that the RFA membership, which currently includes 430 members, had continued to grow.
“We see that it (the economy) is even hitting large operators and household names, not only one-truck firms. But both of them – the thousand-truck company and the one-truck company.”
Kelly said RFA members comprised 88% SMMEs who benefited from the association’s assistance on a range of issues from labour relations to compliance with national standards and regulations.
