South Africa's strong labour unions may disrupt the proposal to sell a share in the largest container port in sub-Saharan Africa and let it be managed by the International Container Terminal Services Incorporated (ICTSI) owned by Filipino billionaire Enrique Razon, reports Bloomberg.

In July 2023, allafrica reported that South Africa's national ports business, the largest harbour in Africa, Port of Durban, was going to be operated and controlled in part by International Container Terminal Services Inc. of the Philippines.

With its headquarters in Manila, the Philippines, and a publicly-listed corporation that is traded on the Philippine Stock Exchange and the Over-the-Counter Markets Group in the United States, CTSI is a prominent independent global developer and operator of origin and destination container terminals.

The company operates 34 terminal operations in 20 countries across six continents, including four in Africa.

Bloomberg reports that the United National Transport Union and South African Transport and Allied Workers Union want a commitment from ICTSI for no job cuts throughout the 25-year contract. The unions' general secretaries reported submitting this demand, along with others, to ICTSI and Transnet before December 2023. However, they have not received a response yet.

Jack Mazibuko, the general secretary of Satawu said he doubts they will agree to their conditions and added that his union plans to write to the parties again to demand an answer.

Transnet, which runs the rail and transport services, was given a $2.5 billion lifeline by the government in December 2023, to pay its debt and move away from the equipment shortages and maintenance backlogs limiting the country economic growth. - Edited by Juanita Williams