This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.
In our Thursday roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that have appeared since
midday on Wednesday, 3 May 2017.
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Popcru says understaffing in prisons puts wardens at risk Cape Argus reports that after prisoners attacked five correctional service officials with a lock as part of a gang initiation ritual, their union said it was an attack waiting to happen. The officers from Pollsmoor Prison have since been discharged from hospital. Richard Mamabolo, spokesperson for the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru), said they were saddened by yet another “unfortunate and predictable attack” on prison officials and felt that the conditions of employment and safety of their members were compromised on a daily basis. “The attack was predictable because we are aware of the high rate of overcrowding and understand that Pollsmoor Prison has an understaffing issue. Most correctional officials have been resigning due to the unresponsive attitude the Department of Correctional Services (DCS),” he said. Mamabolo added that the prison population was growing on a daily basis and that the ratio between officials and inmates was on the increase. Read this report by Okuhle Hlati in full at Cape Argus. Read Popcru’s press statement in this regard at Cosatu Today
Another breakthrough on the West Rand in combating illegal mining Tarlton police on the West Rand have arrested two young males, aged 23 and 27, for illegal mining and being in possession of substances that were suspected to be gold. Krugersdorp News reports that the police were called by residents after they noticed suspicious activities near a plot in Tarlton. When the police arrived on scene on Wednesday, 3 May at about 9am, they arrested the two men. Machinery worth an estimated street value of R40,000 and suspected of being used for illegal mining activities was confiscated. Both suspects are expected to make a brief appearance in court soon. The station commander for the Tarlton police applauded the members for their swift response. “This is a good indication of a working partnership with the community,” she said. This short report by Bianca Pindral is at The Citizen Other general internet posting(s) on mining
SAA gets final court interdict against cabin crew strike Fin24 reports that the Labour Court has granted South African Airways (SAA) a final order interdicting the SA Cabin Crew Association (Sacca) and its members from embarking on industrial action and declaring last week’s industrial action an unprotected strike. This came after the court had granted an interim order in favour of the airline on 26 April. SAA said in a statement issued on Wednesday that the order was granted after the labour union appealed to the court against the earlier interim order. SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said: “We do not see this as a matter of winners and losers. For us the key objective remains focusing on those things we must immediately pay attention to, so that the company remains in business and its employees looked after." He went on to indicate that a mechanism has been proposed for consideration by Sacca to have a facilitated dispute resolution process during the next two months. Read this report in full at Fin24. See too, SAA strike: Airline gets final interdict, at Business Report. And also, Interdict against SAA cabin crew staff strike remains in place, at EWN Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Truck torched on Tuesday in Bapong near Brits in protest over unemployment ANA reports that a truck was set alight by protesters in Bapong near Brits, North West police said on Wednesday. Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone indicated that the truck was torched on Tuesday during a protest related to unemployment. He said the road linking Sun City and Pretoria was barricaded with burning tyres, but has since been opened. The Sonop road linking Bapong and Brits was also blocked. This short report is at IOL News Other internet posting(s) in this news category
NUM to campaign for Ramaphosa to be president News24 reports that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Wednesday publicly voiced its support for Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to become the next president of the country. The union said in a series of tweets: "Comrade Cyril, we as NUM and Cosatu, we are now going out to campaign for you to become president…Ramaphosa will become the president of the country whether someone likes it or not." Ramaphosa was the NUM's first general secretary when the union was launched in 1982. "Comrade Ramaphosa brought so many changes in the country's workplaces, especially in mines. He will bring more changes when he becomes president," the NUM said. A short report by James de Villiers is at News24 Cosatu says workers’ anger was behind May Day heckling BusinessLive reports that Cosatu said on Wednesday that the cancellation of speeches at the union federation’s May Day rally on Monday in the Free State reflected the anger of workers towards the ANC-led government and factionalism within the alliance. The official programme came to an abrupt halt after President Jacob Zuma and Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini were heckled and booed. Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said that what happened on Monday was regrettable and unacceptable, but reflected that workers had "reached a dead end". "[They] are angry with the factionalised state of the ANC and the dearth of leadership in the movement… The workers are also tired of the ANC and its government’s failure to deal honestly and decisively with issues like e-tolls, labour brokers, unemployment and retrenchments," said Pamla. Cosatu, whose senior officials are split on support for Zuma, had earlier claimed that a "rented crowd" had been sent to Bloemfontein with the purpose of disrupting the event. These issues will be raised during a special Cosatu central executive committee meeting. Read this report by Genevieve Quintal and Theto Mahlakoana in full at BusinessLive. See too, Cosatu to convene special meeting to deal with Zuma booing, at News24. Read Cosatu’s post-May Day statement at Cosatu Today May Day booing sign of a healthy democracy, says unfazed Zuma Fin24 reports that responding to a question at an impromptu media briefing at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa in Durban on Wednesday, President Jacob Zuma said he didn’t feel rejected by the working class after he was jeered off the stage at a rally on Monday. The Workers’ Day gathering in Bloemfontein, where Zuma was supposed to speak, was consequently cancelled. A confident Zuma said people who’ve been commenting on the matter have no understanding of how democracy works. “You’ll agree with me that in the countries of dictators there are no protests or booing – all these things are part of the culture of democracy. Unfortunately people misread this. In a political democracy people engage heads of state. They criticise heads of state for (their) views because they are expressing themselves freely,” Zuma said. Read this report by Liesl Peyper in full at Fin24. See too, Zuma encourages booing, saying it’s part of democracy, at BusinessLive. And also, Booing of Zuma can't be regarded as 'normal' says Lindiwe Sisulu, at BusinessLive ANC takes ANN7 to task over story Zuma was ‘pushed’ to attend May Day rally TMG Digital reports that the ANC has rejected reports by television news channel ANN7 claiming that the ANC Deputy President, Secretary General and Treasurer General "pushed" President Jacob Zuma into attending Cosatu’s May Day Rally. Zuma was subjected to humiliation when he was booed and prevented from making a speech by Cosatu members at the event in Bloemfontein. The celebrations ended in chaos. The deployment of the ANC's top brass to the various Worker's Day rallies was a collective decision of the national officials, and not meant to sabotage President Jacob Zuma, party spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said on Wednesday. He also claimed that leaders were deployed to rallies with the knowledge that there could be heckling and disruptions. Kodwa went on to say: “Such reportage is habitual and typical of ANN7 - devoid of truth‚ divisive and designed to create an illusion of some ‘ANC insider’ status for the channel.” Read this report in full at TimesLive. See too, ANC slams ANN7 for report on May Day rally, at News24. Read the ANC’s press statement in this regard at ANC online Other internet posting(s) in this news category
New doctors devastated at lack of opportunity to do compulsory internship BusinessLive reports that some medical school graduates who completed their degree in 2016 are at their wits’ end over what they say are a lack of opportunities to do their compulsory internship. About 1‚300 graduates who qualify as interns must be placed each year. Limited funding for intern posts has left nearly 100 medical graduates without jobs, and the situation could get worse after more than 1‚000 graduates return from studying in Cuba. The Department of Health said that "about 25" new doctors were yet to be placed in hospitals this year‚ mainly because they wanted to do an internship at a particular institution. One Wits University graduate is close to throwing in the towel and said that by y late 2016, “the Department of Health contacted all the remaining students who had not yet been placed and placed us on a WhatsApp group. There are about 100 of us on this group.” Another graduate from Stellenbosch is now working in the retail sector. The Western Cape chairperson of the Junior Doctors Association of SA, Dr Zahid Badroodien‚ said that in the past two years, not all students had been placed. Read this report by Petru Saal in full at BusinessLive
Mashaba maintains Jozi@Work programme was 'wolf in sheep’s clothing' News24 reports that, despite resistance to the decision to cancel the Jozi@Work youth employment programme, Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba maintains the project only served a select few. In principle, programmes which married service delivery objectives with work opportunities were good, he said during his first ever State of the City address on Wednesday. “But like so many good principles, the Jozi@Work programme had a dark underworld, because when middlemen get awarded multi-million rand contracts to run these projects, they become indebted through their newly achieved wealth.” These “overnight millionaires” then selected people who would benefit from the work opportunities. Ward councillors were said to have contributed to the “mess” by helping to choose who benefited from the programme. According to Mashaba, there was no official indigent list to work off. He said his administration would revamp the programme to cut the middlemen out of the equation. Work opportunities would be fairly allocated on a rotational basis, using a legitimate indigent register. Read this report by Mpho Raborife in full at News24. Read too, Joburg to restore dignity to residents through job creation: Mashaba, at Engineering News ABB opens plant in SA to supply traction transformer units for locomotives Reuters reports that Swiss engineering group ABB will supply its first batch of traction transformer units for 240 Bombardier electric locomotives, the company said on Wednesday after opening a production plant in SA. The 2,450m² plant in Longmeadow, Johannesburg, is expected to employ 60 people by the end of 2017. In 2014, SA announced a R50bn locomotive supply contract to four companies, including Canada’s Bombardier, in a push to modernise its fleet and support its road-to-rail migration. "ABB is proud of this new traction transformer facility in SA, reiterating our philosophy of locating manufacturing units close to our customers," ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer said. ABB has operations in 23 African countries and employs about 5,000 people across the continent. Read this report by Nqobile Dludla in full at BusinessLive
PetroSA makes 'unprecedented' plea to be placed under business rescue TimesLive writes that the board of troubled state-owned oil company PetroSA has asked its holding company‚ the Central Energy Fund (CEF)‚ to place it under business rescue‚ raising questions over its status as a going concern. PetroSA has suffered huge financial losses over the past three years‚ but it is unprecedented for a state-owned entity to ask to be placed under business rescue. PetroSA has a projected loss of R2.2bn for the year to March 2017, which follows its record R14.6bn net operating loss in the 2014-15 financial year. Despite these losses‚ PetroSA paid out large performance bonuses to its executives at the end of 2016. These were linked to the Ikhewzi project‚ responsible for a near R15bn impairment in financial 2014-15. This short report by Genevieve Quintal is at TimesLive Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Sadtu reiterates rejection of appraisals for principals BusinessLive reports that the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) continues to block the implementation of principal-performance agreements across the country. The implementation of the contracts, which will be used to hold principals accountable for the performance of pupils, is seen as vital to improving SA’s poorly-performing education system. Sadtu has objected to the contracts, arguing that the government must first ensure that all principals, particularly those in poor schools, are adequately resourced and skilled to carry out their tasks before it judges their performance. "Principals in poor schools are disadvantaged. They do not have the tools, so the department should first fix the entire system before talking about performance contracts," Sadtu’s Nkosana Dolopi said. The Department of Basic Education (DBE) told MPs on Wednesday that talks with the unions about the contracts were continuing. The DA requested that DBE Minister Angie Motshekga be summoned to explain the delay in this matter. Read this report by Bekezela Phakathi in full at BusinessLive. Read the DA’s press statement in this regard at DA Newsroom
'Miracle' that some TVET colleges are still open given lack of funding News24 reports that the chairperson of the TVET colleges governors' council told MPs on Wednesday it was a miracle that some TVET (Technical Vocational Education and Training) colleges were still open given their lack of funding. MPs from across the political spectrum reacted with concern to Dan Mabuyakhulu's presentation. "Colleges are highly underfunded and it is a miracle that none have closed doors. We can only thank colleges' councils for the prudent manner in which they govern colleges," Mabuyakhulu said. Earlier in the day, the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC) told MPs that allocations for university education would grow by close to 6% over the 2017 Medium Term Expenditure Framework, but allocations for TVET colleges would grow by less than 2% over this period. Mabuyakhulu said not providing TVET colleges with adequate funding was not in line with government policy. TVET colleges should be the biggest sector in post-school education, he stated. Read this report by Jan Gerber in full at News24 Women driver development an industry first at Barloworld Transport’s new academy The Mercury reports that Barloworld Transport recently celebrated the official launch of its Transport Academy at its subsidiary Manline’s Pietermaritzburg headquarters. The fully accredited training centre offers not only professional driving training – including an industry first Women Driver Development Programme – but other learnerships and school partnership programmes, which enable the organisation to make a sizeable dent in the country’s skills requirements and development needs. Barloworld Transport has 1,800 drivers and has set several international benchmarks by creating a driver career path, backed by a national certificate for those who complete the company’s in-house training courses. The academy is running learnership and apprenticeship programmes for more than 850 learners (both employed and unemployed) throughout southern Africa, in conjunction with its subsidiary companies and supported by stakeholders such as Teta (the Transport Education and Training Authority) and the Road Freight Chamber. Read this report by Peta Lee in full at The Mercury Other internet posting(s) in this news category
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