HIV and the South African automotive industry

WITH the South African automotive industry firmly positioned for another record year, pressure is continuously mounting on manufacturers to maintain a competitive edge to sustain these levels of growth.

Competitiveness has often been associated with the traditional measures of business performance including profitability, direct investment, cash flow, productivity, quality, cost and delivery.

Seldom does business consider the effects of HIV and Aids on the competitiveness of the enterprise as whole.

This can be attributed to the fact that even though the pandemic has become a topical issue in South Africa, there is still a lack of measurement and awareness around the impact on the business sector.

Many manufacturers still consider HIV a social responsibility and so an imperative on the government, not the enterprise.

While significant effort has been made by original equipment manufacturers and multi-national first-tier suppliers to incorporate HIV workplace programmes into their mainstream systems and practices, lower-tier suppliers remain well behind.

These suppliers, typically SME companies, would relate similar reasons when questioned as to the lack of effective workplace programmes to combat HIV and Aids.

These reasons include the need to focus on survival and primary business issues such as profitability and productivity, coupled with the lack of resources internally, and a lack of government support.

Many suppliers feel that, within the existing business environment, it is difficult to focus on anything other than the fundamentals of survival in a demanding industry.

The SA Chamber of Business is quoted as saying that absenteeism in the workplace could be costing the South African economy as much as R12-billion a year. A reasonable percentage of this can probably be attributed to HIV and Aids.

In South Africa, between 15% and 20% of all adults are infected with HIV, giving South Africa the largest number of people (roughly five million) living with HIV or Aids in the world.

The Automotive Industry Development Centre has a mandate from both government and industry to provide solutions. HIV and Aids workplace programmes are a fundamental component of this.