The business must go on

HR leaders unpacked the riots and looting in South Africa in July, and the reality of dealing with another crisis in the midst of the pandemic.

BY CHUMA MXO

In July this year, more than 300 people died in just a few days, thousands of people lost their jobs and are feeling the full brunt of a lack of income, and many families are struggling to find the supplies they previously got from local shops – all as a result of unrest and looting that took place mainly in KwaZulu-Natal, but also in parts of Gauteng.

At an HR Indaba Conversation titled Brick by brick: Fixing what the looters broke, sponsored by Workday, Palesa Phili, CEO of the Durban Chamber of Commerce, recalled contacting the provincial police commissioner when the rioting broke out and saying: “I don’t know what is happening, but the videos we saw of looting going around were scary, so what are you going to do about it?”

“He was very honest with me and said they didn’t have the capability to deal with it, and the advice he was giving me, the politicians, and everyone else was to declare the province [KwaZulu-Natal] as a state of emergency,” she said.

Palesa says it was very unfortunate that the advice of the commissioner was not adhered to, because the situation escalated quickly.

She noted they had never felt so neglected as a province. “It was the most devastating, horrible experience, and it taught us as a business community that if we don’t work together and if we don’t all have one voice and be part of one particular group, we are absolutely going to fail.”

“It is what it is and you have got to understand that nobody is going to deal with the truth in the same way that you do.” - Chris Lazarus, HR executive, KwaZulu-Natal, Vodacom

Kgomotso Molobye, vice president: people partner at Massmart, shared with the audience how this affected them as an African retailer.

“Everybody knows we operate in and outside South Africa, having a US-based parent, which is Walmart. We had quite substantial damage to a number of our stores and key distribution centres, theft of stock and damage to our infrastructure. Some of our stores and distribution centres were completely destroyed, and rebuilding efforts will take more than 12 months. It’s been quite a costly exercise,” she said.

However, Kgomotso added that, if you turn it over to a people perspective, it’s not just that people don’t have anywhere to go to in terms of going to work. There’s also emotional and psychological impact, and organisations had to respond while in a state of crisis.

“As organisations we put into place business continuity plans, and we talk around the next time when there’s a crisis, this is what we’ll do. But nobody ever anticipates this,” she noted. Chris Lazarus, HR executive, KwaZulu-Natal, Vodacom, says the country was already in a crisis with Covid-19 and KwaZulu-Natal was in a space where numbers were picking up. “And we were dealing with a lot of loss of our colleagues and loved ones. But one thing we do best in my company is engagement. We call each other, so there are regular check-ups and update sessions. One thing you don’t do in times like these is to try and reinvent things, it is what it is and you have got to understand that nobody is going to deal with the truth in the same way that you do. We are a diverse team and we deal with things differently,” he said. He added, “Another thing that helped was that some of our team members were in the communities that were affected and they guarded their communities on the ground, and we got a lot of support from our leadership in Johannesburg. Money needed to be spent, and rules needed to be broken in order to make sure the job continued.” Palesa said that it was clear that business would have to stand together and find its own solutions. “What we need to do as the private sector is to ensure that we’re able to work together in a consolidated manner, and find ways to work around the government,” she said. “We know that we can’t completely ignore them but we need to have our own plans to make sure that our businesses and livelihoods are safe.” 

Seen in the chat ....

“Thank you for these sessions. Thank you for stepping in as leaders and ensuring that your employees and stakeholders can see you are looking at the best of their interest.” - Mzikazi Kona, HR consultant, Khomi HR Solutions

“Thank you so much for all of this, and very well done on your leadership. I am grateful to be sitting here as a young leader and grasping all of this wisdom.” - Buhle Marcia Moholi, SACAP “Leadership support is essential and is critical in helping employees know that you understand their plight.” - Pabi Mogosetsi, employer branding advisor and country manager, Universum SA