COEGA

A major player

THE need for an entirely new SA port has been convincingly spelt out by National Port Authority CEO Siyabonga Gama, and Coega will fulfil the brief precisely.

According to Gama, who was quoted in the latest Engineering News, the new generation of giant Supermax container carriers, which will be plying international routes in the near future, cannot be accommodated in existing ports, even if they are upgraded.

Gama said Coega would be a regional pivot for container shipping and could feed ports all the way from Luanda in the west to Djibouti in the north-east.

Coega will be built to a depth of 17,5 metres – deep enough to handle the largest of the future generation ships.

It is surprising that the Coega Development Corporation, which has had to fend off a lot of negative publicity, has never exploited this information.

Whether there truly is a need for another major SA harbour has often been used in arguments against Coega, which has been referred to as a white elephant in the making.

But clearly the need is extremely real if this country wishes to remain a competent future container shipping destination.

As Gama says, we have plenty of break-bulk terminals, lots of terminals with storage sheds, but the future is in containers, and that is where SA must invest. It also becomes clear that the deep water port and the Coega IDZ are no longer inextricably linked.

Nevertheless, the two would complement each other and with Coega the national receiving and departure point of much of the country’s international cargo, any exporting manufacturer on the spot should score. It now remains to get it all up and running as soon as possible.

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GUN RUMPUS

Simply not cricket

WHY should it be necessary for anybody to take a gun to a cricket match?

This is a question which EP cricket authorities must answer and act upon without delay.

We’ve had idiots who have taken weapons to rugby games – and that, we hope, has now been finally cracked down upon. But a gun at the less emotionally charged game of cricket is surely unnecessary.

What reportedly happened at Pirates Cricket Ground in Victoria Park ground would violate every ethic of the game.

We certainly don’t need fighting on the field, which seems to have provoked the gun incident in which, it is alleged, the father of a Bethelsdorp player ran onto the ground to point his firearm in threat to their rivals, though he disputes this account.

It’s up to the cricket bosses to ensure that this matter is probed at once, with a salutary message going out to club committees and spectators everywhere.

Weapons at cricket matches are simply not to be tolerated.

Unless this is made absolutely clear, the nonsense will escalate in violation of every tradition of what should be a civilised game.

This matter goes far beyond the Bethelsdorp and Pirates players and the supporters who were at the match. It is one which must be discussed and acted on in the highest body of Eastern Province cricket.

Chirping from spectators will surely never cease. But they must control themselves.

And firearms should be banned at any match.