In our afternoon roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that appeared thus far on
Tuesday, 3 September 2019.
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A year later, and still no answers on Denel explosion in Somerset West that killed eight Cape Argus reports that a year after the explosion that killed eight workers at Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM) in Somerset West, there is still no clarity on what happened. While it is on record that the Department of Labour concluded its investigation in June this year, the report has yet to be made public. In June, Western Cape provincial inspector David Esau had indicated: “We can confirm that our investigation has been completed; we have submitted to our national inspector who will decide on whether prosecution will take place or not.” But on Monday, the department responded to enquiries about the long-awaited report that it was prohibited from disclosing information about its investigation. RDM’s Ruby Maree said: “We are still awaiting the outcome of the investigations by the Department of Labour and the SAPS. RDM’s own investigation (with external support) to identify the root cause is also still ongoing. We will share all information and be transparent about all findings as soon as the final results are available.” Chinaman Melani of the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers’ Union (Ceppwawu) said that he had heard through the grapevine that the department would be releasing its report “soon”. Read the full original of the above report by Mwangi Githahu at Cape Argus Other internet posting(s) in this news category
‘Pure criminals’ behind violent trucking industry strike, says truck drivers’ association BusinessLive reports that a truck drivers' association, on Monday became the second industry stakeholder to distance itself from the sporadic violent truck drivers’ strike. Beverley Short of the National Truck Drivers' Foundation (NTDF) indicated that contrary to what had been claimed on social media, it was not behind the strike. She stated: “It's propaganda that we called for the strike. We committed not to participate in the strike whatsoever. None of our people are involved in this. It's purely criminals who are behind this and they don't want to come forward and admit to who they are. It's not NTDF at all, I will put my head on the block for that.” Threats made on social media at the weekend said the strike would be held from Monday to Tuesday. At least 20 people were reported on Monday to have been arrested in KwaZulu-Natal in connection with the ongoing truck strike, and are facing charges of attempted murder and malicious damage to property. There has been tension between foreign and SA truck drivers, with the latter accusing the former of stealing their jobs. This has led to scores of foreign national truck drivers being attacked and their trucks torched on the busy N3 and N2 roads. Read the full original of the above report by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive. Read too, Threat to bar SA trucks, aircraft from Africa, on page 14 of Business Report of 3 September 2019 Trucks set alight in Mooi River on Monday night The Mercury reports that at least two trucks were set alight near the Mooi River toll plaza on Monday night. According to eNCA, one of the truck drivers saw a car swerving in front of him and he realised that his truck was under attack. He managed to escape. The incident came hours after 20 people were arrested on Sunday and Monday in connection with attacks on truck drivers. At least 37 trucks have been torched during recent protests. Read the original of the above report by Se-Anne Rall and view video clips at The Mercury Looting, intimidation of foreign truck drivers a sign of the desperation of the unemployed, experts reckon Independent News reports that experts say that the recent torching and looting of trucks and intimidation of foreign truck drivers was a clear indication of the desperation and frustration of unemployed South Africans, a crisis that needed urgent government intervention. The Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal have seen numerous incidents of trucks being looted recently, with tensions in the trucking industry refusing to die down. The crisis led to the ministers of transport, home affairs, police and labour convening a meeting on Sunday to deliberate the issue of violent protest action and to come up with solutions to quell tensions. Analysts have urged the government to treat issues in the industry with a sense of urgency before they spiral out of control. Economist George Glynos commented: “I’m not just referring to the trucks; it’s a broader picture, if you look at the looting and riots and what is going on all around Johannesburg and other places. If people had jobs they wouldn’t be doing this; if people weren’t feeling as desperate as they were they wouldn’t be rioting, protesting and resorting to criminality. It’s a sign of desperation and a sign of frustration at the lack of any progress made on an economic level.” Political analyst Ralph Mathekga said: “People are feeling that the government does not listen to them when they raise concerns in a peaceful manner. The trucking sector is in serious trouble, and there is a feeling that the government does not have a clear sense on how to regulate the industry.” Read the full original of the above report by Samkelo Mtshali at Independent News
Metalworkers’ union Limusa and miners’ union NUM to merge in bid by Cosatu to strengthen them The Star reports that with labour organising ground shifting, rendering some unions almost obsolete, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has embarked on a process to re-align certain of its affiliates. As a result, the federation has decided to merge the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) with the Liberated Metalworkers Union of SA (Limusa). The merger will be finalised at NUM’s special congress, which starts on Wednesday in Durban. Limusa was founded in November 2014, and in March 2015 it became a Cosatu affiliate to replace the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), which was expelled from the federation in November 2014. Limusa was led by the late Cedric Gina, a former president of Numsa. Livhuwani Mammburu, NUM spokesperson, said the special congress was convened to finalise the work of its national congress and among its major tasks would be issues pertaining to constitutional amendments, including the merger. Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said the merger was one of the many standing resolutions of the federation. He indicated there was a proposal to merge the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) with the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu), in addition to the proposal to merge NUM with Limusa. Pamla said Cosatu always maintained it needed a few, but stronger unions, hence the re-alignment. He admitted retrenchments had dealt blows to some unions, with the result that they were struggling to survive. Read more of the above report by Sihle Mavuso at SA Labour News
President Ramaphosa holds first of monthly meetings with social partners on jobs crisis ANA reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa and Deputy President David Mabuza on Monday held their first monthly meeting with the leaders of business, labour and communities to tackle the country’s employment crisis. In a statement, the Presidency indicated: “In setting up these monthly meetings, we were motivated by the scale and the urgency of the crisis we are facing, and by the realisation that if we don’t move more quickly and with greater effect, our economy will lose more jobs than we create. We reached important and far-reaching agreements at the Jobs Summit last year, but their effectiveness depends entirely on implementation.” The jobs summit presidential working committee was set up to accelerate the implementation of measures adopted at last year’s Presidential Jobs Summit to create employment and unblock regulatory and other hurdles inhibiting employment. The committee is made up of the president, the deputy president and three senior leaders from government, labour and the business community and is expected to meet at the beginning of every month to measure the progress of the jobs summit undertakings. Each meeting will address a particular sector of the economy where intervention is needed to prevent job losses and stimulate greater job creation. Some of the sectors prioritised include construction, clothing, textiles, footwear and leather, and metals and machinery. Read the full original of the above report at Engineering News
Insourcing of 4,000 Tshwane security guards delayed by failure to hire senior managers for security unit The Star reports that delays in the recruitment of senior managers to head the City of Tshwane’s in-house security unit has been blamed for stalling the process to insource 4,000 security guards. The newly formed Asset Protection Unit will accommodate security guards and operate under the auspices of the Tshwane metro police department. MMC for community safety and security Karen Meyer said candidates had yet to be shortlisted for senior management positions. This was despite the fact that she told the Pretoria News in May that the positions were advertised in April. Security guards who have for years worked under private companies have reportedly reacted with anger and frustration to the news that insourcing had not yet been implemented. Their spokesperson, Isaac Sibanda, said: “We believe they are doing nothing about the (insourcing) situation. We think they have lost interest in the matter.” He indicated that the guards wanted the city to hire all of them without going through the advertisement process. Previously, Meyer had said it was important for the city to make sure applicants were qualified and had the necessary qualifications for the job. Read the full original of the above report by Rapula Moatshe on page 4 of The Star of 3 September 2019
Molefe coughing up the legal costs owed to Solidarity bit by bit ANA reports that on Monday Solidarity’s legal team gave yet another urgent instruction to the sheriff to proceed with the seizure of Brian Molefe’s property to pay outstanding legal costs of approximately another R200,000 owed to the trade in terms of a court order. Anton van der Bijl, Solidarity’s head of legal services, said: “Molefe is running out of time. So far, he managed to keep the sheriff at bay by paying the money in bits, while he is actually just buying time. If he fails to pay the outstanding money to Solidarity the sheriff will be at his door again and he will be forced to part with property to pay our legal costs.” Last month, Molefe unsuccessfully went to the Constitutional Court to have, among other things, the cost order against him set aside. Van der Bijl said Molefe was struggling to come up with R200,000, not to mention the millions he owed to the Eskom Pension Fund. Solidarity advised that it had not heard anything about the “aggressive” legal action that the Eskom Pension Fund intended to take to recover the approximate R10-million Molefe owed the fund. On Monday, the union issued a letter to the fund, asking to have feedback on the steps taken in that regard. Read the full original of the above report at Engineering News. Read too, Solidarity sends sheriff (another) urgent instruction to seize Molefe's property, at Fin24
Parliament calls for public submissions by 11 October on NHI Bill BusinessLive reports that Parliament’s portfolio committee on health has called for public submissions on the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill, which contains the first concrete proposals for realising the government’s plans for achieving universal health coverage. It proposes extensive reforms to the way healthcare is financed and provided, with a central NHI fund that will purchase services on behalf of the entire population. The bill was tabled in parliament on 8 August, and interested parties have until 11 October to make written submissions and indicate whether they want to make oral presentations to the committee. The bill has already overcome its first hurdle, after the DA asked for urgent legal advice on its constitutionality. Last week the state attorney assured the portfolio committee that the bill was not at odds with the constitution, despite its proposed changes to the role of provincial health departments. The constitution says health is a concurrent power, to be shared between the provincial and national health departments. But the bill proposes shifting much of the funding and responsibilities currently provided to the provincial health departments. The money will be moved into the NHI fund, and the job of contracting with service providers will be devolved to hundreds of new units answerable to district health management offices overseen by the national health department. Read the full original of the above report by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Public transport on the move again on Tuesday in Joburg and Tshwane following violent attacks The Star reported on Tuesday that public transport in Johannesburg and Tshwane seemed to be on the move again on Tuesday following the looting and violence that gripped both cities on Monday. Gauteng Public Transport and Road Infrastructure MEC Jacob Mamabolo, held a meeting with Tshwane residents on Monday and assured them that public transport would not be interrupted. A departmental spokesperson said: “The meeting was held following threats of a minibus taxi strike announced last night planned for early this morning. Both taxi associations dismissed as unfounded threats of a planned strike by the taxi industry. They confirmed that taxi operations were running smoothly and as normal.” Commuters were affected by the protests, with Re A Vaya and Metro Bus services temporarily suspended on Monday when attacks spread to different parts of Gauteng. Re A Vaya spokesperson Corrine Lekhoane reported that operations were working normally on Tuesday. Meanwhile Metro Bus services were also operating normally on Tuesday according to spokesperson Goodwill Shivuri. He reported that some of their buses were stoned on Monday and they were ensuring safety of their drivers by getting inspectors to drive around to ensure routes were safe. Read the full original of the above report by Lehlohonolo Mashigo at The Star
United Association of SA demands decisive action to contain violence against foreign-owned small businesses ANA reports that the United Association of SA (Uasa) on Tuesday demanded decisive action from President Cyril Ramaphosa to contain a wave of violence targeted in the main at mostly-African foreign small business owners. Police arrested dozens of people in and around Johannesburg recently over the looting and burning of foreign-owned shops, in what was the latest wave of xenophobic attacks that have plagued SA in recent years. The attacks in Johannesburg came in the wake of similar attacks in Pretoria last week following the shooting of a taxi driver allegedly by a drug dealer. In a statement on Tuesday, Uasa spokesman Stanford Mazhindu said: "Nothing can justify these illegal and criminal actions. Instead of making use of circumstances to commit crimes, South Africans should stand together against those who take advantage of the situation to loot and burn." The union pointed out that the violence had set the country back by years, as it had seen the destruction of the very businesses needed to boost the economy and ultimately reduce rampant unemployment. "This is not how we make South Africa prosper or the economy grow," Mazhindu said. Read the full original of the above report at Business Report Cosatu takes note of e-toll talks by ‘troika’, warns of mass action ANA reports that on Monday trade union federation Cosatu in Gauteng said it had noted the meeting held between Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) and the Automobile Association (AA) over the e-tolls. Provincial chairperson Amos Monyela remarked: "We were delighted by the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa that both ministers Tito Mboweni, Fikile Mbalula and [Gauteng] Premier David Makhura should work together towards finding a lasting solution to this policy nightmare. Whilst we are waiting for a positive response by this troika to the president and cabinet, we are worried about how this troika has conducted itself, particularly engaging some stakeholders and excluding others." He said it was unfortunate that Cosatu had been excluded from the talks and warned that should the talks fail, the federation would stage a march. Indicating that Cosatu would accept nothing that fell short of scrapping the e-tolls, Monyela added that if the talks failed “we will have an appointment with the troika and in particular Mbalula and Mboweni outside their departments with a large contingent of members to demand answers." Read the full original of the above report at Engineering News
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