THE DEFINITIVE TRUCKING SITE

As 2008 draws to a close, I ask you to cast your mind  back to January and recall how you felt. I remember coming back from a wonderful holiday and hitting the desk all pumped up for great things to come in the year ahead. It was not to be. By the beginning of February, all companies in South Africa were in the black. In accounting terms, that would be excellent news as every company in South Africa would be profitable. But no! In this case, in the black meant exactly that - in the dark, kaput, no lights, no power and no cash-tills ringing. Thank goodness we have short memories for this serves as our internal survival kit. However, it is worth recalling the horror of what the country was facing. Eskom, which years before the ‘dwang’ hit the fan had told the Government we would be facing a national power crisis if they did not build new power stations (of course they didn’t listen as they were out buying submarines and little airplanes to play with), told the country that we would be facing three to four power outages a week - of three to four hours duration each – until the year 2012. Yes - until 2012. Do you remember that? Wow! Did that throw everything out! Contingency plans were put into place which revolved mainly around everyone rushing out to buy generators. There were also those companies which just did not see themselves surviving under such conditions. They started closing their doors. It threw everyone into chaos but throughout all this, our politicians bumbled along with platitudes and inane statements such as that of Alex Irwin who assured us all that the national crisis wouldn’t affect future economic growth. Eiish! Playing down a crisis has become a bit of a political norm in South Africa hasn’t it? There’s no crisis in South Africa not having power! There’s no crisis in Zimbabwe! Eiish! What planet are these guys living on?

Anyway, onward we all soldiered and after we all spent a fortune of unbudgeted money on buying generators, Eskom suddenly – literally overnight - found the power that had gone missing. Just as we were again getting used to having hot suppers and falling asleep on the couch watching Super Sport instead of cuddled up next to the wife, in came fuel price hikes that knocked the socks off all of us. (Which reminds me: What are the four words men hate most? Answer: “Can’t we just cuddle?”). The fuel hikes were closely followed by interest rate hikes which forced people like Jackie Selebe to shift their shopping venues from places like Sandton City to the Indian Plaza. In among all this, our politicians continued to act like circus clowns instead of ringmasters as they entertained the crowds with daredevil feats of high-wire political maneuvering. And while they were focusing their attention on knocking each other off the wire, into the ring slipped a new, young appi-ringmaster who announced to all that he would ‘kill’ for his chosen mega-ringmaster. Julius Malema was the new kid on the block and it wasn’t long before he showed he was in dire need of treatment for a serious case of foot in mouth disease. As head of the ANC Youth League, he brought a new dynamic into the political circus tent reminding us all of why we voted apartheid out and democracy in. Not for him the laborious, sensible, democratic process of voting a leader in. Rather just kill him in. Don’t debate dissenting views. Just stamp on them. This guy is as far removed from the feelings and aspirations of South Africa’s youth as this country is from Planet Pluto. And then, just as the crowd was leaving the circus tent out of boredom, the head ringmaster fell from his lofty perch. Mbeki was out. Zuma was in. While all this was going on inside the tent, storm clouds were gathering far from our shores. Wall Street hit the Wall and international markets were thrown into turmoil. Bail-out plans for greedy and irresponsible banks – those trusted custodians of the working man’s hard earned bucks – were put in place to the tune of billions of dollars. But, as I write this, the bail out plans don’t seem to be working too well. Stock brokers, those well heeled pundits whose close relatives – the run-likehell-with-tails-between-the-legs family – haven’t helped the situation much either. ‘Stocks surge’ is Monday’s headline. ‘Stocks plunge’ is Tuesday’s. ‘Stocks surge’ is Wednesday’s headline. ‘Stocks plunge’ is Thursday’s. Don’t they ever hang in for just a little while before throwing their toys out the cot and then scrambling to gather them back in again? Imagine these guys running a transport company. Please no. Oh yes, I nearly forgot. During all this, South Africa saw the rise of a new political party. Phew! Keeping up with these guys is exhausting! 

When I look back over the past year, it seems to me that the only thing that has been constant, steady and sensible in South Africa has been the performance of the trucking industry – apart from, of course, when this performance was impeded by Eskom switching off the lights closely followed by the sky-high diesel price hikes. Certainly the industry has experienced bumps but overall it has admirably continued to perform the job of keeping the wheels of our economy turning in a sensible and sustainable way. Yes, I know truck sales have now dipped and other negatives have crept in. We ourselves have experienced the impact of those business negatives this year. However, as we exit 2008, let us do so with a strong resolve to come back to our desks in 2009 in a fighting mood. South Africa needs a viable and strong trucking industry not only to service the needs of commerce, industry and consumers but also to back the massive infrastructural projects that are going on all over the country. You might have missed it in the wake of all the bad news during the year but did you know that the value of new capital projects for the year to June this year came to R336.1-billion, which was 50% more than the total value for 2007 at R224-billion? And there’s more to come. Eskom plans to spend R343-billion over the next five years and Transnet has announced a R78-billion infrastructural spend over the next three years. Now if only the politicos would stick ‘For Sale’ signs onto those stupid, useless submarines currently rotting away in Simonstown, we’d have even more money to spend on much needed services like housing which, again, would carry benefits for the trucking industry. Wishful thinking! The point is, South Africa may not appreciate this industry but gee, does it need this industry. As you exit 2008, please know that there is a future for you; just don’t let anyone talk you out of it. 

From all of us at FleetWatch, we’d like to thank all our wonderful readers and advertisers for being with us over this past year and we really look forward to being with you again next year. You’ve had a hard and busy year and it’s now family time, so go love and hug them and please take with you our wish that you have a safe, love-filled, peaceful and Happy Festive Season. And listen, if you have to buy a bit of a smaller cake than last year’s, so what! Just take smaller bites and chew longer. It will still be good. 

Patrick O'Leary
Managing Editor