In our afternoon roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that appeared thus far on
Monday, 25 March 2019.
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Hospersa warns that SA’s health system is putting workers at risk of getting TB ANA reports that according to the Health and Other Services Personnel Trade Union of SA (Hospersa), serious shortcomings in the SA health system were putting workers in the health sector at great risk. Commemorating World Tuberculosis (TB) Day on Sunday, Hospersa called for greater commitment to the health and safety of health workers. World TB Day was intended to raise awareness about the disease and this year’s theme, as announced by the World Health Organisation (WHO), was “It’s time”. Hospersa spokesman Kevin Halama said: “It is high time that TB prevention takes priority. It is also high time that the South African government addresses the occupational health and safety (OHS) shortcomings in public health facilities which continue to result in the high prevalence of TB among health care workers.” He went on to indicate: “The health care profession is losing many qualified professionals at an alarming rate, as many health care workers fear the high occupational risks, and those who contract TB contract multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) and TB outside of the lungs, which is currently not compensated.” In 2016, the WHO reported that SA had the second highest TB incidence among health care workers in the world. Read the full original of the report on the above at The Citizen
Lonmin lacks liquidity needed to fund new projects to avoid shaft closures and job losses Reuters reports that platinum producer Lonmin, which is being bought by Sibanye-Stillwater, said in a statement on Monday that it did not have sufficient liquidity to fund the new projects needed to avoid shaft closures and job losses. The London-listed miner, crippled by soaring costs and subdued platinum prices, has been cutting spending to conserve cash and retain a positive cash balance, one of the conditions upon which the Sibanye’s takeover is contingent. The all-share deal was likely to lead to more than 10,000 layoffs, the companies warned earlier. Lonmin said on Monday it had reduced over 8,000 positions as part of its business improvement plan. “Despite these achievements we continue to be financially constrained and unable to fund the significant investment required to sustain our business and associated employment in the future,” Lonmin said in the statement ahead of its AGM. “The challenges facing Lonmin and the industry persist,” Lonmin added. Read the short report by Justin George Varghese in the above regard at Moneyweb
SARS management to meet with workers’ unions on Monday in bid to avert strike EWN reports that management of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) was due on Monday to meet with representatives of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) and the Public Servants Association of SA (PSA) in an attempt to avert a wage strike by employees. The planned industrial action is scheduled to commence on Thursday. Employees have issued SARS with notice of a strike should proposed salary hikes and other demands not be met. They are demanding an 11.4% salary increase. SARS employee relations executive Takalani Musekwa said they were confident that a resolution would be reached this week and also stated: "Organised labour did serve us with a notice to strike on Wednesday. They are required to give us a seven-day notice, so that means if we can’t find each other in the next seven day they will go on strike from 28 March. However, we are having meetings on Monday and Tuesday." The original of this short report by Katleho Sekhotho is at EWN
Numsa denies ‘politicised’ workers are a threat to a turnaround at Eskom Mail & Guardian reports that senior ANC and alliance leaders say the politicisation of Eskom’s workforce will be a key challenge to any turnaround plan at the state-owned power utility. In part this situation was claimed to be due to the decision by the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) to contest the 2019 election with its newly formed Socialist Revolutionary Workers’ Party. But Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim last week dismissed as “cheap propaganda” suggestions that the union’s stance on the ailing utility was political and aimed at harming the ANC or bolstering the union’s own political party. “It is workers’ interest that we are pushing. We have to be the voice of the working class in all sectors of society,” he said. Eskom is on a collision course with unions over its plans to unbundle and because of its deals with independent power producers (IPPs). Jim said Numsa’s stance on renewables, privatisation and unbundling was consistent with its ideological outlook and the positions were adopted as far back as 2013. The Socialist Revolutionary Workers’ Party is contesting the elections after a decision taken in 2013, which culminated in Numsa’s expulsion from labour federation Cosatu. The National Union of Mineworkers’ Paris Mashego said his union, which is the largest at Eskom, had asked Numsa to join some meetings about the utility with ANC and government leaders, but the metalworkers’ union had refused because they were now a “different political party”. Read the full original of Natasha Marrian’s report in the above regard at Mail & Guardian
Public service early retirement packages 'will cost SA dearly' in loss of skills and experience, say unions The Sunday Times reports that according to unions, the move to save billions of rands by the end of March 2021 by cutting the government's bloated wage bill could cost SA dearly in loss of skilled personnel and institutional knowledge. Civil servants such as teachers, police officers, prison officials and soldiers aged 55 to 59 can apply from next month until the end of September for early retirement packages. According to the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), 136,833 public servants were in the applicable age group. This included 54,460 teachers, 14,043 nurses, 9,630 police officers, 2,325 prisons employees, 745 doctors and 97 engineers. Thousands of public servants are expected to take up the offer of voluntary early retirement, sparking fears that it could cause huge staff shortages across the public sector. Richard Mamabolo of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) said offering the packages would worsen the staff shortage. “The prison population is increasing but the staff complement has declined,” he observed. Sibongiseni Delihlazo of the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA (Denosa) pointed out that it took years to replace nurse who leave. The SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) said removing older public servants who have invaluable experience “will deplete the intellectual capital of the public service.” The National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA (Naptosa) feared the offer would result in an “exodus” of experienced teachers. A DPSA spokesperson said service delivery would not be affected as the government would ensure the process was done in “a balanced and responsible manner.” She explained that not all applicants would be granted and the government “will ensure that those with critical skills such as medical doctors, nurses, maths and science teachers, engineers and other professionals are not lost.” Read the full original of Prega Govender’s report in the above regard on page 10 of The Sunday Times of 24 March 2019
NUM denies that Ramaphosa said Eskom won't be able to pay salaries next month EWN reports that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has denied reports claiming that President Cyril Ramaphosa told the labour union that Eskom would not be able to pay salaries next month. City Press on Sunday quoted anonymous sources in the union as saying that the cash-strapped power utility was battling to find money to pay staff amid a massive energy shortage. Last week, the NUM met with Ramaphosa, energy minister Jeff Radebe and public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan to discuss ways to rescue the embattled parastatal. Government has already afforded Eskom a R69 billion bailout, while it struggles to pay off its R430 billion debt. While he dismissed the report, NUM president Joseph Montisetse did concede that Ramaphosa informed the union of government's decision to borrow money from the China Development Bank. "The situation at Eskom is so severe that the government has to go out of its way to go and borrow money from the Chinese government to make sure that the salaries of workers are being paid throughout. That is what the president said to us,” Montisetse indicated. Read the full original of Mia Lindeque’s report on the above at EWN
West Rand municipality that ploughed R77m into VBS can't pay staff March salaries TimesLIVE reports that employees at the West Rand District municipality on the outskirts of Johannesburg have been left in the lurch after not having been paid their salaries. The municipality informed employees on Friday in writing that they would not receive their salaries as expected on that day. The municipality was supposed to have received money from the co-operative governance and traditional affairs department (Cogta), but was informed about a "technical glitch”. The problem was supposed to have been sorted out by last Wednesday, but on Friday the municipality received an e-mail from the National Treasury "indicating a change in dates for receipt of transfers, the cumulative effect being that municipalities will not receive their Equitable Allocations due to the cash flow situation of national treasury". The municipality has 458 employees and is the same local authority where officials were held hostage at the end of October 2018 after salaries were not paid. It was reported in October 2018 that the municipality had invested R77m in VBS Mutual Bank. The DA's Gauteng premier candidate, Solly Msimanga, on Sunday called the situation "unacceptable" and called on Gauteng premier David Makhura to intervene. Read the full original of the report by Nico Gous on this story at TimesLIVE
Group Five subsidiary companies to continue operating as going concerns, BRPs confirm Engineering News reports that the joint business rescue practitioners (BRPs) for Group Five and Group Five Construction on Monday confirmed that subsidiary companies of those entities would continue to operate as going concerns. They did not fall directly into business rescue proceedings and also not Group Five’s international subsidiaries and holdings. The subsidiary companies comprise those in the Investments and Concessions and Manufacturing clusters. Nonetheless, the BRPs will be responsible for identifying the optimal way forward for all of these entities and investments. As announced on 22 March, the BRPs are currently assessing the status and viability of all ongoing projects and contracts. The BRPs further highlighted that they have confirmed with Group Five team leaders that, in the interim period, sites should not be demobilised until there has been engagement from Group Five representatives. Safety and stability on project sites remain a priority. In addition, the practitioners are in ongoing contact with the group’s lenders. In the interim, the BRPs said they would seek to maintain continuity for employees, but warned that, given the financial distress prevailing within Group Five and certain projects, as well as activities going forward, it might be necessary to implement further retrenchments. Read the full original report in the above regard at Engineering News Group Five could retrench more staff than planned Business Report writes that Group Five might need to retrench more people than it had anticipated before the group went into business rescue, the business rescue practitioners have indicated in a statement. The group, with more than 7,000 employees, had estimated at the time of going into business rescue last week that it would need R230 million to pay for retrenchments. However, the group did not at the time disclose the number of staff envisaged for retrenchment. While Group Five and subsidiary Group Five Construction have been placed in business rescue, all other subsidiaries, including Developments & Investments and Operations & Maintenance, namely the manufacturing businesses and international subsidiaries, continue to operate as going concerns. Exxaro’s announcement on Friday that it had terminated an agreement with Group Five Projects to construct a new coal plant at its Grootegeluk mine in Limpopo means some 750 contract workers would be impacted by the decision. Read the original of this short report by Edward West at Business Report
Bill aiming to halt fraudulent qualifications gets NCOP approval Independent News reports that the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) last week adopted the National Qualifications Framework Amendment Bill, which will name and shame those using fraudulent academic qualifications. The National Assembly during its earlier consideration of the bill learnt that about 97 national qualifications and 95 foreign qualifications had been misrepresented or found to be fraudulent between last October and November, bringing the number up to 1,564 from 2009. But, Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Dr Belinda Bozzoli cautioned that the SA Qualifications Authority (SAQA), which will be tasked with managing the database, did not have the capacity to deal with the kind of responsibility that will be assigned to it. The IFP supported the Bill, but said it was also concerned about its implementation. The bill passed in the NCOP with the ANC’s majority, but some of its members were against it for various reasons. According to the bill, all qualifications must be captured on the SAQA database. Qualifications presented for study, employment or appointment will be referred to SAQA for verification or evaluation. The bill lays down that any person who fraudulently claims to have received a qualification will be guilty of an offence Read the full original of Mary-Jane Mphahlele’s report in the above regard at Independent News
Civil service crackdown with new intradepartmental unit to tackle corruption, mismanagement The Citizen reports that a new intradepartmental corruption-busting unit is in the pipeline to deal with graft, matters of ethics and integrity and financial mismanagement at the highest level of government. Ayanda Dlodlo, who is a member of the ANC national executive committee’s subcommittee on governance and legislature and is also minister of public service and administration, indicated on Sunday that the technical assistance unit would be established by 1 April as a branch within her department. It would work closely with the Special Investigating Unit, law enforcement agencies and the Auditor-General’s office to deal with disciplinary cases relating to corruption, financial management and integrity throughout the public service. Each department would have to appoint an integrity officer to represent it in the technical assistance unit. The unit will be replicated at the local government level. Dlodlo said her department was leading public service reform to ensure a capable state that delivered services. She also indicated that the new unit would be different from other units, such as the office for standards and compliance and those for service delivery, as it would deal with disciplinary matters. The unit would report bi-annually to Parliament and would engage with law enforcement agencies to ensure cases were followed up. Read the full original of Eric Naki’s report on the new unit at The Citizen Nine small business development officials suspended over corruption claims ANA reports that several officials of the Department of Small Business Development have been suspended with immediate effect after there were serious allegations of corruption within the unit responsible for incentive scheme administration. The department in a statement said it had so far (on Thursday) issued nine precautionary suspension letters of which seven were against Black Business Supplier Development Programme (BBSDP) officials and two against Co-operative Incentive Scheme (CIS) officials. The department in August 2017 conducted an investigation into incentive schemes CIS and BBSDP following indicators of fraud identified through the Auditor General’s 2016/17 regulatory audit, visits by the Portfolio Committee on Small Business Development Oversight and observations. The forensic report implicated officials in maladministration, misrepresentation of facts, collusion and contravening the Programme Guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures. The department said it would be laying criminal charges in cases of possible fraudulent activities by the officials, grant applicants and service providers. Read the full original of the report on this story at Independent News
Cape Town and national government discuss city’s bid to manage commuter rail services BusinessLive reports that according to transport minister Blade Nzimande, negotiations between the national government and the City of Cape Town, which could see the metro taking over the management of commuter rail services, were continuing. In 2017 Cape Town announced it intended to take over the management of commuter rail to avert the “total collapse” of rail services in the city, where rail is considered the backbone of public transport. The Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) is responsible for delivering rail services, but its subsidiary, Metrorail, has been under pressure because its rail commuter services have been in a serious state of decline caused by decades of underinvestment, outdated technology, the loss of critical skills, deferred maintenance and corruption. Responding to a parliamentary question, Nzimande said the city had been requested to demonstrate that it would be able to fund the functions, on the basis that there would be no guaranteed funding from the national department of transport. Nzimande noted that the National Land Transport Act enabled the rail function to be assigned to the most appropriate sphere of government. The city previously stated that under its plan, Metrorail would continue to provide the transport service, while the metro would maintain and operate the infrastructure. Read the full original of Bekezela Phakathi’s report in the above regard at BusinessLive Authorities raise concerns over increase in commuter attacks in Cape Town EWN reports that authorities have expressed concern by the increase in attacks on commuters in Cape Town. Over the last few months, there have been a spate of robberies on Golden Arrow buses, with vehicles have been torched and travellers injured by stabbings and fires. In addition, passengers and drivers of Uber and other e-hailing services have been targeted by criminals in attacks that have been fatal. Metrorail's Riana Scott said commuters and members of the public should continue reporting crime because the information led to the identification of trends and hot spots. "We've increasingly seen commuters being targeted by criminals. We've even seen Uber, minibus taxis and buses being robbed. This is why the collaboration between the various law enforcement agencies have turned out to be absolutely essential," Scott noted The original of Lizell Persens’ short report on this story is at EWN No end in sight for Soweto taxi turf wars as deliberations continue and ranks stay closed The Citizen reports that there appears to be no end in sight for the feud between Soweto taxi operators as one of the parties remains headstrong in agreeing on a proposed route plan. The Witwatersrand Taxi Association (Wata) and Nancefield Dube West Taxi Association (Nanduwe) remain in talks for a way forward to end turf wars that resulted in Gauteng roads and transport MEC Ismail Vadi closing their ranks and routes for three months. The National Taxi Alliance (NTA), which represents both associations, said they were working on a plan to ensure an end to the feud. NTA spokesperson Theo Malele indicated that some progress had been made, although one party had still to agree on the proposed operational plan. He anticipated that by midweek at the latest there should be some progress. This was in an attempt to persuade Vadi to lift his closure from two weeks ago. The closure of the taxi ranks is expected to last until June should the taxi associations not find an amicable way forward. A number of people have been killed with several wounded due to the ongoing turf wars. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at The Citizen Other internet posting(s) in this news category
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