{"id":862483,"date":"2026-06-04T09:11:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T07:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=862483"},"modified":"2026-06-04T09:11:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T07:11:33","slug":"another-497-jobs-on-the-chopping-block-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/862483\/another-497-jobs-on-the-chopping-block-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Another 497 jobs on the chopping block in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Wesizwe Platinum has launched a Section 189A retrenchment process with organised labour, affecting about 497 employees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said the process follows its board’s decision to discontinue its 1 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) production strategy with immediate effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company will now pursue a revised development strategy based on a single-stage ramp-up to a 3.5 Mtpa operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new strategy thus reduces the number of employees required to establish and sustain the production profile contemplated in its new business plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As per its plan to improve operational efficiency, the Bakubung Platinum Mine has been determined to need a restructuring of its workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said that the restructuring would “ensure the effective and sustainable operation
of its business and to achieve a meaningful reduction in operating expenditure.”

“The proposed restructuring is expected to affect approximately 497 employees across various staff levels and disciplines throughout the business.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said it will engage with affected stakeholders to consider all possible measures and alternatives to avoid or mitigate potential retrenchments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the group warned that Bakubung’s preliminary assessment is that viable alternatives to workforce reduction are limited. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Maintaining the current headcount of 706 employees would not constitute a reasonable or sustainable course of action,” it said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It would fail to address the company’s operational challenges and its imperative to implement
efficiency measures and restore a trajectory of profitability and growth.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To ensure meaningful engagement during the consultation, the group will temporarily halt all operations at Bakubung for three weeks, while continuing to maintain the site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Bakubung remains committed to engaging constructively with all relevant stakeholders in order to mitigate the impact on the remainder of its operations and its employees,” the group said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company has faced several challenges in recent years, including a suspension of trading on the JSE in 2025, which is still in effect<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thousands of jobs lost<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The latest round of potential retrenchments follows a clear pattern in the platinum industry over the last few years, where thousands of workers have been laid off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, Anglo American Platinum, now Valterra Platinum, retrenched around 3,700 employees at its operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Valterra said that the retrenchments were made to improve the group’s operational excellence and sustainability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, Impala Platinum (Implats) also started a Section 189A process, with 3,900 jobs on the firing line at its offices and at the Impala Rustenburg, Impala Bafokeng, and Marula operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This came off 1,000 job cuts in the second half of 2023. Implats CEO Nico Muller said that the PGM sector was hit in 2023, with businesses further impacted by persistent inflationary pressures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fellow mining giant Sibanye Stillwater had also cut 11,000 jobs from its workforce from 2023 to 2024, with 4,000 of these employees at the group’s South African PGM operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa is home to around 80% of the world’s PGM supply, which has been a major economic contributor for several decades. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are question marks over the industry’s future, given the fact that electric cars, unlike their internal combustion engine counterparts, don’t need PGMs to lower their emissions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite long-term concerns, PGM prices have skyrocketed over the last year amid supply issues in South Africa and increased stockpiling by industrial companies amid fears about global trade. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Platinum Prices over the last five years (USD)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wesizwe Platinum has started Section 189A proceedings, with the group warning that it sees no viable way to save close to 500 jobs. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":862486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[25543],"class_list":["post-862483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-wesizwe-platinum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862483"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":862491,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862483\/revisions\/862491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}