Durban — President Cyril Ramaphosa must urgently establish a Port Performance Task Team to deal with the crisis at the country’s ports, the DA has said.
DA leader John Steenhuisen accompanied by the party’s spokesperson on Public Enterprises, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, undertook an aerial oversight of the hundreds of ships stuck in the sea with “over 60 000 containers”.
Addressing the media after a flyover, Steenhuisen said what he saw was a disaster.
He accused Ramaphosa of allowing the country’s infrastructure to collapse. He proposed a 4-point plan as an urgent solution to the problems facing the country’s ports, especially Durban harbour.
Ramaphosa must immediately set up a port performance task team that must include private sector stakeholders and international industry experts, to urgently draft and implement a port performance recovery plan, Steenhuisen said.
The National Logistics Crisis Committee has dismally failed, he added.
Parliament must also urgently establish an ad-hoc committee, composed of the departments of Transport, Public Enterprises, and Finance, to fast-track solutions and remove legislative, financial, and regulatory bottlenecks to port recovery before the end of the year.
Steenhuisen also called on the president to collaborate with the private sector to salvage Transnet by commencing the process towards privatisation of this state-owned entity for the economic well-being of the country.
The DA also wants the president to urgently brief Parliament on the state of South African ports, including on immediate steps his government will take to resolve this crisis which threatens the collapse of the economy.
“The DA had to come up with a plan to address the crisis because the president has become a spectator in the crises facing this country. Transnet is saying it would clear the backlog early next year, but retailers want the goods now, not next year. This will collapse the economy and will result in job losses,” Steenhuisen warned.
The ports crisis has taken place despite the announcement of Operation Vulindlela in October 2020, a joint initiative between the Presidency and National Treasury, to improve the operational performance of the multi-modal and bulk freight rail network and port system, Steenhuisen said. The government was only good at making announcements, he added. The DA lashed Ramaphosa, saying he had the guts to come and preside over the launch of the cruise ship in Durban instead of using his visit to the province to tackle the issues at the harbour.
However, Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya defended Ramaphosa, saying his visit to Richards Bay was part of an oversight to see for himself what was causing the port backlog.
Magwenya said the president has been leading a process to resolve issues affecting the transport and logistics sector through the National Logistics Crisis Committee, which includes private sector participation.
“The President went to Richards Bay to interact with management and to see for himself what was causing the backlog at port. The logistics roadmap will be tabled in Cabinet on Wednesday. It is aimed at addressing all issues related to logistics and the backlog in our ports. It will also lead to reforms in the sector.”
He also defended the president’s attendance at the cruise ship launch, saying it was a very positive development for tourism in Durban and KZN.
“The president had a brief tour of the vessel. He has been well briefed on the Durban port issues and doesn’t have to report to the DA each time he meets the Transnet board and management.”
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