Our Country Needs A Voice Of Reason And Wisdom To Resolve Mozambican Tragedy

There is no need to regurgitate what is happening in Mozambique.

But it is important to highlight what that crisis has done to the South African economy and, more importantly, what it has highlighted as the weaknesses and fail points in the greater South African logistics chain.

The Road Freight Association RFA has repeatedly reported security conditions as well as interrupted logistics operations to government authorities, who have admirably taken action beyond their daily duties to confront the symptoms, or consequences, of what is occurring across the border.

It is very clear that, without the road freight route to the Port of Maputo through the Lebombo border post, many South African mining companies face a bleak future. Our own ports and rail systems have shamefully failed us and the only alternative left to many industries was to use the Port of Maputo.

This has now been effectively cut off by the political unrest and continuing protests.

Is this not the time for our President to step in to bring about a peaceful resolution to what is happening in Mozambique? We have a Government of National Unity, which has many warts and tribulations, but it remains the most probable answer to progress.

We need a statesman to explain to Mozambique that our country is suffering, that there needs to be a resolution on the way forward. And while this is being worked out, the corridor to the Port of Maputo must be secured. At all costs and by any means.

In the meantime, businesses across the Southern African Development Community SADC region are looking at bleak prospects in the interim. If you cannot get your goods to your customer via the Port of Mozambique, then there is no revenue, no funding and no sustainable resources to stay in business.

Our drivers, our trucks, our customers cargo, the business image of thousands of African businesses are all threatened day after day. Drivers are beaten, and they have nothing to do with the political landscape in Mozambique, trucks are looted, burned, roads to the Port of Maputo blockaded and the port itself is placed under siege.

In the past week there has been an inevitable and slow progression towards the reality that ravaged Mozambique in the early 1970s, a destructive civil war that left the country in ruins with a desperate population hanging on to life. Starvation, disease and landmines haunted citizens daily.

Do we want to return to that? No. However, without the intervention of a statesman, or woman, this scenario will become ever more true as violence erupts with outright war between factions and the country becomes unstable.

This means any form of product or commodity and passengers/tourism will be halted into and through the country.

The severe disruption of all trade logistics air, rail, road and sea will halt with huge financial repercussions for both countries and the greater SADC region, including loss of revenue in terms of duties and income tax, VAT, company tax, as well as loss of income for businesses.

The RFA estimates that the full closure/suspension of Port of Maputo operations and the ceasing of any road freight logistics within Mozambique costs the South African economy around R10 million a day.

Direct losses to freight logistics is around R6 million. This includes damage to/loss of vehicles, injury loss of drivers, looting of loads, inability to retrieve vehicles, disruption of exports/imports, loss of business due to consignment loads not being fulfilled, loss of fleet capacity to perform linked or other load agreements, loss of revenue for operations, extra security deployments.

The remaining R4 million a day is lost in other sectors, including servicing, manufacturing, tourism, retail, mining and agriculture, some of which have more reliance on road freight transport than others.

That means fewer jobs, higher unemployment, hunger, and all those other small things that go hand-in-hand with a collapsing economy. One business at a time so an economy collapses, and we have seen enough of that in Africa already.

The RFA calls on those who have the connections, the status, the ability to intervene, to play the role of statesman. This is about Mozambique, South Africa and the SADC region.