Transnet possible sabotage cost SA billions

Transnet Freight Rail (TRF) is looking into possible sabotage along its main coal line, which is costing South Africa a billion rand per day.

Tuesday, November 8, 2022, near Ulundi in KwaZulu-Natal, one of the rail transportation company’s trains derailed after TFR received numerous threats on Monday.

Several coal wagons were damaged by the crash, and TFR is attempting to clear the line of the spilled cargo.

Chief communications officer, Bonginkosi Mabaso, informed The Sunday Times that TFR staff had received threats via WhatsApp the day before the derailment took place.

“We were threatened that if we did not respond in a certain way, there would be implications “ Mabaso revealed.

“We don’t want to take this lightly and assume it was a normal derailment, so we are doing thorough investigation”

According to him, the derailment is costing TFR R55 million every day in lost income.

“If you look at the multipliers, the mining industry and the impact on the economy, you are looking at a billion rand a day due to this derailment,” Mabaso added.

He stated that once the salvage operation is through, TFR will know when the line would be active once more.

The Sunday Times, quoting a government source, claimed that TFR had excluded locomotive or track issues because the route had undergone extensive maintenance in July 2022.

The only possibilities according to the report, are sabotage or human error.

To make matters worse, Mabaso said that the Ulundi Business Forum’s aggressive extortion efforts, which resulted in one of TFR’s employees being beaten, caused the salvage operations to be postponed.

One of the two conflicting business conferences prevented entry for the articulated equipment and trucks needed to clear the debris.

Musa Ngqulunga, chair of the Ulundi Business Forum, asserted that no operations had been suspended.

He claimed that the contractor from Mpumalanga who arrived with equipment and declare he would complete the job alone was criticized by the business forum.

“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 [Motala] came, and the issue was resolved,” Ngqulunga said.

The incident occurred after a significant rail and port strike that began at the beginning of October 2022 and ended about two weeks later.

The strike by the United National Transport Union (Untu) against TFR got underway on Thursday, October 6.

The Union said that the price increase offer was out of line with its mandate after the train transportation business increased it by twofold, to 3%.

“The strike is on. There is action across the country,” said Cobus van Vuuren, general secretary of Untu.

Despite soaring worldwide demand, the strike limited the shipment of several goods, including coal.

After agreeing to the three-year salary agreement with TFR in the middle of October, Untu declared an end to the strike.