Labor unions have threatened strikes over the job cuts at mining firms as well planned reductions at a numerous state-owned companies.
JOHANNESBURG - South Africa’s gold and platinum mines will shed around 90,000 jobs in the next three years as above-inflation electricity price increases by power utility Eskom add to already soaring operating costs, an industry body said on Monday.
Job cuts are politically sensitive in the South African economy where a quarter of the labor force is unemployed, while power outages and steep price increases by Eskom are set to hurt an already fragile growth outlook. Energy regulator Nersa said in early March Eskom could hike tariffs by 9.41% in the 2019, 8.10% in 2020 and 5.2% in 2021, far less than Eskom’s request for increases above 15% in each of the three years.
Once the largest contributor to South Africa’s gross domestic product, mining has shrunk steadily over the last decade with hard-to-reach deposits, high wage settlements and uncertainty over ownership laws deterring investors against a backdrop of slack global demand.
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