COMMENT
It’s time to
support the locals
I
Leon Louw
[email protected]
There are those
who, despite
the challenges,
see opportunity,
and pursue their
vision”.
www.equipmentandhire.co.za
n a constrained economy it is of the
utmost importance for a government
to make it as easy as possible for
locally based small and medium sized
enterprises (SMEs) to operate. Sadly, the
opposite is happening in South Africa.
The country has not seen any
significant SME growth, not in any of
the economic sectors. Existing SMEs
have to deal with exorbitant increases in
input costs, while a labyrinth of rules and
regulations, sky-high upfront capital costs,
and a portcullis of bureaucracy, awaits
those entrepreneurs eager to start a new
business in the country. Yet, there are
those who, despite the challenges, see
opportunity, and pursue their vision. To
start a new venture, whether it is a quarry,
a farm, a contractor in the construction
business or an equipment manufacturer in
South Africa, you need hair on your teeth,
an innovative means to finance your needs
and, maybe, just a little luck.
In this months’ issue of Plant Equipment
and Hire, we feature two companies that
have weathered the worst five years
in South Africa since the late 80s, and
although, by no means out of the woods,
they have shown enormous resilience,
and continue hammering away at the end
goal. Rham Equipment has become a top
manufacturer of underground equipment
in South Africa, and despite competing
with the likes of big multinational OEMs, is
holding their own in a tough market – read
their story on page 32. For some reason,
large mining houses remain reluctant to
procure locally manufactured equipment,
especially underground equipment, but this
is changing to a degree.
Ironically, Gwede Mantashe’s Mining
Charter 3 is lauded by local manufacturers,
as it will provide them with, at least, some
sort of head start against foreign owned
OEMs. These companies have been
operating in the inside lane for many years,
as they are able to negotiate far better
financing deals and pay-back packages
than the financially constrained local
manufacturers are able to do, so maybe it
is time we start supporting South African
companies more. But that is a discussion
for another day.
I visited a small quarry just outside
Cullinan this month and what an eye-
opener it was. Small-scale sand mining is
not for the faint-hearted, not in South Africa
anyway. Nevertheless, a shoestring budget,
illegal mining, mafia-like intimidation,
bureaucracy and corruption could not
stop the team at AST (see page 12) in
bringing their sand quarry into operation,
and they continue mining with a fleet of
used equipment that they revamped and
diligently maintain in-house to keep the
crushers crushing.
Who says you need a big budget
to build a fleet of decent equipment?
Or that you need expensive, brand
new yellow metal with all the bells and
whistles to be successful? Hats off to
both these companies. They create jobs
for South Africans and continue doing so
despite immense pressure in the face
of adversity. We need more of these in
South Africa, and we need to support them
unconditionally.
Leon Louw
Editor
OCTOBER 2019
1