• About
  • Our Team
  • Contact Us
Saturday, April 1, 2023
Falcons
  • Home
  • The Cases
  • Insight
  • In the Press
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • The Cases
  • Insight
  • In the Press
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result

Home » Big businesses impacted by Covid-19 ‘should have their own recovery plan’

Big businesses impacted by Covid-19 ‘should have their own recovery plan’

by Bongani Hans
May 10, 2021
in Uncategorized
Big businesses impacted by Covid-19 ‘should have their own recovery plan’

Big companies that have been hit hard by Covid-19 lockdown, such as the bus industry, should use reserve investments to revive their businesses instead of looking up to the financially stressed government to rescue them. Picture : Motshwari Mofokeng /African News Agency (ANA)

READ ALSO

Ramaphosa may have to consider the prospects of donning orange overalls

If it makes cash but you have no clout, Rupert and co will muscle you out


DURBAN – BIG COMPANIES that have been hit hard by Covid-19 lockdown, such as the bus industry, should use reserve investments to revive their businesses instead of looking up to the financially stressed government to rescue them.

Director and economic strategist at Antswisa Transaction Advisory Services Miyelani Mkhabela questioned why the government should help companies, which have been generating lots of revenue during their decades of operation.

“It is very shocking that South African listed companies when Covid-19 hits them … they cannot really take on the complexity.

“If corporates that have been hit hard by Covid-19 are already experiencing challenges in using their savings or investments to rebuild their own companies, there is a behavioural challenge with investors that are running these companies, because in a general sense you will conclude that they are not investing,” said Mkhabela.

Bus operators blamed the state for failing to bail them out, which has led to them shedding thousands of jobs after losing hundreds of millions of rand in revenue.

Unitrans Passenger, a subsidiary of JSE-listed KAP Industrial Holdings, recently announced that its luxury inter-city and cross-border bus fleet Greyhound and Citiliner would effectively come to an end on February 15.

The Public Utility Transport Corporation (Putco) had also announced that its bus fleet, which operates in Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, would retrench 214 of its employees.

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula expressed concern about the crumbling bus industry. His spokesperson, Ayanda Allie-Paine, had urged affected bus operators to make use of the Credit Guarantee Scheme, which provides loans to qualifying businesses.

Unitrans Passenger declined to comment. Putco disclosed that to date it had lost a total of R220 million in revenue, citing a significant decline in private bookings as people had been banned from attending funerals and weddings in large numbers and church trips and school excursions had also been suspended.

Executive manager of the Southern African Bus Operators Association Bazil Govender said to date there were 2 000 formal and informal jobs that had been shed in the sector. Govender raised concerns that despite not being fully operational, operators still had to pay fixed costs for fleet insurance, capital funding, licence fees, salaries, electricity, and rates and taxes.

Each bus had to pay a licence fee of R30 000 a year while the operating licence of a luxury coach, such as Greyhound, costs around R50 000 per annum. “In collaboration with Nedlac and Business for South Africa (B4SA), the costs of compliance for Safety protocols for Covid-19 were modelled from industry data obtained nationally and came to R4 767 per bus per month.

“The total projected costs for the bus industry amounted to R102 728 850 per month and these costs would have been largely borne by the industry sectors as required for operations, with very little or no assistance from the government,” said Govender.

Economist Mike Schussler said the lockdown had caused immense damages in many spheres of the country’s economy, including bus, metered taxi, flights and the hospitality industry. He said the R5 billion-worth Solidarity Fund, which President Cyril Ramaphosa launched before the lockdown in March last year, could do very little to help.

bongani.hans@inl.co.za

Special Investigations Unit


ShareTweet

Related Posts

Ramaphosa may have to consider the prospects of donning orange overalls
Uncategorized

Ramaphosa may have to consider the prospects of donning orange overalls

June 20, 2022
If it makes cash but you have no clout, Rupert and co will muscle you out
Uncategorized

If it makes cash but you have no clout, Rupert and co will muscle you out

October 13, 2021
AYO battles FNB in court over discrimination
Uncategorized

AYO battles FNB in court over discrimination

May 19, 2021
Does the DA hope to control Independent Media?
Uncategorized

Does the DA hope to control Independent Media?

May 18, 2021
Independent Media presents its case to SCoF, restates threat to media freedom
Uncategorized

Independent Media presents its case to SCoF, restates threat to media freedom

May 18, 2021
Oceana faces probe over BEE fraud claims
Uncategorized

Oceana faces probe over BEE fraud claims

May 18, 2021
Next Post
Pietermaritzburg’s sad state of decay

Pietermaritzburg’s sad state of decay

EDITOR'S PICK

Is KZN the factory of hitmen?

Is KZN the factory of hitmen?

March 8, 2023
ANC KwaZulu-Natal displays political intolerance

ANC KwaZulu-Natal displays political intolerance

February 15, 2023
Nepad concerned about South Africa’s energy crisis

Nepad concerned about South Africa’s energy crisis

February 9, 2023
ANC’s 30-year rule marked by empty promises and rhetoric

ANC’s 30-year rule marked by empty promises and rhetoric

January 23, 2023

POPULAR NEWS

Presidency reveals progress made to curb energy crisis engulfing SA

Presidency reveals progress made to curb energy crisis engulfing SA

January 23, 2023
Cyril Ramaphosa broke the law – Phala Phala Farmgate report

Cyril Ramaphosa broke the law – Phala Phala Farmgate report

December 1, 2022
Bawa accused of obstructing the course of justice

Bawa accused of obstructing the course of justice

October 27, 2022
Banks’ failure to adhere to FATF guidelines poses a major risk for SA economy

Banks’ failure to adhere to FATF guidelines poses a major risk for SA economy

August 25, 2022
RIGHT OF REPLY: The IRR will not forsake its classical liberal values

RIGHT OF REPLY: The IRR will not forsake its classical liberal values

August 18, 2022

About

The Falcons mission is to provide quality in-depth reporting on matters that would otherwise not be covered by mainstream media, to equip the public with factual information that are hidden from the public eye so they can be able to demand accountability from the country’s leadership. – We speak truth to power.

Categories

  • banking
  • conflict, war and peace
  • corruption
  • crime, law and justice
  • economic sector
  • economy
  • economy, business and finance
  • financial and business service
  • government
  • In the Press
  • Insight
  • investments
  • law
  • macro economics
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • The Cases
  • Uncategorized

Recent Posts

  • Is KZN the factory of hitmen?
  • ANC KwaZulu-Natal displays political intolerance
  • Nepad concerned about South Africa’s energy crisis
  • ANC’s 30-year rule marked by empty promises and rhetoric

Copyright © 2023 - All rights reserved

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • The Cases
  • Insight
  • In the Press
  • About
  • Our Team
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2023 - All rights reserved