Transnet hits out at Richards Bay operators

He has taken umbrage at the refusal of the “few players that got the concession” to allow the “small guys” to take their coal through the port.

His comments came on the back of a “disastrous meeting” with BHP Billiton where the company refused to allocate an extra 1m tonnes of annual export allocation to junior black miners.

However, as a privatised terminal, Mr Molefe recognised that the shareholders were entitled within the terms of their contract to refuse the request.

Mr Molefe confirmed that the port authority is considering using part of Richards Bay port to make space for the small miners even though he admitted that would be “counter-productive because we have a state asset — the biggest coal terminal in the southern hemisphere — that has been given to the private sector for the sole pursuit of their own self-interest and nobody else”.