Transport and logistics

A regional airport could become an international hub.

Sector Insight

The City of Cape Town wants to revive rail.

lead with the establishment of a Mobility Department.

There are plans to make more use of Hoedspruit Airport, the airport that is most often associated with the Orpen Gate of the Kruger National Park. In 2022, 61 000 of the people who passed through Hoedspruit were European tourists but there is potential to increase this traffic substantially. CemAir offers flights to Johannesburg and Cape Town and Airlink connects to destinations such as the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, Maun in Botswana and Vilanculo in Mozambique. The Limpopo Department of Transport and Community Safety is working on a strategy to develop the airport to further boost the tourism sector.

The Polokwane International Airport (PIA) is wholly owned by the provincial government and run by the Gateway Airports Authority Ltd (GAAL), an agency of the Department and Transport. It has the potential to be an important regional cargo airport.

In the Western Cape, the administrations in charge of the City of Cape Town and the province have plans to better coordinate transport. The City of Cape Town conducted a feasibility study in 2022 on taking over the management of passenger rail services from PRASA. The city wants to have a fully-integrated system, which would include rail.

In 2022 the city’s Urban Mobility Directorate published an updated Comprehensive Integrated Transport Plan (CITP), outlining the strategies and plans for improving the transport environment in the metropole for five years to 2028. The Transport and Urban Development Authority (TDA), located within the municipality, is responsible for planning, costing, contracting, regulating, monitoring, evaluating, communicating, managing and maintaining the City of Cape Town’s transport infrastructure, systems, operations, facilities and network. The provincial government is following the city’s

Online Resources

African Rail Infrastructure Association (ARIA): www.aria.org.za Airlines Association of Southern Africa: www.aasa.za.net

South African Heavy Haul Association: www.saheavyhaul.co.za

Large amounts of money are to be spent on various forms of public transport in the short term. Investments in rapid transit systems in the big metropolitan areas are being followed by cities such as Polokwane and Rustenburg. In Limpopo’s provincial capital of Polokwane, operations of the Leeto La Polokwane public transport system were launched in 2021.

The South African Department of Transport has several agencies and businesses reporting to it.

Among them are Air Traffic and Navigation Services Company, Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), National Transport Information System, Road Accident Fund, South African Civil Aviation Authority, South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA), South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) and Passenger Rail Agency of SA (PRASA).

South Africa has 22 000km of railway lines and 747 000km of roads, 325 019 heavy-load vehicles and the road freight industry employs 65 000 drivers. There are 135 licensed airports in the country, 10 of which have international status. ■