In our afternoon roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that appeared thus far on
Tuesday, 25 June 2019.
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Police officer killed on duty in Cape Town on Monday evening The Citizen reports that a 34-year-old police officer was fatally shot when suspects opened fire at the police vehicle in Lavender Hill, Cape Town, Western Cape police indicated on Tuesday. According to police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Andrè Traut, on Monday evening at around 11.15pm two members attached to the Steenberg Crime Prevention Unit approached five suspects at Fawley Court, Lavender Hill, who fled on the arrival of police. During the pursuit of the suspects, they opened fire on the police vehicle and wounded the driver, a 34-year-old sergeant. He was rushed to hospital where he later died. His partner, a constable, escaped the attack unharmed. Read the original of this report at The Citizen Two trucks torched outside Paterson in Eastern Cape while drivers were resting ANA reports that police in Paterson in the Eastern Cape are investigating a case of malicious damage to property after two trucks were torched and destroyed, causing damage estimated at R3 million. Police spokesperson, Captain Andre Beetge said the incident occurred at around 2am on Tuesday, about 11 kilometres from Paterson on the N10. He indicated that the trucks belonged to a company from the Free State and the drivers were en route back to that province. Beetge said no cargo was inside the trucks and the drivers, 29 and 44, had pulled over to sleep when they were later awoken to cabin glass shattering. It is suspected that the trucks were petrol bombed, the motive for which is yet unknown. Beetge said it was reported that three to five masked suspects were seen at the scene jumping into another vehicle. Neither truck driver was harmed during the incident. No arrests have been made. Read the original of this report at The Citizen Truck petrol-bombed on N2 in Somerset West on Monday, no one injured News24 reports that an articulated truck set alight on the N2 in Somerset West saw the highway being closed on Monday evening, City of Cape Town traffic officials confirmed. Spokesperson Maxine Bezuidenhout said the truck had been petrol-bombed. It was apparently not carrying any cargo at the time of the attack. Fire and rescue services spokesperson Jermaine Carelse indicated as follows: "The driver was just a bit shaken, otherwise [there were] no injuries." Bezuidenhout said protests had been reported in the vicinity in the early hours of Monday morning, but none had occurred at the time of the attack. The N2 inbound was closed at Onverwacht Road but was reopened shortly before 19:00 after the blaze was extinguished. Read the original of Tammy Petersen’s report on this story at News24. Read too, Mogalakwena council’s R2m refuse truck torched, on page 12 of Sowetan on 25 June 2019 SABC Radio Park fire extinguished, three workers received medical care EWN reports that the SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) confirmed on Tuesday that a fire that broke out at the corporation's Radio Park building, in Auckland Park, had been put out. Employees were evacuated from the building and three workers apparently received medical treatment for smoke inhalation. The public broadcaster said the cause of the fire was not as yet known. SABC spokesperson Vuyo Mthembu observed: “At this stage, I do not know of any other people besides those three who are receiving medical attention. An assessment in being done [to establish the cause of the fire].” Last month, the building was evacuated after generators leaked 2,000 litres of diesel on the 15th floor. The original of Nthakoana Ngatane’s report on this story is at EWN
Numsa underground strike at Lanxess chrome mine in Rustenburg 'illegal' ANA reports that the ongoing underground strike by members of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) at Lanxess Chrome Mine (LCM) in Rustenburg was illegal, the mine said on Monday. "The strike has been declared illegal by a Johannesburg court but is ongoing. The main focus of LCM is currently on resolving the situation quickly and safely without any violence and bringing all employees back to surface, well and safe. Meanwhile, supply of potable water and fresh air underground is maintained," said spokesperson Nomzamo Khanyile. About 280 Numsa members started an underground sit-in on 19 June, demanding recognition of their union, the reinstatement of dismissed workers and the suspension of an official accused of sexual harassment. Two of the 280 workers have reportedly come to surface for medical attention. Numsa's Jerry Morulane said the union met with management on Sunday in an attempt to resolve the strike and he indicated that a resolution had been taken that the sexual harassment perpetrator would be suspended immediately, with investigations thereafter to determine what action would be taken." He stated that the remaining issue was for management to review the decision to dismiss 50 employees for being involved in a strike in 2018. Read the original of the above report at Mining Weekly. Read too, Miners in underground protest against sex-for-jobs, at SowetanLive Solidarity says court ruling against Amcu agency fee at Lonmin a victory for workers ANA reports that Solidarity said in a statement on Thursday it was pleased that the courts had ruled against the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union’s (Amcu’s) agency fee agreement with Lonmin at its Marikana operations. The trade union reported that a coalition between itself, Uasa and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) had succeeded in obtaining an urgent interdict against Amcu’s agreement with Lonmin that permitted it to recover fees from employees who were not Amcu members. The agreement signed on 24 April allowed a deduction of 1% up to a maximum of R200. The court ruled that the agreement, which came into effect from 1 June, was unlawful, and that all money deducted from employees had to be paid back to them. “We are, of course, delighted with the ruling because our view that the agency fee agreement was unlawful has now been affirmed by the court. This also means that all the hard-earned money already deducted from employees must be paid back. As such it is a victory for all the employees,” commented Anton van der Bijl, head of Labour Law Services at Solidarity. He added that the victory was the “cherry on the cake” after Solidarity, as part of the coalition, regained its organisational rights on 12 November 2018. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly. Read Solidarity’s press statement at Polity Other general posting(s) relating to mining
SA added 22,000 jobs in first quarter of 2019, Stats SA reports Engineering News reports that employment in SA’s non-agricultural formal sector grew by 22,000 in the first quarter of 2019, Statistics SA announced on Tuesday in its latest Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES) bulletin. This followed an increase of 87,000 jobs in the last quarter of 2018. Stats SA reported that employment increased from 10,152,000 in December 2018 to 10,174,000 in March 2019. This was largely due to increases in community services (19,000); mining and quarrying (6,000); manufacturing (5,000); and business services (5,000). There were decreases in trade (-8,000); transport industry (-3,000); electricity industry (-1,000); and construction (-1,000). Total earnings paid to employees amounted to R688-billion in March 2019, down from R728-billion in December 2018, which represented a quarterly decrease of R40-billion or -5.6%. The QES bulletin is separate from Stats SA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey. While the labour force survey gives SA's official unemployment rate, the QES gives a snapshot of total non-agricultural formal sector employment. Read the original of the above report at Engineering News
Broke Denel not able to pay full staff salaries for June BusinessLive reports that state-owned arms manufacturer Denel has indicated that it is unable to pay its employees their full salaries this month. “Due to the ongoing liquidity challenges, we are now faced with the unfortunate reality that the company is not in a position to fulfil the 100% salary obligation for June 2019,” Denel group CEO Daniel du Toit indicated in a statement. Employees will receive 85% of the salary obligation for June 2019. Du Toit said management was working “tirelessly” to pay the rest of the salaries soon and went on to indicate the following to staff: “We acknowledge the inconvenience caused by this, in particular the late communication to you. However, at the time this decision was made, the company had no alternative but to go this route.” Fitch downgraded Denel’s long-term credit rating in March. Denel recorded a loss of nearly R2bn in the past financial year. In the 2017/2018 financial year it suffered a net loss of R1.8bn on a 38% decline in revenue to R5bn from R8bn the previous year. Read the full original of the report by Nico Gouws on the above story at BusinessLive Denel confirms salary short payment; Solidarity expresses shock and concern Engineering News reports that state-owned defence industrial group Denel confirmed on Tuesday that it would be paying its staff only 85% of their salaries for this month. “Due to ongoing liquidity challenges we are now faced with unfortunate reality that the company is not in a position to fulfil the 100% salary obligation,” Denel Group CEO Danie du Toit indicated in a statement. Trade union Solidarity also issued a statement on Tuesday, in reaction to the news from Denel. It said that it had learnt of the news “with shock”. The union pointed out that, in December last year, Denel had committed itself to informing its employees by the 15th of each month whether or not it would be able to pay their salaries for that month. “We are concerned that this tendency has now started again because there was an expectation that the non-payment of salaries was something of the past,” Solidarity’s Johan Botha said. Given that the state of the economy was currently “challenging”, he asserted that the situation was “very traumatic” for Denel staff, as they did not know if they would get paid in July. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News. Read Denel’s press statement at Polity. Read Solidarity’s press statement at Polity
Sanef launches inquiry into media ethics, alarmed by large scale retrenchment of journalists News24 reports that the SA National Editors' Forum (Sanef) on Monday confirmed the launch of an Inquiry into Media Ethics, with a panel of commissioners to be headed by retired judge Kathleen Satchwell. This after it noted a "number of disturbing trends in our industry", such as the erosion of public trust, decline of editorial independence owing to issues such as the encroachment of media owners and shrinking newsrooms linked to large-scale retrenchments. Sanef in a statement said it noted that trust in journalism had eroded in the era of fake news and misinformation, as well as journalists sometimes backing certain political factions, which had muddied the waters by tainting the whole industry. An action plan is expected to be presented at an industry conference a year from now. The forum said it was also alarmed by large-scale retrenchments, pointing out that the latest State of the Newsroom Report, published by Wits Journalism, had quantified this because about half of the professional journalist workforce had been slashed from about 10,000 to about 5,000 over the past decade. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at News24. Read Sanef’s press statement at Sanef News
Eastern Cape MEC summons hospital bosses in bid to improve health care services BusinessLive reports that Eastern Cape health MEC Sindiswa Gomba summoned hospital bosses to a meeting in East London on Tuesday to figure out how to improve the services provided by state facilities. The Eastern Cape health department faces a high number of medical negligence claims and in 2017/2018 paid out more R876.7m to successful claimants, or 32% of the national total. In a statement issued on Monday, the Eastern Cape health department’s spokesperson, Sizwe Kupelo, said Gomba and the hospital CEOs would be discussing staff shortages, staff attitudes to patients, and the cleanliness of facilities. He went on to indicate: “The critical meeting with the hospital bosses is meant to come up with tangible and feasible solutions to how the province can turn [around] the state of public health care. While the department has been filling vacancies, there is still a serious need for more staff. Without doctors, nurses, cleaners, porters, general workers and other staffers, our health system would be crippled.” Kupelo said the MEC would also brief the hospital CEOs on the recent executive council lekgotla resolutions and programme to accelerate service delivery. “The MEC wants every health-care worker in the province to dedicate themselves into serving our people with dignity, care and compassion,” he stated. Read the full original of Tamar Kahn’s report on this story at BusinessLive
Muslim SANDF officer facing disciplinary action for refusing to discard her headscarf News24 reports that a Muslim member of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) was due to face a hearing in a military court in Cape Town on Tuesday because of her refusal to not wear her headscarf. The major, who has been a member of the armed forces for the past 10 years, works as a clinical forensic pathologist at 2 Military Hospital in Wynberg. Her adviser, Nazeema Mohamed, said the major's scarf was worn under her beret and did “not even cover her ears" or obstruct any insignia or military rankings. Apparently for the past decade, none of the officers she reported to took exception to it. According to Mohamed, the disciplinary action smacked of Islamophobia, sexism and a poor attitude toward women and was "shocking". Mohamed indicated that should the SANDF proceed with charges against the major, they would take the matter to court as the action against her was discriminatory. Read the original of Tammy Petersen’s report on this story at News24
Five JMPD officers arrested for alleged corruption involving solicitation of a bribe The Citizen reports that five Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) officers were arrested by the Hawks on Monday for alleged corruption after attempting to solicit an R11,000 bribe from a man who was in possession of an illegal firearm. They were supposed to arrest the man but failed to do so. According to a statement issued by the JMPD, “the officers were arrested when they reported for duty at the JMPD Operations office in Wemmer Johannesburg”. The JMPD went on to indicate: “The incident occurred in the Cleveland area on 22 May, when the officers had stopped the man’s car during a routine roadside check. These officers were granted bail of R2,000 each and will also be suspended, pending an internal investigation.” The original of this short report is at The Citizen
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