THE DEFINITIVE TRUCKING SITE

Hi there all you wonderful trucking people and welcome to the first edition of FleetWatch for the year 2008. May the power be with you. Yeah – sure! The start to 2008 has probably been the bumpiest start to any year I have ever experienced! No sooner were we all back at work when the lights went out. Oh well, just another minor interruption while the technicians work on the lines or whatever they work on. But no, it was not a bump. Rather it was – and still is – a mountain. South Africans looked on dumbstruck as the news filtered out that our non-performing, bonusriddled executives at Eskom had messed up badly. We all cursed Eskom until the news came out that it wasn’t, in fact, Eskom’s fault. They had predicted a power supply shortage many years ago and had advised Government that new power stations should be built. So accurate were they that they even got the year right saying that if more power stations were not built, South Africa would experience a sever power crisis in the year 2007. They were out by a month. Instead of listening to the experts, our esteemed politicians decided to do what they normally do and ignored the advice of the experts – in this case qualified engineers – and go their own route which, as usual, was no route. Once again, South Africans are now suffering the consequences of political blundering. And how’s Alec Irwin saying that this crisis would not stunt South Africa’s growth? I was most surprised – not at his statement as we have grown used to clap-trap emanating from the mouths of politicians. No, what surprised me was that I never ever imagined him as a man who smoked that stuff. And he must have had to dream up that waffle. 

No sooner had Eskom put a few lights back on, than ours went off again. Curses were thrown Eskom and Government’s way but this time, neither was to blame. This time it was cable thieves who had stolen the electrical cables on one of the mini sub-stations in our area. My compliments go to Johannesburg City Power whose people acted swiftly and superbly in replacing the cables and getting us back on line. Right! Power’s back on. Let’s now get this year going. But no, Eskom then turned it off again. Then on again. OK, let’s cater for this. Let’s accept, adjust and get on with the year. We’d have to as our politicians finally got something right. They told us we’d all be in the 'dwang' for years to come. Well done guys and dolls. That’s real foresight and we believe you. After all, you created the 'dwang' so you must know what you’re talking about. With renewed vigour we arrived at the office the next morning, reached for the phones to get the business calls rolling and guess what? Yep, you guessed it. No phones. Those same cable thieves who stole the electrical cables had come back and stolen the telephone cables in the area. Not a metre or two but a whopping three kilometers of telephone lines. The whole area was down – and has been down for the past three weeks or so. Have you ever tried to run a business whose dependency is on telephone, fax and emails by merely using a few cell phones? It’s not easy. As I write this, I am happy to say that earlier today three of our lines came alive. Telkom has been hard at work installing new underground cables. 

And then, while all this was going on, my 10-year-old daughter comes home from school and asks: "Daddy, are we going to go live in Australia?" I was taken aback and asked why she asked that. She gently handed me a piece of paper and said. 
"Because Emily was shot dead today". Good Grief - NO! The paper she had handed me was a letter from the Headmaster of Trinity College, the school my daughter goes to, telling of the tragic death that morning of one of their pupils – little 12-yearold Emily Williams. She had been shot by a stray bullet in a shootout between armed robbers and security guards. Sophie, Emily’s sister, is a friend of my daughter’s. They’re in the same grade. Jessica, the young girl who was tied up by the armed robbers while they ransacked the house before the shoot-out, is also a friend of my daughter’s. My daughter has been to her house to play. The violent crime that this Government has allowed to thrive to the point where it is now decimating our society was now close to home for my daughter. She was so sad – and scared. I was so sad. Our deepest condolences go to the Williams family on the loss of your beloved Emily. Dammit! I am so angry. 

The so-called political leaders of this country have failed us on all fronts. There is no leadership; there is no statesmanship; there is no-one in our political ranks interested in nation building. All I see is a bunch of tatty, small-minded, inwardly focused, selfish politicians playing power games while the country crumbles. Talk about fiddling while Rome burns and here you have it in action. I could go on but seriously, I cannot. I am too angry at these men and women who live in ivory towers far from the realities faced by ordinary South Africans. Let me put it this way. Where was Jacob Zuma when little Emily was buried. He was in Mauritius trying to get a court order to prevent the release of what are said to be damning documents against him related to the arms deal corruption charges he is facing. So while South Africans wept at the senseless killing of a young child, Zuma was out of the country trying to protect his butt. That says it all. I wonder where our former National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi was on the day. Probably shopping with some of his ‘finished and klaar’ mates in Sandton City. 

I sketch all this to illustrate that the trucking industry is going to face many challenges in the year ahead. The good news is that the industry will continue to grow – and this for a number of reasons, one being that rail is still far away from being an effective carrier so goods will still need to be moved by road. The bad news is that you, as transporters, are not going to get any help from this Government in terms of politicians doing what they are supposed to do, namely, creating an environment in which businesses can operate safely, effectively and confidently in growing the economy and creating jobs. Rather, their eyes and efforts will be focused on corruption trials, jostling for power positions and other such despicable, non-productive, destructive activities. I just wish there was someone behind whom we could all throw our efforts into nation building rather than nation destroying. I don’t see anyone. Do you? If you do, please let me know. 

As you head out into this challenging year, please remember that you as a trucker – and you as a supplier to the trucking industry - play a major and critical role in this country. Yes, I know you are never given that recognition by our ‘leaders’ but if it’s any consolation, in the eyes of FleetWatch you are the pillars of this economy. We reckon you are just great. So go for GREAT and have a ‘2000 and great’ year. And no, we’re not going to Australia. We’re with you all the way. Let’s do it.

Patrick O'Leary
Managing Editor