Transnet must urgently table its turnaround plan in Parliament
15 November 2023
While Transnet continues to bleed the economy, it also continues to limit parliamentary oversight by failing to comprehensively table its turnaround plan in Parliament with the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises (Committee).
Given that the plan has been presented to both the Ministers of Public Enterprises and Finance and to pockets of the media, the DA has written to the Chairperson of the Committee, Mr Khaya Magaxa, to request that the plan be urgently tabled in Parliament. The plan which is an operational turnaround plan for the embattled entity, once tabled in Parliament, will need to be carefully scrutinised by Members of the Committee.
The DA takes the firm view that for any plan to, completely, turn the fortunes of Transnet around, it must not only contain and communicate achievable and timebound targets but also targets that speak directly to each of the large scale challenges that the entity is currently experiencing, including the operational efficiencies plaguing its port operations, particularly at the Durban and Cape Town ports.
With the country’s deciduous fruit season at our doorstep, exporters of deciduous fruit have, already, raised grave concerns on, amongst other things, the vessel turnaround times at the Cape Town port. Exporters making use of the Durban port have, equally, raised concerns on the operational efficiencies and whether that particular port has the capacity to accommodate and meet the trading demands placed on it during its peak trading season.