The freight and logistics sector is changing face. More women are at the helm – and speeding ahead.



For many years, the logistics and trucking industry in South Africa was dominated by men until a young woman from Durban saw a gap in the market and took the opportunity to overtake them. They didn’t see her in their rear-view mirrors, speeding ahead.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://www.forbeswomanafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Nicci-Scott-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-41461"/><figcaption>Nicci Scott</figcaption></figure>



Nicci Scott is today the founder of Commercial Transport Academy (CTA), a program designed to help students enter the trucking industry. In an industry where there are few women even now, she is a formidable force.&nbsp;&nbsp;



In 1995, at the age of 21, Scott started Siyaduma Auto Ferriers, which she says was the first female-owned logistics company in South Africa. This was soon after the country had gained democracy and women were unheard of in the industry. But she had been an entrepreneur long before that. At the age of 18, Scott started a business and sold it for just enough to go to work in the United States where she spent two years.



“While I was there, during the sanctions that South Africa was exposed to, I got to experience services that I had never seen before, like delivery services. These were services we never saw in the country, especially where I grew up,” says Scott.&nbsp; She returned home, worked for a car rental company for three months, and during that time, saw a gap in the market. The company she worked for moved cars based on bookings, so she saw that as an opportunity to provide these companies with drivers.



That epiphany marked her entry into the industry.



These rental companies would either use labor brokers, who would just drop-off the cars, or use big car carriers which would load the cars on to trailers restricted to 80kmph, and there was nothing in between, she says.



She started her own car delivery service and her list of clients kept increasing.



Her clients didn’t want to work with labor brokers anymore because there was no screening process – drivers with licences who were barely vetted for their criminal records were allowed to drive.



Scott offered a 90-minute turnaround time and that grew the business immensely.



“The big organizations at the time were running like a cartel and they were ignoring me until they couldn’t anymore and these were men, it didn’t matter to them that I was a woman. There was no charter to develop women back in 1998; no one was doing anything to help women in the business,” she says.&nbsp;



What was key to her was that she was only as good as her last delivery. Every damaged vehicle was an absolute personal failure, so she had to make sure that all was perfect.



However, while the technology on passenger vehicles was improving, she had to find a new market and the technology on trucks hadn’t evolved as much.



“From around 1999, I moved on to the trucking side and offered the very same service solutions to deliver trucks and the industry had never ever seen such a turnaround time,” she says.



Her first customer was MAN Truck &amp; Bus.



She then started phasing out the passenger vehicle market, sold the various regions that came under her purview to the young entrepreneurs and branch managers she had being working with for long.



For her, the commercial trucking industry was far more engaging and stimulating because her services were new to them and Siyaduma Auto Ferriers was innovative.



“In 2008, there was the recession, and by 2009, my business lost 54% market share within three months, not to somebody else, but because trucks were not sold. There were more trucks parked in South Africa than trucks on the road,” she says.&nbsp;



Again, the company had to look at how they were going to reinvent themselves to survive the recession. There was a lot of innovation from the industry during that time to try and cut costs, recalls Scott.



In 2011, the industry started revving up again and business was doing well. But by then, it came to a point where she was totally exhausted as an individual.



“I had made the worst mistake any entrepreneur could make; I had worked myself to the point where I was sick, I then decided to sell,” she says.



The business was making a turnover of R100 million ($6.7 million), employing 280 people in 2018 and Scott sold the 23-year-old business to One Logix and became part of a big organization.



She now truly wanted to develop young startups and wanted to give back the opportunity that was given to her in 1995.



The CTA became her new focus; she left the organization to focus on the academy. She started with Volvo with the very first program training 20 men, but at the same time, she knew she wanted to be a catalyst for change.



Her goal was to curate an academy focused on the development of men and women, with a special focus on women in the transport sector, offering bespoke training.



“We are currently running a program with Volvo called Iron Women, it takes women with a Code 10 driver’s license and then a Code 14; they then do theory about operating a combination vehicle successfully and safely,” she says.



Then, they are incorporated into the workplace and train for three months, driving all kinds of trucks. “I then go into the market and find them jobs and at this point, there has been 80% employment,” says Scott.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Nthombizodwa-Khumalo-inside-one-of-the-many-trucks-she-can-operate-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42678" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Nthombizodwa-Khumalo-inside-one-of-the-many-trucks-she-can-operate-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Nthombizodwa-Khumalo-inside-one-of-the-many-trucks-she-can-operate-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Nthombizodwa-Khumalo-inside-one-of-the-many-trucks-she-can-operate-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Nthombizodwa-Khumalo-inside-one-of-the-many-trucks-she-can-operate-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Nthombizodwa-Khumalo-inside-one-of-the-many-trucks-she-can-operate-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Nthombizodwa-Khumalo-inside-one-of-the-many-trucks-she-can-operate.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption> Ntombizodwa Khumalo </figcaption></figure>



Ntombizodwa Khumalo from Sebokeng, a township in the south of Johannesburg, is one of the 80% women now employed as drivers.



Before that, Khumalo worked in a hotel, booking in drivers from parts of southern Africa. The inquisitive Khumalo would page through some of the truck manuals that she would find in their rooms.



About two years later, she heard from a friend that a mining company was looking to employ women. Out of the eight women that were interviewed and tested, she was one of four that got an opportunity to work for the firm in 2007.



Khumalo had never driven a truck in her life and received her Code 14 driver’s licence and a certificate to operate a truck.&nbsp;



“It was a success because they found that women drivers were better than male drivers, we were reliable, we were not involved in accidents, barely take sick leave or come to work with a hangover,” says Khumalo.



The 36-year-old was operating a dump truck in and around the mine.



In 2012, the contract ended and she was left unemployed. It was not easy gaining employment with logistics companies because she was a woman.



“This was until I met Nicci Scott, she made it easier for companies to trust that as women, the job can be done. Today, I am driving all industrial trucks all around South Africa for an international soft drink manufacturing company.



“Safety-wise on the road, you always have to be alert of your surroundings, and now, we have drivecams (cameras), but we also have convoys, we are never alone. So I feel safe on the road,” she says.



Khumalo is working towards getting her own fleet and becoming an entrepreneur.&nbsp;



The transport industry has seen drastic changes over the last few decades and thankfully, there are women in leadership positions too, specifically in road freight.



Matlhodi Senyatsi, Director: Logistics Infrastructure, of the National Department of Transport (DoT) in South Africa, has a commerce background and has been in the industry 10 years now.



Her work focuses on policy and regulations in the transport industry. Her portfolio revolves around freight, the movement of goods and services, and coming up with new policies or reviewing existing ones.



“We engage the industry and stakeholders to reach a consensus and after that, we take the processes to cabinet and portfolio committee to say this is what we think needs to happen in the industry from the policy point of view,” says Senyatsi.



That being said, going back to 2008, former transport minister Jeff Radebe had stated the sector would change the face of transport. The South African Network for Women in Transport (SANWIT) was established the same year.



“This umbrella body was established as a strategic vehicle to engage business and government on issues that impact on women in the transport sector, including entrepreneurship,” said Radebe in a statement.



Indeed, this has happened and Lebo Letsoalo is a perfect case in point.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="851" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Lebo-Letsoalo-201-1024x851.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42679" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Lebo-Letsoalo-201-1024x851.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Lebo-Letsoalo-201-300x249.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Lebo-Letsoalo-201-600x498.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Lebo-Letsoalo-201-768x638.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Lebo-Letsoalo-201-1536x1276.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Lebo-Letsoalo-201.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption> Lebo Letsoalo </figcaption></figure>



Letsoalo is a supply chain coach, a thought leader in the sector, from procurement all the way to transportation and the logistics subdivision.



She currently runs her own organization; Sincpoint, founded in 2016.



The company offers integrated supply chain solutions in the industry. It also enables knowledge, skills and experience to assist in the development of procurement, logistics, information systems and distribution among other fundamentals.



A few months after Sincpoint was founded, she also founded AWISCA (African Women in Supply Chain Association), a non-profit organization, with the focus of building technical capacity and skills through mentorship.



“Part of what I do as a mentor and coach is focus on skills development; we develop capacity around the supply chain sector. I am passionate about supply chain and have being in the industry for 18 years. I started my career doing media studies and after the first year, I dropped it because it wasn’t in sync with what I wanted,” says Letsoalo.



She, therefore, researched the future around certain careers, and the one that caught her attention was the supply chain sector. Her focus was always logistics, she says.



“During my third year, I was recruited into the industry and worked for my first big corporate company as a procurement officer. Over the years, I was moving companies and getting promotions and eventually worked as a senior manager at a mining company. The last organization I worked for was a petroleum company as a general manager for one of their business units, was then promoted&nbsp; to vice-president for supply chain running the logistics of the chemical sector which was about 60% of the organization’s income.”



She learned as an employee that the industry is male-dominated and realized there was a bigger gap in upskilling, especially around logistics and procurement; she built relationships and currently contributes to upskilling in the sector.



Today, she employs six permanent staff and works with about 10 associate companies, including freelancers.



The name, Sincpoint, came about synchronizing all the subsectors in the supply chain industry which are driving the GDP, and AWISCA was created for students, women, entrepreneurs and professionals.



“With the student chapter, we have partnered with universities that drive the transport economy, logistics, supply chain, and we have a memorandum of understanding with these institutes. We prepare them [the students] for the workplace and also show how you can be an entrepreneur in this sector, like owning a truck in road freight and going into the clearing and forwarding business,” she says.



Letsoalo goes on to add the issue with women driving trucks are the safety measures. “If you are a woman and you have to drive from Johannesburg to Cape Town, you are not allowed to drive non-stop, they need to rest. So the concern of having women on the road has always been a challenge. There is the issue of rape or cargo getting stolen while they are resting, but now the landscape is changing. There are a whole lot of young women that are looking to driving, and trucks have cameras now so that drivers can be monitored. Technology has played a major role in terms of safety for women,” says Letsoalo.



However, in the number of years that she has worked and managed in this sector, she has never met a female truck driver moving freight, although, there are a number of female truck owners.



“It’s an entrepreneur’s space,” she says.



The issue of women empowerment has brought a lot of opportunities for women and Senyatsi testifies to that.



“In the late 1980s, there was a deregulation of the law that trucks were not allowed to move certain commodities, and out of that, we saw a lot of trucking businesses mushrooming,” says Senyatsi.



She says anyone can get into the business; it just depends on which type of business you are interested in. What the DoT finds is that it is easy to get into the industry and people want to own trucks without looking at factors like maintenance and management.



As government, they are looking at making sure there are quality regulations in the industry.



The Road Freight Strategy document will regulate that everybody competes on an equal footing, be it male and female, and this will highlight that owners are properly operating, the truck is serviced regularly, the driver is competent, trained, and also have a person who manages the business for the owner if the owner has other priorities.&nbsp;



“We find a lot of women in the clearing and forwarding business because you don’t have to have a lot of money to start, you must just understand the trade. In the value chain, there is insurance, maintenance and not just owning a truck, people seem to think that those trucking industries are not as important,” says Senyatsi.



The journey for women in this space has just begun, and they are here to stay.

Trucks parked at the One Logix facility in Kempton Park, Johannesburg

Heels On Wheels

It’s a business that has seen blood and conflict. It’s an industry that’s blocked the streets in anger. Yet, with more than 15 million customers a day, it can make you a fortune. That’s why people in South Africa are fighting over the taxi industry.
In Johannesburg, known as the City of Gold, the taxi business can mean gold for the grandchildren… or can it? As South Africa goes through tough economic times, the owners of this industry are also feeling the pinch. Conflict is brewing. Most drivers are angry with the threat of a strike looming nearer each day.
The customers aren’t happy either. Every day, millions of South Africans move through the thousands of taxi ranks around the country. They may struggle to do so in future. Many are struggling as the cost of using taxis keeps increasing.
“If you’re looking from one where I’m from, it’s already R18 ($1.35), so that makes it R36 ($2.70) a day just to get to Johannesburg. Sometimes I catch two taxis, so we’re talking plus minus R60 ($4.50), R70 ($5.30) a day,” says a commuter at the Noord Taxi Rank, one of South Africa’s busiest.
“If the taxi fare were to go up I would cry because that means everything will go up as well,” says another.
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The numbers tell the story: 40% of 56 million South Africans use public transport.
Nine million people take buses, two million use trains, and the taxis get the lion’s share, with over 15 million customers a day. Sixty nine percent of all homes use minibus taxis. That’s almost a staggering 5.5 billion taxi trips every year.
In an office far from the honking horns of the streets, Sihle Mkhize is fighting for his fellow taxi drivers. Mkhize owns six taxis and is the face of the biggest taxi association in the country, Faraday Taxi Association.
“I can’t give you the exact number but we have over 3,000 taxis, because we have 114 taxi ranks and routes. Because of the capacity of the routes we have, we are the biggest association in South Africa,” says Mkhize.
<div id="attachment_33907" style="width: 511px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33907" class=" wp-image-33907" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Taxi-594-e1508395960509-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="501" height="332" />Toyota Quantum taxis drive through Johannesburg. (Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla)</div>
The Toyota Quantum is a four-wheeled fly in the ointment. It came to South Africa from Japan in 2006 with its price tag around R220,000 ($16,700). The government encouraged everyone to buy them to modernize the industry. By 2008, it escalated to R300,000 ($22,800), which was a worry for drivers.
“There was a complaint that because the Quantum is too expensive at R300,000, Toyota should rather build them from scratch here in South Africa. They agreed and there was a six-month period where the Quantums were out of the market. They then came back in November 2015 at a heftier price tag of R360,000 ($27,400). At the beginning of this year, in January, it was R400,000 ($30,400),” says Mkhize.
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It’s even worse now. The Toyota Quantum is now manufactured in Durban, with its price around R500,000 ($38,000). Not too far shy of the price of a house.
“There’s no difference now, whether they assemble it here or not. We wanted Toyota to build it here so it can be cheaper; instead it’s more expensive now. It’s a burden because it now wants a R15,000 ($1,150) instalment. In our line of work, it’s difficult to increase taxi fare because we understand that the commuters using our taxis get paid next to nothing where they work,” says Mkhize.
The organization that fields these complaints in the taxi industry is the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO). It represents more than 100 taxi associations in the Gauteng region alone, and is the biggest taxi union in the country. Ralph Jones, its Chairman in Johannesburg, is threatening to strike.
“Let us have a strike which will target SA Taxi Finance, where they were charging a lot of interest rates at 28%. Their repayments were over six years, at R15,000 ($1,150), so when you calculate that it’s an amount over R1 million ($76,000). How can you buy an asset that costs around R500,000 for over R1 million?” says Jones.
The man whose job it is to try to help people afford these taxis is David Hurwitz, the CEO of Transaction Capital, which provides financing for the taxi industry.
“Our cost of funding to our clients is higher, our offering is higher than a bank&#8217;s. Our finance would be at about 24.9%, that would be the interest rate. We are about 6% higher than a bank,” says Hurwitz.
<div id="attachment_33908" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33908" class=" wp-image-33908" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Taxi-575-e1508396103497-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" />Taxis in Johannesburg. (Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla)</div>
Hurwitz says this is due to financing people who banks wouldn’t fund, which makes the risk higher. In negotiations, lower rates will come at a cost.
“What we’ve said to the taxi industry is that we will drop our rates slightly. Unfortunately what that means is that a certain segment of our customer base that typically would be able to qualify for funding, now won’t,” says Hurwitz.
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Then there’s government. Many claim that all of this is merely government trying to phase out taxis by the backdoor.
“At the forefront of all of these issues, we are certain that this is another way that government is trying to phase out taxis. They want us to struggle paying for these cars so they can be repossessed. In order for us to be able to afford them, we have to increase prices for our passengers, who will then run away from us and go on buses, the very buses government is introducing,” says Mkhize.
“We carry the same passengers, same as buses. But because government wants to see us defeated, it puts us together with private cars on the roads and we face heavy traffic, while buses have designated lanes. All this to take away passengers from us and send them to buses, another way of phasing us out because no passenger wants to be late to work,” says Mkhize.
FORBES AFRICA made repeated attempts to get the government’s side of the story, but unfortunately these attempts proved fruitless.
It’s the biggest mover of people in South Africa, and across the continent. Millions depend on it for transport to and from work. It could be heading for chaos and conflict. A taxi strike could halt business in South Africa, losing the country billions. If not faced head-on, the industry that moves most African people could be remembered as the industry that caused all the trouble.

The Taxi Tumult

Piloting the new Alfa Romeo Giulia along a four-lane highway, you may suddenly be transported to a game drive in Madikwe. That’s if you don’t keep to your lane.
Lane assist is always alert to make sure you don’t stray from the path and emits a sound resembling a warning call from the hippo pool if you cross the dotted line.
I was about to attack the “settings” department to see if there was an alternative sound. But then decided that the imitation hippo was a lot more refreshing than the common beep!
And there is much about the Giulia, runner-up to the Peugeot 3008 as Europe’s Car of the Year, that is refreshing – apart from the name.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-5662 aligncenter" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2017-Alfa-Romeo-Giulia-Quadrifoglio-badge-01-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />
Would Lady Gaga have 66 million Twitter followers if she was Lady Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta? And would there be as much mystique and anticipation about the new Alfa Romeo Giulia if it was called a C-class, 3-series or A3?
Compared to the boring Teutonic monikers, the Italian name conjures up images of passion, style and performance. But does the four-door Giulia sedan deliver?
On the wallet front the Giulia is very well placed among its obvious rivals in a cash-strapped global economy. The base price for the perky two-liter petrol with 8-speed automatic transmission is a touch over $40,000.
In terms of ABS (Adrenalin Boost per Second), the rear-wheel drive Alfa probably shades the base models of the pretenders to the throne, with acceleration of 6.6 seconds for the traditional 100.
In the style of some airline meal options – yes or no – you don&#8217;t have to spend too much time considering kilowatt alternatives; the petrol is the only engine choice for now.
Where you have a world of choice is with the trim levels taking you from Giulia Base, through Super to the top-of-the range Stile Pack, with more features than you can throw a memory stick at, for an additional $10,000.
But enough of the dollars and cents. After a long gestation period, will the new model light the fires of the Alfisti and bring new converts to the brand?
True to the Alfa ethos of a convergence between design and passion, the slit-eyed Giulia has expressed the trademark “Trilobe”design on the frontend in a stark and pulse raising fashion.
And the simple, sculptured lines take you to the rear – which is, well, rather ordinary. It’s an area where many manufacturers fail to make a statement.
But if you’re looking for a clear statement, open the driver’s door and try not to be enchanted – especially if you have chosen those unbelievably comfortable seats in red and black, with matching trim.
The message is that the driver comes first and that is reflected in the simplistic, yet elegant, styling of the fascia, instrumentation and controls.
In fact there is a challenge here – I don’t think you will find such starkly clear indications of the basics – speed, revs, fuel and temperature – in any modern vehicle. In black and white, without the glitzy option of changing colors to reflect your mood!
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5664" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2017-Alfa-Romeo-Giulia-Quadrifoglio-rims-01-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />
And the large “Rotary Pad” command infotainment screen – which blends into the dash rather than popping up awkwardly, is supremely simple to operate without spending hours reading the manual.
Right, time to buckle up and take off. The start button is on the unique Alfa steering wheel (which seems to make sense) and there is the option of selecting Dynamic, Natural or Advanced Efficiency on the DNA dial.
Dynamic is probably where you want to dwell – unless you’re in heavy traffic or frightened by fuel bills. It favors performance and response, with more reactive steering and noticeably rigid suspension.
I can’t say the acceleration is blistering – maybe exhilarating is the right word – as there is a slight turbo lag.
And you wouldn’t want to hear the word smooth relating to performance – it’s like calling a fellow “dapper” instead of “suave”. You can feel those gear changes that are all an element of Alfa attitude. But you won’t feel the whiplash of being ensconced in the tiny carbon fibre tub of the 4C!
That’s unless you can get your hands on the Giulia Quadrifoglio Verde, or QV for short, the 2.9-liter Bi-Turbo V6 version that is gunning down the BMW M3 and Merc C63 AMGs.
This awesome sub-four second sedan comes in at around $100,000 and the price tag has not deterred local enthusiasts. The 46 initial Race and Launch editions were sold out before they touched down and the 45 units of the regular QV are disappearing fast.
The pocket rocket 4C was the opening act of the Alfa Romeo revolution and one questions whether there will still be a demand for the minimalist street racer, which sold strongly after the 2014 launch.
“Many of the initial 4C buyers have indicated that they are in the market for the Giulia. The 4C is a very specialized car that’s not particularly suited for everyday driving and the Giulia is a family car that also satisfies from a dynamic point of view,” says Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Media Liaison Manager Richard Sloman.
The man firmly in charge of the FCA Group is the Italian-Canadian with the magical motoring touch, Sergio Marchionne.
He gained loads of street cred for turning around the Fiat group, in less than two years at the helm, and drove on to form a strategic alliance with Chrysler which pulled the Americans out of a deep pit.
But the Alfa part of the family was a headache and failed to produce a profit during his decorous decade. So, instead of throwing in the green, red and white towel, he hatched a plan to go it alone with a host of daring new models.
Not a budget plan either… a $5 billion investment for an eight car line-up and a sales target of 400,000 units by 2018. That’s more than five times the 2013 production!
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5665" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2017_alfa_romeo_guilia_dashboard-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" />
Since production started at the Cassino plant in central Italy, the Giulia has enjoyed excellent sales in Europe and America. And, in the iconic words of Bachman-Turner Overdrive, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Their first production SUV, the Stelvio, has recently been launched overseas to rave reviews.
Named after the curvaceous mountain pass in northern Italy, the Stelvio should land in southern Africa late this year.
“We believe the Stelvio, as with Giulia, is going to stir things up in the segment, particularly when the QV version arrives in 2018,” says Sloman.
“This car, like its Giulia sibling, is going to take the fight to the likes of Porsche, Merc AMG and BMW’s M Division, with the target to be the fastest SUV in its class, not to mention around the Nürburgring in Germany.”
If the vision for Alfa Romeo stays on track, the audacious Marchionne will have orchestrated another motoring miracle. He can then eventually retire as one of the most successful automobile executives of the era.

Savior Giulia

Last year, South Africa’s aviation sector contributed R74 billion ($6.6 billion) to the country’s annual GDP and sustained around 230,000 jobs across the entire value chain, making it the largest on the continent.
However, the safety of the industry was questioned when allegations of death threats and illegal aircrafts operating without airworthiness certificates were made against the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in October.
These claims were sparked when a parliament reply revealed that only 42% of the aircraft in the CAA register have been issued with airworthiness certificates.
This certificate verifies that an aircraft is safe to fly and without such documentation, an aircraft should not be able to operate. Aviation in the country is divided into many subsections, including the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SA CAA), the Commercial Aviation Association of Southern Africa (CAASA) and the Recreation Aviation Administration of South Africa (RAASA).
When asked by a member of the opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), the minister of transport, Dipuo Peters, revealed that there are 12,500 registered aircraft in the CAA but only 5,300 have been issued with airworthiness certificates.
Negative headlines swarmed the media and the CAA quickly released a statement denying the allegations. They claim that the information from parliament was taken out of context.
According to Leon Dillman, the CEO of CAASA, the details that were provided to Peters and her shadow minister were incomplete. Peters was, however, correct in saying that 42% of aircrafts registered with the CAA have airworthiness certificates. That 42% consists of all commercial planes and airlines. However, what the minister failed to mention was that aircraft used for different purposes qualify for different types of certificates.
The remaining 52% of the aircraft on the register have authority to fly certificates and are typically used for personal or recreational purposes or are vintage or ex-military aircraft. Dillman added that there are fewer than a handful of aircraft that might not be accounted for after being sold, exported or written off and this is something that just needs to updated on the system.
Dillman believes that the biggest problem in the CAA is their inability to process airworthiness certificates efficiently.
“If you do a modification on an aircraft, the process at the CAA, in my books, takes too long. They need to streamline this process as it’s causing issues within the industry,” he says.
One of the biggest allegations the CAA is facing is the whereabouts of the general manager of safety operations, Anton Richman. He disappeared when he received death threats, after reportedly running investigations within CAA. After asking about Richman’s employment status, and who is currently fulfilling his role, the DA received no feedback. The political party declined to comment on the matter as they are continuing with investigations.
Richman says he has resigned but denies running any investigation within the CAA.
“I wanted to pursue a career change, which I have done, following five and a half years as the general manager of air safety operations and two years before that as advisor to the CEO. The director of civil aviation and the board of the CAA were fully supportive of eradicating fraud in the organization and it was in that context that I was taking disciplinary action against an employee in the division I was responsible for,” he says.
“It was during my notice period, that I received threats against me and my family. The matter was referred to the relevant authorities for investigation. The CAA was highly supportive of me and the wellbeing of my family during that difficult time. As a result of the threats, it was agreed that I serve the remainder of my notice period working from home. I left on good terms with the CAA and I support the action that the leadership of the organization has taken to ensure good governance and legal compliance by its employees.”
Colin Jordaan was asked to stand as CEO of the CAA, after their first major audit by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) at the end of 2007, to get the organization up to standard and pass the re-audit.
“We spent a lot of time making sure that the team that was there for the re-audit understood the bigger picture,” says Jordaan.
During his time as CEO, the CAA passed their second audit and retained their Category 1 status.
Jordaan says that safety within the aviation industry in South Africa is not in question and that if there was something to worry about it would be dealt with immediately by the various governing organizations.
He, however, does share Dillman’s views on improving the process of obtaining and renewing certificates. Jordaan says many pilots have become frustrated with the gruelling process of taking care of their certificates. Some are even opting to register and renew in other countries where the process is less complicated and faster.
Jordaan also mentions problems within the CAA regarding its board members and management.
“You need people that have respect in the aviation industry. Somebody that is doing oversight on SAA needs to have experience flying an Airbus A340 rather than just a simulator and doing a course in Talos. You need to have credibility, that’s the bottom line.”
All questions surrounding the issues of safety in the aviation industry have been put to rest and all numbers were accounted for. The CAA scored very high on its most recent audit by the ICAO and there do not seem to be any concerns around safety at this stage. However, one thing that would be appreciated by some in the industry is  the improvement of the certification process.

Flying Through A Storm

It’s been some time since cars have been viewed strictly as a mode of transport; most consumers buy into a brand, rather than simply deciding which vehicle they need to shuttle them around on a daily basis.
Many prestigious manufacturers have branched out into creating clothing, luggage and other such items for brand-loyal customers, and some manufacturers have even extended their design expertise into unrelated fields. The aim here is less to do with pure profit but rather as a means to showcase their creativity and problem-solving techniques.
BMW Group is one of the few car companies in the world that has its own design studio that focuses on non-car related products. In 1995, BMW Group acquired Designworks USA and began looking at how the two facets could complement one another.
Creative solutions are also a hallmark of Porsche’s philosophy. Back in 1972, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche founded Porsche Design, with the aim of applying his company’s Bauhaus-inspired thinking to other impactful projects.
Michael Griffin, owner of the sole Porsche Design shop on the African continent, says one of his main aims is to educate the South African consumer that Porsche Design isn’t simply a case of putting logos on shirts or sunglasses. The success of the product range conceived by the luxury sports car manufacturer can be seen in the phenomenal sales achieved by the Siemens Breakfast Series. More than 1.3 million kettles were sold worldwide, which far exceeded the expected 100,000 units. Not only were the items aesthetically pleasing and exclusive, they also functioned well.
Probably the greatest, most inspirational and complex creations ever undertaken by an automotive manufacturer is Ferrari World on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, the largest of its kind, covering an unprecedented 200,000m2. It was officially opened on November 4, 2010, and can fit seven football fields head-to-toe. If placed upright, it would be the tallest man-made structure, at 300 floors. The theme park also houses the fastest rollercoaster ride, Formula Rossa and allows adrenaline junkies the chance to experience the same G-forces as they would in a Formula One car.
Not to be outdone in the architectural realm, Porsche is looking at creating its own Design Tower, a $560 million structure that will be built in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida in the States. It will be the world’s first condominium complex with elevators that’ll take residents up to their units while they sit in their cars.
Ferrari has famously commissioned several vehicle designs from the world-renowned Pininfarina. Founded in 1930 by builder Battista “Pinin” Farina, the company has branched out into producing sporting goods, furniture, equipment, machinery, consumer products and even tried their hand at packaging.
BMW has become involved in remarkable creations such as the Intermarine 55 Yacht. This luxury vessel draws on the inspiration and insight carried over from the group’s knowledge of cars; it features stainless steel air intakes and a rear wing spoiler.
Partnering up with the United States Olympic Committee, BMW North America produced a two-man bobsled that raced in the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT) World Cup in Austria on January 19. The Bavarian car manufacturer paired lightweight materials with optimized aerodynamics.
Other genres that BMW Group Designworks USA has forayed into run the gamut of consumer electronics, environments and medical.
In addition to making writing instruments, luggage, smoking items, sunglasses and watches, Porsche Design has helped manufacture products such as bottle packaging, dentist chairs and fetal sonar scanners.
The company originally came up with the first black chronograph watch in 1972, which sold 50,000 times more timepieces than Rolex. Six years later, their exclusive sunglasses range went on to shift an unprecedented six million units worldwide, not to mention the range favored by Yoko Ono that was produced in 1979.
While the sale of cars is ultimately the biggest money-spinner for these companies, non-automotive revenues generate an increasingly impressive profit. In 2012 for example, Porsche’s worldwide car sales topped out at €3.02 billion ($3.9 billion). By comparison, sales stemming from Porsche Design hit the €100 million ($130 million) mark, that’s a jump from €79.8 million ($103.7 million) in 2011.

Tag: Transport

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