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
Wednesday, 28 August 2019.
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Two suspects killed, two arrested for allegedly killing Soweto police officer on Sunday News24 reports that two wanted suspects were fatally wounded and two others arrested during a shootout with the police in Emndeni, Soweto, on Monday night. The four were wanted for allegedly killing a Soweto police officer during a house robbery in Braamfischerville, Soweto, on Sunday night. Constable Mokgophe Rankoe and a colleague from Dobsonville police station had responded to a house robbery complaint when they came under fire. The two officers were robbed of their firearms and cellphones. Rankoe was shot in the head and was rushed to hospital, where he died a short while later. A suspect was later arrested. Following Rankoe's murder, a multi-disciplinary team was set up to trace his assailants. The team was eventually led to a house in Emdeni. "A shootout ensued between the suspects and police, resulting in the death of two suspects and arrest of two others, as well as the recovery of two firearms, one of which has since been confirmed as being stolen from the police officer during the shooting on Sunday," said a police spokesperson. Two police officers were also wounded during the shootout, one on his finger and the other on his cheek. Read the full original of the above report by Ntwaagae Seleka at News24 Cullinan police captain shot multiple times while watching TV at home TimesLIVE reports that a second officer has been shot in Gauteng in a space of days. Police spokesperson Brig Vishnu Naidoo said a captain from Cullinan, east of Tshwane, was attacked at his home in De Wagensdrift on Monday evening. Naidoo indicated that he was shot through the window of his home, while seated in his lounge. "The captain responded by shooting back, but he was wounded multiple times. The suspects fled without taking anything," said Naidoo. The officer was taken to hospital in a serious condition. On Sunday evening, Constable Mokgophe Rankoe was killed when he and a colleague from Dobsonville were responding to a call relating to a house robbery in Braamfischerville. The original of the above report by Iavan Pijoos is at TimesLIVE SA must stop attacks on foreign truck drivers, says Human Rights Watch AFP reports that Human Rights Watch (HRW) indicated in a report on Monday that dozens of truck drivers in SA have died in attacks against foreigners since March 2018. It called for stronger protection of foreign workers. The report was released after a recent spate of xenophobic violence fueled by economic decline and record unemployment. Groups of SA truck drivers have allegedly assaulted foreign drivers with stones, knives, guns and petrol bombs, killing more than 200 and forcing hundreds out of their jobs. An SA truck owners’ association quoted by the HRW reported 75 such incidents since March this year. HRW Southern Africa director Dewa Mavhinga called on the SA government to “bring perpetrators to justice”. Mavhinga added: “The SA authorities are neither protecting foreign truck drivers against violence nor conducting effective investigations into those credibly implicated in attacks.” A labour department spokesperson said they were not aware of the report, but advised that the government had appointed an inter-ministerial committee to look into the issue and had held several meetings with employers and truck drivers in Durban. Transport minister Fikile Mbalula said after an inter-ministerial meeting in June that the crisis was caused by an “oversupply of foreign drivers in the industry”, many of whom were undocumented. Read the full original of the above report by BusinessLive
Sibanye-Stillwater expecting to sink into interim loss due to Amcu strike Business Report writes that gold and platinum-group metals (PGMs) miner Sibanye-Stillwater expects to report an attributable loss of R265m for the six months ended 30 June, compared with a R77m profit for the six months ended 30 June 2018, mainly as a result of a strike at its SA gold operations. The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) led the five-month strike that ended on 17 April 2019. The producer said on Tuesday that the strike had affected the entire six-month production period to June. The gold operations of Driefontein, Kloof and Beatrix mines ground to a halt on 21 November when at least 15,000 Amcu members downed tools to demand higher wages despite the company having signed agreements with three other unions. Amcu is currently demanding a R17,500 monthly salary at the company’s platinum operations. The group said a R502m increase in mining tax due to increased profitability of the PGM operations, the R387m restructuring costs from the SA gold operations and other strike costs of R374m had also hurt the company. In June Sibanye said that about 3,450 employees would be affected by the restructuring at the gold operations. It indicated that voluntary separations, early retirements and natural attrition accounted for the bulk of the affected jobs, with forced retrenchments limited to approximately 800 employees and 550 contract workers. Read the full original of the above report by Dineo Faku at Business Report Other labour / community posting(s) relating to mining
27four Investment Managers partners with Jobs Fund Engineering News reports that 27four Investment Managers has joined the government’s fight to reduce SA’s unemployment rate, which stands at about 29%. The independent black-female-owned multimanager has signed a deal that will see the National Treasury’s Jobs Fund contribute R200-million to 27four’s Black Business Growth Fund. It will be used to create jobs through providing funding to black private equity fund managers focussed on investing in midmarket, privately owned companies for growth. 27four has, in turn, committed to raising more than R1-billion in matched funding. “All of the capital committed to our fund will be invested by six to eight black-owned asset management firms and it will, ultimately, reach between 40 and 60 companies in total, helping them grow, transform and create jobs. Everybody wins,” said 27four unlisted investments principal Chad Potter. It is estimated that between 3,000 and 4,000 jobs will be created over the next seven years. “The Jobs Fund investment of R200-million will help to catalyse more than R5-billion in capital for mid-sized South African companies looking to grow,” according to Black Business Growth Fund head Rory Ord. Read the full original of the above report at Engineering News Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Workplace equity ‘not a reality’, employment equity report shows The Star reports that Minister of Employment and Labour Thulas Nxesi has vowed to punish private sector companies that intentionally block qualified black professionals and those with disabilities from assuming top senior positions. Nxesi made this pledge on Tuesday after receiving what he described as a “worrying report about transformation in the workplace”, which showed that black and coloured workers were the least considered for senior jobs in the private sector, compared to national and local governments. The annual report was tabled by the Commission of Employment Equity (CEE). It showed that, among other things, white employees continued to hold senior positions in the government despite only 9% of them in the country’s population being economically active compared to the 79% of working blacks. The report also gave a breakdown in the estimates of people said to be professionally qualified in the country, showing that black individuals were at 40% compared to white individuals at 37.4%. The report, however, found that private companies, despite such telling figures, consistently recruited white people to senior positions. It furthermore established that discrimination also affected people with disabilities. Nxesi expressed concern about “the pace of transformation in the workplace” and promised that the government would be forced “to resort to hard measures to ensure transformation did take place in the workplace.” Read the full original of the above report by Baldwin Ndaba at Independent News Companies will have to comply with employment equity objectives to do business with government BusinessLive reports that frustrated by the slow pace of transformation in the workplace, the government says it will invoke a legislative provision that will make it compulsory for companies to have a compliance certificate to do business with it. The legislation – section 53 of the Employment Equity Act – has, to date, remained dormant while government waited to see whether employers would comply voluntarily with employment equity objectives. But Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi said on Tuesday that this has happened at a very slow pace and the government would adopt a tougher approach to companies that continued to stall on employment-equity targets. Another measure contemplated to quicken the equity transformation in the workplace is to set employment equity targets for each economic sector, with the risk of prosecution for the failure to meet the targets for no justifiable reason. Nxesi was reacting to the just-released Commission for Employment Equity (CEE) report for 2018, which showed that the pace of transformation in the workplace was very slow. The construction and financial sectors were found to be the worst performers in terms of employment equity. CEE chair Tabea Kabinde said the commission would engage with the different sectors to set targets for the next five years. Read the full original of the above report by Linda Ensor at BusinessLive. Read too, Government drafting sector targets for workforce transformation, at Engineering News Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Thebemed medical scheme placed under curatorship because of low solvency ratio BusinessLive reports that a small medical scheme called Thebemed has been placed under provisional curatorship by the Gauteng High Court over concerns about its financial viability. This followed an application by the medical schemes regulator. Its solvency ratio had plummeted to an all-time low of 4.2% by the end of March, a far cry from the 25% required by the Medical Schemes Act. A scheme’s solvency level is the ratio of its accumulated funds to its annualised contribution income, and the 25% threshold is intended to ensure that schemes have enough money in reserve to cover a sudden or unexpected surge in medical claims. Thebemed is an open fund and had 23,511 beneficiaries at the end of 2017, according to the most recent Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) annual report. Thebemed has until 10 September to oppose the application. “The respondent’s failure to comply with the solvency ratio places its members at risk of not having their claims paid,” said CMS registrar Sipho Kabane. Meantime, the registrar has approved the amalgamation of CompCare and Selfmed medical schemes, which will take effect on 1 September. Selfmed will be absorbed into CompCare. Read the full original of the above report by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Intern doctor dismissed over anti-abortion views wants clarity on charges EWN reports that an intern doctor, dismissed over his anti-abortion views, has argued that the inquiry into the matter must be based on scientific evidence. Jacques de Vos was charged by the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) for informing a patient that abortion constituted the killing of an unborn human being. The 32-year-old was an intern at 2 Military Hospital in Wynberg and his HPCSA hearing commenced in Newlands on Tuesday. In December 2016, he apparently tried to dissuade a patient from terminating her pregnancy. He is accused of disrespecting her dignity and using emotive language to convey his beliefs. His lawyer Keith Matthee said they needed more clarity on the charges: “How far was the pregnancy? Was the pregnancy terminated? You will see in the charge sheet that it’s ambiguous that he dissuaded her from having an abortion. It’s ambiguous that we don’t know if the patient had the abortion or not. It has to be rooted in science… whatever evidence is read must be rooted in science.” Matthee indicated De Vos was one week short of completing the gynaecological section of his internship before he could advance to his year of community service. Read the full original of the above report by Kevin Brandt at EWN
Corruption Watch report indicates police are now the most corrupt public servants TimesLIVE reports that corruption in the police service countered for the most number of reports received in 2019, Corruption Watch advised on Tuesday. The third edition of the half-yearly publication Analysis of Corruption Trends Report revealed that, for the first time, the police had overtaken other sectors such as schools, health and local government. According to the report, 1,591 whistle-blowers exposed corruption in different sectors across the country. The leading forms of corruption in the police were abuse of power (35.7%) and bribery (30.6%). The report revealed that corruption in schools stood at 30.6%, which was “often at the hands of principals, school officials and school governing body members who deploy elaborate schemes to steal funds and divert resources that are intended to enhance learner education and environment.” At local government level, 35.5% of corruption reports related to procurement irregularities in municipalities. Bribery was the second-highest form of corruption in government, at 22.3%. There had also been a “worrying increase” in reports of corruption in health facilities. The most rife form was employment irregularities, at 33.3%, followed by procurement irregularities, at 15.1%. Corruption Watch’s David Lewis said the data had guided the organisation in its decision to intensify its engagement with the police and health sectors. Read the full original of the above report by Iavan Pijoos at TimesLIVE Strict bail for eight Mpumalanga licensing officials implicated in R67m 'scam' TimesLIVE reports that the Middelburg Magistrate’s Court has set strict conditions for eight Lekwa local municipality licensing officials implicated in a multimillion-rand vehicle registration scandal. They appeared in court on Monday following their arrest in Standerton on Friday. Five of the accused were granted bail of R20,000 each and three were granted bail of R5,000 each. They face charges related to allegedly falsifying vehicle ownership registrations on the national traffic information system (eNatis), thereby enabling truck owners to avoid payment of vehicle licensing fees, including penalties and arrears amounting to millions of rands. It is alleged the eight have cost the state R67m in lost revenue. The court ordered them to surrender their passports and barred them from interfering with the state’s case or communicating directly with state witnesses. They are also not allowed to travel outside of the Standerton district without permission from the investigating officer. The matter was postponed to 28 November. Read the full original of the above report by Ernest Mabuza at TimesLIVE
City of Cape Town issues 28 September deadline to MyCiTi N2 Express operators News24Wire reports that the City of Cape Town has given the shareholders running the stalled N2 MyCiTi Express service an ultimatum to get the buses running again by 28 September otherwise it will find another service provider. "We have sent a letter to the three shareholders – namely CODETA, Route 6 Taxi Association, and the Golden Arrow Bus Service – indicating that the buses must be back on the road by September 28, 2019," said mayoral committee member for transport Felicity Purchase. The shareholders have to send an internal agreement to the city that will see the service reinstated on, or before this deadline. The previous contract ended on 31 May, without a new one in place. Purchase said the city was committed to concluding a new agreement with the N2 Express Company, but if it failed to meet the deadline, it would pursue alternatives. Read the full original of the above report at Engineering News
Review of Police Service Act underway, says police minister Bheki Cele BusinessLive reports that police minister Bheki Cele said on Tuesday that a review of the SA Police Service Act was underway, with amendments expected to be made in the current financial year. The review of the act is aimed at aligning the legislation to all relevant policies including the National Development Plan (NDP), the 2016 white paper on policing, and the 2016 white paper on safety and security, as well as with the constitution as some sections of the existing act are based on provisions of the interim constitution of 1993. The amendments will also address the matters raised in the Constitutional Court judgment in the case brought by the Helen Suzman Foundation. The Foundation successfully argued several years ago that the act, as amended, failed to secure an adequate degree of structural and operational independence for the Hawks, which is required to be a dedicated anti-corruption agency. Read the full original; of the above report by Linda Ensor at BusinessLive
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