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 Wednesday morning roundup, see
summaries of our selection of recent South African
labour-related reports.
|
Labour wants new finance minister to boost spending through ‘mass stimulus package’ to reignite the economy BL Premium reports that ahead of his debut budget policy statement and a week after the ANC suffered bruising electoral losses, finance minister Enoch Godongwana is facing pressure from the party’s trade union allies to boost spending. Cosatu wants “a mass stimulus package” to revive an economy that had its biggest slump in a century and lost more than 1-million jobs in 2020. Spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said that the union federation wanted to see a medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) “that will ignite the economy, stabilise the state and provide relief to workers and the unemployed. This MTBPS should be about saving and creating jobs.” The demands highlight the challenge facing Godongwana — who cut his political teeth as a unionist — between meeting demands for extra spending while convincing financial markets that the government will maintain the discipline needed to contain an increase in debt levels and prevent deficits from spiralling out of control. He is due to present his first policy statement on Thursday in parliament. The SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) and the Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) supported the call for stimulus measures. Unions also want the government to reverse spending cuts announced in February. “Austerity measures will not help our economy to grow. You cannot cut public expenditure and reduce levels of investment and then hope that will lead to growth. SA needs a real stimulus package of R1-trillion to kickstart the economy,” Saftu said in a statement. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
J&J booster jabs start for healthcare workers who took part in first Sisonke trial News24 reports that the Covid-19 vaccination booster programme kicked off on Tuesday among healthcare workers who took part in the original Sisonke study. The SA Medical Research Council and the Department of Health said they wanted to get the boosters in before the fourth wave of the pandemic, which is expected to start in December, in order to protect the healthcare workers. For the present, boosters will only be available to healthcare workers who took part in the Sisonke trial. They will receive an invitation by SMS on the number they used to enrol for the first part of the study, and will be required to give consent online again via a form on the EVDS. The department stressed that healthcare workers who received an unauthorised dose of Pfizer must not go for the booster offered in the Sisonke trial as there was not enough data yet on the possible effects of mixing vaccines. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jenni Evans at News24. Lees ook, J&J-opvolgdosis nou beskikbaar, by Maroela Media Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Witness tells Lily Mine inquest that zama zamas could have become trapped underground along with three employees News24Wire reports that according to a former illegal miner, it was possible that one or more ‘zama zamas’ (illegal miners) became trapped underground along with three missing employees when a part of Lily Mine collapsed in 2016. Known only as Mr X, he was testifying at an inquest into the mine collapse, which is being held to determine whether anyone should be held responsible for the death of three Lily Mine employees, namely Solomon Nyirenda, Pretty Nkambule and Yvonne Mnisi, when they became trapped underground after the mine collapse. The inquiry is being held in the Mbombela Magistrate's Court. Testifying via CCTV from an unknown location, Mr X said he was part of illegal miners who extracted gold from Lily Mine, but had been formally employed by the mine two years before the tragedy. "It is possible that there are more than three people trapped underground. One family is looking for an illegal miner who disappeared during the 5 February 2016 incident. It won't be easy to identify the missing zama zamas because many of them were from neighbouring countries. We only knew each other through first names or nicknames," Mr X indicated. He went on to say: "From 2014, illegal miners started mining the crown pillar. They targeted the crown pillar because it carried enough gold. They followed a tunnel to reach the crown pillar … We also built a wooden scaffolding underground to target the crown pillar. The last blast on the crown pillar took place on 4 February 2016.” Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly AMCU expresses concern over ‘potential for unfairness’ with SA’s proposed transition from coal-based resources Mining Weekly reports that the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) has expressed concern over the “potential for unfairness” following the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa of a partnership agreement with France, Germany, the UK, the US and the European Union, whereby they committed to providing about R131-billion in finance to help SA achieve a just energy transition. The transition will result in SA reducing its reliance on coal-fired power generation, while also helping to lower the country’s carbon emissions. In a statement on Tuesday, AMCU president Joseph Mathunjwa said that, considering that these developed countries were already industrialised, built on coal-based energy resources and “exploitative working conditions” of mineworkers, there was the potential for unfairness as SA was still a developing country, and therefore still in the process of industrialising. He maintained that the country’s transition must be just, and that it would require “full commitment to the immediate socioeconomic needs of those workers who are directly and indirectly employed by the coal industry, as well as the communities they feed and the local economies they support”. Mathunjwa has issued an open letter to Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) Minister Gwede Mantashe requesting the department to “urgently convene a tripartite summit on ensuring a just transition from coal to cleaner energy sources”. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe says he is willing to take his coal fight to court Bloomberg News reports that energy minister Gwede Mantashe has upped the ante in his battle to retain a plan to build more coal plants, saying a trip to court would be well worth the effort. “I know that we’re going to end up in court for it. Everything we do you end up in court, but I think we should,” he told reporters at the Africa Energy Week conference in Cape Town on Tuesday. Mantashe is at the centre of a fight over whether coal should remain part of SA’s future energy mix rather than more climate-friendly options. Envoys from the UK, US and the EU flew to SA in October to offer billions of dollars in concessional loans and grants to ditch the plans for coal, though Mantashe didn’t meet them. The construction of 1,500MW of new coal capacity has been included in the Integrated Resources Plan and should be retained, the minister earlier told reporters. That would allow for the development of cleaner coal technology that could prolong use of the fuel, he opined. Mantashe also said that plans to consider exploiting recent gas discoveries required new funding. Read the original of the short report in the above regard by Paul Burkhardt at BusinessLive. Read too, Mantashe calls on Africa to unite against 'coercion' by global anti-fossil fuel agenda, at Fin24 SA must find alternative livelihoods in shift away from coal to avoid ‘ghost towns’ in Mpumalanga, says Mantashe Mining Weekly reports that Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe said on Tuesday that SA’s shift away from fossil fuels must generate alternative economic activities and livelihoods in order to avoid coal mining areas such as Mpumalanga becoming "ghost towns". He was speaking on the sidelines of the African Energy Week conference in Cape Town. More than 90,000 South Africans were employed in coal mines in 2020. The United States, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union last week announced $8.5-billion of financing to help SA move away from coal and ensure those who work in the industry can find greener alternatives to make a living. SA aims to use the funds to develop new sectors like renewables and electric vehicle manufacturing, which would create jobs as the coal industry is phased out. Asked about the detrimental health impacts of coal mining and combustion in Mpumalanga, Mantashe said coal provided a livelihood to thousands of people. "If we starve them to death, is that healthier?," he asked. An unpublished study by scientists working for the SA government in 2019 found that more than 5,000 South Africans die annually in the nation's coal belt because the government has failed to fully enforce its own air quality standards. Read the original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly Other general posting(s) relating to mining
De Ruyter lays bare Eskom’s maintenance woes, declines to resign as CEO BL Premium reports that as SA staggered through another day of stage 4 load-shedding on Tuesday, Eskom CEO André de Ruyter and his top executives addressed the media and painted a picture of a company unable to do crucial maintenance because of cash flow problems and procurement delays. He also spoke of a shortage of technical skills, poor quality of work from contractors and cheating by municipalities that refused to drop load from the grid when asked to do so. De Ruyter said load-shedding would taper off this week and be lifted by the weekend, but that SA remained critically short of power. Eskom faced a hostile media, with some journalists asking De Ruyter whether he would resign and some going so far as to suggest that he was “sabotaging” the economy. De Ruyter said he served at the pleasure of the board, which served at the pleasure of the public enterprises minister. He would not resign of his own accord as “flogging the dead horse” or “changing the jockey” would not help Eskom or SA. “I do not intend to resign of my own accord. In the current circumstances, it is more important to have continuity than to repeat the last 10 years, in which there were 11 CEOs. Lack of continuity has certainly contributed to instability. These problems will not be resolved by changing horses or jockeys at this point,” he stated. The unreliability of the plant was due to years of neglect and could not be laid at the door of existing management, De Ruyter claimed. The Black Management Forum and the National Union of Mineworkers have each called for the resignation of De Ruyter and the Eskom board. Business Unity SA said it rejected these calls and stood with the Eskom leadership in difficult times. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Carol Paton at BusinessLive (subscriber access only). Read too, Procurement rules and liquidity constraints hold back Eskom’s maintenance roll-out, at Mining Weekly. And also, No use changing jockeys on a dead horse, says Eskom's De Ruyter amid calls to step down, at Fin24 Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Nehawu admits that it didn’t “go all out” in campaigning for the ANC before last week’s municipal elections BL Premium reports that the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) admitted on Tuesday that it did not “go all out” in campaigning for the ANC before last week’s municipal elections. The union, which has taken the government to the Constitutional Court for reneging on implementation of a 2018 wage agreement, attributed the poor support it gave to its political ally to budgetary constraints. With more than 280,000 members, Nehawu is the biggest affiliate of union federation Cosatu, which is a key ally of the ANC and has supported the party in every election since 1994. In the build-up to the local government elections on 1 November, Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi assured ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa that the labour federation would wage a “relentless campaign” for the ANC. However, the governing party got just 45.6% of voter support nationally, its worst performance since coming to power in 1994. In a media briefing on Tuesday after Nehawu’s national congress held from 3 to 6 November, newly elected president Mike Shingange said it would be unfair for the union to appear to be shocked by the election results. Asked whether Nehawu had campaigned for the ANC, Shingange said, “Yes, we did. But we did not campaign in a manner that we usually campaign.” Due to budgetary constraints the union did not print T-shirts and pamphlets, or offer its vehicles and officials for campaigning. “We did not do so (campaign as usual)… but we did not stop workers from campaigning. But we were not all out as we would have done [in the past] because we had not the financial capacity to do so.” Shingange indicated. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only) Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Toyota’s R2.6bn investment in KZN to create jobs SowetanLIVE reports that Toyota recently announced massive investments in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) that will lead to more jobs in the province. The first production run of the Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid vehicle was recently celebrated in KZN, with President Cyril Ramaphosa present to witness the achievement. The Corolla Cross is the first generation of commercial-scale hybrid electric vehicles to come off a South African assembly line and its production on home soil will see Toyota investing R2.6bn in the country. The Corolla Cross will be exported to 40 countries across Africa, which will boost the African Continental Free Trade Area. “I am advised that the company will seek to ramp up its projected 4,000 hybrid vehicles planned for next year, if the availability of batteries improves,” the president said. He added that the R2.6bn investment by the Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer was a vote of confidence in the country. Toyota SA chief executive Andrew Kirby said the company had invested over R6.1bn in the plant over the past five years. “So, we’re therefore committed to further developing and strengthening our business in SA,” he pointed out. Toyota has created 575 new jobs at the plant and a further 1,200 new jobs have been created in supplier companies. The auto industry is one of the drivers of the country’s localisation programme and a significant contributor to the gross domestic product, accounting for more than 100,000 jobs. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at SowetanLIVE Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Labour Court refuses to overturn Joburg bus driver’s dismissal over commuter’s death The Star reports that a former Johannesburg bus driver, who was dismissed five years ago from service following an accident when a commuter fell out of the bus and was crushed to death by the bus, will not get his job back. Lucky Choene turned to the Labour Court to set aside an arbitration award which earlier upheld his dismissal. The Joburg Metro Bus Services fired Choene in 2016 following a disciplinary hearing where it was found that he was responsible for the death of the commuter. This was primarily because he drove off in circumstances where the doors of the bus had not closed. The arbitrator found that the applicant ought to have been more alert, particularly in circumstances where he had been experiencing problems with the door of the bus. Labour Court Judge Andre van Niekerk noted that Choene lodged proceedings months after the time had lapsed in which he was legally allowed to do so. He said the application was thus stillborne from the start. He added that the grounds for review were in any event limited to the arbitrator’s assessment of the evidence, and in particular, his rejection of Choene’s evidence. According to Choene, the arbitrator relied on the circumstantial evidence proffered by the Joburg Metro’s witnesses rather than the direct evidence proffered by him. He also complained that no expert witnesses were called to testify. “The arbitrator assessed the evidence and found, on a balance of probabilities, that the applicant drove the bus with an open door, with the consequence that the passenger fell to her death. It is not for this court to decide whether the arbitrator’s decision was correct – the test is whether the arbitrator committed any reviewable irregularity in his assessment of the evidence and whether that rendered the outcome unreasonable,” the judge said in dismissing the application. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Zelda Venter on page 1 of The Star of 9 November 2021
Three Ermelo home affairs officials arrested for soliciting money from shops owned by foreign nationals TimesLIVE reports that two immigration officers and an assistant director from the department of home affairs in Ermelo were arrested for alleged corruption on Tuesday. The three suspects are expected to appear before the Ermelo Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday on charges of corruption. The suspects allegedly demanded money from foreign nationals who owned shops in Ermelo. Provincial police spokesperson Brig Selvy Mohlala said a complainant reported the matter to the local police station and an investigation was launched by the Anti-Corruption Unit. “An operation was conducted and the three suspects were arrested today after receiving trap money,” said Mohlala. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Shonisani Tshikalange at TimesLIVE
Commuters left 'in the dark' as Gautrain experienced power failure on Tuesday News24 reports that the Gautrain's operations were interrupted following a power failure on Tuesday, with the train service between Park, Midrand and the Airport disrupted. According to Gautrain, a train shuttle service transported passengers between Marlboro and Sandton, as well OR Tambo. However, Charlen Raymond, a Wheels24 journalist who was on the train to Sandton, said that they had to learn about the technical difficulties on social media. "We learnt about load shedding and its impact on the train services via social media, but there was no clear information being shared to passengers via the intercom," Raymond indicated. Several commuters also shared their frustration on social media at being stuck inside the carriage. After some time waiting, some passengers got out of the train and waited outside to escape the increasing humidity inside the train. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Cebelihle Mthethwa at News24
|
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page