Today's Labour News

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY

Twelve police officers killed since the start of 2018

Sunday Tribune reports that twelve police officers have been killed since the start of the year.  The latest was a 54-year-old officer from Maphumulo who was killed during a business robbery on Friday.  The gunmen fled the scene in a getaway car and the police captain later died in hospital.  Earlier last week, gunmen killed five policemen and a retired soldier at Ngcobo police station in the Eastern Cape.  Police Minister Fikile Mbalula described the deaths of the police officers as a national tragedy.  A memorial service for the five slain officers and soldier will be held in Ngcobo’s Wesleyan Methodist Church on Tuesday.  Policing expert Jean Steyn said attacks on police officers were attacks on the morality of society.  “It’s a sad day for South Africa that we have so many attacks on police officers and this should be neither condoned nor normalised.”  He went on to indicate that in the past 20 years, an average of more than 160 police officers were killed a year, which was among the highest rates in the world.

Read this report by Sithandiwe Velaphi, Nabeelah Shaikh and Karinda Jagmohan in full at Sunday Tribune. Read too, Police captain gunned down in KZN business robbery, at News24

Church used as base by Ngcobo cop killers to be shut down

Timeslive reports that the church a gang of Eastern Cape police killers used as a base for their deadly crime spree is under investigation for operating as an alleged "satanic" cult and will be shut down.  The Seven Angel's Ministries church was the scene of a bloody shootout on Friday night when the alleged murderers refused to surrender to police who surrounded the sprawling complex of zinc shacks and brick buildings.  Their refusal was sent through a hail of gunfire‚ which saw heavily armed officers retaliate‚ killing seven suspects and arresting 10 others.  An unknown number of gunmen‚ armed with automatic rifles‚ managed to escape.  The scene had been complicated by the presence of women and children, but miraculously none were killed.  More than 70 children were removed from the various buildings.  Since Wednesday night‚ a task team comprising various specialised police units had been tracking the killers of five Ngcobo police station officers and a retired soldier.  Members are believed to have discovered the gang's hideout after receiving a tip-off about the arrival of a large group of men at the church on Thursday.  National police commissioner General Khehla Sithole said when they had finished processing the crime scene they would close down the church.

Read this detailed report by Graeme Hosken in full at Timeslive. See too, Ngcobo massacre: Seven suspects dead after police shootout, at News24. And also, Cops recover 8 of 10 police firearms stolen in eNgcobo massacre, at News24. As well as, eNgcobo massacre a lesson that 'should never happen again', says Popcru, at News24

MINING LABOUR

Evander Gold Mine to retrench most of its workforce, says NUM

ANA reports that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has been informed that Evander Gold Mine in Mpumalanga intends to retrench most of its workforce.  Evander Gold Mine is a subsidiary of Pan African Resources (PAR).  The union said on Sunday that it was shocked and saddened by mine’s so-called section 189 (i.e. retrenchment) notice of its intention to retrench 1,722 mineworkers.  According to NUM Highveld regional secretary, Tshilidzi Mathavha, the company had a total workforce of 1,812.  The company apparently informed the NUM that the retrenchments were as a result of it being an old mine with deteriorating and inadequate infrastructure, high operating costs, such as rising electricity and labour costs, and a low gold price.  The NUM will be opposing the retrenchments.

Read this report in full at eNCA. See too, NUM says 1,722 jobs to go at Evander Gold Mine, at EWN. And also, Under pressure gold miner Pan African Resources to retrench 1,700, at BusinessLive

Northam Platinum to create 6,500 new jobs in next four to five years in growth thrust

Mining Weekly reports that platinum group metals (PGM) miner Northam, which is in a strong organic and acquisitive growth phase, will be generating 6,500 new mining jobs in the next four to five years.  A current employer of 12,000 people, including contractors, Northam is in the midst of spending R5.5bn capital on strategically timed, on-track growth projects, which are combining with acquisitive growth to reposition the company as a million-ounce supplier of PGMs.  Speaking on Friday, CEO Paul Dunne said the company would definitely be employing more people at all of the operations, with the possible exception of Booysendal North, which is already at full nameplate capacity.  Preparation to access the newly acquired Tumela Block has already created an additional 357 jobs and more job creation is on the way as the Zondereinde mine ramps up to 350,000 oz a year.   A combination of 3,000 new permanent and project jobs are also on the way at the Booysendal South mine.  If the company chooses to restart the recently acquired rhodium-dominant Eland mine in the Brits area, another 3,000 people stand to be employed.

Read this report in full at Mining Weekly

NUM lawyers consider next move after Optimum mine placed in business rescue

BusinessLive reports that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is consulting with its lawyers to determine the next course of action for its members at Optimum Coal Mine, which has been placed into business rescue.  The 2,500 workers have embarked on an indefinite strike following the Gupta-owned mine’s failure to pay salaries.  NUM spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu said the mine's management had not been forthcoming with information about its financial difficulties, leaving members anxious and confused as they were caught off guard and did not know about the business rescue.  On Thursday, Eskom announced that since the beginning of February it had stopped settling invoices submitted by Optimum due to the mine’s failures to meet its contractual obligations in terms of coal supply.  "Optimum coal mine that supplies Hendrina power station in Mpumalanga informed Eskom that they have commenced with business rescue proceedings on Monday February 19," Eskom indicated.  Mammburu said service providers had also been hit hard:  "Service providers are owed millions.  These are BEE companies, which will be forced to close as they were not paid.”  

Read this report by Theto Mahlakoana in full at BusinessLive

Parliamentary portfolio committee gravely concerned at Optimum mine situation

ANA reports that parliament's mineral resources portfolio committee has expressed grave concern at the latest developments at the Gupta-owned Optimum coal mine in Mpumalanga, where the company failed to pay workers this month.  Workers have reportedly gone on strike to demand their salaries and are also demanding answers about the future of the mine, which has reportedly been placed under business rescue.  The committee had received a letter from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) requesting its intervention in the ongoing impasse, committee chairman Sahlulele Luzipo said on Saturday.  He remarked that the situation at Optimum was reminiscent of the events leading up to the Aurora mine disaster, when workers were not paid for several months before the mine was shut down and its assets stripped by the owners.  “It cannot be allowed under this government dispensation that workers are made to bear the brunt while the owners walk away unscathed,” Luzipo said.  He called on the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) to intervene swiftly and establish with certainty the future of the mine.  It should also assist in ensuring that workers were paid.

Read this report in full at eNCA. See too, Parliament calls on mineral resources department to intervene at Gupta mine, at News24

Koornfontein colliery now the second Gupta-owned mine to fail to pay workers

The Citizen reports that Koornfontein Coal Mine in Mpumalanga has reportedly become the second Gupta-owned mine that has failed to pay the salaries of its workers this month.  This after workers at Optimum Coal Mine, another coal mine owned by the controversial family in the province, downed tools on Wednesday to demand their salaries and answers about the future of the mine, which has reportedly been placed under business rescue.  EWN reports that members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) at Koornfontein said management had promised to pay them on Sunday morning after the company failed to pay them on Friday, but they remained unpaid.  The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said workers would march on Monday and would only return to work after their salaries were paid.  “We are hoping that by embarking on this march tomorrow (Monday) we will get clarity on whatever is happening”, NUM branch secretary Sibusiso Mahlangu said.

Read this report in full at The Citizen. See too, Another Gupta-owned mine fails to pay employees, at EWN

PROTESTS / MARCHES / CAMPAIGNS

Solidarity threatens protest action at defence group Denel

Engineering News reports that trade union Solidarity warned on Friday that its members at State-owned defence industrial group Denel were ready to start protesting at the company.  This followed the response by Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown to a recent urgent letter to her from Solidarity about “serious allegations of financial mismanagement and misrepresentations” made against the Denel group CEO, group CFO and board chairperson.  The Minister’s reply had been that the union should continue to hold talks with the three officials.  The union reacted in a press statement that Brown had “delivered a blow to the workers at Denel by refusing to view in a serious light the numerous allegations” against the three senior executives.  Solidarity sent a follow-up letter to Minister Brown on Thursday afternoon, rejecting her suggestion as irresponsible and urging her “to amend her vague solutions to the obvious problems at Denel and to use the authority of her office to address these problems.”  According to Solidarity’s deputy general secretary Deon Reyneke, up to 700 Denel employees could lose their jobs as a result of the mismanagement of Denel.

Read this report in full at Engineering News. Read Solidarity’s press statement in this regard at Solidarity online

UNION NEWS / STRUCTURES / ORGANISATIONAL REPORTS

SA Medical Association accused of fraud by ex-leaders of dissolved trade union arm

BusinessLive reports that the SA Medical Association (Sama) has been accused of fraud and misappropriation of funds by former leaders of its now dissolved trade union.  Sama, a nonprofit company registered in terms of the Companies Act that protects the interests of 16,300 doctors for a fee, decided to collapse its trade-union structure at a 2015 board meeting, saying that it had become ineffective.  However, the general secretary of the union at the time, Mahlane Phalane, has revealed in court documents that the association has continued to collect millions of rand deducted from doctors’ salaries as union subscription fees.  Although it is still a registered union, the SA Medical Association Trade Union does not comply with requirements of the Labour Relations Act and the labour registrar has warned several times that it would be deregistered.  Phalane, with the backing of leaders and members of the union, has launched an application in the Pretoria High Court seeking to preserve all assets belonging to the trade union.  He claims Sama has been channeling funds from union accounts into its profit-making subsidiaries as "loans" that are never recouped.  The former leaders have also claimed that Sama did not have the legal authority to disestablish the union.  Sama has opposed the action, arguing that when it founded the trade union it was never meant to be a separate entity to the association.

Read this report by Theto Mahlakoana in full at BusinessLive

PROFESSIONAL BODIES / STANDARDS

Doctors who studied overseas face ‘unfair’ internship rule on return to SA

Sunday Tribune reports that hundreds of South African doctors who have studied medicine abroad fear that their degrees could be rendered worthless because of “unfair” regulations by the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA).  The regulations state that returning doctors must complete an internship in the country in which they studied, before they sit for their HPCSA board exams.  However, medical students who studied in Cuba on state bursaries are not affected and are allowed to undergo their internships locally.  Apparently regulations kicked in this month, despite having been in existence since 2009 but not enforced.  The aggrieved doctors said it wasn’t possible to complete internships in the country of study in some countries, as they didn’t allow foreign graduates to intern because of work permit issues.  They said their only option was to return to South Africa and complete an internship here, but the Department of Health apparently would not accept this, even on a voluntary basis.  HPCSA spokesperson Priscilla Sekhonyana said returning doctors had to have satisfactory duty internship certificates verified by the Education Commission of Foreign Medical Graduates and an original certificate of good standing from a regulatory body.  She said the rules had been the same since 2009.  A meeting is due to take place with the regulatory body on Monday about this matter.

Read this report by Nabeelah Shaikh in full at Sunday Tribune

LABOUR AND POLITICS

Debate about forming a Workers Party cannot be postponed, says Saftu’s Vavi

Timeslive reports that Zwelinzima Vavi, general secretary of the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu)‚ said on Saturday that the debate about forming a Workers Party to unite the left political formations and progressive civil society formations could not be postponed.  Addressing the congress of the Transport Action Retail and General Workers Union in Durban‚ Vavi said the ANC “not Zuma or Ramaphosa‚ has worsened the material conditions of the working class to a pauper status" and that this was “the second most important struggle‚ which cannot be separated from the struggle to rebuild trade unions and civil society formations.”  He also said that Sadtu needed to unite with all progressive unions inside and outside the federation‚ including civil society formations‚ to call for the withdrawal of the VAT increase.  "A series of general strikes to force a reversal of this assault on the living standards of the poor must be coordinated as a working-class response."  Vavi added that a general strike should also be called to reverse the Nedlac agreement on a national minimum wage.

Read this report in full at BusinessLive

Other internet posting(s) in this news category

• Vavi warns workers to avoid 'butcher of the working class' after budget, at News24
• Vavi: The ANC has made the lives of poor workers worse, at The Citizen

STAFFING / JOB QUALIFICATIONS

DA disturbed that 57 police officers in family violence unit have criminal records

EWN reports that Democratic Alliance (DA) says it is deeply disturbed by the police ministry’s revelation that 57 SA Police Service (SAPS) members working in the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offenses Unit have criminal records.  Their crimes apparently include culpable homicide, common assault, assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm, and one instance of pointing a firearm.  Other crimes include driving under the influence, reckless or negligent driving, fraud, loss of firearms and defeating the ends of justice and theft.  The party says these officers are not the kind of people who should be working with children or the victims of domestic and sexual violence and that it will hold Minister Fikile Mbalula to account “to root out these officers and to replace them with untainted individuals who will diligently bring justice to the victims and survivors of sexual abuse and domestic violence.”

Read this report by Koketšo Motau in full at EWN. Read the DA’s press statement in this regard at DA Newsroom

NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE

National Minimum Wage Bill published for public comment

EWN reports that the bill that will pave the way for a National Minimum Wage (NMW) has been published for public comment.  In his State of the Nation Address (Sona) last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa said government was still on track to implement the NMW from 1 May this year.  The introduction of a NMW is expected to increase the earnings of more than six million working South Africans.  Government says it hopes the NMW will reduce wage inequality while maintaining economic growth and employment creation.  Under the new law, employers would have to pay their staff a minimum wage of R20 an hour.  But it will exclude farm workers, domestic workers and those working on an extended public works programme, whose wages are determined by separate sectoral determinations.  The public has until 16 March to make representations to Parliament on the new bill.

Read this report by Lindsay Dentlinger at EWN

COMMUTING / TRANSPORT SERVICES

Armed contractor employed to escort train drivers on duty shot and injured in Philippi

EWN reports that the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) has reported that one of its armed contractors was attacked and shot at by a group of unknown men in Phillipi in the Western Cape.  In a statement, the rail agency said the contractor was charged with escorting train drivers on duty and was shot in the shoulder.  The guard survived the attack.  This incident follows a series of criminal attacks against Prasa staff while engaged in their daily operations.  Prasa’s Nana Zanani said:  “It’s really disturbing that we’re trying every day to protect the service and to protect the rail infrastructure as well as our commuters and our employees but we seem to be hitting a dead end because the onslaught is growing.”  In the Western Cape, 88 additional armed security guards and two armoured vehicles have been deployed to patrol day and night to enable technical teams to repair vital equipment and prevent further attacks on rail infrastructure.

This short report is at EWN. See too, Prasa security staff fired upon by armed men in Cape Town, at The Citizen