Transnet’s failures described as a catastrophe

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe says load shedding and the failure of Transnet’s network system have contributed to the downgrading of the country’s investment attractiveness.

The Fraser Institute’s 2022 Annual Survey of mining companies has ranked South Africa’s policy perceptions and investment attractiveness in the bottom 10 of the 62 countries which were evaluated.

Mantashe says mining executives also have a role to play in raising the profile of the industry in a positive light.

“I may be reshuffled anytime, you will remain in the sector, you have a responsibility to make the sector have a reputation that is appealing to many people. It’s not a Minister who makes the sector, it is the sector itself that makes itself. We cannot avoid acknowledging that the severity of the load shedding, a dysfunctionality of the logistics network, rail and ports, have significantly contributed to the downgrading and impacted directly on the performance of the sector.”

Meanwhile, The CEO of the Minerals Council of South Africa, Roger Baxter has described Transnet’s rail inefficiencies as a catastrophe that cost the economy R150-billion, in unrealised mineral exports revenue in 2022 alone.

Baxter was speaking at the Mineral Council’s 133rd AGM in Johannesburg.

He says urgent interventions by the National Logistics Crisis Committee which was recently appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa is necessary.

He says the committee will be critical in driving reforms such as the rail policy white paper.

“We account for nearly 80% of Transnet Freight Rail’s business and 50% of Transnet’s group revenue and it the past year, the sector between targets for instance actual performance lost R50 billion in revenue. But that’s not the cost, the real cost to the country is R150 billion in forfeited mineral exports if we had been operating those rail facilities in name plates or in enhanced name plates capacity. So, these numbers are big.  Whenever Minister [Enoch] Godongwana sees me, he often asks me the question, Roger how are we going to fix the rail crisis? I keep telling him it’s a catastrophe not a crisis.”