The Minister of Employment and Labour, Ms. Nomakhosazana Meth, has noted with grave

concern, the ongoing retrenchments, resulting in heavy job losses. ArcellorMittal South Africa (AMSA) is set to shut down by the end of September, resulting in an estimated 3500 job losses and a further 100 000 jobs downstream.

Ford Motor Company of SA has also announced plans to cut 474 jobs at two of their plants in the country; with 391 operator positions at the Silverton Assembly plant in Pretoria, 73 at the Struandale engine plant in Gqeberha and 10 administrative roles at both facilities.

This comes shortly after the closure of Goodyear tyre producer due to a global restructuring, which resulted in the loss of 900 jobs and many other similar retrenchments announced in the vehicle and mining sectors in the recent past. Unfortunately, the Department did not receive an application from Goodyear SA and as a result, we were unable to intervene.

On AMSA, the Department has been part of ongoing efforts by key stakeholders including the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to intervene and mitigate job losses at the steel giant. A significant funding allocation of R416,838,844.46 from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) under the Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) to support 2,982 employees was secured in May 2025 for AMSA.

However, the company is adamant about proceeding with the wind down. AMSA had hoped to secure further funding, which they were unable to secure. In the absence of securing the funding, the UIF funding did not materialise as our agreement is conditional upon a company providing a guarantee that they would not effect any retrenchments.

The primary purpose of our mandate is to preserve jobs; therefore, part of the condition is that companies cannot enter a retrenchment process whilst undertaking a turnaround strategy. Hence the deal collapsed. It is unfortunate that we have reached this point with AMSA, but we remain committed to the intervention strategy.

On the matter of the South African Post Office (SAPO), the Department secured R381 million through the same UIF programme to provide immediate financial relief to 5,956 employees, while enabling SAPO to implement a sustainable turnaround strategy over a six-month period.

We are pleased to announce that we were able to intervene decisively with the SAPO turnaround strategy, which is proceeding smoothly.

Through its programmes, such as the Business Turnaround Strategy, the Department of Employment and Labour provides intervention strategies for struggling companies. However, the sluggish economy due to global factors such as trade wars, higher tariffs and reduced manufacturing, present huge challenges for the creation and sustainability of jobs.

“As Employment and Labour, we are committed to our mandate of promoting employability, job creation and upskilling, which will ultimately contribute towards economic development. An example of a successful programme is the support and funding of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative," says Minister Meth.

The Department has contributed R4,013,000,000 (over four billion Rands) in funding towards the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative aimed at supporting the Education Assistants' programme for the employment of more than 140 000 unemployed youth from across the country. The Youth commenced their duties on 1 June as education assistants and general school assistants in public and special needs schools.

The Department is working closely within Government's broader Economic Cluster to find solutions to the challenges, as the matter requires an intergovernmental and multi-sector approach, including the business sector, to conquer.

“While there are some successful programmes implemented currently, we are gravely concerned about the reported job losses in some sectors. These are not just numbers, but people with families and children to support and put through school. We will continue to do everything possible within our mandate, to provide the requisite support to struggling companies and contribute to unemployment reduction," says Minister Meth.

ENDS//

Media enquiries:

Ms. Thobeka Magcai, Ministry Spokesperson. Email: Thobeka.Magcai@labour.gov.za | Mobile: 072 737 2205

Issued by:

MINISTRY OF EMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR

DATE: 2 September 2025​

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