Walmart public hearings underway
Three days of public hearings into the R16.5-billion takeover of Massmart by United States giant Walmart got underway at Parliament on Tuesday.
The merger was approved by the Competition Tribunal of South Africa on May 31 this year, subject to certain conditions. The South Africa Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers’ Union (Saccawu) has appealed against this clearance.
The tribunal’s decision has been welcomed by both Walmart and Massmart.
Our Coverage
More Coverage
Opening the hearings, economic development portfolio committee chairwoman Mmathulare Coleman warned those present not to dwell on the tribunal’s ruling and conditions, but to focus on general matters of employment, economic and industrial development, and local manufacturing.
Noting the matter was the subject of an appeal by Saccawu, she said the purpose of the hearings was “not to scrutinise the Walmart-Massmart deal”.
On Wednesday this week, several unions, including, among others, Saccawu, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union, will make presentations at the hearings.
So, too, will Walmart and Massmart.
In a statement on Monday afternoon, Cosatu said the Walmart deal was not in the best interests of South Africa, and welcomed the portfolio committee’s decision to hold public hearings.
It said the competition tribunal, in its ruling on the merger, had “ignored the wider interests of the workers in both Massmart and other retailers, South African manufacturers and the country as a whole”.
The union federation also warned of Walmart’s “size and notorious business practices around the world”.
Further, the tribunal “should have weighed the supposed value of its [Walmart’s] investment in South Africa against its foreseeable adverse impact on jobs and conditions, in both the retail sector and in manufacturing and other sectors that feed into the supply chain to Massmart, such as agriculture, agro-processing, chemicals, clothing and textiles”.
Local employers in the retail sector were already beginning to “attack” workers, as they repositioned themselves for Walmart’s arrival, Cosatu claimed.
“It cannot be pure coincidence that Pick n Pay has just announced plans to retrench over 3 000 workers.”
The public hearings end on Thursday, July 21.—Sapa
