Parastatal and privatesector plans to mine coal on Botswana’s eastern border and ship it out via rail linkages in South Africa are in place and all that now needs to be done is for the authorities to put pen to paper. Unfortunately, that’s where one of the continent’s longest developments in the making, mining some 212 billion tonnes of finegrain coal halfway between Gaborone and Kasane on Botswana’s northern border, can be likened to an old steam locomotive slowly chugging out of the station. Transnet Freight Rail’s general manager of capital planning, Brian Monakali, told FTW everything was in place. “We have done the necessary feasibility studies and we’re 70% into the concept studies. We’ve even done the memorandum of understanding (MoU) and we’re only waiting for it to be signed.” Asked whether there was any indication when that might be, Monakali, who also heads up the International Heavy Haul Association (IHHA), said he hadn’t heard anything. “All I can tell you is that we’re waiting for the authorities to sign the MoU.” Once all the contracts have been inked and tenders have been awarded to private-sector concerns, the Botswana-SA coal partnership could herald one of the most significant bilateral collaborations, concentrated on sending vast quantities of raw minerals out via the Port of Richards Bay. As for sporadic criticism that South Africa was not serious about regional integration in the face of developments around the African Continental Free Trade Area, considering that Botswana’s coal will most likely bypass the Maputo corridor, Monakali said that wasn’t necessarily the case. “If needs be we will ship it out via Mozambique, but for the time being we’re concentrating on the coal terminal at Richards Bay.” Speaking at the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry in July, Moshie Ratsebe of the Botswana Trade Investment Centre, described the coal mining venture as the “single biggest thing” on his country’s development agenda. At the time, he confirmed that Botswana Railways (BR) CEO, Leonard Makwinja, had even stood up in Parliament saying: “It’s the one project that we’re definitely going for at the moment.” Because of the price tag attached to taking a railway line of around 150 kilometres from Botswana’s Mmamabula coalfields through to Martin’s Drift northwest of Laphalale (Ellisras) – an estimated $300 million – BR had shelved plans to take a line all the way around to its border with Namibia. When Ratsebe confirmed that those plans were “off the table”, they had been in the pipeline for at least a decade. And if that’s not an indication how important it is for land-locked Botswana to unlock its coal potential through South Africa’s rail and ports network, consider Monakali mentioning the development in the same light as all the tech talk dominating conversation among IHHA delegates. Earlier this year, when the body met in Norway’s Arctic Circle in a town called Narvik, there was much discussion around automated trains and such 4th industrial revolution-type things. But there was also talk of TFR’s dreams about coal, the very thing many say causes polar ice caps to thaw. For now though, the world hasn’t lost its appetite for fossil fuel – at least not entirely – and Botswana appears poised to fulfil demand. Why the powers that be are sitting on the BotswanaSA coal MoU, is difficult to understand. “All I know is that we’re done meeting and talking,” Monakali said. “We’re ready to go.”
