Jeremy’s weekly wrap: Mining hurdles and the infrastructure cliff

From freight reform and mining investment to water security and HIV funding, this week’s key interviews on Moneyweb@Midday painted a picture of a country still at an inflection point. The common thread was not simply pressure, but the consequences of delayed reform, fragile infrastructure and shifting global support.

At the centre of the logistics story was Michelle Phillips, Group CEO of Transnet, who signalled cautious optimism as private operators begin entering South Africa’s rail and port system.

After years of declining freight volumes, Transnet has conditionally awarded slots to 11 private operators, including participation at Durban’s Pier 2 terminal. Phillips stressed that collaboration with the private sector is essential to lifting freight volumes toward the 250-million-tonne target by 2030.

The shift marks a structural break from a closed state-run model toward shared infrastructure access, aimed at restoring reliability to exporters in mining and agriculture. The business case is clear: logistics efficiency is a direct lever for GDP growth.

You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.

That theme of constrained growth continued in mining. Bongani Motsa, acting chief economist at the Minerals Council South Africa, warned that exploration shortfalls and infrastructure bottlenecks are clouding the sector’s outlook.

Africa’s share of global exploration spending has dropped sharply over the past decade, and South Africa now attracts less than 1% of global exploration capital. Motsa pointed to rail inefficiencies, port congestion and policy uncertainty as deterrents to long-term investment.

With global demand rising for critical minerals tied to the energy transition, the country risks missing the next commodity cycle if it cannot improve regulatory clarity and logistics performance.

You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.

Infrastructure fragility was most stark in Johannesburg’s water crisis. Dr Ferrial Adam, executive director of the NGO WaterCAN, described prolonged outages across parts of the city as a lived experience of “day zero”, driven not by climate alone but by systemic infrastructure failure.

Ageing systems, maintenance backlogs and governance weaknesses have eroded public trust. Adam argued that what residents are facing is an infrastructural disaster requiring urgent, coordinated intervention rather than incremental municipal responses.

You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.

Meanwhile, a different kind of structural vulnerability emerged in the health sector. Zohakiy Mbi-Njifor, CEO of the EndlessLife Group, outlined the impact of US HIV aid reductions, which have left a R4 billion funding gap in the NGO sector.

While government has pledged partial support, the shortfall threatens service continuity, community programmes and employment in the health ecosystem. The cuts reflect a broader global funding reset, forcing South Africa to confront the sustainability of externally funded health programmes.

You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.

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