Edcon to axe 22 000 jobs
Twenty-two thousand jobs are on the line at the Edcon Group.
South Africa's oldest retailers has served around half of its workforce with retrenchment notices.
The group - whose brands include Edgars and Jet – announced in April that it would be going into voluntary business rescue – saying it was unable to pay its creditors.
Mike Schussler - who is with Economists.co.za - says this is South Africa's biggest economic tragedy in a century.
"It is really sad that a very long-history has come to an end. I think the chances of Edgars and Jet getting out of this are probably good as a store. But I don't think they will have more than half of their current employees and more than half of their current stores.
"It is also going to be very damaging for suppliers, and they really will also have to look at laying people off. It is going to have a very big knock-on effect."
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Schussler says the job losses at Edcon are a taste of things to come across industries.
"We have already seen Bidvest lay off quite a few number of its people working or connected to airports either in freights or in the lounges. So ultimately, we are looking at very big numbers from Edcon, but they will be joined by many more."
