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North West Premier, Prof Tebogo Job Mokgoro has despatched a team led by MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development, Desbo Mohono to meet the management of the cheese manufacturing company - Clover, in an effort to halt the looming relocation of the company to Durban and save jobs.

Clover has announced recently that it intends to close down its plant in Lichtenburg under Ditsobotla Local Municipality, citing disruptions in their operations caused by poor water and electricity supply. The company also indicated that the poor road infrastructure has increased their operational costs tremendously and it affected their suppliers.

Clover employs about 380 permanent employees and about 40 temporary employees. It further employs about 20 general workers, 20 truck drivers and truck cleaners and other employment opportunities emanate from enterprise development programme such as sub-contracting. 

Premier Mokgoro indicated that the municipality cannot afford to allow Clover to close and relocate its operations as this will have devastating effects to over 300 families. 

"Government depends on private companies which invest in our towns to create jobs. The closure of Clover will have negative economic impact in the Ditsobotla Local Municipality. We are going to do everything in our power to save the over 300 jobs" remarked Premier Mokgoro.

During her visit to the factory yesterday, MEC Mohono met with the operational team which advised her to engage the management at their head office in Roodepoort. MEC Mohono and the intervention team which comprise of two other MECs, Head of Department and Municipal Managers, will engage the Clover management as soon as possible to understand issues at hand and find amicable solution to the current situation.

"Our responsibility as government at any sphere, remains to create a conducive environment for businesses to flourish. I must say in this instance we have neglected this key responsibility hence Clover intends to close shop in the municipality. We need to find ourselves and meet the needs of businesses if we are to grow our local economies and create more jobs" concluded Premier Mokgoro. 

Clover processes about 350 000 litres of milk daily. About 250 000 litres of milk is sourced from KwaZulu-Natal and about 100 000 litres of milk is sourced from North West. The closure of the plant will ultimately also have an impact on local farmers. 

Issued by North West Provincial Government