May 5, 2019

Dear IFRTT subscriber In my last newsletter, in March 2018, I referred to the protest action (including the burning of trucks and looting of payloads) on some of the national highways in South Africa. Many of these actions were a means of expressing dissatisfaction with the employment of foreign drivers by SA transport companies. Unfortunately this form of protest action has continued on and off during the past year. In most cases, particularly during the past number of weeks, the protest action has been related to the dissatisfaction with service delivery by some local municipalities. In terms of transport efficiency, cost and safety, such protest action is very detrimental to the economy. General elections will be held in South Africa this coming Wednesday, 8 May, so hopefully such protest action will reduce considerably thereafter. There is currently an EU-funded project underway in a large part of Africa, the Tripartite Transport... Read More