Johannesburg - South Africa’s state-owned rail freight company, Transnet, is working around the clock to clear some of the backlogs in its operations that were brought on by the two-week nationwide strike following deadlocked wage negotiations with unions.
Last week, the majority union – the United National Transport Union (Untu) – accepted a 6% wage increase. This was subsequently followed by the SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu), which initially accused its counterparts of "selling them out" after they had attempted to hold out for a double-digit settlement.
The end of the strike came as a huge relief for the government and the business sector, particularly those who are involved in the transport of goods. Industry experts have put the losses incurred by the strike at an estimated R65.3 billion worth of goods.
Speaking to the media during their post-strike recovery session, chief executive officer Sizakele Mzimela said Transnet had tried all it could to avoid the strike, but after all attempts failed, they could not do much.
"We did all we could to avert the strike. There were engagements with the unions and various role-players to ensure that we avoid the strike, but it was not to be. All we wanted to do was to ensure that our offer to our employees did not result in a negative impact to the company and its operations, as we had put proposals on the table to ensure that. We wanted to come up with a different offer that would work for all the parties concerned," she said.
During the strike, Transnet said it suffered a spike in incidents of cable theft and infrastructure vandalism as some of the employees were not at work during this period. Even though measures were put in place to secure infrastructure, some of these efforts failed to bear fruit as crime continued.
Chief executive head of security services at Transnet, Marius Bennett, said the utility has put measures in place to reverse incidents of cable theft, infrastructure vandalism and theft of fuel, which have dominated the headlines recently.
According to acting chief commercial officer Bonginkosi Mabaso, during the strike, Transnet suffered critical theft to infrastructure and cable theft, with the line between Ladysmith and Pietermaritzburg said to be the hardest hit.
"We did not anticipate an increase in the level of theft during the strike, but we had put some measures in place to ensure that we increased security capacity. We have assembled law enforcement agencies and have since beefed up our security to ensure we recover the cable and make arrests.
"Our efforts in bringing down levels of cable theft are bearing fruit as we are putting more effort into shutting down cable theft syndicates, as evidenced by some of the recent arrests. These efforts are ongoing, and we hope to arrest the scourge of cable theft."
Bennet said even though incidents of cable theft are coming down and the length of cable that has been stolen is also coming down, Transnet remained concerned by the crime. He said this needs law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders to come together and help the freight rail utility in its efforts to reverse the losses that have seen the industry suffer due to theft and crime.
Mabaso said that following the end of the strike last week, the utility has tried to clear some of the backlogs, adding that some corridors were operating at 95% while others lagged slightly.
"We are slowly returning to normal operations following the suspension of the strike. We have managed to clear some of the backlogs and resume operations to some of the key corridors, including the coal, iron ore, north and east corridors. Some of the cleared corridors resumed operations almost 24 hours after the strike was called off," Mabaso said.
The Star