Top South African tech retailer accused of “mass dismissals”
Several former Incredible Connection employees are accusing the technology retailer of quietly carrying out mass dismissals, with at least 40 sales staff losing their jobs across stores in Gauteng.
According to the former staff members, there have been numerous job cuts in recent months at the Incredible stores at Mall of Africa, Sandton City, Clearwater Mall, and East Rand Retail Park.
They said those impacted loyal, long-serving employees, with the dismissals often starting with suspensions that lead to terminations.
However, they said these disciplinary measures are based on trumped-up charges that are merely seeking an excuse to fire employees, especially older staff members.
Pepkor Lifestyle chief operating officer Craig Lodge has denied the allegations, stating that they are unsubstantiated and concern specific employees who are facing disciplinary action.
“As the case is currently undergoing due process at the CCMA, Incredible is unable to provide further details at this time,” Lodge said.
MyBroadband asked how many employees Incredible had dismissed in the past six months, whether this number was unusual, and whether Pepkor was planning a restructuring of the Incredible business.
“Any termination of service is a serious matter that Incredible Connection approaches with utmost consideration.”
Lodge said that certain employees were dismissed following due process, in strict accordance with labour legislation and Company Codes of Good Practice, which is part of normal business operations.
“These dismissals are a result of disciplinary action. Therefore, age or length of service is not a factor,” he said.
“Furthermore, no restructuring is planned, as Incredible is currently expanding its footprint, and the employees dismissed due to disciplinary action are being replaced.”
Information about widespread job losses at Incredible emerged as Pepkor reported middling financial performance in the technology segment of its Pepkor Lifestyle division.
Incredible was formerly part of the JD Group, which has been absorbed into Pepkor Lifestyle. Pepkor’s technology segment includes Incredible and HiFi Corp.
Pepkor Lifestyle technology segment performance
In its latest financial results for the six months ended 31 March 2025, published in October, Pepkor reported that tech made up 53% of its Lifestyle division’s sales and grew by 6.3% year-over-year.
In contrast, its furniture and home appliances segment reported 12.6% sales growth and comprised 47% of Pepkor Lifestyle’s sales. Total average sales growth was 9.2%.
“Lifestyle delivered solid and consistent performance during the period, outperforming the market across a number of key product categories, per GfK,” it stated.
“Strong trading momentum continued in Home, supported by improved product ranges, in addition to increased consumer spending power as a result of the two-pot retirement system.”
Regarding the technology segment’s performance, Pepkor only stated that trading in Tech recovered in the second quarter.
Despite Tech reporting much lower growth than the Home segment, Pepkor Lifestyle has opened several new Incredible and HiFi Corp stores around the country.
Earlier this year, MyBroadband reported that Incredible opened at least ten new stores between 1 October 2023 and 25 April 2025.
Pepkor Lifestyle store marketing coordinator Henno Barry had announced the launch of two new Incredible Connection stores towards the end of April.
The two newly opened stores were Incredible Gateway, in Durban, and Incredible Cellular in Musina. However, Pepkor Lifestyle also closed four stores across its Incredible and HiFi Corp footprint.
In 2022, Incredible told MyBroadband that it planned to tackle the threat of online retail through after-sales support and customer convenience.
Specifically responding to questions about the launch of Amazon’s marketplace in South Africa, Incredible said its services extend beyond online sales.
“A differentiating benefit of purchasing computing from Incredible and its stores are the various payment options,” the company stated.
“These include credit, revolving credit, buying on contract and even business offerings such as business rentals.”
Incredible said customers also have access to tech experts who can help them with upgrades, repairs, installations, virus removals, and data backup.
Its customer service also includes computing health check requirements and related essential products such as networking and printing.
Loading ...