South Africa: PetroSa Protest Ends With Arrests

The residents were arrested shortly after about 120 people started a protest march at a petrol station on the N2 highway near the refinery.  They were complaining about tenders and jobs going to “outsiders” for PetroSA’s 37-day annual maintenance of its gas-to-liquids refinery and offshore natural gas rig during the October shutdown period.  “The community said they believed they were not benefiting from job opportunities at PetroSA,” said police spokesman Captain Malcolm Pojie.

The marchers appeared in the Mossel Bay Magistrate’s Court yesterday afternoon and were released on free bail. PetroSA spokesman Russel Mamabolo said the company was surprised by the march, organised by a civic group called Sanco Mossel Bay.  “We didn’t know about the march until we heard about it from community members.”

Mamabolo said PetroSA had met local community stakeholders on numerous occasions and had explained how recruitment would be conducted for the firm’s shutdown activities.  “The company is now surprised that the issue of the employment of local people during shutdown, raised by Sanco, is brought to the fore while recruitment has not yet begun,” Mamabolo said.  Recruitment adverts, posters and pamphlets would be distributed within the community, he added.

Earlier this year, PetroSA appointed engineering management contractors Kentz and Grinaker LTA to oversee the R495-million annual maintenance programme at the end of next month.  At the time, shutdown manager Sesakho Magadla said the decision to employ outside contractors was made in 2006 to “mitigate the risk of contractor non-performance”.

PetroSA acting operations vice president Michael Nene said preference would be given to people from Mossel Bay and surrounding areas, “but the notion that people will be employed in big numbers is naive, especially during these tough economic conditions”.
Nene said very few general workers would be employed, but there would be opportunities for people with previous shutdown experience as well as qualified artisans.

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