An act of possible sabotage is costing South Africa R1bn a day as Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) scrambles to clear 5,500 tonnes of coal and assess railway damage after a derailment along its main coal line on Tuesday.
TFR is investigating whether its train, which derailed near Ulundi in northern KwaZulu-Natal en route to the Richards Bay Coal Terminal for export, was a result of sabotage after it received several anonymous threats on Monday.
TFR acting chief commercial officer Bonginkosi Mabaso told the Sunday Times employees had received threats via WhatsApp.
“We were threatened that if we did not respond in a certain way there would be implications. A day after we received the last threat the derailment happened. We don’t want to take this lightly and assume it was a normal derailment so we are doing a thorough investigation.”
Mabaso said a time frame of when the line would be operational could be determined only after the salvage operation was complete.
“We need to remove the damaged wagons and clear the cargo on the line, which will give us visibility of the entire stretch of the line at which stage our technical team will be able to determine if there was any foul play. So it is very difficult for us to say when the line will be working.
“Transnet loses R55m in revenue a day, just on the coal line. If you look at the multipliers, the mining industry and the impact on the economy, you are looking at R1bn a day due to this derailment.”
The setback comes after an 11-day port strike in October caused South Africa to lose the opportunity to move R65.3bn worth of goods. The South African Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF) said its members incurred logistics costs of nearly R7bn during this time.
Mabaso said salvage operations were disrupted and delayed because of “violent extortion efforts by the Ulundi Business Forum” on Friday. One employee was assaulted.
“Some of the methods they want us to implement in assigning or allocating business opportunities are not aligned to our procurement processes.”
A government source revealed that TFR had ruled out any fault with the locomotive or the rail as the track had undergone major maintenance in July, leaving only human error or tampering as possibilities.
The Sunday Times understands that Friday’s force majeure came after one of two feuding business forums in the area closed off access for trucks and articulated machinery needed to clear the debris of the 97-wagon haul.
But Ulundi Business Forum chairperson Musa Ngqulunga pinned it down to a misunderstanding.
“As we speak we are now all working and no operations have been stopped. The issue was that there is a contractor who came with equipment from Mpumalanga and told us he was going to do all the work alone. That is when we stood up and said he can’t do all the work alone because we also have the same equipment as the locals, but Ali [Ali Motala from Transnet] came and the issue was resolved. We are all working now,” said Ngqulunga.
A Transnet insider said there were competing factions among the local forums that demanded work from the state-owned entity, contributing to the delays.
“These different factions in the community demand work, especially when we do our routine maintenance. But we have taken a hard line as Transnet to say we just don’t engage with anyone but formal structures together with amakhosi. In this case this other person who is not part of the forum or formal structure tried to disrupt the operations. We have been lenient in the past, using a negotiation approach, but that doesn’t work well with these guys,” said the insider.
Economist Dawie Roodt said if the allegations of sabotage were true it would raise red flags to international investors, exposing cracks in political leadership.
“The mining sector was one of the only parts of the economy that had recently seen growth and should the issue not be resolved it will have a grave effect on the country’s economy.
“Mining is doing well because of commodity prices, such as coal and gold. A lot of the taxes from coal go to the poor in social grants, so this has major implications. The longer it goes on the worse it will be.”
University of Zululand professor of economics and the deputy dean of research in the faculty of commerce, administration and law, Dr Irrshad Kaseeram, said the national and global implications of the force majeure are concerning.
“Coal is a major contributor to the country’s GDP. The Richards Bay Coal Terminal will now face harsh penalties for not meeting its export targets. One would hope this is a short-term issue and is resolved in the coming days but if it goes on for longer it will mean losses of billions. It is also reputational damage — yet another nail in the coffin of our credibility.”
The president of the Zululand Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hlengiwe Mvubu, said they were engaging with all relevant parties to resolve the issue.
“As a province we have yet to recover from the flood damage and the looting and now when we are trying to stabilise we have our people causing havoc. I’m not sure if they realise how far-reaching the implications of their actions are.”
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