Latest news with #DenisevanHuyssteen
Daily Maverick
17 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
Fighting back — cellphone providers and business collaborate to combat EC hijacking hotspots
Following several meetings to discuss rampant truck hijackings in the metro and surrounding areas, the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber and South Africa's (SA's) two major cellphone network providers have joined forces to make the Addo Road — an Eastern Cape crime hotspot — safer. After a spike in truck hijackings on the Addo Road in Motherwell, businesses began looking for solutions. A common factor reported by truck drivers hijacked was the lack of cellphone signal, which prevented them from calling for help. While tracking systems work in the absence of cellphone networks, data is not always sent out timeously in low-network areas. Recently, construction manager Victor Ngcobo was kidnapped on the R335 near Monument Crossing — an area identified as having a particularly poor signal. He was later found unharmed. Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber CEO Denise van Huyssteen said discussions around the hijackings also revealed that poor cellphone reception was contributing to the area's status as a crime hotspot. 'We asked two cellular network provider companies to do an assessment of the cellphone coverage in the area. One of the two reverted back with a report which indicated that there was a lack of coverage in the area, and that infrastructure upgrades would be required to address this situation,' she said. Van Huyssteen said the chamber had also approached Google Maps as the Maps App indicated that the R335 was the 'shortest route' to take visitors and tourists to Addo Elephant National Park. 'It automatically takes users on the shortest route to Addo, which means that incoming visitors to the metro travel there along the R335. We rallied our members to go onto Google Maps and log the road as a high-risk road. This resulted in the route being blocked and travellers being re-routed along other more safer routes,' she added. Zakhele Jiyane, Managing Executive for Vodacom Eastern Cape region, confirmed that the organisation was approached by the business chamber to see if there was something Vodacom could do to fix the cellphone network in the area. 'Vodacom has successfully completed upgrades on 11 base station sites in Addo in Sarah Baartman District Municipality and along R335, connecting Addo to Motherwell. Among these upgrades, four sites have improved cellphone coverage specifically for the Addo CBD, local police station, farming community, and the new Addo Spar center. The remaining six sites extend coverage along R335 road. Coverage '10% improved' 'Following our upgrades, coverage has improved by an impressive 10%, particularly on the R335 road. Furthermore, the upgrades have significantly reduced areas without service, and the network capacity has increased by 15%. This means more users can stay connected for longer periods on the network. 'Critically, as part of our commitment to support both the Addo community and local businesses, we have plans to improve connectivity in the area in this financial year. 'For example, we are planning to deploy high-power signal boosters to cover the remaining section without service on R335, and we will do this within six months. Secondly, we are planning to deploy additional base stations to help achieve full coverage for the Addo CBD, police station and community during the 2025/2026 financial year,' Jiyane said. He said the Vodacom Eastern Cape region had invested more than R500-million over the last financial year on modernising the network, energy projects and accelerating broadband coverage across the province, particularly in townships and deep rural areas of the province. R1bn long-term investment This is an investment totalling over R1-billion over two years and forms part of Vodacom's long-term vision, to have the widest and most reliable network accessible to all South Africans, he said. MTN SA, in written responses, confirmed that they would conduct a drive test to verify signal strength and identify gaps. 'Currently, MTN has 4G deployment at this specific location. MTN did experience operational issues at this location at the end of March and the start of April 2025, however the issue has been resolved. While MTN confirms coverage at this location, a further drive test will be done to test the service performance in the area. This test will be concluded within the next few days,' the statement continued. DM
Daily Maverick
06-06-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Maverick
Goodyear to shut down Nelson Mandela Bay manufacturing plant — 900 jobs at risk
After 78 years of manufacturing tyres in Kariega, Nelson Mandela Bay, the Goodyear factory will close. Restructuring that includes the closure of the company's manufacturing arm in South Africa will take place – Section 189A retrenchment notices have been served. The jobs of 900 workers are at risk and thousands of jobs from secondary industries are being threatened as Goodyear announced this week that it was closing its factory in Nelson Mandela Bay. The factory, in Kariega (formerly Uitenhage), was opened in 1947. About 900 employees will lose their jobs, but fears are that this will have a larger secondary impact as other industries, such as catering, security and corporate social investment projects will be affected by the decision. Company representatives would not answer questions on Thursday, but issued a general statement confirming that it was shutting down its manufacturing arm in South Africa. 'Goodyear is transforming its go-to-market strategy in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region to optimise its footprint and portfolio. 'As part of that transformation, Goodyear South Africa is launching a restructuring process in accordance with the provisions of the Labour Relations Act to address proposals regarding the closure of its manufacturing facility in South Africa and the realignment of certain sales, administration and general management functions. Goodyear South Africa will continue to maintain a sales and distribution, and Hi-Q retail presence in South Africa,' the statement read. 'This proposal is in no way a reflection of the commendable efforts or the years of dedication of our South Africa team, for which we are grateful,' the statement added. The process will be facilitated by the CCMA. 'As a company, we recognise our responsibilities towards our employees and their families and are firmly committed to acting fairly and providing them with appropriate support,' the company's statement continued. National Metal Workers Union representative Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said the union had not yet received a Section 189 notice from Goodyear. CEO of Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber Denise van Huyssteen said the chamber would assist workers through its job loss mitigation initiative. The initiative connects companies seeking artisans with those whose jobs had been made redundant. Previously, the chamber helped redirect employees of specialist tyre manufacturer, Continental Conti-tech when it closed its plant in Nelson Mandela Bay. Van Huyssteen said the chamber was saddened to receive the news of the Goodyear retrenchments at the Kariega factory. 'This comes just months after Conti-tech announced that it was closing its plant, and the Bridgestone plant closure of over four years ago. 'This highlights the massive pressure which tyre manufacturers are under due to enabling environment issues such as the logistics challenges; lack of service delivery at a municipal level; inadequate maintenance of electricity, water and sanitation infrastructure; increased costs relating to safety and security; above-inflation input costs for essential services such as electricity; as well as cheap tyre imports which are flooding the market,' she said. Nduduzo Chala from the South African Tyre Manufacturers Conference said that while he wanted to allow Goodyear to go through the process it had begun, he could say that trading conditions for local manufacturers had been very difficult over the past few years. The conference represents the four big tyre manufacturers in South Africa — Bridgestone, Dunlop, Goodyear and Continental. 'The market has been plagued with an unfair trade environment. It is a question of producers vs importers, and low-cost products have been introduced into the market,' he said. He said they had persuaded the government, even though it took more than a year, to introduce anti-dumping duties on China recently. 'It was a very unfair trading environment,' he said. 'But there are always loopholes, and the Chinese companies are now shifting operations to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. We then had to do the same for these countries,' he said. 'However, the sustainability of manufacturing has become challenging,' Chala said. DM
Daily Maverick
29-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
Citrus farmers: We are going nowhere
Chamber CEO Denise van Huyssteen set the tone with a keynote address outlining the metro's precarious financial position while also noting the success the chamber had achieved as a result of lobbying. 'South African farmers are going nowhere. We believe in the country and its people.' This statement from Hannes de Waal, the CEO of the Sundays River Citrus Company regarding farmers supposedly moving to the US as refugees, drew loud applause at the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber AGM on Wednesday evening. Despite global volatility, infrastructure failures and a challenging local investment climate, delegates painted a picture of determined — if guarded — resilience. De Waal's statement about farmers came during a panel discussion featuring agri-economist Wandile Sihlobo of Agbiz and Rand Merchant Bank economist John Cairns, moderated by The Herald editor Rochelle de Kock. When De Kock asked whether South Africa should be concerned about farmers leaving, De Waal — speaking from the audience — asked for the mic. He acknowledged that some South Africans were working in agriculture overseas, including in the United States, and that a few had even launched businesses there. But he firmly rejected the idea that this meant local agriculture was in retreat. He said his concerns focused on the rising barriers for young farmers trying to enter the sector. 'The cost of land and water has gone through the roof in the last few decades. That concerns us,' he said. 'So maybe our young farmers will find opportunities like some have found up in Africa. But it's going to take something special to move a big part of South African agriculture out of South Africa. It's not going to happen.' Sihlobo, who recently released a book on agricultural development, agreed with De Waal. Since 1994, he noted, South Africa's agricultural sector had more than doubled in size. 'Exports were sitting at $2-billion in 2000,' he said. 'Last year, they hit $13.7-billion,' he said, adding that employment levels had also risen. 'It's the complete opposite of what you'll see on social media,' he said. Sihlobo acknowledged the challenges South Africa has faced since 1994, but said key indicators like income had improved significantly, noting that South Africans were now 'one-and-a-half' times better off in terms of income. Bringing levity to the discussion, Cairns addressed the so-called Afrikaner 'refugee' narrative with a tongue-in-cheek comment about US President Donald Trump. 'Our president took the famous golfers to the US, but what many people don't realise is that President Trump is a big rugby fan,' he quipped. 'The 2031 Rugby World Cup will be held in the US — that's why President Trump has asked the Afrikaners to move there.' The room erupted in laughter. Earlier in the evening, Chamber CEO Denise van Huyssteen set the tone with a keynote address outlining the metro's precarious financial position while also noting the success the chamber had achieved as a result of lobbying. Van Huyssteen reminded attendees that 73% of the metro's electricity revenue came from businesses — a significant dependency given ongoing supply constraints and the municipality's projected R1.4-billion shortfall. Another key concern she said remained the lack of stable leadership within the municipality. 'There have been 19 city managers mostly in an acting capacity since 2016, of which 15 have been since 2020. She added that the Chamber would continue lobbying across all levels of government for this critical post to be filled. She said that the Chamber's lobbying had already paid off in some key areas, including a recent win on fuel pricing disparities. In the last quarter of 2024 Nelson Mandela Bay was rezoned from coastal to inland, resulting in higher fuel prices. This had since been reversed. 'This saved the local economy an irrecoverable loss of about R50-million a month over that period. This victory really highlights how easy rezoning can happen,' she said. Van Huyssteen also pointed to encouraging developments ahead, including a series of major events set to take place in the Bay in the coming months. Among them is the Naacam Show, a flagship event for the automotive sector, and the SA Automotive Week. DM
