Vaal business thanks AMSA CEO for positive role

Government has imposed import duties on certain steel products, the last of the Brics economic bloc to protect their steelmakers from a flood of job-destroying subsidised Chinese imports.
The Vaal Business Chamber (VBC) this week also thanked Paul O’Flaherty for his “unceasing efforts to save steel and engineering jobs in the Vaal and indeed throughout South Africa” after import tariffs were officially published in the Government Gazette on Monday.
“I will join thousands of breadwinners and families in thanking Paul O’Flaherty for his leadership efforts in fighting job losses in the steel industry countrywide, but especially in the Vaal which is the industry’s heartland,” said Hester Davis, VBC chairperson.
But Davis also cautioned that a long battle lies ahead to turn around the present situation in the steel industry and to counteract the negative social impact of job losses in the Vaal.
The tariffs have already been implemented by the SA Revenue Service since 25 September, according to the Government Gazette published on Monday this week.
But the decisive battle to save the entire sector from meltdown still lies ahead as stakeholders in the industry bring pressure to bear on government to declare the steel and engineering sector as strategic and to prioritise and designate locally-produced steel for infrastructure development.
Other tariff applications from a number of stakeholders in the steel and engineering sector are still under consideration by the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC).
Although not yet clear whether the tariffs will be in time to save jobs in South Africa’s steel manufacturing heartland – the Vaal Triangle – and elsewhere, the move will boost morale in this battered economic sector.
South Africa was the last Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) member to do so but only after pressure was brought to bear on government through massive advocacy and lobbying by the steel and engineering sector, led by AMSA CEO Paul O’Flaherty.
AMSA has already announced that it will shed up to 400 jobs in its Vereeniging plant and is still conducting a footprint study at its Vanderbijlpark Plant which can result in up to 1000 job losses. Another major Vaal manufacturer, Cape Gate, has already started the process of cutting up to 250 jobs at its Vanderbijlpark plant.
Davis emphasised the need for Vaal business to mitigate the social impact of job losses so as to strengthen the basis for eventual recovery of the steel sector.