Zimbabwe revival holds promise for Swaziland Railway

Gideon Mahlalela, the longserving CEO of Swaziland Railway, officially retired this year, though a search for his replacement will keep him on the job to the end of 2011. By that time a reversal may have occurred from this year’s dismal minerals exports from Southern African mines that enrich the small landlocked country’s rail system through transhipment charges. “We move a lot of minerals, and our revenues have come to depend on this. Volumes from Phalaborwa are still consistent compared to shipments in previous years, but ore from Zambia is way down. It’s been just a few trains all year. They ship through Swaziland to Richard’s Bay,” said Mahlalela, who reached mandatory retirement age for a Swazi parastatal in 2010 but had his contract renewed while the company’s board locates a new head. Mahlalela’s term as CEO began in 1993, 30 years after the railroad began operations hauling iron ore from the now-defunct Ngwenya mine in western Swaziland to Maputo for shipment to Japan. The circle has come around, and this year finds minerals the railway’s cargo mainstay. Stephenson Ngubane, director of operations and marketing at Swaziland Railway, said: “Mineral traffic from Phalaborwa continues to dominate the North Eastern Corridor route through Swaziland moving rock phosphate and magnetite.” Transit traffic is key to the railway’s profitability. “In the five months of the financial year (from April 1, 2010) transit traffic volumes grew by 33% when compared to the same period last year. This has been a good start and one hopes that the strong performance will be maintained save for line closures that may be caused by derailments and natural disasters such as wash-aways. “According to our information the situation in Zimbabwe has improved, however SR is not benefiting from this because the traffic is no longer conveyed over Swaziland Railway lines but has been diverted to other networks. We hope it will come back in the future.” In a 2009 FTW report, a rise in overall transit traffic for Swaziland Railway was noted, but with this caveat: “General goods dropped due in part to a very low demand from Zimbabwe.” The former customer has yet to return to Swaziland Railway