Please specify the group
Trade Winds weekly update volume 14
Chirundu 24/7, One of, if not, the most problematic borders on the important North-South Corridor into the copper belt area of Zambia and the DRC last night, told the Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations (Fesarta) that it was open on a 24/7 basis. This comes after previous investigations earlier in the year showed that the border could and should operate at 24 hours seven days a week.
However, the investigations earlier in the year were not actually meant for the border to operate at this level but rather to identify challenges preventing the Zambezi crossing between Zimbabwe and Zambia from returning to previously established OSBP (One Stop Border Post) systems and services.
Mike Fitzmaurice, CEO of FESARTA said the following: “We looked at what it would take to make things work and spoke to officers and customs officials. We found that there’s enough will to make it work and received commitment from all parties concerned to solve Chirundu’s congestion issues.”
The 24/7 decision is effective immediately – and while 24/7 operations were still at a tentative stage, the remainder of the year would be used to fine-tune legal-technical aspects of the OSBP.
Fitzmaurice said it was reassuring that the recommendations made to Zimra and the ZRA following January’s fact-finding mission had been taken to heart, and that it was hoped Chirundu would in time be restored to the OSBP it used to be about 10 years ago.
Congestion strikes Beitbridge again, earlier in the week queues stretching around 8kms formed again south of Beitbridge as ZIMRA has ramped up their game on preventing groceries bought in South Africa being smuggled north across the border. The queue had reduced a bit as earlier in the week it was reported to be around 12Kms however frustrations are still mounting, according to reports ZIMRA officials are searching each and every truck.
There has also been reports of police taking this opportunity to exploit drivers of a reported R500 to jump the queue.
In addition to Zimra’s decision to tighten up on truck checking, staff working for the revenue authority also decided to embark on a go-slow for reasons unexplained.
Another growing concern is the safety of the drivers and in fact other road users, the drivers don’t get to sleep for around 2 days as the queue slowly crawls and once they have been released the drivers are extremely tired and exhausted from not having a good nights rest, thus putting potential dangers to themselves and other road users.
Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations (Fesarta) has been in contact with ZIMRA officials in a bid to clear the congestion.
“There are better ways to deal with smuggling. Checking each and every truck causes massive delays and forces drivers to sit in their trucks for days waiting to get through the border. By the time they finally get through they’re unfit to drive.” Fitzmaurice said.
This is just adding further pressure to all parties involved, drivers are missing deadlines, hauliers are being charged demurrage and projects on the receiving end are being delayed.
JUST IN! following yesterday’s announcement of the 6pm-6am curfew, the slow chug of traffic through Zimra’s facility has been slowed even more, especially because the Documents Processing Centre (DPC) is only working 12 hours a day.
“In other words you have a 24-hour border with the DPC only running for half that,” said Mike Fitzmaurice, chief executive of the Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations (Fesarta).
Earlier Fitzmaurice said Zimra was currently only managing about 30 trucks and hour, yet around 1000 trucks head to that border every day.
At the going rate it means only some 360 trucks are processed and cleared daily, while more and more trucks join the growing queue.
Zimra has just advised that the situation at the DPC centres was being addressed with government. But in view of the curfew introduced yesterday as an emergency restriction to curb the spread of the virus they had no choice but to comply.
They are appealing the ruling to allow DPC to continue working 24 hours but can give no time frame to the resolution of the situation.
Freight industry on its knees, As the industry continues to battle the full extent of Covid-19, the South African Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff) has provided stats that reveal the extent of the damage.
Saaff estimates that local importers are facing around R1.4 billion in storage and demurrage costs accumulated during level-5 lockdown and more than 20 000 containers piling up in storage facilities whilst continued border congestions add to this burden.
“Road freight in this country is on its knees,” says Marcus Ellappan, director of road freight for Bidvest International Logistics (BIL). “There’s a regional imbalance of freight due to the decline in the economy, which means hauliers are battling to generate revenue, let alone operate profitably, especially on return loads. The protests by truck drivers against the hiring of foreign nationals are impacting utilisation of assets, which also impacts negatively on profitability. Some hauliers are now downsizing fleets as trucks stand idle, and with that jobs are being lost.”
COVID compliance is another nail in the coffin for the freight industry whilst the increase of PPE hijackings adds more pressure.
Light at the end of the tunnel, DRC announced that the state of emergency has been lifted, people in the Democratic Republic of Congo are slowly resuming normal activities in the wake of Covid-19 health emergency.
President Tshisekedi has ordered a three-stage reopening of business activities, schools, and borders.
In a televised address late on Tuesday, President Felix Tshisekedi announced an end to the Covid-19 health emergency enforced since 24 March.
This involved closing DRC’s borders with nine neighbouring countries, as well as shutting down schools, bars and restaurants.
Tshisekedi said that, from Wednesday 22 July, all shops, banks, restaurants, cafes, firms and bars would be allowed to reopen. Public transport can resume, and large gatherings will be permitted.
Back on Track, The Port of Cape Town is making headway in addressing its congestion challenges and is well on track clawing back lost ground.
Following staff shortages, lockdown congestions and backlogs, rough seas and stormy weather the port is back on track.
Information shared earlier revealed that at the Cape Town Container Terminal (CTCT) five vessels were in roadstead and that there were six vessels waiting to be worked. That figure is at least half of what it once was, when up to 12 vessels could be seen at anchorage, waiting for much-delayed berthing slots.
There are still gangs serving the terminal and the target of 2500 moves per day was smashed yesterday when at least 3200 moves were recorded. This is great news for the port.
The Multi-Purpose Terminal (MPT) too is doing well, with two mobile cranes and six straddle carriers in full operation.
At the time of this morning’s stakeholder session, three vessels had been worked and delays are said to be only two days.
“A champion is defined not by their wins but by how they can recover when they fall.”
Trade Winds weekly update volume 11
ZSE suspends operations, The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange advised that all operations have been suspended until further notice.
“Whilst we await the guidance from our regulators on the operational modalities going forward, we notify our stakeholders that trading has been suspended until further notice.” – statement issued by the Secretary for Information.
Brokers have been scrambling to find reasons to inform investors as to why their money has disappeared.
On a positive note, experts have advised that Zimbabwe can significantly narrow its debt if the country manages its vast natural resources in a sustainable manner although the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened Zimbabwe’s debt deficit.
Studies have shown that Zimbabwe holds 13million tonnes of Gold, 2.8 Billion tonnes of Platinum and 16.5million carats of Diamonds just to name a few precious resources.
Dr Moyo said, “with this natural wealth, the country could harness it for development without overly relying on erratic external flows”.
Kopfontein delays continue, Freight flow at the Skilpadshek border is still taking a knock from COVID related issues, the border which is a vital access point connecting South Africa to Botswana and Namibia is facing continued delays as the Botswana health authorities continue with their inflexible coronavirus testing measures for all truck drivers entering the country which requires the drivers to wait up to 72hours for their results.
Mike Fitzmaurice, chief executive of the Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations (Fesarta) said that it doesn’t look like the situation is going to change anytime soon.
“Restrictive testing is a real problem at the border, using Kopfontein for alternative access into Botswana because it’s not as busy as Skilpadshek is also still inconvenient because a lot of trucks have to head back south towards the TAC once they have passed through the border.” Fitzmaurice said.
Further South, ATDF (The All Truck Driver’s Foundation) has denied that its organisation disrupted transport on South African roads and intimidated truck drivers, footage has emerged of two cars sporting ATDF banners, parked on the yellow chevron section of the Key Ridge compulsory truck stop between Marianhill Toll Plaza and Pietermaritzburg.
Sifiso Nyathi the national secretary of ATDF said they were just asking for donations from drivers to boost the struggling organisation’s coffers.
The Federation of East and Southern African Transport Associations (Fesarta) said: “There is a car with an ATDF banner stopping and checking trucks looking for foreign drivers, please be alert”
Nyathi rubbished these reports by saying “We weren’t stopping the truck. There is no stop street on the highway. We were only asking for money.”
It’s not the first time that the ATDF has been accused of intimidating truck drivers, especially on the N3 where scenes of violent arson attacks over the past few years, apparently in opposition to foreign nationals working in South Africa’s road transport sector, have sparked wide-scale xenophobic unrest, claiming lives, destroying property and making headlines the world over.
Assistance for Cape Town Port, twenty specialised employees from Durban Container Terminal have volunteered to assist with delays at Cape Town Port, the teams consists of driver articulated vehicles, rubber tyre gantry cranes and ship-to-shore crane drivers boasting over 100 years of collective work experience.
“Both the container and multi-purpose terminals at the Port of Cape Town have been operating at reduced capacity since the introduction of the lockdown regulations.
“However, with the easing of the lockdown, port activities have increased. The container terminal is currently operating at 60% and the multi-purpose terminal at 75% capacity.
“The portside, which is responsible for marine operations, is only operating at 60% human resource capacity, but is able to offer full marine services. Transnet added.
The team will assist in improving cargo movement and extra staff availability.
Acting chief operations officer at Transnet Port Terminals, Velile Dube, said: “Despite all the challenges, we have been able to reduce the number of vessels waiting at anchorage from 11 to five vessels today.
“We have managed to increase the number of gangs from four to five and are now receiving additional staff to help with shifts.”
Cape Town Port seems to be the only port battling with cargo movement, as the City continues to feel the effects of COVID mainly due to it being the epicentre of South Africa’s outbreak.
Settling the debt, one of Zambia’s major copper mines has committed to pay K8 million out of the K58 million it owes the Kitwe City Council.
On Wednesday afternoon, bailiffs paid the Mine a visit in trying to recover debt owed to the local authority, Copperbelt security rushed to the mine in a-bid to intercept the bailiffs but later all 3 parties entered a closed-door meeting.
Journalists were later addressed and were advised that an agreement had been reached on how the debt will be settled.
“The status is that the amount is K58 million. We have negotiated to pay in instalments and today (Wednesday), the mine will pay K8 million and the rest will be paid in instalments. That is the position,” Nundwe said.
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us”
Trade Winds weekly update volume 10
Too rich for relief, South Africa is facing a public financing crisis, according to the supplementary budget Finance Minister Tito Mboweni presented on Wednesday.
Debt will continue to rise with an expected peak in 2024 with a drop below 80% of gross domestic product by 2028, which is, best case scenario as long as the government sticks to their plan of stabilizing the economy which is predicted to shrink by 7.2%, the worst the country has seen in 90 years.
“Debt is our weakness, even as South Africa responds to the current health and economic crisis, a fiscal reckoning looms. The public finances are dangerously overstretched.” the minister said in his budget speech.
Zambian inflation slows as Zimbabwe’s soars, Zambian inflation slowed for the first time in 15 months in June as
the kwacha pared some earlier losses.
“Consumer prices increased 15.9% from a year earlier, compared to 16.6% in May,
costs rose 0.2% in the month.” Mulenga Musepa, the interim statistician general
at the Zambia Statistics Agency told reporters Thursday in Lusaka.
Zimbabwe announced on Wednesday that petrol had increased from 28.96 Zimbabwe Dollars per litre to 71.62 Zim Dollars per litre, this is more than a 150% increase. Zimbabwe began weekly foreign currency auctions on Tuesday in a bid to increase efficiency in the allocation of scarce U.S. dollars in the economy.
This adds to the ever-increasing inflation rates, over priced food and scarce medical supplies, the country is enduring its worst financial crisis in over 10 years.
Border delays continue, Transporters headed towards the Trans-Kalahari Corridor (TKC) are being forced to use the Kopfontein-Tlokweng border, this is the result of excessive delays from Covid-19 testing and testing measures being introduced at the Skilpadshek border crossing west of Zeerust. This is affecting Namibia’s main access route to South Africa.
Kasumbalesa’s clearing problems have eased as there was free flowing traffic, considering the Lockdown over the weekend, this is good news.
Elsewhere in the Sub-Saharan region, faster processing of truck traffic has returned to Chirundu, the problematic border crossing between Zimbabwe and Zambia and has resulted in higher volumes of cargo going North which can only be a good thing.
It’s not us, said ATDF chairperson Mr Ngwenya, Mr Ngwenya has said “It’s not us” after questions were raised as to who was behind the July 7 transport threat which is urging hauliers to replace foreign national drivers with local people.
This comes as a surprise considering that the ATDF last week issued a letter on official stationery, bearing the name of Ngwenya and three other officials, giving local trucking companies seven days to “get rid of foreign national drivers”.
“As South African truck drivers we are no longer going to tolerate this nonsense of non-compliance by South African trucking companies. “We demand that all foreigners driving South African trucks be removed and replaced by the South African citizens.” – statement from the letter issued by the ATDF.
Gavin Kelly, chief executive officer of the Road freight Association (RFA), said “groups like the ATDF had a legitimate concern that not all South African transport companies followed the rules and regulations of employment.
Yet they have no right to force operators, including those whose foreign national staff hold permits issued by the Department of Labour, to dismiss people based on nationality or face the consequences”.
“Knowing Is Not Enough; We Must Apply. Wishing Is Not Enough; We Must Do.”
Trade Winds weekly update volume 9
Collapse of mining, COVID-19’s impact on the mining industry locally and abroad has been devastating, Zambia has recorded a drop of 30% in mining revenue between February and April 2020 whilst South Africa suffered a plunge of 50% in mining revenue due to the Hard-Lockdown during April.
One of Zimbabwe’s top gold mines has halted operations blaming the country’s foreign currency policies, which requires the mine to surrender 30% of its forex earnings at a rate of 25 to 1 USD while suppliers are selling at 80 to 1 USD. The mine believes that they are achieving less than 80% of their gold sales compared to the international market.
“The impact of this situation on the Company’s operations has been that the Company is no longer able to meet its operational expenditure requirements considering that the company is required to pay for electricity and fuel in USD along with almost all of its consumables and spares also being denominated in USD,”
“The company has therefore been forced to stop production of bullion due to its inability to buy essential consumables and spares and is actively considering placing all its gold mines under care and maintenance until a viable solution is found.” the mine has said.
Steel Giants Fined, ArcelorMittal Limited South Africa (AMSA) which is Africa’s largest steel producer has been fined R3.6million for exceeding the minimum hydrogen sulphide emission standards. AMSA’s steelworks which is located in the Vaal Triangle, an Airshed Priority Area that was declared a priority area in terms of the National Environmental Management, whom has concerns about the elevated pollution in these areas.
According to departments minister Barbara Creecy, the money received from the fine would be used to install air quality monitoring instruments.
AMSA is currently producing over 5million tonnes of steel per year, supplying South Africa with over 61% of its steel as well as exports to Southern Africa and further north.
Lubumbashi Lockdown, this is due to a spate of coronavirus infections, however the lockdown is not expected to have any effects on Kasumbalesa itself, transporters should expect delays although word is that this lockdown is only affecting private transport.
“To see what is right and not do it, is a lack of courage.”
Trade Winds weekly update volume 8
Huge costs, the result of level 5 lockdown has given importers a massive headache as the costs of storage and demurrage of containers sits at a staggering R1.4-billion. CEO of South African Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAF) David Logan is concerned at the amounts being invoiced by shipping lines to importers for storage especially that its for cargo that could not move during the early stages of lockdown.
“Saaff represents 294 South African companies in the international freight forwarding and customs broking arena, managing approximately 70% of the containerised and breakbulk freight moving in and out of South Africa’s sea ports, airports and land borders,” he says.
“The level of charges levied by ocean carriers has been a source of concern for many years, but in normal times there was some justification for this, as it was generally speaking relatively easy to clear and deliver containers within the free time allowed. Under these circumstances it was reasonable for the carriers to expect that their containers should be returned and put back into service without delay,” Logan said.
On the back of this, the delays at Cape Town port is now jeopardising South Africa’s exports, mainly to the United States. The situation which has lasted for two weeks now is due to Transnet being incapable of handling these delays, several freight liners have been caught on film queueing at anchorage waiting to enter the port. Last week it was reported that employees were asked to stay at home because of Cape Town being the epicentre of South Africa’s COVID outbreak, it seems that Transnet is hiding behind the COVID pandemic and not informing Importer, Exporters and transporters of what is going on.
Bottlenecking at Beitbridge, since the delays from last week, it was decided to convert a container into a manual testing station that sits on the bridge over the Limpopo River however this has resulted in further delays at a bottleneck effect.
Mike Fitzmaurice, chief executive of the Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations (Fesarta) said the following:
“The completion of forms, the fact that it takes around 15 minutes to test each driver – it all adds to delays.”
Last week he questioned why drivers weren’t encouraged to fill in the forms online.
Adding to this, there are other factors contributing to the delays now coming from ZIMRA’s Documented Processing Centres (DPC), all commercial bill of entries are being processed electronically and these are being processed at Harare, Masvingo and Bulawayo DPCs however Bulawayo’s DPC was recently closed as there was a confirmed COVID cases. Once these bills of entries are processed the trucks are then given the go-ahead to the port of entry/exit where authorities there only check for conformity.
Under normal circumstances, 600 haulage trucks use Beitbridge Border Post with 300 going either side but the average has increased to nearly 1 000 daily. The increase comes after other routes in Botswana and Mozambique have been closed off.
Power struggle, Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) has accused the Zambian Government of trying to expropriate its assets. This comes after a feud involving CEC supplying Konkola Copper Mines with power, the government placed KCM under liquidation a year ago, and which has a $144 million unpaid electricity bill to state owned ZESCO. The state last week declared Copperbelt Energy Corp.’s electricity lines as a “common carrier,” which by law other companies are allowed to use them by paying a fee.
The energy regulator set a fee for using the infrastructure that’s about 30% of what CEC normally charges, the company said.
The decision has negatively impacted CEC and they are now on the brink of defaulting on all loans borrowed.
Tackling undervaluation, Zambian mining authorities have speculation that major mining companies within the country are submitting below par samples of the minerals they are mining in order to pay a less mining tax.
“The loss of revenue could amount to hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars per export, depending on the discrepancy in mineral grade between the sample and the consignment being exported,” Barnaby Mulenga, permanent secretary at the ministry of mines, said in a statement.
From 1 July mines ministry officials will start collecting samples from the various mines.
“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.”
Trade Winds weekly update volume 7
Political interference, news just in, caution has been sent out to transporters and drivers as unrest broke out at near a market just south of the Kasumbalesa border, there are claims of a faction war as a political member was dismissed from parliament, currently there are no cases of injuries or damage to vehicles but transporters are urged to not proceed to the Kasumbalesa border.
Continued delays, the Zimbabwean Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) has decided to check every truck entering the country, only a certain amount of trucks are allowed to be released every hour by SARS which is again leading to continued delays and creating longer queues going north at the Beitbridge border post, transporters as well as importers and exporters await an update from Shipping and Forwarding Agents’ Association of Zimbabwe, there is a concern too about the amount of weight the bridge can handle as the trucks sit stationary.
Drivers are calling on help from SADC as their working conditions worsen, a driver who used his phone to record the congestion in Botswana just south of the Kazangula border post said the following “We are about 100 trucks, there’s a single toilet, no water, no food, this is so inhuman. We are appealing to the SADC to do something about it.”
Since then the Botswana Presidential Covid-19 task team has seen the footage and has re-assured the public and relevant stakeholders that they are continuously looking at ways to streamline processes and overcome any challenges.
According to Freight News, “the Presidential Task Team on Covid-19 has directed that, with immediate effect, all truck drivers entering Botswana will now be required to produce evidence of negative Covid-19 results that are not more than 72 hours old, if your test results come in after 48 hours you then have one day to transit into Botswana.”
“So, if you’re stuck in a queue with all the drivers waiting for their results, your valid test will no longer be considered in Botswana and you would need to be tested again.” Said one transporter.
Level 3, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced last Sunday that the whole of South Africa will be going into Level 3 from the 1st of June allowing for the majority of the economy to open up however on Tuesday, Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize advised that some coronavirus hotspot areas could remain at level 4, this is to be determined on the amount of cases reported in these areas and will be re-evaluated every two weeks.
Doors closed… For now, AngloGold Ashanti has temporarily shut its doors on mining operations following 164 miners testing positive, the world’s deepest gold mine just recently resumed operations at 50% capacity but due the positive tests results, has been forced to halt operations at the Mponeng Mine.
Sibanye-Stillwater may not resume at 100% just yet says CEO Neal Froneman.
“We are not even sure that we will ramp up to 100%, and we will have to assess that in the next phase of the ramp-up,” he said, adding that the implementation of safety measures would be challenging at deep operations.
“What I have assured is that we are not putting commercial issues ahead of the wellbeing of our employees.”
There are more cases expected at the various South African mines which is going to put pressure on operations and the country’s economy however positivity is on the rise as the country gears up for Level 3.
“When nothing is sure, everything is possible.”
Trade Winds weekly update volume 6
Chaos ensues at the Beitbridge border post as the closure of Botswana’s border post mounts huge pressure on the ZIMRA clearing system which is also understaffed for such volumes.
Developing reports are showing that there is a double lane queue that is roughly 12 Kilometres long, drivers are crossing over to Zimbabwe without having received their Zim Notification and are being fined which itself is adding pressure to the whole ordeal.
Truck drivers headed towards Botswana face stringent COVID-19 measures, the usual three days allowed to enter the country has been slashed down to just one day.
According to Freight News, “the Presidential Task Team on Covid-19 has directed that, with immediate effect, all truck drivers entering Botswana will now be required to produce evidence of negative Covid-19 results that are not more than 72 hours old, if your test results come in after 48 hours you then have one day to transit into Botswana.”
“So, if you’re stuck in a queue with all the drivers waiting for their results, your valid test will no longer be considered in Botswana and you would need to be tested again.” Said one transporter.
Nakonde re-opened, President of Zambia, Edgar Lungu announced on Friday that the Nakonde border be re-opened to the movement of cargo only, President Edgar Lungu shut the border on Sunday after the town of Nakonde recorded 76 cases of COVID-19.
“Trucks from both sides have been moving, starting with those destined for Tanzania,” Malozo Sichone, the minister of Zambia’s Muchinga province, said.
Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya advised that the lockdown imposed on Nakonde town was lifted on Friday, however restrictions on movement would be in force from Saturday to allow for mass screening, the general public are still barred from crossing the border.
More woes for SA Miners, Mining Giants Harmony Gold have had to slow down production at their Kalgold Mine whilst mining has come to a standstill as two sub-contractors tested positive for COVID-19, this comes just days after positive results yielded at Marula Joint Venture, a platinum mine, and at Dwarsrivier, a chrome mine, which are both situated in the country’s Limpopo province.
CEO of Harmony, Peter Steenkamp said “Every effort is made at our mines to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 virus,”
“Harmony will continue its routine screening and testing at the mine in line with its COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedure,” the company said.
Implats (Impala Platinum) has also temporarily suspended production after announcing that 19 employees had tested positive at their Marula plant on the weekend.
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has called on the Limpopo provincial government to shut mines in the province.
Namibian Ports Open, Namibia has vowed to keep its ports open to allow the movement of goods to its landlocked neighbours, this was announced after President Hage Geingob met with leaders from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola, Lesotho, Eswatini and Mozambique.
“Covid-19 is a global pandemic and requires coordinated regional, pan-African and global action, during this difficult period, Namibia recognises how interdependent and how interconnected we are as neighbours,” Geingob said.
“Don’t wait for your ship to come in, swim out to it.”
Trade Winds weekly update volume 5
The “Dar Corridor” which connects Zambia to the Port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania has come to a grinding halt after Zambia authorised the closure of the Nakonde border indefinitely to curb the spread of COVID-19 infections.
The decision was made after a surge in infections which blamed has been placed on truck drivers coming from Tanzania who themselves have seen a rise in infections.
Chitalu Chilufya, Zambia’s health minister advised that the border would remain shut until further notice, during this time health workers will be retrained with regards to the screening process in hopes of speeding up testing.
Fears are mounting that this will negatively impact and already struggling economy, however President Edgar Lungu announced last week Friday that certain measures will ease, he had this to say “We have experienced reduced revenue and if the status quo remains the same, our economy will plunge into the worst crisis, I have therefore seen it inevitable to reopen cinemas, restaurants and gymnasiums,”
There is still much confusion with regards to Zambia’s lockdown as there is conflicting reports whether the country is or isn’t in a lock down.
Producing at a loss, South African Miners are becoming more and more concerned as the effects of COVID-19 are negatively impacting deep level mining in the country, last month government allowed deep level mines to operate at half capacity, this is however is not sufficient according to mining giant’s CEO of Sibanye Neil Froneman, he said “Labour intensive mines cannot continuously operate at these levels, so they will either have to restructure or shut down, you can’t keep on producing at a loss”
“We are causing more harm by constraining the economy than we are impacting positively on Covid-19,” said Froneman. “We have gone too far now; we now need to get the economy to start up.”
South Africa produces 75% of the world’s platinum and about 40% of palladium.
Sibanye which is the world’s number one platinum miner and Harmony Gold Mining Co. have ended guidance, whilst the likes of Anglo American Platinum Ltd. and Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. have slashed their output forecasts.
Chirundu delays have seemingly come to an end, just last week Zimbabwean officials were instructed to move down south and inspect vehicles sitting at truck stops in order to combat potential smuggling, by the weekend this resulted in a 27km queue and drivers further down were being robbed of their possessions at gun point, Zambian officials acted swiftly and came to assist in the control zones on the Zimbabwean side and by the beginning of this week the queue had been reduced to a 7kms, processing of drivers is now moving smoothly and its business as usual.
“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about learning how to dance in the rain”.
Trade Winds weekly update volume 4
Zimbabwe had announced on Sunday, plans to open a new stock exchange by using the attraction of Victoria Falls and turning the resort into an international financial centre which will be known as Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX).
Foreign investors have seemingly lost interest in the country’s capital markets, so the aim of opening VFEX is to lure investors back thus building global capital and targeting most specifically, the mining sector. VFEX will trade in foreign currency only.
The modus operandi is to mirror the likes of other offshore centres in Africa, such-as Mauritius, who is a standout offshore financial centre. Internationally, these types of centres are found in the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong and the EU (Luxembourg & Netherlands).
Frustrations mount as delays are being experienced at the Chirundu border. Zimbabwean officials have been instructed to move down south and inspect vehicles sitting at truck stops in order to combat potential smuggling thus resulting in slower processing at the “control zones”, in turn a queue has formed reaching a distance of 10km.
Just north, Zambia is still fully trading despite having 139 confirmed cases and 4 confirmed deaths due to the Coronavirus with no indication that the country will enter a lockdown anytime soon.
South Africa entered its first week of “Level 4” lockdown, as businesses slowly resume operations under very strict government regulations. Only a specified list of industries has reopened and most at a third of their work force. This coupled with the additional regulations surrounding work areas, PPE, health screening and social distancing has companies and individuals alike struggling to find their footing in the new business world. We must call on one another, not only as South Africans but as Africans to remain positive, hopeful but most importantly safe during this trying time.
“Unity, to be real, must stand the severest strain without breaking.”