Author:chris-hattingh

Avoiding the easiest of own goals August 14, 2024 According to the National Treasury, South Africa’s GDP growth has averaged 0.8% per year since 2012. As CHRIS HATTINGH reports, most of the major causes behind this severe underperformance are well-documented: electricity shortfalls, onerous bureaucratic systems and inflexible labour markets, corruption from national to municipal levels, and numerous logistics inefficiencies. Within this cluster of challenges, the logistics space deserves special attention from the Government of National Unity that took office earlier […]

The pernicious effects of administered prices April 5, 2024 Administered prices can have dire consequences when charged by dysfunctional state-owned entities, warns CHRIS HATTINGH. Administered prices refer to the prices of goods or services set by a government or centralised authority. These stand in contrast to those prices and businesses that operate using market forces, signals, and supply and demand to inform their interactions with each other and consumers.  While “normal” prices can, of course, be set too high for […]

Transnet on the move! March 6, 2024 Can Transnet be fixed? This won’t happen overnight, but CHRIS HATTINGH reveals that some positive steps are finally being taken. On 1 March, Transnet indicated it had approved the finalisation of the contract for Philippines-based International Container Terminal Services (ICTS) to run Durban Container Terminal 2. The terminal is Transnet’s biggest container terminal, responsible for 72% of throughput at the Port of Durban and 46% of all container traffic in South Africa.  The […]

Talking a big game February 9, 2024 President Cyril Ramaphosa has been big on promises, but will he follow through on these promises with any real action? CHRIS HATTINGH has his doubts. At the start of the latest iteration of the annual Investing in African Mining Indaba, President Cyril Ramaphosa told those in attendance: “We will unlock massive new investment in SA’s rail system. This will support jobs in the economy through mining, trade, and agriculture. As government, we have […]

Risky business January 16, 2024 As the world heads into 2024, over 50 elections are due to take place in countries with a combined population of over four billion people. CHRIS HATTINGH believes that the wrong policy choices stand to deepen the global economic slowdown, with especially dire consequences for developing economies… Since 2019, global tensions have accelerated through the Covid-19 pandemic and into the mid-2020s. Supply and value chains across the globe were disrupted by government shutdowns; economies slowed […]

State troubles come home to roost December 5, 2023 The fiscal, skills, and management challenges facing the central government – along with various departments and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) – have come to the fore throughout 2023. CHRIS HATTINGH hopes for better things in 2024. Eskom and Transnet especially (the latter with numerous divisions and departments “spun off” throughout the year) present existential challenges for the economy. But with the substantive risks they pose, their shortcomings and challenges also present opportunities […]

SA needs a port in a storm November 13, 2023 Congestion at South African ports is crippling the country’s economy, further increasing costs. CHRIS HATTINGH says it is vital that the country ups its logistics game. According to data from Fruit SA, claims of bad quality produce have doubled to 37% over seven years. The main cause of this has been delays in moving South African fruit through and out of the ports to global markets. Within that context of […]

Substantive reforms are within reach October 24, 2023 The latest Macro Review from the Centre for Risk Analysis, entitled SA’s Transport Blues, contains some riveting (if troubling) nuggets of data. CHRIS HATTINGH says there is a lot that government needs to do in order to reverse worrying trends. In 2017, Transnet transported 226 million tonnes of goods by train. By 2022 this had declined to 154 million tonnes. With evermore businesses, importers, and exporters forced to use road freight – […]

Time to let go of Transnet September 14, 2023 From a R5 billion profit in 2022 to a R5.7 billion loss to date in 2023; with myriad challenges on its plate, Transnet could well have reached the final inflection point, says CHRIS HATTINGH. The longer government continues to bail out Transnet’s non-performance, and the longer various barriers against private sector participation and investments are maintained, the more the South African economy, businesses, and citizens will suffer the negative consequences. According […]

Brighter days ahead? August 10, 2023 The problems that plague South Africa’s ports have been well documented over the years. But, says CHRIS HATTINGH, there could be reasons for optimism. The South African ports are consistently ranked at or near the very bottom of international indices. Their atrocious performance inhibits the exporting capacities of businesses across the economy, especially in the mining and agriculture sectors. Had the ports been able to handle higher volumes, meanwhile, the national fiscus would also […]