The job losses are stacking up at a phenomenal rate. Now it is Aspen starting a new round of retrenchments, with more than 900 jobs on the line.
It has already retrenched more than 200 workers in the past 12 months. The closure of Goodyear’s operations in Kariega left more than 900 people jobless.
ArcelorMittal SA (Amsa) is shutting down its long steel unit at the end of September, resulting in 3,500 job losses and affecting a further 100,000 jobs downstream.
Ford Motor Company SA is also cutting nearly 500 jobs at two of its plants in the country — the Silverton assembly plant in Pretoria and the Struandale engine plant in Gqeberha.
These are not just numbers but people with families to support, bonds to pay and car repayments to make. The trauma is immense for the soon-to-be or newly jobless.
There are other companies affected by retrenchments, including Glencore and Assmang.
The repercussions are huge, with each company closure or downscaling of operations also resulting in job losses downstream among parts suppliers, service providers and related businesses.
The impact is catastrophic.
But what is the government doing to mitigate the losses and support those who suddenly find themselves unemployed?
Speaking in Gqeberha recently, Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi suggested that vacant government buildings be turned into business hubs for retrenched workers to use their skills to support their families and create jobs.
This is an excellent idea which needs government and municipal buy-in.
In Kariega, former ambassador Smuts Ngonyama, with prominent business leaders and community figures, is working hard to keep investment in the town.
“The most important thing about Goodyear is that it has activated determination and motivation for many of us, sons and daughters of this town,” he said.
The newly formed Kariega Development Forum has rallied former employees, residents and national stakeholders to find investors to take over the plant.
They don’t have much time, with Goodyear giving grace of just two months before it sells off the machinery.
Whatever happens, and we hope they are successful, the never-say-die attitude is truly inspiring.
Though jobs are being shed left, right and centre in SA, the fighting spirit that has emerged is heartwarming.
Now the government needs to come to the party — with action, not words.
A good place to start would be clamping down on the flood of cheap imports and doing everything it can to revive — and protect — our own industries.
The Herald
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