Parliament, Monday, 13 August 2018 – The Portfolio Committee on Economic Development today heard that retrenchments in the mines surrounding the Sun City Resort have had a grave impact on the resort.
On day one of its week-long oversight today, the committee met with Sun City management to discuss ownership, management, job creation, enterprise development, the number of entrepreneurs and black-owned bed and breakfast establishments and guest houses in the area.
The committee heard that Sun City is highly dependent on disposable income in communities living in the surrounding area, and the looming threat of retrenchments at mines such as the Impala Platinum mine, which retrenched about 2 000 miners in 2017, poses a big risk for the resort.
Sun City currently faces a revenue shortage of R100 million and bookings are around 30 per cent lower compared to the previous financial year. This downward performance poses a major threat to the staff of around 10 000 people, including service providers. The resort itself has a staff complement of around 4 200 permanent staff, 1 300 casual staff employed through labour brokers and 1 200 casual staff employed by Sun International.
The resort also faces a number of other challenges related to mining in the Pilanesberg area close to the resort, road-works on route to the resort that have been on-going since 2010, and the issue of land-use management between traditional authorities.
The committee was told that despite these challenges, the resort has given a lot of attention to developing local entrepreneurs. About 70 per cent of the resort’s construction and maintenance budget is spent on local broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) companies in the area, while the resort has also given business to two black, female-owned companies.
Sun City management has also liaised with competitors to streamline strategies to increase the impact on local entrepreneurs. The committee heard that one of the challenges in employing B-BBEE companies is around ‘fronting’, where black employees are given shares/ownership merely to get business, something which the resort has had to be vigilant about and to report to local authorities when it occurs.
Sun City resort management committed to providing the committee with a report on ownership and a more detailed analysis of the resort’s effects on local entrepreneurs and businesses. The committee will continue to engage resort management on the challenges raised to assist in enhancing the economic development of local entrepreneurs and communities.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE ACTING CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, MR MOSIE CELE.
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Name: Felicia Lombard
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