Retrenchments at Sappi's Mandeni factory, near Richard's Bay, have been limited to 11 jobs, trade union Solidarity said on Monday.

In terms of the original retrenchment notice issued by the paper manufacturer, the company planned on retrenching 140 of its employees at its Mandeni operations, Solidarity said in a statement.

"Solidarity succeeded in saving 92 percent of the jobs earmarked for retrenchment by the employer."

Solidarity was involved in a retrenchment process with another large paper manufacturer, Mondi.

"The company started its retrenchment process of a planned 220 employees at its plants in Durban and Richard's Bay in September," Solidarity spokesman Jaco Kleynhans said.

"Although the process has not yet been finalised, the planned retrenchment in Richard's Bay has already been averted."

He said the process would now continue in Durban, where the number of retrenchments had already been reduced to 101.

"Further consultation must still be held before the process can be finalised, but Solidarity is positive that the number can be limited even further," Kleynhans said.

Last week Statistics SA said the country's official jobless rate stood at 24.5 percent for the third quarter of 2009 compared to 23.6 percent in the second quarter of the year.

Employment contracted by 3.6 percent or 484 000 jobs in the third quarter, Statistics SA said.

Most job losses were observed in the manufacturing sector (down by eight percent or 150 000 jobs) and the wholesale and retail trade sectors (down by 3.7 percent or 110 000 jobs), the Pretoria-based agency said.

Sapa

What is a rand freeze? What does it mean to 'freeze' a currency - and what are the consequences? Here's how it works.

Great or gloomy? Do you think Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's first Budget speech was great or gloomy?

SA firms top world's best Three South African companies have made their way onto a list of the world's top 40 firms.