In our afternoon roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that appeared thus far on
Tuesday, 27 August 2019.
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Four people burnt beyond recognition on Monday in blaze at Germiston cooking oil factory News24 reports that four people were burnt beyond recognition when a cooking oil factory was engulfed in flames in Roodekop in Germiston on Monday afternoon. According to Ekurhuleni emergency services spokesperson William Ntladi, firefighters received a call about a factory that was burning at about 15:52. He advised further: "Our firefighters responded to the cooking oil factory and found 24 reservoir tanks burning. They managed to contain and extinguish the blaze before our search and rescue team could sweep the place. While combing the scene, our search and rescue team made a shocking discovery of four burnt bodies. All four male bodies sustained 100% full-thickness burn wounds. The bodies have not been identified and police forensic units have taken over the scene." The fire was in a containment area and did not affect neighbouring factories. Read the original of the above report by Ntwaagae Seleka at News24 ANC study group on defence shocked by murder, dumping of SANDF soldier deployed to Cape Flats ANA reports that the African National Congress (ANC) study group on defence and military veterans on Monday said it was "shocked" by reports of the burnt body of a defence force member having been found in a car boot. The SA National Defence Force (SANDF) soldier was deployed to Cape Town as part of Operation Lockdown, an on-going operation that is combating rampant gang-violence in the Western Cape. "We condemn this senseless killing and other acts of violence against our country’s soldiers, who have been deployed to our communities in the Cape Flats with the objective to maintain peace and safeguard the rule of law," said Thabo Mmutle on behalf of the study group. He welcomed the arrests already made by the police of those accused of the crime and called on the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to work with police to ensure the perpetrators met the full force of the law. Read the full original of the above report at Engineering News. Read too, SANDF names soldier found in burnt out car in Cape Town, at News24 Eastern Cape health call centre named one of the best in SA, with quick emergency response times TimesLIVE reports that the Eastern Cape health department's call centre has been hailed as one of the best in the country as it boasts, among other things, a quick response time to emergency queries. The call centre, established in 2004, started as a help desk manned by one person. It has grown rapidly and today has a staff complement of about 80. Its main objective is to provide a platform for communities to have access to medical advice, to report inefficient public health facilities and handle tip-offs on corruption. The facility was initially located in Bhisho, but due to the high volume of calls and the need to increase staff, it was moved to East London. The call centre service is available 24 hours a day and is run by trained agents. It has on standby, a specialised team of HIV/Aids and TB counsellors who give emergency telephonic advice to patients. There is also a team of doctors who telephonically give medical advice to patients who have no quick access to medical assistance. In June, the national health department’s Dr Mzimkhulu Mcuba, wrote to the Eastern Cape health department, commending the call centre on its work and describing it as the “most effective in the country”. Read the full original of the above report by Nomahlubi Jordaan at TimesLIVE
Police task team launched in Free State to tackle gangsterism, illegal mining News24Wire reports that police minister Bheki Cele on Friday welcomed the introduction of a task team to tackle gangsterism and illegal mining in the Free State. The 12-member task team was unveiled at a ministerial imbizo in Welkom, where residents raised their concerns. These included their frustrations about crime, illegal mining in the area, corrupt police members and police vehicles not being available to respond to criminal incidents. Cele instructed provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General David Sempe to look into the claims about police not adequately serving the community. Cele announced in June that the Anti-Gang Unit had been elevated to a national level because "gangsterism is spreading across" the country. Read the original of the above report at Mining Weekly As artisanal miner deal unravels, Kimberley’s last diamond miner cuts wages to stay afloat Miningmx reports that Ekapa Mining (KEM), the last major diamond company operating in Kimberley, has imposed a three-month, 12.5% salary reduction across the board on its staff in an attempt to remain economically viable. This action was taken in the face of slumping diamond prices and renewed problems with illegal miners on its property. The operation was formerly run as a joint venture with Petra Diamonds, which sold its 75.9% controlling stake in July last year. At the time, Ekapa was experiencing major problems with illegal miners operating on its properties, but had – hopefully – reached a workable solution after surrendering 600 hectares of its ground to the illegal miners provided they stayed off the rest of the company’s lease area. The deal, lauded at the time by mines minister Gwede Mantashe, was called the Batho Pele initiative and the former illegal miners were reclassified as artisanal miners. Yet KEM CEO, Jahn Hohne, says they are still spending R3m a month on security measures to keep the miners off the property after further incidents including arson on some of the company’s haul vehicles. The National Union of Mineworkers has rejected the 12.5% cut now imposed, despite Hohne’s commitment that the reductions would be repaid “from the earliest available distributable profits when the new business model is successful”. Management is engaging directly with the NUM in the Northern Cape and “not received any formal notification of a dispute being declared”. Read the full original of the above report by Brendan Ryan at Miningmx
Lamergyre says steel alloy plant in Eastern Cape could create sustainable jobs Engineering News reports that the promoters of a proposed stainless and alloy steels plant in the Eastern Cape believe that the greenfield development could support the creation of new jobs in the domestic mining and steel industries. Should it be developed in line with the current concept, Lamergyre Alloy’s vertically and horizontally integrated facility could eventually have the capacity to produce up to 6.5-million tonnes a year of new stainless and alloy steels. The concept is being proposed for establishment in Section 11 of the Coega Special Economic Zone (SEZ), in Port Elizabeth, and is one of ten projects in a pipeline of investments worth R287-billion. The plant’s base value will be about R193.5-billion. Plant construction could start, in three phases, by as early as 2021. According to Lamergyre’s Stephen Rust, local iron-ore, chromite, manganese and coal inputs would amount to 90% of the weight of the finished austenitic stainless steel. Read the full original of the above report at Engineering News
Rising unemployment hurts profits of insurer Clientele BusinessLive reports that the profits of insurer Clientele in the year to end June bore the brunt of increased unemployment in SA as investment withdrawals spiked and some customers failed to pay their premiums. The insurer competes with Assupol and Hollard in the entry-level market. Clientele said withdrawals were worse than its expectations in the past year. It blamed this on the high unemployment rate and the dire state of the economy, which was affecting its clients. Clientele has a client base that is most vulnerable to severe cost-cutting measures by companies which has seen the country record mass retrenchments in the first half of 2019. Companies that have announced retrenchments in 2019 alone include miners Sibanye Stillwater and Alexkor, MultiChoice, construction firm Group Five, Absa and Standard Bank. The company is not expecting immediate change in its operating environment, but it has introduced a number of new initiatives aimed at improving its situation. Read the full original of the above report by Londiwe Buthelezi at BusinessLive
PIC kicks off process to find a new CEO with a search first for a headhunter Moneyweb reports that the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) is on the hunt for a new chief executive officer and is looking for a company capable of taking on the responsibility of finding a suitable candidate. This comes a month after recently appointed interim board chair Reuel Khoza said the search for a new CEO would be done with “absolute urgency” because the vacancy had left the PIC at an “impasse”. The position of CEO has been vacant since Dan Matjila stepped down from the R2 trillion organisation in November 2018 following allegations of corruption. Khoza said in July that “at a minimum” the new head would be appointed within the next three to six months – in other words, between August and January 2020. The PIC uploaded the tender bidding documentation to its website on Monday, requesting proposals for the appointment of an “executive search service provider” who will be responsible for the “end-to-end” sourcing of the candidate. As to pricing, the bid document states: “The recruitment fee must not exceed 33% of the Cost to Company (CTC) of the CEO.” This means the PIC could spend in the region of R5.2m to find a new CEO if the 33% commission fee is put against Matjila’s total remuneration earned in 2018 of R15.8m. Read the full original of the above report by Tebogo Tshwane at Moneyweb Twelve CEO positions still vacant at Gauteng public hospitals News24 reports that the Gauteng Department of Health has revealed that at least 12 of the province's hospitals do not have permanent chief executive officers (CEOs). The province has 32 public hospitals under the department's authority. "The vacancy rate itself correlates with the functioning and stability of a hospital, case in point is Mamelodi which has not had a CEO for a year. We have to fill the posts and start with the turnaround strategy properly," Health MEC Dr Bandile Masuku commented recently. The Gauteng hospitals without permanent CEOs include Sebokeng, Mamelodi, Weskoppies, Pholosong, Far East Rand, Tambo Memorial, Jubilee, Edenvale, Heidelburg, Bronkhorspruit, Cullinan Care and Rehabilition Centre and Bertha Gxowa. The acting CEOs at these facilities have been serving in temporary positions for periods ranging from five months to just over two years. These positions form part of 34 senior management posts which are vacant across the province. In addition, four out of the five districts housed in the health department are without chief directors. Read the full original of the above report by Canny Maphanga at News24. Read too, 'Completely understaffed', says DA after oversight visit to troubled Mamelodi Hospital, at News24
NHI fund will not be another Eskom, health minister assures BusinessLive reports that health minister Zweli Mkhize said on Monday that National Health Insurance (NHI) would be rolled out in a manner that was affordable and that it would not pose the kinds of risks to the economy that state-owned power utility Eskom has done. NHI is the government’s policy for achieving universal health coverage. Its first piece of enabling legislation was tabled in parliament on 8 August, paving the way for the establishment of a central NHI fund that will purchase healthcare services on behalf of patients, which will be provided free at the point of care. The minister said that unlike an entity like Eskom, the NHI fund would not have the power to take risks and engage in raising debts and other speculative financial transactions. “The entity will receive funds from the fiscus and apply the funds to the defined mandate,” the minister told delegates to the annual Hospital Association of Southern Africa (Hasa) conference. Mkhize assured his audience that the NHI fund would be protected from corruption. Read the full original of the above report by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive
Bearded security guard who refuses to shave faces axe over religious beliefs The Star reports that a member of the Nazareth Baptist Church, who wears a beard for religious reasons, has been threatened with a disciplinary hearing if he refuses to remove it. Sipho Gcabashe, an alarm response officer for Fidelity ADT in Glenwood, Durban has been told by his employer to shave his beard or face the consequences. After spurning the company’s order, Gcabashe says he was served with a letter demanding he shave his beard before the end of this month. But, his employment contract doesn’t say anything about his hair or beard and his religion means everything to him. He accused the company of discriminating against his religion. “About 40% of employees at Fidelity are Nazareth, but they chose only me to shave the beard,” he said. After Gcabashe refused to shave, he was served with a notice to attend a disciplinary hearing. Fidelity ADT’s district manager for KwaZulu-Natal, Vaughan Pillay, said they were aware of the case where an employee was asked to comply with the company policy in terms of his appearance when reporting for duty. He said they respected the employee’s religious beliefs and were happy for him to keep his hair and beard, but expected it to be kept tidy in accordance with the company’s dress code policy. “Our HR department and senior management team are currently working with the respective parties towards an appropriate resolution,” he said. Read the full original of the above report by Ncamisile Mkhize at Security.co.za
Axed CEO Peter Moyo wants Old Mutual declared in breach of constitution BusinessLive reports that axed Old Mutual CEO Peter Moyo has filed yet another urgent application in the Johannesburg High Court asking it to declare the insurer in breach of the constitution because it fired him again while it was still waiting for a judge to decide on the legality of his first dismissal. The latest salvo by Moyo, who was first dismissed in June, comes after Old Mutual served him with a second notice to terminate his employment last Wednesday. In July, the court ordered Old Mutual to temporarily reinstate Moyo because it had fired him in June without a disciplinary hearing for an alleged conflict of interest involving NMT, a private equity firm that Moyo co-founded. The insurer, which is appealing against that ruling, was still waiting to hear if it would be successful when it fired Moyo again on the basis of legal advice and "careful reflection by directors". Moyo argued in his affidavit filed on Monday that the court should declare that Old Mutual was in breach of section 165(3) of the constitution because the latest axing put the insurer in contempt of court, and was a deliberate attempt to interfere with the legal processes. Read the full original of the above report by Londiwe Buthelezi at BusinessLive Zandile Gumede's resignation as eThekwini mayor received, ANC KZN confirms News24 reports that the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) has confirmed it has received Zandile Gumede's resignation as eThekwini mayor, along with the rest of the ANC executive members in the eThekwini and Msunduzi councils. ANC provincial spokesperson Ricardo Mthembu confirmed that Gumede and other senior members had now stepped aside formally. This came after the party made sweeping leadership changes to the executives in those councils earlier this month following a special provincial executive committee (PEC) meeting on the future of the two municipalities. Acting eThekwini mayor Fawzia Peer will continue to act in the position until mayor-elect Mxolisi Kaunda, the current transport MEC in the province, is sworn and voted in by the council. Gumede was suspended and subsequently fired from her position following a two-day special meeting of the ANC's PEC, which enacted the recommendations of the provincial working committee (PWC) that she be recalled. Gumede was initially placed on special leave after she was arrested on corruption charges related to a Durban Solid Waste tender. She is currently out on R50,000 bail. Read the full original of the above report by Paul Herman and Kaveel Singh at News24
North West health department head arrested for fraud News24 reports that suspended North West health department head Dr Thabo Lekalakala was arrested for fraud on Monday. He appeared in the Mmabatho Regional Court in Mahikeng on the same day and was released on R20,000 bail. Lekalakala's co-accused, former North West finance MEC Wendy Nelson, appeared in court on Friday for fraud and was also granted R20,000 bail. The two are expected to appear in court again on 6 September. According to provincial Hawks spokesperson Captain Tlangelani Rikhotso, Nelson was arrested following investigations into allegations pertaining to the irregular appointment of a senior official in the health department in 2014. North West Department of Health spokesperson Tebogo Lekgethwane advised on Tuesday that Lekalakala was still undergoing a disciplinary hearing. Read the full original of the above report by Jeanette Chabalala and Canny Maphanga at News24. Read too, Wendy Nelson arrest: 'chickens coming home to roost' in North West, at City Press
Draft Railway Safety Bill, which has cost taxpayers R2.4m, in final stages Independent News reports that the specialist drafting of the Railway Safety Bill by external contractors has cost taxpayers about R2.4 million, according to Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula. This was indicated in response to a parliamentary question. The bill is aimed at improving railway safety and also creating a governance structure to oversee the work of the Rail Safety Regulator (RSR). Mbalula noted that work on the development of the Railway Safety Bill commenced in September 2015 and was concluded on March 2019. Earlier this month, the minister announced that later this year he would be tabling a railway safety bill before Parliament and in his budget speech he said that there was an obligation to ensure that railway operators adhered to the highest safety standards in line with international norms. In 2017/18 the RSR reported 4,478 incidents in the railway environment across all categories. The incidents were up by 10% increase from the previous year. Read the full original of the above report by Mayibongwe Maqhina at Independent News OTHER NEWS HEADLINES AND PRESS STATEMENTS
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