PRETORIA – Reigning Miss South Africa Shudufhadzo Musida left guests at Sun International’s Time Square Casino in Pretoria mesmerised as she danced to the emblematic mega hit Jerusalema by Master KG at the Black Pearl Roulette Tournament finale on Saturday night.
Normally, due to privacy regulations, photography and videography is prohibited on casino floors. However, the R2-million Black Pearl Roulette Tournament was held at the Sun Arena and selected media witnessed the event where the grand winner of the night became R1-million richer.
Since the revised level three Covid-19 lockdown was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in June, businesses, including resorts, hotels, casinos, and restaurants, have gradually re-opened, but Sun International chief executive Anthony Leeming says the going has not been easy, particularly in the hospitality sector.
Let's get the party started! @timesquareza #BlackPearl2020 pic.twitter.com/bDW5ioJbR1
— Sun International (@MillionThrills) November 28, 2020
“There are two sides to our business – on the casino side we are sort of doing probably okay, but on the hospitality side, places like Sun City [in the North West], Table Bay [in Cape Town] are really bleeding in terms of international travel. They are still very soft in terms of business and do need government support to get tourism back on the map and to ensure that we can keep people employed,” Leeming told African News Agency.
There had already been retrenchments in Sun International’s food and beverages and hospitality divisions.
“That is where we have had the job cuts. It’s not really in the casino side, but in the food and beverage and hospitality [divisions] that has been difficult. Support from government in those areas will be well received,” said Leeming.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Sun International employed over 10,000 people across South Africa, but as the global pandemic intensified in South Africa, the international group has had to cut thousands of jobs.
“We have, unfortunately, had to reduce that [number of employees] by 2000. But some of those, some will get jobs back through outsourced contracts. But certainly, job reductions within Sun International is probably 1500 in total – that is the people that lost their jobs,” he said.
“At this stage we have completed our retrenchment exercise. At first we had a voluntary retrenchment and there were quite a number of people that volunteered to be retrenched, and there [was] the forced retrenchment which affected about 1000 people, unfortunately.”
Leeming said strict Covid-19 regulations, including regular screening and sanitising of patrons, were some of the measures the group had implemented to keep the pandemic at bay.
“We have had some staff members that tested positive, but we have been able to control it very well. When we have someone who gets sick we immediately isolate them and we have had no spreads. We have had incidents, but we have managed to control them really well,” he said.
– African News Agency (ANA), editing by Jacques Keet