Sun City, 6 April 2001
Millions of years ago, before the time of the Children of Heaven, the African continent seethed and struggled its way out of the oceans that covered the earth's surface. Violent eruptions of volcanoes, the mighty movements of tectonic plates far below the surface, and mixtures of gasses, water, fire and wind, pushed huge volumes of rock and soil towards the sky. The story of how the earth, and Africa, came to be as it is today is a fascinating one, little understood and where scientists still expand the frontiers of our collective knowledge. What we do know, is that the range today called the Drakensberg, the highveld plateau, the sweeping grasslands of the Ngonyame Trust, and even the magnificent Valley of a Thousand Hills, the rivers that water our land, all have their origin in the violence of our geological past. The beauty of the surface hides the enormous wealth below in the form of the amazing variety and richness of South Africa's mineral deposits. Silver, platinum, zinc, copper, asbestos, diamonds, gold, phosphates and manganese, titanium and uranium deposits and many others are found alongside the mineral that is central to our concern tonight: coal.
Your Majesty, Ladies and gentlemen, we all know the value of these resources to the economic wellbeing of our land and its people. We are proud to be counted amongst the world's leading producers in many of these areas. But perhaps most important of all, we black people are more aware than many other people, that the wealth that is carried from the bowels of the earth to the markets of the world, has been carried on the backs of our migrant workers, and often, far too often, in the history of our mining industry, that wealth has been created through the blood, sweat and tears of our people.
The coal mining industry has not been exempt from terrible disasters, and many of us recall the horror of receiving news of death and injury at places like Hlobane, Vryheid, Sikame, Glencoe and others. As we celebrate tonight the world-class achievements of Spoornet in general and Coallink in particular, I want us to remember the human sacrifice that created the industry which the complex of railway lines that forms Coallink serves today.
The line linking the coalfields with Richards Bay is central to a much larger system of feeder lines. These days, and every day, with the exception of Christmas Day, 100 wagon trains converge on Ermelo from places like Grootegeluk, Thabazimbi, Eikeboom, Delmas, and Broodsnyersplaas. From places like Machadadorp, 50 wagon trains move south towards Ermelo. In Ermelo these convoys are merged into the fully-laden 2.5km long, 200 wagon trains, for the 580km march coastward. The sounds and sight of these sleek and powerful metallic songololos have become part of everyday life for the communities through whose land they pass. The nights are broken by the horns of the locomotives, the drumming of the wagons as they glide along, and the earth itself shakes beneath our feet as they pass. The line itself is a fine example of home grown technological and engineering skill, and its status in the world today gives us tremendous pride.
Today's celebration of the 25th anniversary of the coal line takes place against the backdrop of government's accelerated agenda toward the restructuring of state owned enterprises. This restructuring programme pays particular attention on the key input sectors of our economy - telecommunications, transport, and energy. The restructuring of the transport state owned enterprises is therefore predicated on the need to promote a seamless logistic chain noting that our efficiency in moving goods and products is becoming one of the key elements of enhancing our global competitiveness. It is our view in government that an efficient railway service, with lower costs and better service to customers, will undoubtedly give a major boost to South Africa's export competitiveness.
The operation of Coal Link is a clear reflection of a world class rail capability within Spoornet acknowledge by all of its peers as an efficiently run heavy haul long distance line. In restructuring the rail sector within SA, and Spoornet in particular, government will ensure that the chosen model of restructuring natures the existing capacity within Spoornet and continue to ensure a high class service provision to the various clients of COALlink - some of who are present here today.
COALlink is one of the most profitable specialist business units in the entire Transnet group with a rail network spread over 580 km delivering a total of 66,8 million tons of coal for the year ending March 2001. The high efficiency levels in coal link enable the coal mining fraternity to be competitive internationally thereby firmly locating South Africa as one highest exporter of coal in the world. As one of the cheapest producers of coal, we continue to be competitive on the export market generating a sizeable amount of foreign exchange.
As a shareholder, we are therefore proud of Spoornet's contribution in the coal industry logistics chain.
I thank you