Online Reporter
The Herald, 8 April 1981
The Government is to import new trucks to augment the existing national fleet to haul the expected hamper maize crop to depots and neighbouring countries, the Minister of Transport and Power, Mr Josiah Chinamano, said yesterday.
The decision was made last Thursday by a committee of Cabinet Ministers comprising Mr Chinamano and his counterparts from the Ministries of Agriculture, Commerce and Trade, Industry and Energy and Roads and Road Traffic, Posts and Telecommunications.
Mr Chinamano said in interview that the matter was now in the hands of the Ministry of Commerce and Trade which had been asked to allocate the necessary foreign exchange for the vehicles.
Because of the urgency of the matter, the vehicles will be “wheeled in” in complete form instead of being assembled here. He could not disclose the number of vehicles except to say there would be enough to move all the maize from all areas of the country.
“I can assure you that no maize crops will rot on the field” he said. “We discussed at length the ability of the present vehicles to carry maize from the farms and fields to depots, millers and neighbouring countries.
“We came to the conclusion that it is necessary to augment some of the old vehicles by importing new ones,”
The maize haulage would be largely by road because the National Railways of Zimbabwe did not have enough engines or rail trucks, said Mr Chinamano.
South Africa was withdrawing 25 locomotives it had leased to Zimbabwe and plans were afoot to replace them with new ones, although this would take time, the Minister said.
Mr Chinamano also disclosed that 140 black Zimbabweans had been recruited by Air Zimbabwe since Independence and that there would be complete racial parity among the airline’s air hostesses by July.
Lessons for today:
- The Government acted quickly to prevent maize from rotting in the fields by boosting the truck fleet. Leaders recognised early that the existing fleet was inadequate and acted before the crop was harvested.
- Dependence on foreign partners for critical infrastructure creates vulnerability. Zimbabwe relied on South Africa’s leased locomotives then their withdrawal exposed weaknesses in the rail system.
- Maize haulage required collaboration between several ministries. Five ministries sat together to solve one national challenge. Cross-government collaboration is essential for solving complex problems.
