Transnet

Railway development

Railways were first developed in the area surrounding Cape Town and later in Durban around the 1840s. The first line opened in Durban on 27 June 1860. The initial network was created to serve the agricultural production area between Cape Town and Wellington. The news that there were gold deposits in the Transvaal Republic moved the Cape Colony Government (supported by British Government) to link Kimberley as soon as possible by rail to Cape Town as part of the colonial dream.

In the Union of South Africa (31 May 1910 – 31 May 1961), consisting of the four earlier colonies: the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Orange Free State and Transvaal; all railways in South Africa finally became unified as a state-owned railway system in 1910 when the Central South African Railways, the Cape Government Railways and the Natal Government Railways were all fused by an Act of Parliament (South Africa Act 1909). Thus was born the South African Railways and Harbours (SAR&H).

South African Transport Services

On 31 May 1961 the Union became the Republic of South Africa. By 1981 government decided that the SAR&H should restructure itself along business lines in order to evolve from a state-owned corporation towards privatization. Later, when commercial aviation started, the South African Airways also became a part of this huge land, sea and air transport system. Integral to the process was a change in the name and image of the organization, which would reflect its new mission as a state business enterprise. In April 1981, the country's railway, harbour, road transport, aviation and pipeline operations became known as South African Transport Services (SATS). At the same time, the enterprise was restructured into units and divisions with strong emphasis placed on localized management.

The "Legal Succession to the South African Transport Services Act, 1989" transformed the South African Transport Services from a government department into a public company. On 1 April 1990, after 80 years of government and parliamentary control, SATS received company status.

New Company

On 1 April 1990, a new company representing a vast transportation network was born, and appropriately named TRANSNET. Transnet Limited is a public company of which the South African Government is the sole shareholder.

Transnet is currently made up of:

Transnet Freight Rail (formerly Spoornet)

Transnet Engineering (formerly Transwerk)

The primary divisions of Transnet include:

Transnet National Ports Authority (NPA) and Transnet Port Terminals (formerly SAPO) own and operate the country's main seaports

Transnet Pipelines - principal operator of South Africa's fuel pipelines

Transnet Freight Rail railway operator - freight service

Class action lawsuit by its pensioners

A group of 66,000 pensioners have instituted a civil claim to recover about US$6.5 billion they claim Transnet plundered from their pension funds. The group has accused Transnet of stripping the Transnet Pension Fund and Transnet Second Defined Benefit Fund of its assets and mismanaging them to such an extent that the funds were unable to meet their obligations to members. They have also accused Transnet of attempting to dissolve the pension fund. Increases to pensions have been limited to 2% for close to the past decade, reducing most of the pensioners to poverty.