TGSG: The Transport Geography Study Group of the Institute of British Geographers

TGSG: The Transport Geography Study Group of the Institute of British Geographers The furthering of international links with other transport geographers is a major aim of the TGSG. The Britishbased committee has co-opted several corresponding members who represent research interests in Transport Geography around the world. In this issue, Charles Kunaka, University College London, reports on a transport topic of critical importance in southern Africa.

Drought and transport developments in southern Africa Although there arc a number of transport issues of interest in southern Africa at the present time, the most important relates to the international dimension of freight transport. The past two years have seen a critical focus of attention on freight operations in southern Africa for which there are three major and interrelated reasons, namely, the drought of 199192, regional trade developments and political conflict in several parts of the region. The drought which afflicted southern Africa during the 1991-92 agricultural season tested the region’s transport systems to their fullest capacity. Some of the affected countries, such as Zimbabwe, exhausted their

Journal of Transport Geography

staple food reserves of maize soon after it was realized that harvests were going to be extremely poor. It became imperative that food imports were brought in to avoid mass starvation. While procuring relief supplies from outside Africa was not a serious probIcm, distribution was dependent on the region’s internal transport system. During the 19XOs, this system had received substantial amounts of foreign aid for a major rehabilitation programme. However, due to inefficiency and security problems, the network had failed in its aim of enabling the SADC countries to reduce their dependence on South Africa. Concerns were expressed that it would be unable to increase its capacity and cope with the distribution of I2 million tonnes of imported food, mainly from the Americas, which was needed to avoid mass starvation in the region. Effective coordination of transport organizations through a regional committee consisting of representatives from each state combined with the full exploitation of multimodal opportunities saw the region’s infrastructure coping exceedingly well in distributing food imports. This was achieved by utilizing all of the SADC region’s functioning ports and road and rail corridors, in addition to con-

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tinucd dependence on the central role of South Africa’s ports and railways. Overall, the drought made governments and transport planners in southern Africa realize the full potential of the region’s transport infrastructure. It confirmed that with more stringent management and greater modal coordination, the network could operate efficiently. Consequently, further efficiencies arc now being explored, especially the need to reduce border delays and the casicr payment of transit fees. However, the drought made an even greater impact by pointing the way forward towards greater cooperation between a postapartheid South Africa and the SADC member states. The collaboration which took place during the drought relief effort facilitated diplomatic contacts which, although informal, will prove invaluable as the political changes in the region gather even greater momentum.

University

Charles

Kunaka

College

London

Reference Pirie, G. (1993) ‘Transport, food insecurity and food aid in sub-Saharan Africa’, Journal of Transport Geography, l(l), pp. 12-19

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