South Africa’s freight and
trading industry needs to raise
its profile to ensure that its
voice is heard, judging by the
lack of public attention it is
receiving by the authorities.
An analysis of the State of
the Nation Address delivered
by president Jacob Zuma on
Valentine’s Day indicates
that Government would seem
to have a blind spot when it
comes to freight transport and
logistics.
He described the five
priorities of government
as “education, health, the
fight against crime, creating
decent work as well as rural
development and land reform”.
Logistics is given five
paragraphs, with the focus
being on Gauteng and Durban
in Zuma’s home province.
“We have committed
to improve the movement
of goods and economic
integration through a Durban-
Free State-Gauteng logistics
and industrial corridor.
“In this regard, substantial
work is now under way to
develop the City Deep inland
terminal in Gauteng.
“Initial work has
commenced in the expansion
of the Pier 2 in the Durban
Port.
“And thirdly, land has been
purchased for the development
of a new dug-out port at the old
Durban airport.
“In the Eastern Cape, I
officially opened the port of
Ngqura and construction is
now under way to develop a
major new transhipment hub,”
he said.
“Transport” is mentioned
just five times in the more than
five thousand-word speech –
and three of those references
are to public transport.
References to freight
focused on bulk – which is the
core business of state-owned
Transnet Freight Rail: “We
have to shift the transportation
of coal from road to rail in
Mpumalanga in order to
protect the provincial roads.
Thus the construction of the
Majuba Rail coal line will
begin soon.
“To improve the
transportation of iron ore and
open up the west coast of the
country, we have expanded
the rail capacity through the
delivery of 11 locomotives.
The first phase of the
expansion – to increase iron
ore port capacity at Saldanha
to 60 million tons per annum
– was officially completed in
September last year,” he said.
On the positive side, Zuma
began his speech by endorsing
the National Development
Plan, which was announced
in August 2012 by Trevor
Manuel.
But the president’s speech
failed to refer to the movement
of goods: “The NDP contains
proposals for tackling the
problems of poverty, inequality
and unemployment. It is a
roadmap to a South Africa
where all will have water,
electricity, sanitation, jobs,
housing, public transport,
adequate nutrition, education,
social protection, quality
healthcare, recreation and a
clean environment,” he said.
The NDP itself deals
extensively with the logistics
challenges facing the country
and recognises the need to
provide business with an
efficient logistics platform, and
to lower the costs of transport
and logistics.
Zuma and his speechwriters
and advisers will need to read
the document again if the
country is to see the more than
5% growth in gross domestic
product which the president
said was needed to ‘create
more jobs’.
“The crisis in the Eurozone
affects our economy as the
Eurozone is our major trading
partner.
“Our GDP growth is
expected to average at 2.5%
cent, down from 3.1% in the
previous year,” he said.
CAPTION
President Jacob Zuma ... logistics gets five paragraphs.
