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 afternoon roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that appeared thus far on
Thursday, 1 August 2019.
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Security guard shot dead, another injured in foiled KZN South Coast cash-in-transit robbery TimesLIVE reports that a security guard was shot dead and another injured during a foiled cash-in-transit robbery in Hibberdene, on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast, on Thursday. Wahl Bartmann, CEO of Fidelity Security Group, confirmed the incident. He said the company had received reliable information that the dead guard had wounded one of the suspects before he was gunned down. Apparently between six and eight suspects, travelling in a bakkie, intercepted the security guards just before they could off load money at business premises in the town's centre at around 6am. Bartmann said the injured guard was in the back of the van and was shot in the left thigh when he jumped out to help. Another security guard was shot, but fortunately the bullet lodged in his bullet-proof vest. He said the quick response from the driver, who had remained in the vehicle during the shootout, was commendable, as it resulted in the suspects making off with no loot. Read the full original of the above report by Orrin Singh at TimesLIVE Other internet posting(s) in this news category
NUM to persuade Pravin Gordhan to speed up the sale of Gupta-linked Optimum and Koornfontein mines Business Report writes that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) plans to urge Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan to fast-track the sale of the Gupta-linked Optimum and Koornfontein mines. NUM president Joseph Montisetse indicated on Wednesday that the union, together with labour federation Cosatu, was scheduled to meet Gordhan next week to put pressure on the Eskom board to lead the sale to finality. State-owned power utility Eskom is Optimum's biggest creditor, having submitted claims of R5.1 billion to the mines. “We're hoping that the bidders of the two mines will be given the go-ahead to run with the mine. The meeting is important to unlock the process. Our members and former mine workers are suffering while unemployment has rocketed,” said Montisetse. The NUM previously said it had pinned its hopes on the state-owned African Exploration Mining Finance Corporation acquiring Optimum. Business rescue practitioners advised that they had appointed GoIndustry DoveBid and Park Village Auction to facilitate the sales process for the assets, which had left thousands jobless after going bust at the height of state capture. GoIndustry DoveBid said it was in the process of scrutinising eight bidders. Montisetse said the union would also use the meeting to call on Gordhan to address the crisis at Eskom after it announced a record R20.7bn loss in the year to March 2019. Read the full original of the above report by Dineo Faku at Business Report Other labour / community posting(s) relating to mining
Tshwane mayor won’t cut trip to China short for city protests Sowetan writes that the capital city is on fire, but its mayor is in China, and won’t be cutting his trip short. As Tshwane entered another day of chaos, with striking workers blocking major streets in the CBD, mayor Stevens Mokgalapa’s office insisted that he would remain in China because his official visit to that country “has been in the pipeline for months”. Mokgalapa’s absence during the crisis, which was sparked by revelations that the city had hiked salaries of its top executives and managers by 18% while insisting that the rest of the staff should get only a 6% hike, has left a leadership vacuum. Some of the 64 managers the city views as deserving of the 18% hike already earn between R2m and R3.1m a year, while among those who will be getting 6% increases are employees who earn as low as R5,000 per month. In the midst of the labour unrest that has rocked the city this week, it emerged that its outgoing city manager Moeketsi Mosola – who was supposed to leave the post on Wednesday – has decided to stay on for another month due “to matters he is yet to resolve with the city”. Mosola’s continued stay in the office, especially amid reports that the city agreed to pay him out for the remainder of his contract to the tune of R7.5m, is likely to strain relations further. On Wednesday, the city held a lengthy meeting with Samwu and another municipal union, Imatu, in a bid to find a solution to the salary increase demands. The meeting was due to resume on Thursday. Read the full original of the above report by Isaac Mahlangu on page 4 of Sowetan of 1 August 2019. Read too, Tshwane municipal workers strike to continue on Thursday, at News24 Workers at Tshwane customer care centres abandon work stations after intimidation by protesters Pretoria News reports that according to the City of Tshwane, personnel at its customer care centres have left their workstations due to ongoing intimidation from striking workers. Their absence from work has affected customer care services relating to power failures, sewerage blockage, water meters, pipe leakages and waste collection. The City's spokesperson, Lindela Mashigo, indicated: "There is currently no personnel at the centres to attend to calls and e-mails. Only the SMS lines - 44676 and 082 612 0333 - for reporting power failure complaints are operational." But, he advised residents to anticipate delays on the turn-around of calls logged through to the SMS lines. Meanwhile, MMC for Roads and Transport, Sheila Senkubuge, reported that municipal bus operations were still suspended pending negotiations between the city and the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) and the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) over an 18% salary increase demanded by the workers. The negotiations are taking place at the Bargaining Council in Centurion. Read the full original of the above report by Rapula Moatshe at Pretoria News Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Other strike press statements
Solidarity threatens court action if SOEs don't act against corrupt executives EWN reports that trade union Solidarity has threatened legal action against state-owned entities (SOEs) which fail to act against former executives who were involved in fraud and mismanagement. On Wednesday, the union announced that it had launched a process in terms of the Companies Act to investigate former Denel board members with a view to possible prosecution. The cash-strapped arms manufacturer has recently been struggling to pay its employees their full salaries. Whether at Denel, SA Airways, Eskom and many other SOEs, several high-powered executives have been fingered as having enabled rampant fraud and corruption. Several investigations to hold the former executives to account and recoup the money they have mismanaged have been undertaken, but not many have been held to account. Solidarity’s Anton van der Bijl said they were prepared to go to court to force SOEs to act against former executives involved in wrongdoing. "It's time for the taxpayer to say enough is enough and we stand up for our rights in a legitimate way," he indicated. Denel responded on Wednesday, saying it would soon take legal action against its former executives to recover the money. Other SOEs have also initiated investigations, but questions have been raised about when action would be taken. Read the original of the above report by Clement Manyathela at EWN. Read Solidarity’s press statement in the above regard at SA Labour News. Read too, Denel assures that it will take action against former executives accused of wrongdoing, at Engineering News PSA slams Mabuza's dual roles at Eskom, wants entire board sacked Engineering News reports that the Public Servants Association (PSA) has condemned the appointment of Eskom chairperson Jabu Mabuza as the power utility's acting chief executive, saying it expected that the entire board and senior management of Eskom to be replaced after it posted disastrous financial results on Tuesday. Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan announced on Monday that Mabuza would serve as the interim CEO of Eskom for three months after Phakamani Hadebe's resignation left the position vacant. This means that Mabuza is now Eskom's interim executive chairperson, acting chief executive of Eskom Holdings, and acting group chief executive of Eskom. The PSA said Mabuza's dual roles showed a lack of good cooperative governance, especially with the power utility having lost R20.7-billion for the 2018/19-financial year. "It cannot be that the minister of public enterprises could not find any better-qualified candidate for this position in the entire country," the PSA said. The union also noted that there had been no progress on how to rescue the utility financially during Mabuza's time as Eskom chairperson. Read the full original of the above report at Engineering News. Read the PSA’s press statement in the above regard at Politicsweb Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Unemployment even worse than the gloomy official numbers suggest, says Solidarity Engineering News reports that trade union Solidarity said on Thursday that SA’s official unemployment numbers as announced this week by Statistics SA, although alarming, nonetheless painted a rosier picture than the reality many people experienced. The jobless rate rose to 29% of the labour force in the second quarter of 2019. But unemployment was even higher at 38.5% when using the expanded definition, which included people discouraged from actively looking for work. On Thursday, Morné Malan, a senior researcher at the Solidarity Research Institute, said although the use of the narrow definition of unemployment was common practice around the world and recommended by the International Labour Organisation, this measurement was inaccurate for SA’s labour force. "South Africa has an exceptionally large gap between the narrow definition of the unemployment rate and the expanded definition (and) we have a particularly low labour absorption rate (42.4 percent). A 2013 study at the University of KwaZulu-Natal indicates that so-called discouraged jobseekers, who are not counted as unemployed in the official rate, are in no way less likely to be employed than so-called active jobseekers," Malan indicated. He added that the government was causing the problem with counter-productive policies such as minimum wage, strict labour legislation, intensified enforcement of black economic empowerment, and many more. "The only solution to the problem is for government to eliminate these barriers to doing business in South Africa,” Malan said. Read the original of the above report at Engineering News. Read Solidarity’s press statement in the above regard at SA Labour News Abysmal jobs numbers should spur State to protect chicken industry, says Fairplay BusinessLive reports that according to Fairplay the latest unemployment statistics should act as a spur to government to protect the chicken industry against unfair trade which has already cost thousands of jobs. The organisation, which aims to fight predatory trade practices and dumping, said on Wednesday that thousands of jobs could be created in the poultry sector by replacing chicken imports with local production. Earlier in the week, Stats SA revealed that the unemployment rate had increased to 29% in the second quarter of the year. Francois Baird, founder of FairPlay, commented: “We have frequently highlighted the opportunities that could be realised were the chicken industry enabled to expand and create jobs, particularly in poor rural areas where unemployment is highest. Those opportunities remain blocked because the floods of dumped chicken imports have stolen so much market share that industry expansion can’t happen.” The SA Poultry Association has lodged an application to the International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) calling for an increase to the ad valorem tariff on bone-in and boneless frozen chicken portions to 82% from existing levels of 37% and 12%, respectively. But according to the Association of Meat Importers and Exporters (AMIE), although some jobs would be created in the poultry industry, tariff increases would have a net negative impact on jobs across the economy. Plus, consumers would have to pay more for chicken should import tariffs be hiked. Read the full original of the above report by Bekezela Phakathi at BusinessLive Other internet posting(s) in this news category
New critical skills list for SA expected by March 2020 BusinessLive reports that the Department of Higher Education has begun the lengthy process of compiling a new list of critical skills that will be used to determine whether a foreigner may apply for a visa to live and work in SA. The “critical skills visa” is one of a few options that potential immigrants can use to seek legal status, and aims to ensure that only individuals whose skills are in short supply are able to settle in the country. The existing list, which was compiled and gazetted in 2014, includes a long list of occupations. Earlier in 2019, a new draft list that was more restrictive came into circulation. Among the major changes was that the category of corporate general manager had been excised — an omission that raised concern among business organisations. Business has lobbied government for many years to open up the economy to easier immigration of skilled people, which it believes will be positive for economic growth, but mostly without success. That draft list is now in abeyance and a process is under way to compile a new list. The department indicated on Tuesday that the new draft list would emerge in about November and would be refined by March 2020. Read the full original of the above report by Carol Paton at BusinessLive
MultiChoice executives rake in millions even as pay-TV subscriptions decline and job losses loom BusinessLive reports that in the face of declining premium subscribers in SA and retrenchments at the company, the four top executives at pay-TV provider MultiChoice earned a total of R54.5m in salaries. The firm’s first annual report as a listed company revealed that CEO Calvo Mawela was paid R10.6m and CFO Tim Jacobs received R8.4m. The lion’s share went to executive chair Imtiaz Patel and chief operations officer Brand de Villiers, who earned $1.46m (R20.73m) and $1.02m (R14.74m) respectively. These amounts included base salary, pension, benefits and short-term incentives. They did not take into account share options, so total compensation could be much higher. MultiChoice has started a retrenchment process that could result in up to 2,194 employees losing their jobs at its customer service operations. The company has said changes in the customer service model were in response to evolving customer behaviour as subscribers opt for digital platforms instead of telephone or walk-in services. Read the full original of the above report by Mudiwa Gavaza at BusinessLive. Read too, MultiChoice pays total of R54.38m to four directors, on page 19 of Business Report of 1 August 2019
Confusion reigns over reinstated CEO Peter Moyo’s status at Old Mutual BL Premium reports that confusion reigned on Wednesday about whether Old Mutual CEO Peter Moyo should return to work or not, with the company saying he had to stay at home while it appealed the court judgment that reinstated him. Moyo reported for work on Wednesday morning, but was not permitted to do any work because of the appeal. Old Mutual spokesperson Tabby Tsengiwe said: “Mr Moyo is neither required nor permitted to report for work because the court judgment has been suspended as a result of our application to appeal.” Old Mutual said Moyo was allowed access to the building when it opened on Wednesday morning, but that its legal team met Moyo and his lawyers to explain the insurer’s position. However Moyo’s lawyer Eric Mabuza said Old Mutual was wrong and the only way the court order, which was an interim ruling, could be suspended was if the insurer lodged an application with the court asking for it to be suspended. On Tuesday, the High Court in Johannesburg ordered Old Mutual to temporarily reinstate Moyo, who was fired on 18 June after a short suspension, due to a breakdown in trust between him and the board as a result of a conflict of interest linked to NMT‚ a company co-founded by Moyo and in which Old Mutual has shares. Moyo is expected to lodge a damages claim against Old Mutual for reputational harm, and ask the court to declare the insurer’s board of directors — including chair Trevor Manuel — delinquent. Meanwhile, Old Mutual on Wednesday afternoon received a bomb threat and had to evacuate its offices in Sandton, Johannesburg. Read the full original of the above report by Genevieve Quintal at BusinessLive (paywall access only). Read too, Old Mutual denies reinstated CEO Moyo access to his office, at SowetanLive Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Sars suspends three executives, including Moyane’s ‘hitman’, for ‘serious allegations of misconduct’ BusinessLive reports that the SA Revenue Service (Sars) has suspended three executives who were among controversial former commissioner Tom Moyane’s close allies. The suspended executives include Luther Lebelo, the man dubbed as Moyane’s “hitman” by witnesses at the Nugent commission of inquiry into tax administration and governance at Sars. Lebelo, the group executive of employee relations, Hlengani Mathebula, the chief officer of governance, international relations, strategy and communication, and Teboho Mokoena, the chief officer for human capital and development, were placed on suspension on Wednesday pending the outcome of a disciplinary process relating to “serious allegations” of misconduct. Sars on Wednesday said the suspension of the three was part of an ongoing review of the entire Sars leadership by commissioner Edward Kieswetter in terms of good governance and in response to the Nugent report. It pointed out that the suspensions did not amount to finding any wrongdoing by the three executives as a determination in that regard would only be made when the disciplinary process was completed. Kieswetter took up the position of commissioner in May 2019 and has been working to clean up the tax agency. Read the full original of the above report by Genevieve Quintal at BusinessLive
Outgoing Tshwane city manager Moeketsi Mosola's stay at helm extended Pretoria News reports that Tshwane has made an about-turn on the fate of outgoing city manager Dr Moeketsi Mosola, who was due to vacate his office on Wednesday. Instead, mayoral spokesperson Omogolo Taunyane said the City had granted Mosola special leave: “This means the city manager remains in his position until August 31, subject to finalising the separation agreement.” Meanwhile, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) said it had written to MEC Lebogang Maile imploring him to halt payment of any settlement to Mosola. Outa spokesperson Michael Holenstein said they welcomed the MEC’s instruction to Tshwane to explain the terms of the city manager's departure. “We believe Tshwane council should suspend the city manager without compensation and institute disciplinary proceedings against him,” said Holenstein. Mosola is implicated in contravening the Municipal Finance Management Act. He was instrumental in awarding a R12billion contract to consulting firm GladAfrica by incorrectly applying the Municipal Supply Chain Management Regulations, which is in contravention of the legislation. Holenstein said Outa believed paying Mosola a golden handshake was a slap in the face for the residents of Tshwane. The payout was due to be paid on Wednesday and believed to be at least R8-million. Read the full original of the above report at Pretoria News
DA demands answers after government spent R3.2m on Geneva IOL ‘jol’ BusinessLive reports that the Democratic Alliance (DA) is demanding answers after the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) spent millions of taxpayers' money to send a large delegation to a 12-day International Labour Organisation (ILO) conference in Geneva, Switzerland, in June. The 62-member delegation, which included President Cyril Ramaphosa, was considered the largest delegation from any country and included officials from the newly reconfigured DEL department and other stakeholders, such as trade unions and the business fraternity. An official from the department has described the trip as a ‘jol’. On Wednesday, the DA shadow minister of employment and labour, Michael Cardo, indicated that a recent reply to a parliamentary question revealed that the DEL had spent a staggering R3.5m on the trip. He said the opposition party would write to employment and labour minister Thulas Nxesi to request “a full, detailed report” on whether the objectives of the trip were achieved. The report would then be tabled before the parliamentary portfolio committee on employment & labour. Cardo revealed that the average cost per delegate was “almost an astronomical R100,000”. Cosatu general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali, who attended the conference, was confident that Nxesi should “find it easy” to account about the trip. Read the full original of the above report by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive. Read the DA’s press statement in the above regard at Politicsweb (press statement)
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