Pasdec Automotive Technologies, the Malaysian parent of an automotive components manufacturer based in Lobatse, Botswana has been successful with a contract from Nissan South Africa (Pty) Ltd to manufacture and supply electrical wiring harness sets.
The project is expected to generate revenue of atleast P1billion according to the company. The contract is to run for seven years commencing from June 2019.
“This Contract is expected to contribute positively to the revenue and earnings of the group over the period of the Contract,” a statement from the company said.
Pasdec Holdings interest in PAT Botswana is through 70% subsidiary, Pasdec Automotive Technologies (Pty) Ltd.
However since commissioning in Botswana in 2015, the company has run into lot of problems such as loss due mainly to high relocation costs, with four strikes to date which led to over 60 employees being fired after the Industrial court declared that the last strike which happened in May this year was unlawful.
Media reports stated that the affected workers were dismissed after disciplinary hearings; others were fired in absentia after having missed the hearings. As the company is understood to have pinned a notice for the hearings at a hotel in the border town, which some suspended employees did not see and thus failed to attend the disciplinary hearings.
The fired employees were accused of vandalising the company assets and threatened their co-workers during the May strike, which was triggered by a pay dispute.
Adding that Cashiers and Shop Assistants and Allied Workers Union (CASAWU) assert that a rescission application has been made in which the response is not yet received
“We have had to allocate a lot of funds for the relocation of our manufacturing facilities from South Africa to Botswana, around the region of 20 million South African Rand for the relocation, training and retrenchment costs. This will have to go into our profit and loss and this is what dragged down the performance of the group this year,” the group said.
However the company also state that with the completion of the relocation exercise from Brits, South Africa to Lobatse in Botswana in the third quarter of 2017, their manufacturing arm has recorded an increase of 10 percent in turnover from ZAR164,764,626 in 2016 to ZAR 181,978,482 in 2017. Explaining that the increase in turnover was boosted by increase in demand by both Nissan/Renault and Volkswagen South Africa (“VWSA”) as a result of strong local demand and export sales into Africa and Europe.
