Violence will have catastrophic impact, warns Fesarta

The devastation and aftermath of looting and destruction of vital supply chain infrastructure in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in the last week after Jacob Zuma’s incarceration will be felt for many years to come.

The supply chain between the Port of Durban to Gauteng and cross-border has been completely cut off with the N3 no longer passable for trucks to supply much-needed fuel, groceries, pharmaceuticals and many other supplies.

Food security in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng will be severely impacted over the next few months and I predict a gloomy picture as those companies that have been impacted by the devastation try to rebuild and start again. Many of the smaller businesses will not survive and unemployment will spiral out of control, creating more poverty for the already marginalised population of South Africa.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg for South Africa as the longer-term damage will be far greater. What has happened in South Africa in this last week has not only impacted the economy of South Africa, but it has also affected other landlocked countries in the SADC region who rely heavily on South Africa for imports of fuel, groceries, pharmaceuticals, mining equipment/spares, vehicle spares, tyres, etc.

Those countries that have used South Africa as a transit route for exports through the Port of Durban will now turn to alternate routes such as Walvis Bay, Beira and Dar es Salaam. Over the last few years, the Port of Durban has already seen a decline in exports of copper and cobalt from the Copperbelt in Zambia and DRC due to inefficiencies. The Port of Dar es Salaam now exports 73% of all DRC’s copper. The Ports of Walvis Bay and Beira have both recently built world-class container terminals that can challenge the Port of Durban. They are more efficient, and their costs are lower than Durban’s.

Landlocked countries like Lesotho and Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland) will be particularly hard hit by the situation in South Africa. Lesotho is totally reliant on South Africa for all its textile imports for the garment manufacturing industry (which supports around 40 000 workers). These textiles, which come from global markets, are nearly all imported through the Port of Durban. This supply will be severely impacted by the events in KwaZulu-Natal. They also export all finished garments through the Port of Durban by containers which are uplifted by road in Maseru and transported to Durban. This supply chain has now been completely cut off – at a time when the textile industry in Lesotho is just recovering from a month-long strike over wage issues in May/June this year.

Eswatini itself is still reeling from recent violent protests, looting and burning of infrastructure that has caused shortages of food and fuel in the country. The situation in South Africa will not help its cause as it tries to rebuild after the aftermath of their devastation.

Despite all the doom and gloom, there is one positive to look forward to: South Africans by nature are resilient people, as are the trucking community, and we stand together when we are hurting the most. We will rise from the ashes of devastation and come out stronger and smarter than ever before. That I can assure everyone in South Africa. We will not let what has happened in the last week define us; we will overcome and conquer.

By Michael Fitzmaurice, executive director of Fesarta