South Africa Grappling With Crime Syndicates In Public Sector, Says Transnet

According to the South African organization Transnet, the South African economy lost a whopping R1 billion as 5,500 tonnes of coal was lost after a derailment along its main coal line.

This comes after a derailment along its main coal line this past week, reported the Sunday Times.

The incident took place on Tuesday as a train carrying export coal from Mpumalanga to Richards Bay was found to be derailed near Ulundi – prompting an investigation into the incident since it was "extremely concerned about disruptions to its operations".

"Transnet loses R55 million in revenue daily, just on the coal line. If you look at the multipliers, the mining industry and the impact on the economy, you are looking at R1 billion a day due to this derailment," said Transnet CEO Bonginkosi Mabaso, adding that the company's employees had received threats via WhatsApp.

This is critical since the incident comes close on the heels of a labor strike that hit Transnet in October. The strike was costing the mining company R6 billion a day, as per the Minerals Council of South Africa.

Even before the strike, Transnet was operating well below target due to shortages of locomotives, a lack of spare parts for trains, poor maintenance, copper cable theft, extortion and vandalism.

Going by the data cited by the South African Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF), delays in supply chain logistics have cost the economy between R100 million and R1 billion per day, with an overall cost which "is substantially greater than that."

Transnet also said that incidents of cable theft had spiked by 22% throughout the period that the strike has been going on– further crippling and weakening a service that has already cost exporters billions.

"We have lost 12 kilometers of cable during the strike. The theft occurred between Ladysmith and Pietermaritzburg, which is a major hotspot for cable thieves," Rudzani Ligege, managing executive at Transnet.

Organized crime has been plaguing public life and sectors for a while now in South Africa. According to a report in Premium Times, back in March 2019, the South African Forum of Civil Engineering Contractors (SAFCEC) had drawn up an estimate that construction projects worth a minimum of R25.5 billion had faced violent disruptions owing to vandalism, thefts and extortions. As a result, 110 other highly skilled technical personnel left the country.