COMMITTEES URGE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT TO ESNURE THAT TRANSFORMATION IS NOT DIMINISHED BY PROFITS
Parliament, Tuesday, 14 October 2025 – The Portfolio Committee of Trade, Industry and Cooperation, and the Portfolio Committee on Transport have urged the Department of Transport to ensure that transformation targets are not overshadowed by commercial profits at the Transnet Island View Precinct (IVP).
The committees were briefed today in a joint meeting by the Minister of Transport, Ms Barbara Creecy, on the Section 79 directive she issued, instructing the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) to conclude new 25-year Terminal Operator Agreements at the Transnet IVP, located in the Port of Durban, by 31 March 2026.
The IVP is a critical hub for South Africa’s fuel imports and storage. Minister Creecy informed the committees that she made this directive following extensive inter-departmental and stakeholder consultations, aimed at ending more than a decade of short-term lease extensions that discouraged investment in key port fuel infrastructure.
The committees scheduled this meeting after receiving complaints from several affected stakeholders within the petroleum sector seeking access to the IVP infrastructure. Their main concern was the potential impact of the directive on access to the fuel storage facilities for emerging black industry players, who are technically and financially sustainable.
At the centre of this directive is the involvement of the Central Energy Fund (CEF), which will progressively secure up to 30 percent of the precinct’s storage capacity over the next decade, beginning with 15 percent from September 2025. The CEF has been designated as the aggregator to facilitate access by emerging black players, who are technically and financially sustainable, to the storage facilities in the IVP, to broaden participation of all players, particularly new entrants and existing black-owned enterprises.
During the six-month lease negotiation period, the committees have requested that the department and Transnet ensure transformation criteria are integrated into these lease agreements.
The committees made the following proposals:
That the 54 hectares Ambrose Park fuel storage precinct, near the Port of Durban, be incorporated into the Port’s limits initiatives and have requested the department to provide timelines and details of how the incorporation will be done.
To reorganise IVP to be designated as an empowerment strategic necessity.
To rethink areas where adjustments are still possible before the final agreement is signed.
The committees acknowledged the complaints received from individuals and emerging black players, who are technically and financially sustainable, and agreed to give them an opportunity to coordinate their presentations at the next meeting.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON TRADE, INDUSTRY AND COMPETITION, MR MZWANDILE MASINA, AND THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT, MR DONALD SELAMOLELA.
Source : Parliament of the Republic of South Africa
