Skills loss a threat to biggest refinery
SA faces the prospect of fuel shortages as a loss of staff to oil refineries in the Middle East threatens to cripple the country’s largest crude oil refinery.
Sapref, a Durban-based joint venture between Shell SA Refining and BP Southern Africa, could lose 15 key staff members from one department.
In 2015, it lost 25 employees from the same department.
Sapref, which has 35% of the country’s fuel-refining capacity, is concerned that if the trend continues, it may bring its operations to a grinding halt.
“We continuously lose staff to the Middle East, but not in such large numbers,” said Sapref’s head of human resources, Lindiwe Khuzwayo. “In the absence of sufficient local skilled labour, the shareholders may decide to halt operations.”
According to a study by the South African Petroleum Industry Association published in November 2016, the fuel sector contributes about 6.5% to the country’s GDP and supplies 18% of SA’s primary energy needs.
Khuzwayo said: “We hardly lose staff to our local competitors, indicating that we are offering competitive employment package and career prospects.”
The staff who were snatched up by foreign companies had at least 15 years on the job.
Sasol spokesman Alex Anderson said its refinery in Sasolburg had not experienced similar levels of poaching, though it was a concern. To mitigate the risk, the company had implemented a strategic talentmanagement framework.
Chevron SA said it had not experienced talent poaching by Middle Eastern companies.
Khuzwayo said the migration of skills from SA was too easy and too lucrative and called on the government to protect companies investing in the development of local skills.
“It is difficult to plan for and to mitigate when staff leave in droves to countries whose salaries South African companies cannot compete with.
“If we are continuously training for the Middle East, the investment in skills development of unemployed youth stops making financial sense.”
Department of Home Affairs spokesman David Hlabane said the white paper on international migration that was approved by the Cabinet in March noted challenges around the emigration of scarce skills.
The white paper says migration policy should require that foreign investors seeking permission to reside in the country undertake to train a certain number of people. It recommends the creation of special permits to attract foreigners of exceptional skills.
INVESTING IN SKILLS DEVELOPMENT OF UNEMPLOYED YOUTH STOPS MAKING FINANCIAL SENSE