In our afternoon roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that appeared thus far on
Wednesday, 27 November 2019.
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Fochville worker dies after trench collapses, leaving him under nine tons of sand for five hours News24 reports that a man in his 30s has died while he was laying pipe in the bottom of a trench that collapsed on top of him alongside Danie Theron Street in Fochville in Gauteng on Tuesday afternoon. ER24 paramedics arrived on scene at 15:41 along with the SA Police Service (SAPS) and the Fochville Fire Department. A digger was used in an attempt to dig the man out, but ultimately a sniffer dog from the SAPS K9 unit in Benoni was needed to detect the body of the man, which had been trapped under about nine tons of sand for up to five hours. Extracted at 20:10, the man unfortunately showed no signs of life and was declared dead on the scene. The SAPS will conduct further investigations. Read the original of the report in the above regard by Riaan Grobler at News24 PE security guard murdered execution style at home, just two months after recovering from shooting TimesLIVE reports that a 39-year-old security guard, who had just recovered from a shooting two months ago, was murdered execution-style in his Zwide, Port Elizabeth, home on Tuesday morning. Police spokesperson Capt Andre Beetge said the man, who has not yet been identified, was shot at his home about 8.30am while his wife was bathing him. Beetge said the unidentified attacker entered the home, forced the security guard to kneel, and shot him once in the back of the head. The suspect then fled the scene without taking any valuables. Beetge reported that in an earlier incident two months ago, the guard was shot in the chest when he and his colleague were attacked by unknown suspects while picking up a fellow colleague to travel to work. He had returned from hospital only about a week ago. The Eastern Cape organised crime investigation team is probing the case. No arrests have been made. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Ernest Mabuza at TimesLIVE
Anglo American launches programme to help combat gender-based violence Mining Weekly reports that Anglo American on Tuesday launched a wide-ranging programme that aims to tackle the scourge of gender-based violence through targeted interventions at its operations and in its host communities. The launch of the programme, which is aligned to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Emergency Action Plan for gender-based violence, was attended by Professor Hlengiwe Mkhize, Deputy Minister in the Presidency, responsible for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities. Anglo American corporate relations group director Anik Michaud said the following at the launch of the Living with Dignity programme in Johannesburg: “Gender-based violence is a global challenge that affects one in three women in their lifetime. It knows no boundaries. Without thoughtful and sustained intervention, the problem of gender-based violence is bound to increase. Through this programme, we will work collaboratively with our partners in government and civil society to roll out interventions to eliminate sexual and gender-based violence, in line with our purpose to reimagine mining to improve people’s lives.” Anglo American also announced that it would be joining UN Women’s #OrangeTheWorld campaign, which aims to bring an end to violence against women and girls. Mkhize highlighted Ramaphosa’s recent call for all sectors of society to combat gender-based violence. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly
SAA to pay 50% of November salaries and 13th cheques on Wednesday and balance on Monday BusinessLive reports that employees at South African Airways (SAA) will be paid 50% of their November salaries and 13th cheques on Wednesday. The troubled state airline said in a notice that it intended to pay the balance of the salaries on Monday. “As at the issuing of this communication, the necessary funding to enable SAA to pay salaries has not been finalised. However, SAA understands that employees have to fulfil their financial commitments. In the interim, our cash position has improved so we can pay the salaries as indicated,” the notice indicated. SAA, which last week suffered the effect of a strike that grounded operations and reduced revenue, has been unable to raise working capital to fund operations. While the Treasury has provided a R5.5bn bailout, that is strictly tied to the repayment of short-term debt. The Treasury also agreed to repay R9.2bn of historic debt over the next three years. But to continue operations, the airline needs to raise at least R2bn from commercial banks for which it requires a full loan guarantee from the government. This has not been forthcoming. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Carol Paton at BusinessLive Ramaphosa tells workers at Medupi six times that Eskom won’t be privatised News24Wire reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa told workers and staff at the Medupi power station six times in an address that state-owned power utility Eskom would not be sold off or privatised. He scaled back criticism when he visited the coal-fired power plant in Limpopo on Tuesday, saying its construction was a "great achievement" that SA and Africa should be proud of. Ramaphosa’s visit coincided with the commercialisation of the fifth of six units at the plant. The president told workers and staff that privatising Eskom would be like selling the family silver. "You don’t do that," he said. The president confirmed that it was necessary to split Eskom unto three divisions – generation, transmission, and distribution – saying this was needed to improve its efficiency and make it competitive. The National Union of Mineworkers has said it is against plans to split the power utility into three because it will result in job losses. Ramaphosa also indicated that all six units at Medupi should be fully operational by 2020. According to Bloomberg calculations, the combined costs of Medupi and the Kusile plant have risen to R451-billion, about the same amount as Eskom's outstanding debt burden. The two plants were originally expected to be completed by 2015 at a total cost of R163-billion. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News Other internet posting(s) in this news category
ANC MPs fail to get approval for appointment of former Msunduzi mayor to Public Service Commission News24 reports that opposition MPs stood up and cheered when the ANC didn't have enough MPs in the National Assembly on Tuesday to approve the nomination of former Msunduzi mayor Zanele Hlatshwayo as a Public Service Commission (PSC) commissioner. Last week, the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration nominated Hlatswayo for the PSC. The DA strongly opposed Hlatswayo's appointment to the PSC. The ANC's Hlatshwayo was the mayor of Msunduzi from 2007 to 2010. In March 2010, the KwaZulu-Natal Executive Committee put the municipality under administration because of its financial status, non-compliance with various statutory obligations relating to financial, institutional and governance matters and a lack of oversight by the council. Hlatshwayo and her executive were then removed. There are 14 PSC commissioners, five of whom are appointed by the National Assembly. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jan Gerber at News24
Ramaphosa retrenches over 20 workers on one of his farms SowetanLive reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa has had to retrench over 20 workers at one of his farms due to foot-and-mouth disease and bad trading conditions. Ramaphosa drove to his Ntabanyoni farm in Badplaas, Mpumalanga, himself on 25 October to deliver the bad news to the workers. He told them that 22 out of 46 full-time employees at the farm were to lose their jobs. The news left many of the workers devastated. Some of them have appealed to the president "to find ways" to help them feed their families. In Ntabanyoni Ramaphosa farms a rare breed of cattle known as Ankole. He first imported the breed from Uganda and is regarded as the biggest Ankole farmer in the country. Ntabanyoni's operations manager, Ben Molotsi, confirmed the retrenchments. He said they were mainly as a result of a foot-and-mouth outbreak that caused major losses for the farm. The farm, he added, had only two options, namely reduce the number of staff or face liquidation. “We have done all processes for retrenchment, they were alerted earlier, they got their 13th Cheque and we have paid them retrenchment severance up to 18 days and they were also paid their day offs too," Molotsi indicated. He also said the company had agreed to pay half of the former employees' fees towards skills development courses. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mandla Khoza at SowetanLive Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Over half of unclaimed pension benefits held in two trade union-affiliated schemes The Citizen reports that more than half the R42 billion in unclaimed benefits, owed to roughly 4.2 million persons, are bottled up in just two trade union-affiliated pension schemes. A recent report, The Bottom Line, by nonprofit organisation Open Secrets indicates that the amount of unclaimed benefits amounts to more than R51 billion if funds falling outside the Pension Funds Act are also counted. The fund with by far the largest amount of unclaimed benefits is the Metal Industries Benefit Fund, with nearly R19 billion, followed by the Mineworkers Fund, with R4.3 billion. These numbers are from a 2017 report on unclaimed benefits from the Financial Services Conduct Authority, or FSCA (formerly the Financial Services Board). Administrators allegedly earn huge fees on these unclaimed benefits. GroundUp asked for comment on the Open Secrets report from the regulator and two administrators, Liberty and Alexander Forbes. Liberty Corporate managing executive Tiaan Kotze said the problem of unclaimed benefits was decades old and not unique to SA. He said workers often left employment unaware that they had pension benefits owing to them. The administrators responsible for safekeeping members’ personal data often kept poor and incomplete records Read the original of the above report by Ciaran Ryan on page 4 of The Citizen of 27 November 2019
Dismissal dispute between Public Protector and former COO postponed News24 reports that on Tuesday the case between axed Public Protector COO Basani Baloyi and the Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane was postponed to Wednesday in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. According to one of the lawyers in the matter, the case had to be postponed because there were too many matters on Tuesday's court roll. Baloyi has taken the Public Protector and her chief executive officer, Vusi Mahlangu, to court over what she claims to be a purge by Mkhwebane. She alleges that the two acted with ulterior motives in dismissing her and demonstrated these alleged motives with examples of reports which, Baloyi claims, Mkhwebane and Mahlangu unfairly prioritised while ignoring vital information to achieve personal goals. Baloyi wants the court to declare that Mkhwebane acted unconstitutionally, thus violating her obligations towards independence. Read the original of the above report by Azarrah Karrim at News24 Tshwane mayor Stevens Mokgalapa on special leave pending investigation into 'sex' audio clip News24 reports that City of Tshwane Mayor Stevens Mokgalapa has confirmed that he has decided to take special leave starting on Thursday. Yet, he also indicated that he would be available for official duty and would “continue to avail myself for party processes that are currently underway.” Mokgalapa special leave is pending an investigation following the release of an audio recording purportedly of him engaging in an intimate act with transport MMC Sheila Senkubuge. In the recording, which was widely circulated on social media on Sunday, the two office bearers can be heard discussing their colleagues in the council before seemingly becoming intimate with one another. Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng chairperson Mike Moriarty indicated that the matter had been referred to the party's Federal Legal Commission for further investigation where the duo would be given an opportunity to present their version of events. Moriarty confirmed that while investigations were underway, Mokgalapa would be placed on special leave, while Senkubuge would go on voluntary leave. The Speaker of the Tshwane Council has also referred the matter to the Ethics Committee for further investigation. The ANC has since called on Mokgalapa to "fall on his sword", saying it was certain that the audio clip was authentic and revealed that Mokgalapa was clearly having sex with his direct subordinate, Senkubuge. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sesona Ngqakamba at News24
Seven Limpopo traffic officers and four vehicle examiners arrested on charges of bribery and corruption News24 reports that seven traffic officers and four vehicle examiners in Limpopo have been arrested in a pre-festive season crackdown on bribery and corruption. In a joint operation by members of the Road Traffic Management Corporation's (RTMC) National Traffic Anti-corruption Unit, the Hawks and Special Investigating Unit (SIU), four traffic officers employed at the Limpopo Traffic Department in Thohoyandou were arrested. Three other officers employed by the Makhado Municipality were also arrested in the same operation. They were scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday. The arrests came after four examiners at a privately owned vehicle testing station were arrested on Monday. The four, who are employed by the Maanda-Ashu vehicle testing station, allegedly certified vehicles as roadworthy without conducting the necessary tests on them. According to RTMC spokesperson Simon Zwane, corruption by traffic officers was one factor behind accidents and fatalities on the roads. Limpopo is one of the regions with the highest number of road fatalities. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Azarrah Karrim at News24 Top Limpopo official faces suspension for allegedly claiming petrol money for a larger car than the one he travelled in The Citizen reports that Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha is expected to act against a prominent official this week, in a move to prove his commitment to stamping out graft. Head of the department of public works in Limpopo, Timothy Seroka, allegedly defrauded the department of R11,000 by claiming petrol money for a larger car than the one he travelled in. Seroka is also accused of irregularly claiming hotel stays for official trips in June to Tzaneen, the public works head office in Gauteng and the Limpopo legislature in Lebowakgomo. Seroka’s department confirmed the claims on Tuesday and said the matter had been handed over to the office of the premier as it was his prerogative to appoint or fire heads of departments. The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) has expressed its concern about the alleged fraud. Mathabatha recently suspended his spokesperson, Kenny Mathivha, for a similar offence. Acting spokesperson for the Limpopo provincial government, Mamogo Ntul, said the premier had appointed an investigator to look into the matter. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Alex Matlala at The Citizen
Parents expected to lay criminal charges after seven KZN teachers axed for serious sexual misconduct News24 reports that parents are expected to lay criminal charges after seven KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) teachers, many of whom sexually assaulted pupils at their respective schools, were dismissed by Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu. Departmental spokesperson Kwazi Mthethwa advised on Tuesday: "We have expelled seven teachers and one administrator. The MEC and the department will not stand by and allow children to be taken advantage of. People must not be afraid to report any matters. As long as we have evidence, we move." Mthethwa said that many of the parents of the pupils were expected to lay criminal charges against the perpetrators, who were spread throughout KZN. Mthethwa also said that the purge of teachers who had committed sexual misconduct was not over. "In fact, the MEC is currently reviewing 12 other cases. The processes are not rushed, but we can say with certainty that we are clamping down on these heinous crimes as the department." He added that there were even cases in which parents were allegedly bribed. Mthethwa also indicated that the administrator worked at a special needs school and he commented: "These are children who need to be assisted and treated very carefully. This man took advantage." Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Kaveel Singh at News24
Brazen, booming and dangerous sex trade in Witbank SowetanLIVE writes that three words sum up the murky world of prostitution in Emalahleni (Witbank), namely brazen, bold and booming. And it seems Mpumalanga police are unable to tame the growing trade. Police officers have set their sights on dealing with prostitution in the Witbank area, alleging that it has created a web of other serious crimes. They've conducted raids and want to bring down the men and women who own houses from which brothels operate. According to police, murder, car theft, kidnapping, drug possession, mob justice, looting, arson and even child abandonment cases have been linked to the scores of brothels that operate in several suburbs in the city. TimesLIVE and MultimediaLIVE spent time in Emalahleni speaking to police, taxi drivers, victims and the women at the centre of the storm, all in an attempt to understand the dynamics of a situation playing out a 90-minute drive east of Johannesburg. What they found was murder, hijacking, car theft, Illegal immigrants, human trafficking and kidnapping Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Naledi Shange at SowetanLIVE
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