PetroSA responds to questions on picketing
PetroSA Group communications manager, Tumoetsile Mogamisi responded to the Mossel Bay Advertiser's questions on the various incidents of labour protests in recent weeks.
Employing locals
"More than 90% of the people employed by our main managing contractor, Aveng Grinaker, come from the local Mossel Bay community in line with the commitment made by PetroSA to local communities' empowerment," Mogamisi said.
He added that PetroSA had put in place mechanisms to help to speedily resolve issues and problems that arose during the shutdown. These include a helpdesk (044 601 3120), where shutdown-related complaints must be registered.
"PetroSA calls upon all stakeholders to use existing internal dispute resolution mechanisms to ensure that they receive the necessary attention immediately."
Mogamisi said PetroSA had a number of interactions with various community stakeholders on the shutdown and was committed to further engagements and information sharing on all the matters related to the shutdown.
Feedem Pitseng payment issue
On the peaceful protest against payment practices of the catering contractor on the FA-Platform, Mogamisi said: "Contracts entered into between PetroSA and its service providers follow competitive bidding processes following the guidelines prescribed by regulations such as the Public Finance Management Act.
"The Feedem Pitseng Catering contract for the FA Platform was concluded through the same, open process whereby the catering service tender is issued to the market every three years.
"PetroSA is concerned about this situation. We, therefore, appeal to the parties to work together to resolve the dispute in a way that will be in the best interest of all."
Scaffolding workers
"PetroSA can confirm there was a protest incident by employees of one of the contractors involved in the shutdown project that is currently under way," Mogamisi confirmed.
"The protesting employees responded positively to a request that they should move away from the PetroSA refinery. As a company, we respect the rights of both the contractor and its employees, and therefore cannot comment on the issues relating to the two parties' employment relationship.
"This is an employer-employee matter that does not directly involve PetroSA.
"However, we urge the two parties to find ways to speedily resolve their dispute."