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The Coca-Cola depot in Louis Trichardt will be closed on 6 March this year as part of a restructuring process within Coca-Cola Beverages Africa. This follows the Coca-Cola Company’s US$3.15 billion transaction to acquire AB InBev’s 54.5% equity stake in CCBSA. Similarly, the CCBSA depot in Tzaneen will also close on the same date. In both cases, none of the 182 employees at the two depots will lose their jobs, according to CCBSA.

Depot closures will not result in any job losses

Date: 20 February 2017 By: Andries van Zyl

Since the Coca-Cola Company’s US$3.15 billion transaction to acquire AB InBev’s 54.5% equity stake in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, news has surfaced that Coca-Cola Beverages SA (CCBSA) will be closing five of its South African sites, including the depots in Louis Trichardt and Tzaneen.

Ms Pirtunia Dhlamini, the company’s public affairs and communications manager for the northern region, confirmed these reports on Tuesday, following a media enquiry from the Zoutpansberger. “Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa can confirm that we are in the final stages of consultation with our employees with regards to anticipated labour redeployments resulting from the planned closure of our Louis Trichardt and Tzaneen depots effective 6 March,” said Dhlamini. She added that it was always a difficult decision to decommission operating sites, but that the decision was impacted by factors such as the low growth rate of the South African economy, coupled with unprecedented increases in some of their raw-material costs as well as other factors.

The immediate question that arises is: What about the 182 employees working at the Louis Trichardt and Tzaneen depots?

These employees do not need to fear job losses, mainly due to the strict conditions imposed by the South African competition authorities who regulated the billion-dollar merger deal. These conditions, among other, include that no employee at any level may be retrenched for the first five years after the merger, as it will be assumed that the retrenchment happened because of the merger.

But how will nobody lose their job if the depot they are working at closes?

As per the conditions of the merger as imposed by the competition authorities, Dhlamini confirmed that none of their existing employees, management or bargaining unit are being retrenched or financially affected negatively because of the planned closure. “We will be redeploying every one of our 92 employees from Louis Trichardt into Louis Trichardt Sales and Polokwane or other sites across the business, which will in fact present them with greater opportunities for promotion and career growth. The 90 affected employees in Tzaneen will be redeployed to Polokwane and Tzaneen sales offices,” Dhlamini said.

With the depots in Louis Trichardt and Tzaneen closing, the next question would be: What about CCBSA’s local clientele? “It is important to note that we will retain sales offices in Louis Trichardt and Tzaneen for the local sales teams, which are planning to grow in numbers in the coming months and years. In addition, as part of our Local Distribution Partner (LDP) programme, we will be working with local entrepreneurs to establish distribution services by converting existing distribution partners to LDPs. So, the markets currently serviced out of Tzaneen and Louis Trichardt will in future be fully supplied and serviced from Polokwane as well as by the Local Distribution Partners,” said Dhlamini. She added that CCBSA will continue its investment in the development of communities where they do business as this remains a priority for them.

 
 
 

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

 
 

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