Would be great if this was the case and these are only words.
Unless you have lived in Africa you may not have experienced such happenings in life as this is a common attitude. Enjoying today and no to worry about tomorrows problems is all too common and there is never a plan B or even a plan A in most cases.
Tomorrow should be about opportunities, but this is not the case here as when things go wrong they go seriously wrong. Planning ahead is very difficult as there is no consistency and why you live each day and face the challenges as they happen.
We have seen it with the National Grid where the infrastructure was run into the ground with no thought of maintenance and now why we are paying such a heavy price. One would have thought having started this back in 2008 that 14 years later things would have improved but in reality they are only getting worse. Over the last week the family business is situated in an industrial area and was hit with power cuts twice every single day during working hours. How is that good for business and thankfully they don't manufacture, but what about the ones that do?
After lockdown periods refineries were not up to speed and why many countries in Africa have shortages of various fuels. Senegal and Nigeria along with South Africa had jet fuel shortages. Senegal went as far as telling international airlines to have enough fuel on board for a round trip. Nigeria couldn't fly domestic flights. I read some where a country was having a shortage of kerosene so the government supplied jet fuel instead saying it was
perfectly ok for home use.
South Africa blamed the flood in Durban recently for why they have no jet fuel in Johannesburg. This is not the main reason as they have had shortages prior to March one month before the floods impacted the Natal region. Find an excuse and use it to the maximum effect to cover your inadequacies. Jet fuel comes via a pipeline from Durban to Johannesburg so why is there a problem?. The excuse is the rail tracks were damaged by the recent floods but it doesn't come via rail. Then the telling truth is they are expecting a shipment arriving at the port this week which only means they are rationing what they currently have. Lockdowns are not an excuse for no forward planning and someone dropped the ball.
Only 2 airports you should see are Oliver Tambo (JHB) and Kloten(Zurich) not Windhoek and Durban.
Things are so bad here now that international airlines are having to drop off passengers and fly off elsewhere with an empty plane to refuel. Lufthansa and British Airways fly either to Namibia or to Durban for refueling before returning to collect the next load of passengers. Swiss Air and a few others just collect the passengers as normal and fly the extra 2 hours plus 1 hour delay getting fuel as though it is just another flight.
A flight that started out 3 hours ago is only now flying over where it took off from which is insane. I feel sorry for the passengers as the flight is now nearly a 14 hour flight instead of just over 10 Hours.
This attitude is particularly raw with me currently as work wise we just cannot get enough raw material due to shortages. There is no competition due to high import duties which I find rather unfair if you cannot supply. The refinery that everyone relies on has no excuses but it looks as though it is run by amateurs. We honestly expect this to continue for another 12 months being short delivered due to no supply. How many businesses will be left in 12 months time?
What happened to forecasting and planning as there seems to be none present in all of the above scenarios. An airport with no fuel is an absolute joke and an embarrassment as the airlines know the real truth. They are the ones having to foot the extra costs of having extra flights.
All of these failings are having a direct impact on everyone as these inconveniences only mean that prices have to rise. The economy is shattered already and this is a type of self destruction causing millions to lose their jobs. Unemployment is the knock on effect and has a direct impact on the economy.