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 roundup of weekend news, see
summaries of our selection of South African
labour-related stories that appeared since
Friday, 26 October 2018.
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High Court reserves judgment in case over Lonmin’s non-compliance with social and labour plans ANA reports that the North West High Court on Friday reserved judgment in a case involving Lonmin’s mining licence. The Mining Forum of SA’s (MFSA’s) Blessings Ramoba commented: “It was a very complex case, both parties Lonmin and [department of mineral resources] DMR did not comply. What they were arguing about in terms of their technicalities was our departure, they were saying we did not follow [the] departure process. In this case the court did not even take it into consideration because of the main issue of non-compliance.” He went on to state: “We are very hopeful it [judgment] will come in our favour. They agreed that Lonmin did not comply and therefore according to the law, if you did not comply it is very much clear that the minister must take away the licence and the company must go and fix the issues of social and labour plans. When they are done they can go back to operations. In this case what we are asking the court is that the licence must be taken away.” In its court papers, the MFSA claimed that Lonmin failed to build houses for mineworkers and had also failed to build schools, as promised. The MFSA wants Sibanye’s pending takeover of Lonmin to be stopped until the labour social plans have been addressed. Read this report in full at The Citizen Fresh bid by creditors to liquidate ill-fated Lily and Barbrook mines City Press reports that creditors of Mpumalanga’s Lily and Barbrook mines have started a fresh bid to liquidate the mines, after doubts that a R22m promised loan payment would materialise. The Barbrook creditors’ committee (BCC) is also gunning for the removal of the mines’ business rescue practitioner, Rob Devereux, for allegedly neglecting the mines’ assets. The mines have not resumed operations since Siyakhula Sonke Corporation Flaming Silver SPV signed a R190m loan agreement with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to acquire a 74% stake in the owner Vantage Goldfields SA. Lily and Barbrook mines were shut down in 2016 and placed under business rescue after the entrance to the Lily mine collapsed, resulting in the deaths of three workers. The BCC\s Dwaine Koch said the committee withdrew its initial liquidation application because it was promised R22m. “They also have still not provided proof that they secured the funds from the IDC. We are bringing the liquidation motion again,” he indicated. He added that as a result of Devereux’s alleged neglect, a substation at Barbrook had been vandalised and stripped. Salamander Mining, which entered into a joint venture with Barbrook Mine to implement the business plan and start mining, has also expressed doubt about funding. Read this report by Sizwe Sama Yende in full at City Press North West villagers win ‘milestone’ judgment against eviction by Pilanesberg Platinum Mines The Citizen reports that the organisation ‘Lawyers for Human Rights’ has welcomed a Constitutional Court (ConCourt) ruling that a mining right does not supersede the rights of land occupiers as exactly the milestone that mining communities need. The court on Thursday set aside an eviction order and trespassing interdict obtained by the Pilanesberg Platinum Mine against the Lesethleng village community, saying the fact that the mine held mining rights over the land did not mean the community was occupying the land unlawfully. The court held that a mineral rights holder must exhaust the internal procedures prescribed by the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act before resorting to an interdict to restrain interference with mining. In 2008, the community agreed to a surface lease by the platinum company in terms of which the community would lease the farm to the mine for mining purposes. In 2014, they obtained an interdict to stop mining operations, but the mine obtained an eviction order and an order preventing the community from returning to the farm in question. Read this report by Ilse de Lange in full at The Citizen. Read too, Landmark ConCourt judgment says mining rights do not trump lawful land occupier rights, at News24. . And also, Game-changing ConCourt judgment empowers communities, say experts, at News24 CSIR points to 30,000 net jobs gain in electricity in period to 2030, despite fall in coal jobs Mining Weekly writes that an analysis of the Department of Energy’s (DoE’s) recommended plan in the draft Integrated Resource Plan 2018 (IRP 2018) shows that there will be a 30,000 net increase in employment in the electricity industry to 2030. This will be despite a 100,000 fall in coal jobs over the period. In its response to the draft document, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) said the plan would result in reduction in coal jobs even with the contested inclusion of two new coal-fired independent power producer (IPP) projects with a combined capacity of 1 000 MW. The fall in coal employment relates primarily to the decommissioning of 9.9 GW of coal capacity from Eskom’s existing fleet between 2020 and 2030. The CSIR analysis of the recommended plan shows that 60,000 new jobs will be created in the gas sector to 2030, while the deployment of solar PV and wind will contribute up to 110,000 jobs by 2030. Overall, employment is expected to rise by 30,000, from around 365,000 jobs in 2020 to 395,000 in 2030, despite the fall in coal jobs. The CSIR intends to undertake further analysis on other scenarios included in the draft IRP 2018, but recommends that investigations be made into ways of addressing the socioeconomic impacts of the electricity transition, with a particular focus on the coal sector and workers within that sector. Read this report in full at Mining Weekly Other labour / community posting(s) relating to mining
Solidarity takes to the streets over Sasol empowerment scheme BusinessLive reports that members of organisations under the Solidarity Movement took to the streets of Sandton on Thursday to protest against the exclusion of members from Sasol’s new employee share ownership scheme, Sasol Khanyisa. More than 2,000 union members wore bright orange Solidarity branded t-shirts and caps and marched from a nearby park to the JSE and then to the Sasol headquarters, where leaders delivered memorandums. They chanted “genoeg is genoeg” (enough is enough) and “sies Sasol” (shame on Sasol). Solidarity said the exclusion of their white members from the Khanyisa scheme, launched on 1 June, was out of step with international conventions to fight discrimination, the spirit of the Mining Charter, and the core values of the constitution. It also claimed it violated certain provisions of the Employment Equity Act. The march came after Solidarity embarked on three weeks of industrial action in September. Sasol has maintained that Khanyisa is not part of Sasol’s employee remuneration or benefit structures, but was designed to benefit previously disadvantaged groups. The previous employee share scheme, Sasol Inzalo, had included all employees below managerial level, regardless of race, and ended in May when it was replaced by Sasol Khanyisa. Solidarity threatened litigation if Sasol did not meet its demands to include or otherwise compensate white workers excluded from the scheme. Sasol undertook to study the memorandum and respond as appropriate. Read this report by Lisa Steyn in full at BusinessLive
Warning that financially stressed Denel ‘about to implode’ and jobs to be lost The Citizen reports that according to defence expert Helmut Heitmann, problems at Denel have been exacerbated by the underfunding of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF), which is finding it hard to buy new equipment. So financially stressed is the state-owned arms and defence equipment manufacturer that Solidarity’s Johan Botha has expressed concern that employees might not get their full salaries and bonuses by December, with the company canvassing solutions from the trade union. Explaining the crisis, Heitmann cited “a combination of factors”, one of which was the underfunding of defence. Describing Denel’s current financial situation as “a catastrophe”, he said: “It is not clear what caused the implosion from a company whose situation was improving. All I can ascribe it to is poor management at the very top, corruption or both. One element seems to have been an unnecessary expansion of head office structures that swallowed money unproductively.” Heitmann warned that if the government could not find funds to recapitalise Denel or find foreign investors, “the Denel group will implode fairly quickly”. He said only the foreign-owned divisions, Rheinmetall Denel Munition and Hensoldt Optronics, would continue operating, while the rest of Denel would disappear. “We will lose most of the 15,000 direct jobs and perhaps another 10,000 or so indirect jobs,” Heitmann warned. Read this report by Brian Sokutu in full at The Citizen. Read too, Denel, Saudis in talks over possible investment, at The Citizen
Independent Media mum on number of jobs at risk in restructuring BusinessLive reports that the Independent Media group has confirmed that it is restructuring, but has not said how many jobs would be affected. The group, which owns or has stakes in newspapers including The Star, Cape Argus, Cape Times and The Mercury, reportedly has to cut costs at divisions, including lifestyle, sport, politics, editorial production and live editors. Independent Media sent section 189 (i.e. possible job cut) letters to staff in these divisions. The restructuring process has to be completed by 20 December. The group, like its competitors, has had to move away from print media towards online and multimedia to stay profitable. The letters indicate that the group has had to make more income from non-print sources and that it faced competition from overseas media and media houses using better technology than it has been using for years. "The constant pressure on the media industry with declining revenues, increasing costs and the continued competition by overseas technology platforms brings us to a point where we have to review our team structures and to reorganise our workflows," the letters to staff stated. Read this report by Alistair Anderson in full at BusinessLive Unions call for cabinet downsizing, but don’t want any jobs to be cut Sunday Independent writes that Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s position on the hefty public sector wage bill straining the fiscus has sparked debate about cutting government expenditure. Some trade unions and civil society organisations have called for the reduction of the executive as one of the cost-cutting measures. The SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) said while it supported the reduction of the Cabinet, any job cuts would be met with fierce opposition. General secretary Zwelinzima Vavi commented: “We support the cutting down of the executive. However, we want anybody that may be negatively impacted upon to be retrained and redeployed. The public service is running short of 129,000 jobs as we speak, they can’t afford to lose one person. They must redeploy people into those vacancies.” Cosatu noted that reducing the Cabinet would not necessarily translate into job cuts as members could be redeployed to other departments or state entities. Analyst Mamokgethi Molopyane also noted that downsizing the cabinet would not necessarily result in savings, saying: “I don’t expect unions to have a face-off with government should cabinet be downsized. The only time a face-off would happen is if government workers are retrenched shortly after a cabinet downsizing.” Gareth van Onselen of the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) pointed out: “Ministeries have relatively small staff numbers and it is in actual departments where most staff reside. So cutting the number of ministries would be a powerful metaphor but if the president is serious, it will be whole departments that get cut.” Read this report by Lerato Diale in full at Sunday Independent
Unions pan educator council’s plan to reregister teachers every three years BusinessLive reports that teacher unions have panned the plan by the SA Council of Educators (Sace) to require teachers to reregister every three years. They say it would be impractical and won’t help improve the standard of teaching. Instead, they want the council to focus on updating its register and removing people who were unfit to teach, such as those found guilty of misconduct. Sace told Parliament on Tuesday that it wanted to scrap the current system, which allowed a teacher to register for life. It wanted a system in which teachers would have to apply to reregister every three years, linking it to a requirement that they earned at least 150 ‘‘continuing professional teacher development’’ points during this period. The SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) opposes the plan, saying that teachers should maintain their registration for life and only lose it if found guilty of misconduct. The National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA (Naptosa) said it was not convinced by the reasoning behind reregistration. The Public Servants Association (PSA) said it had not been consulted on the proposal and first heard about it in the media. Reregistering 450,000 teachers would be an administrative nightmare and would not make a substantive difference to the quality of teaching, said the PSA’s Leon Gilbert. Read this report by Tamar Kahn in full at BusinessLive. Read the PSA’s press statement at SA Labour News
Transnet’s disciplinary action against ex-treasurer Ramosebudi to continue notwithstanding his resignation Fin24 reports that Transnet is continuing with its disciplinary action against former Group Treasurer Phetolo Ramosebudi, despite his resignation. In a statement on Friday, the state-owned logistics company said disciplinary action had been initiated after an investigation into the company's controversial procurement of 1,064 locomotives in 2014, in respect of which Gupta-linked Trillian Capital Partners and Regiments Capital acted as transaction advisors. "Mr Ramosebudi was informed on Tuesday, 23 October of the company’s intention to suspend him, and was asked to respond to a number of allegations of misconduct. He tendered his resignation on Thursday, 25 October without responding to any of the allegations," Transnet indicated. According to the statement from Transnet, the allegations against Ramosebudi related to the appointment of Trillian based on "false and misleading information"; payments to Trillian for services not rendered; over-payment and loss of R150m to Regiments Capital for transaction advisory services; failure to monitor Regiments Capital's performance; and failure to declare a conflict of interest. The investigation into the locomotive deal was ongoing and further disciplinary action could be expected, Transnet said. Read this report by Marelise van der Merwe in full at Fin24. Read too, Transnet on the hunt for new treasury executive after Ramosebudi quit, at Fin24. And also, Transnet may lay criminal charges against its former group treasurer, at The Citizen Transnet to sue axed CEO Gama for R166m BusinessLive reports that Transnet will be suing its axed CEO Siyabonga Gama for R166m, which the state-owned utility says was an overpayment made to Gupta-linked Regiments Capital. This relates to a consulting contract awarded to Regiments as part of Transnet’s purchase of R54bn of 1,064 locomotives, which has been the subject of various investigations. International consulting firm McKinsey, which came under fire for the work it did for Eskom with another Gupta-linked firm, Trillian Capital Partners, was also contracted to do work on the locomotives purchase. Gama’s axing came after these investigations found that he, former CEO Brian Molefe and Gupta associates might have acted unlawfully in relation to the purchase of the locomotives. The claim of R166m came to light in an affidavit filed by Transnet board chairman Popo Molefe in response to Gama’s application in the labour court asking for the termination of his contract to be overturned. The embattled CEO also wants the court to find that the Transnet board members, in their personal capacities, are held in contempt of court. The labour court heard Gama’s application on Thursday, but has reserved judgment. Gama was fired from the entity on Sunday before last with six months’ notice. His last day in the office was last Monday. Read this report by Genevieve Quintal in full at BusinessLive SAPS pilot allegedly lands helicopter in Queenstown parking lot to buy KFC News24 reports that the SA Police Service (SAPS) is investigating one of its police pilots who on Tuesday last week allegedly made an emergency landing in a parking lot in Queenstown, Eastern Cape, seemingly to buy a KFC meal. "They were on patrol in the Eastern Cape, but the question of them landing and why is still under investigation," national police spokesperson Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo said on Saturday. Images went viral on social media of a police officer, who has not yet been identified, landing in a parking lot at a local mall in Queenstown at around 14:00 on Tuesday, where he proceeded to the local KFC franchise to place an order. A Facebook post describes how the pilot did not land because of an emergency or crime being in progress, but solely to buy a take-away meal before returning to the helicopter. While Naidoo confirmed that police were "following up on this incident", he added that it was an internal matter. This short report by Canny Maphanga is at News24
Vandalism on trains 'beyond our call of duty', claims Prasa News24 reports that addressing vandalism on trains was "beyond our call of duty", Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) spokesperson Nana Zenani said on Thursday. "When somebody decides that they are going to come and cut the cables and steal rail clips that hold the rail lines to the ground, it goes beyond our call of duty especially when our own people are then attacked in the process," she said ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa's official launch on Friday of a multibillion-rand train manufacturing plant in Nigel, Gauteng. The plant is scheduled to deliver two new trains by December 2018, an additional nine by March 2019 and an estimated 56 trains over the next two years. According to Prasa, the new trains were a long-term solution in fixing passenger rail overall. A total of 32 coaches were damaged in July as a direct result of arson attacks and 118 were reportedly damaged between 2015 and 2017. "You cannot deter a criminal from doing and acting out what they are thinking. Our job is to operate trains safely and efficiently," Zenani added. Prasa has appealed to the public to report vandalism. Read this report by Canny Maphanga in full at News24
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