The Newcastle Municipality has issued a statement following the news of ArcelorMittal’s decision to wind down its Newcastle Works Plant with more than 3500 jobs said to be on the line.
As this news brought on a wave on uncertainty to residents , the municipality has vowed to intervene in a bid to save many from losing their jobs.
“We are deeply saddened by ArcelorMittal’s pronouncement to wind down their long steel business in the Newcastle Works as this will directly and indirectly affect far more than 3500 jobs and enterprises. Although the 3500 job losses will affect Newcastle Works, Vanderbijlpark and Emalahleni as outlined in the report, Newcastle has the highest number of job losses as per ArcelorMittal Management,” the entity said in a statement.
It further read that the decision will also affect the municipality as the very same employees are also customers of the municipality in terms of the consumption of basic services.
“This will cause the tax base to shrink substantially. The wind down of the longs steel in Newcastle will also affect local businesses as some of their customers will have less buying power,” said the municipality.
In light of this, Newcastle Mayor, Xolani Dube has vowed to intervene and has instructed the Municipal Manager, Zamani Mcineka to draft a letter to KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thamasanqa Ntuli to convene an urgent meeting with all relevant stakeholders including ArcelorMittal management in a bid to find an amicable solution to save employment as well as ArcelorMittal , including escalating the issue to national government for an urgent intervention.
Ex-Deputy Mayor Musa ‘Sugar’ Thwala has since blasted the municipality stating the the imminent closure of the Newcastle Works plant clearly shows that the administration has failed the people of Newcastle.
Thwala , who also serves as the President of Team Sugar South Africa (TSSA), was ousted as the town’s Deputy Mayor in an Executive Committee (Exco) meeting in March 2024 after a vote of no confidence was brought against him, as he allegedly failed to attend three consecutive Exco meetings.
He claims that the situation clearly shows the lack of unity amongst business people, government and politicians who run the town and country as a whole.
“Business people in this town focus solely on their own agenda as they have a belief system that their businesses are sustainable and they seemingly forget about development around the town. They never share or plough back into the community,” said Thwala.
He further stated that every politician and political party that has governed, has never considered business people of Newcastle and he attributed this to self- enrichment.
“They also forget about basic service delivery. There needs to be clear communication between our local leaders and businessmen because as long as we stand alone, this town will unfortunately become a ghost town and the local economy will collapse due to funding circulating in surrounding areas instead of Newcastle. The current administration will not utilize local businesses as they claim and will vote in favour of the mines. Then there is the matter of race. There is no equality when it comes to local employment. The reality is that now with the closure of Mittal, the mine will inevitably occupy the town and Newcastle will be depleted of minerals and there will be nothing left,” said Thwala.
He predicted that many will relocate in search of employment as the locals will not benefit from any employment opportunities should the mines open for business.
“Crime will increase and Newcastle will eventually become a ghost town after mining has been completed. Look at Utrecht as an example. I am able to say this from experience as someone who has spent time at the mines,” said Thwala.
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Thwala diesnt know what he is talking about, he is still bitter and twisted for being dismissed for incompetence! As DM he did nothing, now he comes with all sorts of false aĺlegations