BMW South Africa has denied that it could leave its Rosslyn plant outside Pretoria because of cable theft.
BMW South Africa has denied that it could leave its Rosslyn plant outside Pretoria because of cable theft.
reported that Johan van der Walt, of BMW SA, said at least 10 000 jobs and millions of rands in foreign investment was being affected by the thefts that resulted in power failures.
“It costs us R200 000 every time to get the plant operational again. The plant is losing units and production time,” said Van der Walt. On one occasion equipment worth R500 000 was lost. He said it was casting doubt on the local company’s reliability.
But BMW South Africa spokesman Clynton Yon told CARtoday.com there was no possibility of the plant moving. “We don’t deny that we have had problems with cable thefts, but our viability is not affected. We have been working with the authorities about the thefts,” he said.
quoted a Tshwane metro council spokesman, Helen Schoonwinkel, as saying BMW suffered four power failures in six weeks because of cable theft, compared to two a year in 2000 and 2001.
