BusinessLive reports that Highveld Steel has paid about R50m to retrenched employees so far and continues to pay them from rentals from the businesses that now occupy the site outside eMalahleni.  

The company was put into business rescue in April 2015 after a prolonged downturn in the steel industry.  This resulted in the retrenchment of almost 3,500 people, including about 1,800 of its own staff as well as contractors, in February 2016.  Business rescue practitioner Piers Marsden indicated on Tuesday at the official restart of the Highveld Structural Mill that the total amount owed to employees, who are being paid out first, was originally R300m.  An agreement was reached with ArcelorMittal SA (AMSA) in 2016 to reopen part of the plant.  AMSA supplies the primary steel.  Marsden expects the business rescue process will take about another two years to resolve.  About 500 people are working in various businesses on the site, including a black-owned logistics company that uses Highveld’s extensive rail infrastructure to ship coal for small producers in the area.

• Read this report by Charlotte Mathews in full at BusinessLive
• See too, Highveld Steel droom van spoorlyne, at Netwerk24

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