The founding spirit of small business in South Africa is based on “‘n boer maak ‘n plan“.
It seems this is becoming pervasive in our government owned entities following R600M worth of new railway locomotives having been delivered. That is only part of a R3.5B tender won under interesting circumstances by a Spanish company in the face of South African manufacturers suggesting around half the price. Nothing strange in that, as the water around these frogs slowly warms up.
What is interesting is that the locos are almost 30cm too tall for our railway infrastructure. Think about getting under our bridges and through existing tunnels, sure; but less obvious is the ability to safely, and without electrocuting drivers, staff and passengers, to travel long distances beneath sagging overhead electricity supply cables.
In the true spirit of South African tenderpreneurship the mistake is being transferred to being that of the engineers in a bygone (apartheid) era who
- built the bridges too low, or
- built the railway too high, or
- used railway lines which are too thick.
Not to be outdone by a “challenge” masquerading variously as incompetence, stupidity or corruption prompted opportunism; and to make broad based transformation a reality, the locos are all being adapted for South African conditions:
- They are being converted to soft top versions
- Suspension is being lowered with modified sub frames
- Low profile wheels will be fitted, and
- For the lowest, most incompetently designed apartheid bridges, trains will be stopped and the tyres deflated.
This last option is expected to create thousands of new jobs in the form of tyre deflators, tyre inflators on the exit of the bridge, and newly registered train guards.
And finally, I kid you not because this sort of satire cannot be made up easily…. The Spanish manufacturer of this locomotive has called it the AFRO4000 series.
The South African conversion will be known as the ChiSKOP3.5GTi.