In our afternoon roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that appeared thus far on
Tuesday, 21 August 2018.
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Inmate stabs prison warder at Joburg court, Popcru blames Correctional Services ANA reports that a Department of Correctional Services (DCS) official is nursing wounds after being stabbed twice by an inmate who was attempting to escape at the High Court in Johannesburg on Monday. A DCS spokesperson indicated: “According to the preliminary investigation, the inmate used a sharp object stabbing the official twice before attempting to escape. He [the inmate] was caught in no time by the court security officials, with assistance from the general public who were within the court premises.” The injured prison official was taken to a hospital and has since been released after receiving medical attention. A formal investigation has been launched to establish the facts around the incident, and a criminal case would be lodged with the police. The offender is serving 2,827 days for not obeying parole conditions and is also facing two further charges for murder and robbery. Meantime, the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) blamed the department for failing to adequately protect DCS officials. Spokesperson Richard Mamabolo said the official was single-handedly escorting a sentenced inmate from the Johannesburg Correctional Centre’s B section‚ which houses maximum offenders. He said: "We want to categorically state that all correctional officials across the country should blatantly refuse to escort 'maximum' inmates to courts or hospitals if the ratio is not 2:1‚ meaning that there should at all times be two correctional officials escorting one inmate‚ excluding a driver.” Read this report in full at The Citizen. Read too, Popcru blames DCS for prison warden's stabbing, at Timeslive. And also, Inmate stabs correctional services official in foiled escape bid at court, at IOL News
Take Amcu threat seriously, writes DA’s Michael Bagraim In a letter to the Business Day editor, Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Michael Bagraim writes that the threat by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) to bring the platinum mining sector to its knees must be taken seriously. “Their rhetoric is cancerous and spreading very quickly through the trade union movement. The threat to stop retrenchments (dismissals for operational requirements) is a real one and seems to be finding favour within the ANC’s ranks.” Noting that SA is already short of 10-million jobs, Bagraim goes to write: “If there is any possibility of mechanising or computerising, businesses would be well-advised to consider that option. The reckless and rather archaic trade union bosses are forcing the hand of the business community to consider every other option other than employment.” Read this letter in full at BusinessLive AngloGold Ashanti ‘has the right man for top job’ BusinessLive writes that Kelvin Dushnisky will be leading a very different AngloGold Ashanti (AGA) to the company that Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan headed as CEO. Dushnisky, a Canadian who joins AngloGold as CEO in September, leaving his role as Barrick Gold president, comes to a firm that has turned to an interim profit, has rising output and has cut its SA contribution to just 10% of the group’s annual gold output. Under the five-year stewardship of Venkatakrishnan, a crippling 12m oz hedge book was removed, costs were cut, assets were sold, SA closed or shut, and the debt burden was brought down to manageable levels. The pressing tasks now facing Dushnisky include returning the 4km-deep Mponeng mine in SA to profit. AGA has begun a restructuring process at the Mponeng mine and the Mine Waste Solutions tailings business. Chris Sheppard, who cut his teeth in the platinum sector, has the job of overseeing the two-thirds cut in the annual spend of R3.3bn in SA on support and logistical services. Up to 2,000 jobs could be lost, but Sheppard indicated that the well-advanced retrenchment process with unions was revealing options to sell assets such as hospitals, laboratories, rail networks and other infrastructure to third parties, with employees going with the assets. The process, which should be completed by the end of 2018, would return Mponeng to positive cash flows, he opined. Read this report by Allan Seccombe in full at BusinessLive. Read too, AngloGold moves to avoid 2,000 job losses in South Africa region, at Mining Weekly. And also, AngloGold profits from good cost control, at Business Report Mantashe opposed world heritage status for Barberton mountains because of job loss fears BusinessLive reports about Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe’s opposition to the Barberton Makhonjwa Mountains gaining World Heritage Site status because the area is home to at least 500 tons of easily accessible gold. Mantashe apparently wrote to Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa a month before the decision‚ urging her to ensure that jobs and economic development were not trumped by conservation. The mountains were granted world heritage status by Unesco in July. The rocks in the mountains in Mpumalanga are thought to be one of the oldest places on Earth and the departments of arts and culture and the department of environmental affairs successfully pushed for the mountains to be added as a site. Mining company Pan African Resources‚ which provides nearly all the jobs in Barberton‚ also unsuccessfully objected to some parts of the mountainous site receiving world heritage status. Molewa’s spokesperson‚ Albi Modise‚ indicated: "There are no differences at all between the environmental affairs minister and minister Mantashe." Read more of this report by Katharine Child at BusinessLive
Eskom’s CCMA move corners trade unions into an arbitration process BusinessLive writes that Eskom’s decision to lodge a dispute at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) has cornered trade unions after months of wage negotiations that have not yielded results. The application will enable the CCMA to make a determination in the form of an award, after arbitration processes are concluded, in favour or against the state power utility. The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) have refused to sign a wage agreement they accepted in principle after Eskom said it would charge workers for embarking on an illegal strike. The CCMA will view the allegations levelled against employees by Eskom’s management and the evidence submitted by unions before deciding how the parties should proceed. The arbitration awarded by the CCMA will be legally binding on all parties. The unions said on Sunday they were still awaiting a date from the CCMA on the start of the arbitration process. The wage agreement that will be signed by the parties when the matter is concluded at the CCMA currently amounts to a 7.5% increase this year, 7% in 2019 and in 2020, with an additional R10,000 once-off payment to employees. Read this report by Theto Mahlakoana in full at BusinessLive Protest over wages on Monday at National Lotteries Commission offices Timeslive reports that a group of National Lotteries Commission (NLC) employees protested on Monday over wages outside their offices in Pretoria. The National Education Health & Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) and the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (Nupsaw) are demanding an 8.5% wage increase for the next year while the NLC is offering 7%. About 145 of the NLC employees are apparently either Nupsaw or Nehawu members. There is a second dispute over promotions, with claims that some vacancies are not filled or advertised. “The employers (NLC) said they have the prerogative to promote as they wish without following the due processes‚” Nupsaw chairperson Sello Qhina said. According to Nupsaw, they have met with the NLC 13 times between December last year and 13 August‚ but were “still at square one”. The union added: “Employers chose [to] undermine labour by imposing 7% and encouraging members to leave unions to be able to be paid while negotiations have not been concluded.” Read this report by Nico Gous in full at Timeslive
Deregulating fuel price would lead to massive job losses‚ senior energy official tells MPs BusinessLive reports that Department of Energy deputy director-general Tseliso Maqubela told MPs on Tuesday that deregulation of the fuel price would lead to 50‚000 job losses and would not necessarily result in lower prices. MPs were being briefed MPs on how the fuel price was set and what could be done to lower it. The fuel price is regulated by the Department of Energy and adjusted monthly according to market conditions‚ including the price of crude oil and the rand-dollar exchange rate. Apart from the price of crude oil‚ the determination also includes margins for wholesalers‚ retailers and for storage and distribution; the fuel levy; and various other levies and duties. The retail margin‚ which is mostly used to pay wages of petrol pump assistants‚ is at present 187 cents of the total R16 a litre price. “If you deregulate‚ owners could opt for self-service and we would lose those 50‚000 jobs overnight. From where we stand‚ we don’t think that is a sustainable position. There is also no guarantee that the price would come down‚” Maqubela said. Read this report by Carol Paton in full at Timeslive
Sasol adamant it won't change race-based requirements for its new B-BBEE scheme Fin24 reports that Sasol says it won’t change the prerequisites for inclusion in its new Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) share scheme, which have been rejected by trade union Solidarity for excluding white employees. CEO Stephen Cornell said on Monday, after the presentation of the energy and chemical company’s annual financial results, that the company had noted the union’s grievances after Solidarity was granted permission by the CCMA in June to strike over the scheme . “We continue to engage with them (Solidarity) to understand their point, but we are not going to change the plan,” said Cornell. “We have been very clear on that,” he said, adding that the scheme was about “economic transformation”. Solidarity has maintained that the scheme's race-based policy discriminated against its nearly 6,300 workers at Sasol, and would further fuel racial tensions. Last year, Sasol’s shareholders approved a new R21bn B-BBEE employee shareholding plan called Sasol Khanyisa to replace the previous scheme called Sasol Inzalo. Sasol would have to come up with a plan to mitigate the impact of the strike should Solidarity, which represents mostly white employees, decide to go ahead and down tools. Read this report by Sibongile Khumalo in full at Fin24 Solidarity members at Sasol commence with strike vote over race exclusion from new shareholding scheme Trade union Solidarity announced in a statement on Tuesday the commencement on Tuesday of meetings with its members at Sasol in order to obtain their mandate regarding a possible strike at the energy and chemical company. This follows after the CCMA earlier this year gave the trade union permission to strike due to the exclusion based on race of white employees in a new employee shareholding plan called Sasol Khanyisa. The plan will replace the previous scheme called Sasol Inzalo. According to Solidarity Deputy General Secretary Deon Reyneke, a system that divided ordinary employees according to race was a recipe for racial tension, which he said was already palpable at Sasol. “Solidarity members are not going to let it happen that they are being excluded simply because of their race,” he said. Reyneke warned that what Sasol CEO Stephen Cornell was really telling his white employees was that the company did not regard them as worthy enough “and in reality he is challenging those employees to exercise their full rights.” He indicated that Solidarity members would now air their concerns in a strike ballot. Read Solidarity’s press statement in this regard at Solidarity News
Staff at Afro Worldview, formerly ANN7, told to stay at home as news channel shuts down The Citizen reports that Mzwanele Manyi’s Afro Worldview, formerly known as ANN7, had its last broadcast on Monday night. Employees were told to not come back to work and were promised their July salaries. This came after satellite television company Multichoice declined to renew the channel’s contract on its DSTV platform after it came to an end. The channel’s closure comes a few weeks after Manyi’s daily newspaper, Afro Voice (formerly known as The New Age) filed for liquidation. The newspaper closed abruptly on 28 June, sending panic among its employees. The newspaper was launched in 2010 and the channel came later in 2013. Both were owned by the controversial Gupta family. Manyi bought the channel and newspaper from the Gupta family last year. Read this report by Batandwa Malingo in full at The Citizen. Read too, MultiChoice ends association with Manyi’s Afro Worldview, previously ANN7, at BusinessLive. And also, Afro Worldview employees left in limbo as contract with MultiChoice comes to an end, at News24 Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Numsa outraged at ‘detention’ of FeesMustFall activists and threatens mass mobilisation SABC News reports that the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has threatened to embark on mass mobilisation if students arrested during the FeesMustFall protests are not unconditionally released and the charges against them dropped. Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said the union was shocked and disgusted that so many students were still being detained. She noted that some have been convicted for standing up for their rights to free higher education that the ANC government promised them for more than two decades. She commented further as follows: “The so called free education that these students fought so hard for has turned out to be nothing else than an empty pipe dream. What has made it worse is that the ANC government has deliberately taken a decision not to nationalise the land and the mineral wealth. If we had nationalised it like other Nordic countries we would actually have the money and the resources to fund free higher education. Instead of the model that the government is using now to punish the working class by forcing them to pay for this education through increased taxation”. This short report by Jamaine Krige is at SABC News. Read too, FeesMustFall protesters locked out of Union Buildings, at The Citizen
Survey reveals that just one in five of SA's senior management is a woman Timeslive reports that a recent survey by PwC of the pay data of 550 organisations, including 4‚000 senior managers and executives, revealed that women represent just 20% of senior management and executives in SA. The survey also found that 61% of women were paid less than the median of the sample‚ compared to 39% of men. In contrast‚ 63% of males were remunerated above the median. PwC director Rene Richter said: "It is clear that corporate SA still needs to focus on ensuring that female numbers are increased at these levels in addition to addressing gender pay inequalities." Richter said sustainable change needed to stem from underlying changes within organisations. "We’re already seeing how the catalyst of gender pay reporting is helping to concentrate minds on how to build diversity and inclusion into a more compelling employee value proposition, in areas ranging from talent development and succession planning to flexible working and work-life balance." Read this report by Nico Gous in full at BusinessLive. Read too, Women hit the glass ceiling in top companies, at BusinessLive. And also, Female execs in SA still underrepresented, underpaid, at Fin24
Tom Moyane asks for more time in his SARS disciplinary inquiry BusinessLive reports that further delays are on the cards in the disciplinary inquiry against suspended SA Revenue Service (SARS) commissioner Tom Moyane, which was meant to resume on Tuesday. Moyane’s attorney, Eric Mabuza, wrote to ask for time to consult with Moyane, after President Cyril Ramaphosa rejected Moyane’s demand to halt either the disciplinary inquiry against Moyane as an individual, or the commission of inquiry into governance and administration at SARS, chaired by retired judge Robert Nugent. Ramaphosa wrote to Mabuza on Friday, informing him of his decision to continue with both processes, after Moyane objected to them being held simultaneously. Monday was the deadline set by the chairperson of the disciplinary inquiry, Azhar Bham, for Moyane to file an affidavit responding to the charges set out against him in an affidavit by former finance minister and current public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan. Mabuza said on Monday that he has written to Bham to indicate he needs time to consult Moyane over whether to challenge Ramaphosa, Bham, Nugent or all three in court. Read this report by Natasha Marrian in full at BusinessLive
Cosatu wants state capture’s ‘barons, swindlers and enablers’ exposed by Zondo inquiry The Citizen reports that Cosatu expressed the hope on Monday that “the robber barons, swindlers and their enablers” of state capture would be exposed and sent to jail at the conclusion of the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture. The commission began its work in Johannesburg on Monday. The inquiry will centre on the role of the Gupta family as well as President Jacob Zuma and other officials in enabling the family to siphon funds from the state and state-owned enterprises by corrupt means. Billions of rands in illegal contracts with SOEs were exposed through the Guptaleaks emails obtained from computers owned by companies linked to the controversial family. Cosatu said in a statement that the commencement of the commission was long overdue. “The people of South Africa deserve some answers and clarity about the economic vandalism that has happened over the last couple of years,” said Cosatu national spokesperson, Sizwe Pamla. Read this report by Eric Naki in full at The Citizen. Read Cosatu’s press statement in this regard at Cosatu News
Two more Cape Town train carriages go up in smoke on Tuesday Timeslive reports that firefighters responded to yet another train fire in Cape Town on Tuesday morning. City of Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services received a call at about 10.00 that two railway carriages were alight at Koeberg station in Maitland. No injuries have been reported and the cause of the fire is presently unknown. The train was burning a few hundred metres from the depot where Transport Minister Blade Nzimande addressed reporters two weeks ago‚ vowing to address the arson attacks that have taken 150 carriages out of service since 2015. Tuesday's incident brings the total number of carriages burnt to 152. The fires have left Metrorail with only 50 functioning train sets for its commuter services in Cape Town, while it says it needs 88 to run an efficient service. This short report by Aron Hyman is at Timeslive
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