Multinational explosives and chemicals group AECI has roped in specialist lawyers to support its CEO Holger Riemensperger in obtaining a critical skills visa, more than six months after he was appointed in the role and highlighting hurdles companies face to bring skills from overseas into the country.
The Johannesburg-based group said on Monday that until his visa is granted, Riemensperger will continue to be based in his home country, Germany.
“The required SAQA accreditation of his qualifications has recently been received. The critical skills visa application will be submitted to the department of home affairs for processing as soon as his professional registration, another requirement, which is currently under way, has been completed,” the company said in an update to shareholders.
“A critical skills visa will allow Holger to relocate to SA for work for five years. Until this is granted, Holger will continue to lead the business from his base in Germany, visiting the country as needed for critical meetings as is allowed by South African law.”
AECI’s business spans six continents, though it generates almost 60% of its revenue in SA.
Riemensperger was appointed to the role with effect from May. He previously held executive and senior management positions in companies across Germany, the US, Switzerland, Netherlands, Sweden and Malaysia.
AECI poached him from German company, K+S Group where he held the position of COO.
He replaced Mark Dytor who retired a year earlier after spending nearly 40 years with the group, including 10 years as CEO.
Valued at just under R12bn on the JSE, the group has interests ranging from explosives used in the mining industry, to asphalt, water treatment and agriculture.
Reforming the visa regime to attract critical skills that businesses need to grow has been one of the key objectives of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Operation Vulindlela, a joint initiative by the presidency and Treasury to speed up implementation of structural reforms.
Business Day reported last month that the department of home affairs has invited corporate employers to submit an expression of interest to participate in the Trusted Employer Scheme (TES), six years after it was proposed in 2017 as an innovative way to make SA an investment destination.
A company will need a minimum of 80 points out of 100 to qualify for membership of the scheme. The selection criteria include companies making an investment in the country or pledging to do so.
The government cited R500m as an example of the defined threshold of investment that must be made at the annual SA Investment Conference. This will see a company earn 30 points. Eligible businesses must also employ at least 500 people, 60% of whom must be South Africans. This will earn them 25 points.
The sector in which the business conducts trade will also be considered. The energy sector will be favourably looked at, and if a company is in this sector and others considered to be of national priority or strategic importance, the company will receive an additional 15 points. Having skills transfer programmes for SA citizens will result in 20 points.
According to a recent report from the presidency and the Treasury, only 16,097 out of 33,728 (47.8%) of critical skills visas, 4,827 out 9,508 (50.8%) of general work visas, and a mere 325 of 1,548 (21%) of business visa applications were approved between 2015 to 2021.
“With significantly high chances of work visas being rejected, firms are not able to source talent to meet their immediate needs, skilled professionals are deterred, and the national skills shortage persists,” the report said.
It is compounding the myriad of issues and hampering SA’s already poor economic growth, such as power cuts, deteriorating infrastructure, weakening rail and road transport, high unemployment and elevated interest rates.
AECI said in the statement that over the past nine months, its revenue improved 10% to R27.7bn and earnings before interest and taxes (ebit) rose by the same margin, driven partly by the growth in its mining division as more explosives were sold in Southern and Central Africa and the Asia-Pacific, the weaker rand-dollar exchange rate and new contracts.
Its net gearing ratio improved by two percentage points to 45% and its net debt was cut 2.3% over the past three months.
“In the medium term we see value unlock through the implementation of our new strategy that will introduce initiatives and programmes aimed at driving earnings growth through a returns-focused, streamlined and resilient portfolio,” the company said.
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