TOP STORY

City of Johannesburg signs landmark co-operation agreement with Imatu and Samwu

TimesLIVE reports that the City of Johannesburg and two trade unions on Monday signed a memorandum that aims to enable an “open-door” policy and resolve labour relations issues before they escalate to strike action.  The memorandum of understanding indicates the city, the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) and the SA Municipal Workers' Union (Samwu) will engage in good faith and provide mechanisms to achieve stability in labour relations.  “The memorandum is a first of its kind in local government history, achieving a strategic partnership between the city and its trade unions,” the three organisations said a joint statement.  The memorandum details that each of the three parties will “hold each other to account in a manner that forms a healthy relationship between government and organised labour”.

Read the full original of the above report at TimesLIVE

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY

Honours but no pension yet for families of firemen who died at Bank of Lisbon fire

Sunday Times reports that a name on a truck is cold comfort for a Newcastle father whose firefighter son died in the Bank of Lisbon fire in Johannesburg on 5 September last year.  That, and R12,000 towards funeral costs, are all the family of Mduduzi Ndlovu, 40, have received from the city so far.  Almost a year after Ndlovu and his colleagues Simphiwe Moropane, 28, and Khathutshelo Muedi, 37, died in the blaze, their families have not received pension and provident fund payouts.  They are also no closer to finding out why they died.  However, City of Joburg emergency medical services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said an independent report on the fire had been finalised and the families would soon be briefed.  But he could not say if the report would be made public.  Mulaudzi blamed the families for the delay in payouts:  “Some relevant documentation was submitted by the three families.  However, there were issues pertaining to the correct beneficiaries, which require documentation.  These are legal processes.”  Since the blaze, the city has bought 40 new fire trucks that are expected to be delivered by the end of the year.  The new trucks will have the names of Moropane, Ndlovu and Muedi inscribed on them.  But Albert Ndlovu, father of Mduduzi Ndlovu, remarked:  “For them to put my son’s name on a truck after he died will not help me in any way.”  He insisting that neither his son’s pension nor provident fund had been paid over to the family.

Read more of the report on this Sunday Times story by Jeff Wicks at SA Labour News

Suspected killer of off-duty KZN cop arrested, alleged accomplice shot dead

News24 reports that a man suspected of the May murder of an off-duty KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) police officer has been arrested and his alleged accomplice has been shot dead.  Police spokesperson Brigadier Jay Naicker said various police teams confronted a heavily armed criminal gang in Nhlawe, Weenen, on Saturday.  "The men resisted attempts to arrest them and a shootout ensued.  A 28-year-old suspect was fatally wounded during the exchange of gun fire while a 21-year-old suspect was placed under arrest."  Police seized two AK-47 rifles, an R5 rifle, an air gun and 101 rounds of ammunition at the scene.  Naicker advised that initial investigations indicated that the 21-year-old was "positively linked" to the 11 May murder of off-duty police officer, Constable Nkosinathi Khumalo, who was shot and killed in Estcourt.  After Khumalo was shot, he was dragged out of his vehicle and his killers fled in his car.  The arrested man was scheduled to appear in the Weenen Magistrate's Court on Monday.

Read the full original of the above report by Kaveel Singh at News24

INDUSTRIAL ACTION / STRIKES

Legal Aid SA employees go on strike on Monday over reduced benefits

Staff members at Legal Aid SA went on strike on Monday over a variety of employment grievances, including benefits and budget cuts.  National spokesperson for the state entity, Mfanafuthi Shabangu, said in a statement:  “The primary issues of dispute revolve around the reduction of a limited number of employee benefits as a result of the severe budget shortfalls that Legal Aid SA has experienced over the last few years.  The reduction in these benefits, such as the rightsizing of our Group Life Scheme, was done as a last resort in order to avoid retrenchment of staff.”  A certificate of non-resolution of a dispute was issued on 6 December 2018 by the CCMA, thereby making the strike protected.  Shabangu commented:  "The disruption of many court matters will be an inevitable consequence of this strike action.  Our local management teams will liaise with relevant officials at each court to determine how best we can continue to provide services to priority matters.  Walk-in clients are still welcome at Legal Aid SA offices, and will be able to access legal advice."  Shabangu added that they hoped the issues would be resolved soon.

Based on reports at EWN and News24

BARGAINING COUNCILS

Establishment of media bargaining council mooted

Mail & Guardian reports that in the wake of the deregistration of the Media Workers’ Association of SA (Mwasa), one trade union is floating the idea of forming a media bargaining council.  Information Communications and Technology Union (ICTU) spokesperson Thabang Mothelo said last week that a media bargaining council could be on the horizon.  Bargaining councils deal with collective agreements, solve labour disputes, establish various schemes and make proposals on labour policies and laws.  Before embarking on retrenchments, an employer must consult a bargaining council.  In a media sector in which retrenchments are common, a council could be a powerful tool for the people running it.  With about 5,000 members, the ICTU is still a relatively small union.  It has also historically drawn its membership from companies in the telecoms sector and only recently began making inroads in media, taking on media giant Tiso Blackstar over salary freezes and retrenchment plans at the group.  To bolster its numbers and drive the credibility of a new bargaining council, ICTU is eyeing Mwasa’s members.  That union still has about 3,000 members.  Mwasa general secretary Tuwani Gumani confirmed that, prior to its deregistration (effective as of 30 July), the union had indicated its willingness to transfer its members to another union, aligned to the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu).  Mwasa’s registration was cancelled because it had failed to submit its financial statements, going all the way back to 2013.  Mothelo said ICTU had been in talks to absorb Mwasa’s members.

Read the full original of the above report by Sarah Smit at Mail & Guardian

SOEs IN CRISIS

Solidarity’s application on Denel’s non-payment of levies and taxes to be heard on Tuesday

Solidarity issued a statement on Monday indicating that its application to force state-owned enterprise Denel to pay over the unemployment insurance levies and taxes deducted from employees’ salaries will be heard in the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday.  On 31 July, Solidarity served urgent documents on the struggling arms manufacturer after Denel had announced that it was only able to pay a portion of its employees’ salaries for June and July.  According to Anton van der Bijl, head of Solidarity’s Legal Services, the legal steps taken by Solidarity will also address the statutory mandatory payments reflected on employees’ pay slips but never been paid over to the SA Revenue Service (SARS).

No more executive bonuses for failures at SOEs

Sunday Times Business Times reports that executives of nonperforming state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that rely on government bailouts for survival are set to lose out on bonuses and the hefty pay increases they have received in the past.  A policy directive approved by the cabinet stipulates that all future incentive schemes should be based on income statements rather than balance sheets.  The head of the policy unit in the presidency, Busani Ngcaweni, indicated last week that the directive was aimed at preventing executives of underperforming SOEs from granting themselves excessive bonuses.  He said the change was in line with recommendations of the Presidential Review Committee on SOEs.  He explained further:  "There have been SOEs in the past where the incentive system is built around the balance sheet, not the income statement, which means when they get a bailout it sits on the balance sheet and then they get big bonuses.  We are saying 'No, shift it to performance’.  It cannot be that you earn so much in bonuses over time and the only indicator you use to earn maximum [bonuses] has nothing to do with the performance of that institution."   Ngcaweni added:  "Just because you manage 10,000 people, because it's a complex institution, you get the maximum bonus; but on the overperformance side, you got a bailout from government.  That has to stop."

Read the full original of the above report by Caiphus Kgosana at BusinessLive (paywall access only)

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS / WORK PERMITS

KZN truckers tell Nxesi that trucking companies must stop hiring undocumented immigrants

Sunday Tribune reports that South African truck drivers have lambasted state departments for failing to ban illegal foreigners allegedly employed by Durban logistics companies.  On Friday, drivers attended a meeting arranged by Employment and Labour Minister Thulasi Nxesi in the eThekwini CBD.  Siphesihle Muthwa of the National Truck Drivers Foundation told Nxesi that the inter-ministerial task team set up to look into the matter had met in June, but there was still no solution.  “We have been discussing these issues for the past six years, but still, the government is not willing to come up with the solution.  An employer hiring an illegal truck driver should have his operating licence revoked because he is breaking the law,” Muthwa said.  He went on to ask:  “When the drivers take action, do not blame us.  Why are you afraid of enforcing the law?”  Nxesi replied that he understood their frustrations, but warned drivers to guard against actions which could nullify their grievances.  “I have heard you.  I propose that we select a team which will be represented by every stakeholder including, companies.  We should be furnished with a report every month,” he indicated.  The meeting was attended by SA Transport and Allied Workers Union, Togetherness Amalgamated Workers’ Union of SA and Revolutionary Transport Union of SA, among others.

Read the original of the above report by Nkululeko Nene at Sunday Tribune

REMUNERATION / SALARY PAYMENTS

Traffic information employees unpaid for eight months

GroundUp reports that about 66 former employees of Tasima, a company contracted by the Department of Transport’s Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) to build a traffic information system, have not been paid salaries since December 2018.  The electronic National Traffic Information System built by Tasima is the Department of Transport’s official register for vehicles, driving licenses, contraventions and accident data.  Tasima was contracted by RTMC in 2001 to build eNaTIS.  It was initially a five-year contract, but according to RTMC, Tasima “clung onto the contract” and made about R2.5bn when the contract was supposed to cost R335m, according to court papers.  In 2016, the Constitutional Court ordered Tasima to hand over eNaTIS and related services to RTMC.  Tasima and RTMC are in a legal dispute about whether RTMC was obligated to insource Tasima’s employees after eNaTIS was handed over to the Department.  The former Tasima employees have not been fired or retrenched by RTMC or Tasima, but they have not been paid by either in the last eight months.  “The consequence is that while the RTMC exhausts its appeal processes, the employees and their dependants (including children and the elderly) will suffer (and are suffering) substantial and irreversible harm,” read Tasima’s court papers.  Tasima filed an urgent application in the Constitutional Court asking it to order RTMC to pay the employees’ salaries while Tasima and RTMC litigate further on insourcing the employees. The matter was heard last Tuesday.

Read the full original of the above GroundUp report by Zoë Postman at Fin24

EXECUTIVE PAY

Steinhoff’s former CEO Markus Jooste rebuffs demand for return of R850m in pay

Bloomberg reports that Steinhoff International’s former chief executive officer Markus Jooste regards the company’s claim for more than R850 million against him as “vague and embarrassing.”  The retailer said in June it would look to claw back base salaries, bonuses and other incentives paid to Jooste since 2009 because of his role in the accounting crisis that triggered the firm’s near-collapse.  According to legal papers filed in the High Court in Cape Town, Jooste’s planned exception to Steinhoff’s claim includes the assertion that the company failed to provide enough detail of his employment contract in the lawsuit, including whether certain elements were made orally or in writing.  The filing gives Steinhoff two weeks to “remove the identified causes of complaint”.  Steinhoff’s shares have collapsed by 97% since the crisis erupted in late 2017 and the company is itself facing a string of lawsuits.  Steinhoff claims that payments to Jooste were dependent on “the sound and successful financial performance” of the retailer and, had the company been aware of all the facts, the remuneration committee would not have recommended any payment.”  Jooste is arguing that these were not “express terms” of his employment contract.  Moreover, he has objected to Steinhoff not explaining how any fictitious deals or accounting irregularities resulted in a loss to the company, rather than its shareholders.

Read the full original of the above report by Janice Kew at Moneyweb

CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING / DIVESTMENT

Retailer Choppies plans to exit SA market by divesting in its 88 local stores

Reuters reports that Botswanan budget retailer Choppies Enterprises says it plans to sell its stores in SA as growth stutters and unemployment soars in the country.  The company, whose stock is currently suspended from trading on its primary bourse in Botswana, as well as on the Johannesburg stock exchange, operates 88 stores in SA.  The company indicated as follows after completing a strategic review of its business:  “Exiting the South African market is the appropriate strategic decision for the company.  Choppies has commenced a process which may result in the divestment of Choppies Supermarkets SA (Pty) Ltd in whole or in part.”  Choppies, which operates in eight African countries, saw its shares plunge by more than 60% last September after announcing a delay to the publication of its financial statements.

Read the original of the above report at BusinessLive

OTHER REPORTS

Nehawu calls for sacking of entire Necsa board after court finding

Business Report writes that the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) has called for the sacking of the board of the SA Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) after the North Gauteng High Court found on Friday that the decision by former energy minister Jeff Radebe to axe the previous board was unlawful.  The High Court in Pretoria ruled in favour of former board chairperson Kelvin Kemm, former chief executive Phumzile Tshelane and the former chairperson of the audit and compliance sub-committee, Pam Bosman, when it declared that Radebe’s actions had been unlawful and set aside his decision to axe the board in December 2018.  “We are making a call to the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy to sack the current Necsa board and institute a full-blown investigation on the intellectual property of Necsa, which has found its way into private hands without any benefit to Necsa and whether there are no deliberate acts of sabotage taking place in the organisation,” Nehawu said on Friday.  Radebe axed the board in December 2018, citing serious governance deficiencies and a lack of effective oversight over the company and its subsidiaries.  Nehawu said the judgment vindicated its long-held position that Radebe had been nothing “but a disaster” to the nuclear industry in general and Necsa in particular.

Read the full original of the above report by Dineo Faku at Business Report. Read too, High court finds Radebe’s axing of Necsa board members unlawful, at BusinessLive