Three ANC leaders who previously spoke to M&G said they expected Ramaphosa to announce replacements for Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula
The Road Freight Association (RFA) is sceptical about Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula’s proposal to shift the majority of road freight to rail within the next five years, and has emphasised the importance of a collective approach to resolving challenges in the logistics chain.
The transport forum, a voice for the trucking industry since 1975, believes all the pieces of the logistics chain need to operate at their optimal and necessary level, including ports, airports, roads and rail.
The RFA was less than enthusiastic on Monday about Mbalula’s public comments
made in the aftermath of a horrific collision between a truck and light delivery van, which killed 18 children and 2 adults outside Pongola in KwaZulu-Natal on 16 September.
During a public address near where the accident took place, Mbalula said an investigation into the crash conducted by the Road Traffic Management Corporation found that the truck driver, Sibusiso Siyaya, overtook multiple vehicles and drove on the oncoming traffic lane for nearly 1.2km before crashing into the vehicle the learners were in.
Mbalula said the government wanted to shift the majority of goods from being transported by road to rail within the next five years.
Mbalula told Mail & Guardian ahead of the public briefing that the biggest Achilles’ heel for the government and South Africa was trucks on the road.
“As long as we are not moving those trucks from the road to rail, we are bound for many challenges,” he said.
The RFA said rail should play a specific part in the movement of certain sizes and types of cargo.
“Moving millions of tons of coal or ore to a harbour by truck is not sensible,” RFA chief executive Gavin Kelly said.
The N2 highway running through Pongola is known to residents as the “coal run”. The national road has become a notorious route for long-haul and articulated trucks carrying coal between Ermelo in Mpumalanga and ports in KwaZulu-Natal.
Kelly said South Africa had led the way in logistics operations with dedicated rail lines carrying coal from inland mines to Richards Bay, or similarly iron ore to Saldanha were operational.
Today the rail system at Richards Bay has collapsed, leading to the many coal trucks moving through Pongola, Kelly said.
Comparing South Africa’s railway system with “scenes from apocalypse movies”, the association said the railroad system faced a myriad of challenges.
It said rail infrastructure had been “neglected and destroyed” and it would take time for it to become a reliable and sustainable alternative for transport again.
The RFA said it has had many discussions with the transport department over the past three decades, and that its major logistics members had come forward with innovative concepts of cooperation between trucks and rail.
“These all eventually came to nothing, as the rail system was unreliable,” said Kelly.
The manner in which goods are transported will be determined by factors within the freight logistics industry, the RFA said.“Rail will need to provide the accessible, efficient, reliable and secure service that is currently provided by other modes — and mostly by road transport. Once rail can provide that kind of service, then customers will use rail.”