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Cape Town - South Africa's mining sector is in trouble with massive job cuts on the cards, commentators weighed-in heavily on what appears to be a downward spiral.
Fin24 commentator Lourence Manyama laid the blame on companies which, in his view, paid huge dividends during good times, and fired people in bad times.
The rand's decline to R20/£ sparked a level of pessimism among commentators not often seen. Commentator Jarod Matthews saw a R1 000 note on the horizon.
Commentator Eric Torr continued on the same trajectory as SA's biggest gold union was forecast to reject a pay offer.
"At this rate I see only hardship, utter chaos, unemployment, rand falling further and total destruction of the economy looming. I give this economy another 24 months before we are in a similar boat as Zimbabwe," he said.
Top ten user comments on:
Ramatlhodi implores mines, unions to save jobs:
1. Lourence Manyama - In good times they pay huge dividends, and in bad times they fire people. Why not build reserves in good times to compensate for bad times. Its people's lives you are messing with here. We will re-issue the licenses to the Chinese companies. Western companies are greedy and don't care about the livelihood of the natives.
Cancel all Glencore mining rights, urges EFF:
2. Anton Martin - If your house was on fire and you asked the EFF to help, they would throw petrol on it.
3. Sagren Naidoo - British pensioners in SA are smiling all the time
4. Jarod Matthews - R1 000 note here we come.
5. Albert Otto - I live here in the US now and can tell you what’s happening. America loaned itself a few trillion around 2008, all in good faith. Problem is, if they don’t pay themselves back the world economy will fail.
The only way to pay back this “loan” is by hiking interest rates. They kept the interest rates very low from 2008 through 20015. This was during the recovery, because they were paying themselves back (kinda) and didn’t want to pay too much interest, but now, this economy is recovering and they are in a corner to seriously address the “loan” (read deficit).
During 2008 through 2015 the world’s money flowed to developing nations in search of good returns or interest. Now that the USA is starting to talk the same game the world’s money will start flowing here, and developing nations will really struggle.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t, if America didn’t loan itself some money we would ALL be back in the Stone Age now, but because they did there will be some pain, here and in the rest of the world.
But probably not so much here as in the rest of the world, because we make the rules and play the game…So there you have it, we spent our way out of this recession and now everybody will have to pay for it.
Mining sector in trouble, says Ebrahim Patel:
6. Ndabeni Diego - The mining sector is in trouble because there was never any trust between mine managers and their employees, because of greed and exploitation. Had mine managers learnt to treat their employees fairly and respectfully, it would have been much easier for a compromise to be reached when outside factors were impacting on the industry.
Instead we have a situation where mine managers have abused their employees for decades and never thought of bringing them into their confidence as partners or stakeholders, and now that things are not going well, they want to appeal to the mine workers.
SAA names Mpshe as acting CEO:
7. Nikki Downes - This article really makes her sound very junior. However she has a post grad education in business management and a B comm in business management and industrial psychology.
The role she had held at SAA is General Manager, Human Resources. I feel she has the experience and the knowledge to babysit this division for a few months.
I don't think she will be required to be the next strategic visionary in SAA aviation. She's there to stabilise.
Floating power stations can tide SA over during electricity crisis:
8. Shaun De Sousa - Oh my goodness here is a temporary solution to load shedding debacle. Yet once again government and Eskom dropping the ball. Probably waiting for the big wig consultants to broker a deal tenfold more than the actual price and then pass it on as a solution.
SA's biggest gold union said to reject pay offer:
9. Grant Montgomery - One the major problems is inflation. When I arrive in SA in 1982 my gross salary (before deductions) was R1 200. On that, I was able to pay a bond, car HP. Today, a miner who gets R5 800 a month, free accommodation, medical and transport claims can't get by. It's the government's job to keep inflation down.
10. Eric Torr - At this rate I see only hardship, utter chaos, unemployment, Rand falling further and total destruction of the economy looming. I give this economy another 24 months before we are in a similar boat as Zimbabwe.
Disclaimer: All letters and comments published in MyFin24 have been independently written by members of the Fin24 community. The views are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent those of Fin24.
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