JOHANNESBURG, 12 MAY 2021 – The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA) today announced that it is postponing its two flagship events indefinitely due to concerns over rising COVID-19 cases in South Africa.
SEIFSA was due to host the 2021 SEIFSA Awards for Excellence on 20 May 2021 and the 6th Southern African Metals and Engineering Indaba on 24-25 May 2021.
The Awards for Excellence aim to promote and reward innovation and excellence in the Metals and Engineering (M&E) sector, while the Indaba brings together the government, labour, business and civil society to engage on and find solutions to challenges facing the sector, while also discussing opportunities to reinvigorate the sector.
“After careful consideration, and in light of South Africa having detected its first cases of the highly infectious Coronavirus variant initially identified in India just as some parts of the country are picking up the early signs of the third wave of infections, we have decided to postpone our events to later in the year,” SEIFSA said.
SEIFSA said it remains committed to providing platforms such as the SEIFSA Awards for Excellence and the M&E Indaba to enable companies and other industry stakeholders to engage with each other on issues affecting the industry and to also celebrate its successes. “However, the COVID-19 pandemic means that we all need to make difficult decisions to ensure that we all play our part in fighting the pandemic and staving off a possible third wave,” SEIFSA concluded.