South African Petroleum Refineries (Sapref), once the biggest producer of petrol in South Africa, has recently given its employees letters of retrenchment.

This was confirmed by an employee who said that since the prospecton-based refinery in the south of Durban, KZN stopped production last year, there has been no work to do.

The retrenchment notices come after Sapref announced in February 2022 that it was ceasing the production of fuel and was exploring certain options for the plant. In the same statement, Shell South Africa chairperson Hloniphizwe Mtolo assured them that the decision to stop production will not affect full-time employees’ jobs.

Sapref is jointly owned by BP South Africa and Shell South Africa who each own a 50% stake.

At the time, the KZN provincial government expressed interest in buying the plant to boost the province’s economy and had started talks with the Treasury on the matter. After the April 2022 floods, the provincial government’s focus shifted from buying Sapref to other pressing service delivery matters as the plant had suffered extensive damage.

When asked about the retrenchments, Sapref’s sustainable development manager Hlengiwe Hlela did not deny or admit that the staff had been notified of the looming retrenchments.

“Sapref will release the media statement soon once everything is checked and approved,” she said.

Cosatu’s KZN secretary Edwin Mkhize said it was unfortunate that something like that would happen.

“We will follow this through our union at Sapref, but if it is true that people are about to lose their jobs, that will make us unhappy because we have engaged with the company and it assured us that it was committed to ensuring that jobs are preserved and employees will be safe. We are going to hold BP, Shell, and the government accountable,” said Mkhize.

After stopping fuel production, Sapref said the facility will be used as a storage depot for imported fuel.

At its production peak, Sapref produced 35% of all petrol used in South Africa.