OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY

Two Port Elizabeth security guards shot and injured in their unmarked vehicle on Wednesday

News24 reports that two security guards were shot and injured in an attack on their unmarked vehicle in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, on Wednesday morning.  The guards had stopped to pick up another colleague in their unmarked Isuzu bakkie at around 04:50, when a man walked up to the passenger side and opened fire on the two guards.  Eastern Cape police spokesman Captain Andre Beetge indicated:  "He did not attempt to rob the guards and fled the scene in an unknown vehicle that sped off afterwards."  The driver of the bakkie was left in a critical condition after being shot in the left side of the chest.  His passenger was shot in the left leg and is stable.  The third guard was still in his house when the shots were fired and he was unharmed.  Beetge said it was not yet clear what the motive for the attack was and that police were investigating a case of attempted murder.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jenna Etheridge at News24

Nursing union Denosa threatens to remove staff after nurse attacked by patient at Ekurhuleni hospital

TimesLIVE reports that the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA (Denosa) in Ekurhuleni has threatened to withdraw its members from Pholosong Hospital in Tsakane after a nurse was attacked by a patient on Wednesday.  The union reported what happened as follows:  "The nurse was attacked and strangled by a patient in the passage inside the facility.  After choking her, [the patient] took her cellphones, leaving her down and unconscious for some time this morning because private security has proven over many times that it is ineffective and should be in-sourced.  But government continues to ignore this call as if someone is benefiting handsomely from outsourcing this critical healthcare service."  The patient, the union said, went through two security checkpoints without a single security guard in sight.  The nurse was allegedly a second victim of the same patient.  Denosa asked whether workers must die inside a facility first for the security services to be in-sourced so that the security staff were immediately accountable.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Nomahlubi Jordaan at TimesLIVE

INDUSTRIAL ACTION / STRIKES

Metrobus strike continues in Johannesburg on Thursday, millions lost

ANA reports that an ongoing strike by drivers at Metrobus could result in loses of millions of rand the company indicated on Thursday.  Spokesman Goodwill Shiburi said:  “This is very costly because we now have to pay the drivers that are not striking.  It is a cost to the economy as more than 30,000 passengers have to make other means of getting to work and most of our customers use the prepaid tag system so if trips expire, we will have to re-credit them."  The strike by members of minority union Demawusa (Democratic Municipal and Allied Workers Union) began on Monday.  The union is demanding office space at three Metrobus bus depots and for salaries to be paid according to the number of years workers have been in service.  On Tuesday, the union approached the CCMA for assistance, but Metrobus apparently cancelled a meeting scheduled for Thursday morning at short notice.  Metrobus had earlier indicated that it was going to approach courts to intervene.  Shiburi said Metrobus was going to court because 80% of the workers were willing to work, but were being intimidated by the protesting minority.  The matter was scheduled to be heard in court later on Thursday.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News

Hundreds of striking Transpharm workers march to Health Department

Pretoria News reports that four hundred Transpharm workers have marched to the National Department of Health to demand it should intervene in deadlocked wage negotiations.  Workers at Transpharm, one of SA’s largest pharmaceutical wholesalers and distributors and a subsidiary of Shoprite Holdings, are currently engaged in a strike, which has entered its second week, for a minimum wage of R12,500.  The company says it can only give them an increase of 8%.  General Industries and Workers Union of SA (Giwusa) president Mametlwe Sebei said that in Wednesday’s meeting with Transpharm management no agreement could be reached.  He commented further:  "Transpharm, in response, has opened its books for the workers to see that it is incapable of meeting their demands and still remain profitable.  Moreover, Transpharm places the blame squarely on the shoulders of the government for regulating the prices of medication.  All this while Shoprite, the company to which Transpharm belongs, pays its chief executive 34 million per annum and its workers, a mere R4 500."  He said the march to the department was to demand that:  "If the company can't meet the just demands of the workers, then it must be nationalized and incorporated into the public health system."

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Liam Ngobeni at Pretoria News

Cape Town firefighters could be in breach of contract over possible go-slow

EWN reports that Cape Town firefighters who embark on a go-slow over a pay dispute could be in breach of contract, the City of Cape Town has indicated in response to threats by municipal workers.  The SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) said firefighters were meant to work about 40 hours a week, but members often worked longer shifts, without being paid overtime.  According to the city, it had held on and off negotiations with Samwu to resolve issues over working hours and overtime pay for firefighters, but there was a deadlock.  The municipality said its offer of an increased allowance of 30% had been rejected.  Samwu initially demanded a 79.23% allowance hike, but dropped it to 60%.  The union’s Sebenzile Kiva said that if members were not paid for the overtime they worked, they would only work from 8am until 4pm come 1 October.  “We will apply for an exemption at the Bargaining Council,” he added.  The city said it was committed to resolving the issue.

Read the original of the report in the above regard by Kaylynn Palm at EWN

MINING LABOUR

With top posts uncontested at conference, Mathunjwa and allies to retain grip on Amcu

Sowetan reports that Joseph Mathunjwa is set to retain his position as president of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).  The union is scheduled to elect its new leadership during a long-awaited conference that got under way in Johannesburg on Wednesday.  The conference will end on Friday with the election of the new leadership.  In March, labour relations registrar Lehlohonolo Molefe issued a notice of his intention to deregister Amcu, saying the union had violated its own constitution.  Molefe noted that Amcu had not held an elective conference for five years and had effectively ceased to function as a “genuine trade union” as envisaged in the Labour Relations Act.  But on 1 September, Molefe ditched plans to deregister the union after a number of written representations from the union’s leadership.  On Wednesday, Amcu’s head of organisational development Krister Janse van Rensburg said the positions of president, deputy president, national chair for health and safety, national treasurer, and national chair for education, were all uncontested.  Labour and employment minister Thulas Nxesi was scheduled to address the conference on Thursday, followed by a keynote address by Mathunjwa.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane on page 5 of Sowetan of 19 September 2019

Ending of process of deregistration of Amcu not due to threats, says registrar

BusinessLive reports that the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union’s (Amcu’s) elective congress heard on Thursday that threats of a total shutdown of SA’s mining industry and other sectors could have pushed the labour registrar to ditch his plans to deregister the union.  However, labour relations registrar Lehlohonolo Molefe has denied ever being threatened by the union.  In March, Molefe issued a notice of intention to deregister Amcu, saying the union had violated its own constitution.  On Thursday, Joseph Maqhekeni, a former president of the National Council of Trade Unions, told Amcu’s elective conference in Boksburg that when Molefe made known his plans to deregister Amcu, he had called high-ranking officials in the department of labour and employment and told them not to deregister Amcu.  He also revealed that the Amcu leadership told the labour registrar that “if you dare deregister Amcu, the mines and other industries will come to a standstill”.  However, on Thursday Molefe indicated that he had not been threatened by the Amcu leadership from going ahead with his plan to deregister the organisation.  “Not at all, they have made written representations as prescribed by the LRA.”

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive

Mine safety inspectorate warns of increased safety audits to curb fourth quarter complacency

Miningmx reports that the Department of Minerals and Energy (DMRE) will be increasing safety audits at mines across the country during the fourth quarter in order to avoid an increase in the year-end accident and fatality rate.  In a letter signed off by the mining inspectorate, the DMRE said “inspectors will intensify the monitoring and evaluation of the mine health and safety management systems through inspections and audits during the remaining period of the year”.  It added that safety incidents normally peaked in the final quarter of the year owing to “poor supervision, anxiety associated with the festive season … production pressures and a lack of focus and complacency”.  Commenting last week on another matter, mines minister Gwede Mantashe said the mineral resources department was finalising its new structure in terms of its merger with the department of energy.  “We haven’t yet finalised a new structure.  We had 15 branches in two departments.  The proposal is that we want to reduce this to eight branches,” he indicated.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by David McKay at Miningmx

SOEs IN CRISIS

Special Investigating Unit aims to get back R560m for the SABC

BusinessLive reports that the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is trying to recover more than half a billion rand for the SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) lost largely due to irregularly awarded contracts by former directors of the broke public broadcaster.  The SIU and the SABC are also trying to recoup losses by withholding the pensions of erstwhile bosses, including former COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng and James Aguma, who previously acted in the position of CEO.  The new SABC board‚ chaired by Bongumusa Makhathini‚ has been on an aggressive drive to improve the dire financial state and the operations of the broadcaster after years of decline under Motsoeneng and former executives to whom he irregularly awarded staggering salary increases and promotions.  The financial crisis at the SABC has largely been blamed on the former executives.  The SABC is technically insolvent and recorded a R192.3m loss in the first quarter of the 2019/2020 financial year.  It posted an unaudited loss of R483m in the previous year.  A year earlier it incurred a loss of R622m.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Bekezela Phakathi at BusinessLive

WORKING HOURS

Gauteng health department head office employees only work two weeks a month due to lack of office space

Times Select reports that for more than a year Gauteng health department employees working at the provincial head office in Johannesburg have only been working for two weeks in a month while still earning full salaries.  Several employees indicated that this was because the current office space the department was renting was not big enough to accommodate all staff at the same time.  This has been the case since the Bank of Lisbon blaze in September last year, when the building was gutted by fire, claiming the lives of three firefighters.  The Gauteng health department was one of the departments housed in the building.  The provincial transport department is also housed in the building to which the health department was relocated, but its employees have been working normal business hours every day.

Read the original of the above short report by Belinda Pheto at TimesLIVE

SUSPENSIONS / DISMISSALS

Council for Medical Schemes suspends five senior officials, while all executives to be subjected to lifestyle audits

BL Premium reports that the regulator of the R160bn medical schemes industry has suspended five senior officials pending the outcome of an investigation into alleged corruption and unethical conduct, and will subject all its executives to lifestyle audits.  The latest developments come hard on the heels of a series of events that have rocked the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS), the watchdog agency charged with safeguarding the interests of about 9-million consumers and ensuring medical schemes, brokers and administrators comply with the Medical Schemes Act.  The suspensions follow the resignation earlier this week of head of compliance and investigations Stephen Mmatli, who was suspended in February pending the outcome of an investigation into alleged corruption, and against the backdrop of a probe into the CMS by the Special Investigating Unit for maladministration and corruption.  The suspensions raise fresh questions about the legitimacy of inspections currently under way, recent decisions to place schemes under curatorship, and whether the regulator may have turned a blind eye to issues that warranted scrutiny.  The CMS issued a statement on Wednesday saying two executives and three senior managers had been suspended, but did not name them.  Apparently, the two executives are CFO Daniel Lehutjo and head of legal services Craig Burton-Durham.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive (paywall access only)

CORRUPTION / WORKPLACE CRIME

Merseta's R5m fraudster fails in bid to shorten 20-year sentence

TimesLIVE reports that a fraudster who helped himself to nearly R5m meant for disadvantaged young people has failed to persuade appeal court judges to trim his 20-year prison sentence.  Victor Kwenda stole the money when he worked as a grants administrator at the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector Education and Training Authority (Merseta).  The sentence was imposed in 2014 after Kwenda pleaded guilty to 26 counts of fraud involving R4.9m.  The fraudster told the Supreme Court of Appeal last month that the sentence did not take account of his guilty plea or his offer to repay the money.  But the court ruled this week that there were no substantial or compelling circumstances for deviating from minimum sentencing guidelines in Kwenda’s case.  He committed the fraud with former First National Bank employee Brenton Tshepo Diutlwileng, who supplied fraudulent bank letters to Kwenda that changed the account details of 26 companies on Merseta’s database.  The fake details diverted Merseta’s payments - intended to fund educational and apprenticeship opportunities for young people - to a company owned by Diutlwileng.  The men then split the proceeds.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Dave Chambers at TimesLIVE

Free State traffic cop bust for soliciting bribes which had to be paid via 'e-wallet’

TimesLIVE reports that a provincial traffic officer has been bust for an alleged bribery scam after threatening to arrest motorists for “offences” in the Free State unless they paid him via e-wallet.  Tshiya Pule Modise, 39, was implicated in the alleged “e-wallet bribe scam” during an investigation by the Hawks’ serious corruption unit.  The officer would allegedly demand money from motorists for traffic offences, threatening them with arrest if they didn’t comply.  He would insist on money being sent to him via e-wallet service as opposed to taking cash.  The investigation uncovered “numerous individuals” in and around the Free State who claimed they had paid bribes that way.  Modise was granted bail of R3,500 by the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on 13 September and will appear in court again on 23 October.

Read the full original of the above report at TimesLIVE

COMMUTING / TRANSPORT

Taxi fare adjustments in August push up public transport inflation

Business Report writes that Statistics SA (Stats SA) reported on Wednesday that consumer price inflation increased from 4% year-on-year in July to 4.3% year-on-year in August.  Yet, public transport inflation increased from 7.6% year-on-year in July to 9% year-on-year in August.  Many minibus taxi operators made annual adjustments to their fares during August.  The fare adjustments in August led to sporadic protest action.  The major drivers behind the rise in headline inflation during August were higher price pressures on food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing and utilities, transport, and recreation and culture.  On a positive note, some elements within the taxi industry are looking to the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquified petroleum gas (LPG) as alternative fuels to make taxi fares more affordable.  There are already 1,200 taxis in SA running on gas after being converted from petrol.  Meantime, the SA Reserve Bank has warned that it expects inflation to accelerate during late-2019 and the first half of 2020.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lullu Krugel and Dr Christie Viljoen at Business Report

Good news for commuters with Cape Town's rail enforcement cops lined up for another year

TimesLIVE writes that Cape Town's Metrorail passengers have had a rough ride for the past two years, but with the redeployment on Wednesday of 100 Rail Enforcement Unit officers, it might get a little smoother.  For the first time, the unit will have investigators who will help officers to secure convictions after they have made arrests.  The unit was first deployed in October 2018 and ran for a pilot period of nine months.  It was the first time such a partnership had been established between the City of Cape Town, the Western Cape provincial government, and the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa).  According to a joint press statement, 157 arrests were made during the rail enforcement unit's pilot phase.  To mark the signing of a new one-year deal on Wednesday, dignitaries caught a train from Athlone to Cape Town.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Aron Hyman at TimesLIVE