BUSINESS MAVERICK: Sad end to talc mine illustrates SA’s small business crisis

  • 📰 dailymaverick
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 55 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 25%
  • Publisher: 84%

South Africa News News

South Africa South Africa Latest News,South Africa South Africa Headlines

BUSINESS MAVERICK: Sad end to talc mine illustrates SA’s small business crisis By Ray Mahlaka rayMahlaka

Business owners are despondent as some have embarked on mass retrenchments or the worst-case scenario of liquidation.

Scotia Talc Mine extracted soft and talc-containing rocks, which are first crushed and then milled into a fine powder which is used in products such as baby powder and automotive paint. Robert Greaves, a director of Chamotte, said the wage demands would amount to an increase of between 300% and 400% in the company’s monthly employment costs, or R400,000 a month.It is not remotely possible to pay that increase. The mine hasn’t had good years for three to four years now. In good years, we used to make R400,000 profit in a year.

Greaves said he had been threatened with violence by the Sheba Siding community whenever he returned to the mine to recover any remaining assets or talc stock. According to Statistics South Africa, the total number of liquidations increased by 53.1% in April 2019 compared with April 2018. Meanwhile, the estimated number of insolvencies increased by 30.1% in March 2019 compared with March 2018.Greaves’ conundrum and liquidation or insolvencies figures underscore how hostile South Africa’s operating environment is for business owners.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

peterthomas661 More andmore businesses will close; unemployment will skyrocket. That is the benefit the unions bring their members, and the unwilling passe gers, the non-members

This is soo 😢

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 3. in ZA

South Africa South Africa Latest News, South Africa South Africa Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

BUSINESS MAVERICK: Naspers approaches its existential crisisNaspers faces a pivotal moment; can it graduate from being a wild, somewhat haphazard, occasionally inspired tech investor to being a focused operator?
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

Business Maverick: Bitcoin Climbs Above $11,000 as Memories of Popped Bubble FadeBitcoin traded above $11,000 for the first time in 15 months, recouping more than half of the parabolic increase that captured the attention of mainstream investors before the cryptocurrency bubble burst last year.
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

Business Maverick: Monday, July 24: Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your DaySanctions on Iran, a blow to Turkey’s Erdogan, and a mixed start seen for markets. Here are some of the things people in markets are talking about today.
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

Business Maverick: Eskom’s Gain Is South Africa’s Pain as Investors Balk at DebtSouth African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s latest pledge to support Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. is good news for the cash-strapped electricity company -- but some investors are balking at the prospect of increased sovereign-bond issuance to pay for the bailout. 'The current debt-to-GDP trajectory does not look healthy at all.” No kidding. 😒
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

BUSINESS MAVERICK: Mozambique’s $20bn gas project: A boom that heralds a resource curse bust?Africa has a new petro-state, or gas-state. US energy firm Anadarko Petroleum this week gave the green light for the construction of a $20bn gas liquefaction and export terminal in Mozambique. The boom could double Mozambique’s GDP. But the shining examples of Angola, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea suggest that this hydrocarbon windfall could have catastrophic consequences for the country.
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

Just implementing existing plans will mark a ‘revolution’ in the state — Patel | Business | M&GIn an interview with the M&G after Sona, Ebrahim Patel outlined what he believes will be different about the new administration’s efforts to boost an economy that is shrinking — by 3.2% in the first quarter of this year — while unemployment rises. ...this idiot Ebrahim Patel has been 'trying' to 'develop' SA's economy - as Minister of Economic Development - for the past 10 years. He is one of the useless ANC clowns directly and personally responsible for SA's shrinking economy and the end of foreign investment. FireHim! This communist will lead us further into the 💩hole!! Venezuela here we come Patel has been in charge of economic development for years. There has benn no economic development in that time. To believe the man who oversaw the the decline can be the one to oversee the revival is ludicrous! It’s obvious he hasn’t got the capability!
Source: mailandguardian - 🏆 2. / 92 Read more »