The City of Cape Town is battling to gain control of its commercial ports, which are currently managed by Transnet.
The harbour is currently one of the worst-performing in the globe according to the World Bank, causing massive delays in shipments for local businesses.
Seeking better management
The state-owned entity Transnet oversees the vast majority of South Africa’s rail and port infrastructure, including those in Cape Town.
Due to its poor performance, the city’s mayoral council has been trying to open the commercial harbour to the private sector, hoping to greatly improve the site’s efficiency.
However, Transnet has thus far refused to agree to this plan, and Cape Town Harbour is currently excluded from private investment.
At the same time, Transnet CEO Michelle Phillips has opened the ports in Durban, Richards Bay and Ngqura for urgent private-sector contributions.
Phillips reportedly told Business Day that Cape Town is not included in this plan.
Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said that this decision was “inexplicable” and that he believes there is an ideological obsession behind the decision to exclude the city’s ports while the same policy is extended to other harbours, reported EWN.
“When you think of 11 million unemployed people, and the scale of the poverty in our country, to not institute or pursue that reform because of some kind of ideological obsession that you have, is unforgivable,” he said.
The mayoral committee believes that improving Cape Town Harbour’s performance will greatly benefit the local agricultural scene and boost economic growth by one percentage point.
Not just its ports
Cape Town has been embroiled in a similar battle to take over the management of its rail network, which is handled by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa).
The Mother City has severe congestion issues, and is currently implementing new public transport measures, such as the rollout of the MyCiti bus service, to alleviate this problem.
However, its hands are tied with regards to its dysfunctional train service while the city waits for the National Rail Masterplan to be completed.
The plan is meant to lay out provisions for the devolution of the nation’s passenger railways to local municipalities, but is only expected to be completed by the end of 2025.
Cape Town’s mayoral committee has been calling for the prioritisation of rail devolution since 2022, which would allow the city to privately manage its commuter train network.
It estimates that a well-managed rail network could save lower-income households up to R932 million a year, sustain over 51,000 jobs, and contribute some R11 billion per annum to the city’s budget.
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