In our Friday morning roundup, see
summaries of our selection of recent South African
labour-related reports.
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SA has reached a turning point in Covid-19 pandemic, local researchers say BL Premium reports that leading local researchers say that SA has reached a turning point in the coronavirus pandemic, as vaccination and high levels of natural immunity from prior infection are likely to protect most people from severe illness and death in future waves, just as they did during the recent Omicron-driven surge. Three quarters of Gauteng’s population surveyed before SA’s fourth wave in December had coronavirus antibodies, which helped explain why an unprecedented surge in cases was not accompanied by a commensurate rise in hospitalisations and deaths, according to a peer-reviewed study published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. The Omicron wave accounted for just 10% of Gauteng’s Covid-19 hospitalisations and 3% of its Covid-19 deaths. This was in sharp contrast to the July 2021 Delta wave, which was responsible for 44% of the province’s Covid-19 hospitalisations and 50% of its Covid-19 deaths. The decoupling of the incidence in new cases from the incidence of hospitalisation and death heralded a turning point in the epidemic, if the main goal was to protect people from severe illness and death rather than infection, said the paper’s lead author, Wits University vaccinologist Shabir Madhi. In his view it was time for the government to adjust its response to the pandemic, which appeared to be at its tail end, and tackle Covid-19 in a similar way to other infectious diseases. The government should focus its vaccination drive on reaching more people over the age of 50, who were at greatest risk of severe illness or death from Covid-19, rather than pushing to immunise young adults and children, he said. Government figures show one-third of people aged 50 and older have yet to be vaccinated, more than six months after shots became available to this cohort. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive (subscriber access only). Read too, Low Covid-19 infections, deaths should not make people reckless, cabinet says, at EWN Health regulations to end state of disaster 'hopefully' before NCCC by next week, says Phaahla News24 reports that according to Health Minister Joe Phaahla, regulations that could end the national state of disaster could be placed before the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) by next week. He was addressed the media on Thursday in response to President Cyril Ramaphosa's recent State of the Nation Address (SONA). In his address, Ramaphosa had said the national state of disaster would end "soon", without giving specific timelines. Phaahla said various departments were working on the way forward and indicated as follows: "The National Department of Health is leading in that regard. We are working on our health regulations, making sure we can have, you know, protection measures, through the National Health Act and its regulations to replace the state of disaster, the Disaster Management Act. We are almost at the tail-end to finalise this matter." He added that the regulations would "hopefully" be reported to the NCCC by next week. They would involve: the surveillance and the control of notifiable medical conditions; public health measures in points of entry; management of human remains; and environmental health. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jan Gerber at News24 Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Gunmen wound three Eskom guards at substation, steal their guns and cellphones News24 reports that three Eskom security guards were wounded at the Winterveld substation in Gauteng on Sunday when gunmen attacked them. The power utility said in a statement on Thursday that two "static" security guards from the substation had been joined by two armed response guards for a routine patrol and shortly thereafter were attacked by four gunmen. Three guards suffered gunshot wounds, and their firearms and phones were stolen. The four suspects fled the scene and one of the static guards managed to call the control room and let them know of the incident. The injured guards were taken to the Legae Medical Clinic Hospital for treatment and were discharged on Tuesday. Eskom's safety, health, environment, risk and quality manager in Gauteng, Kith Maitisa, said further investigations surrounding the matter would be handled by Eskom and the police. The security guards were deployed to prevent theft and vandalism of electricity infrastructure. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Zandile Khumalo at News24
Threat of passenger bus strike as Numsa declares dispute over wages Fin24 reports that the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has officially declared a dispute in its passenger bus wage talks at the SA Road Passenger Bargaining Council (Sarpbac) after demanding in January that the lowest wage category involved in the talks be bumped up to R12,000 a month. Currently, the lowest earner gets approximately R7 800. During negotiations with the SA Bus Employers' Association (Sabea) and the Commuters Bus Employers' Organisation (Cobea), Numsa called for a R4,200 wage hike for the lowest-paid category of bus drivers and commuter bus employees. Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majole indicated that the matter would be referred to the CCMA next, following registration of the dispute at Sarpbac. By mid-March, the period will have lapsed for the dispute to be settled before the union becomes eligible for a strike certificate from the CCMA. In a statement on Thursday, Numsa secretary general Irvin Jim said that after two sessions with employers in the past month the union opted to register the dispute, as it could not find common ground with the employer. He indicated that Numsa did not believe the "claims of poverty" made by employer groups during the wage talks and demanded that they disclose full subsidy arrangements with government, if they wanted their pleas to be entertained. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Khulekani Magubane at Fin24
Disgruntled mining unions gear up for wage strike at Sibanye-Stillwater’s gold operations BL Premium reports that a coalition of mining unions is gearing up for a “massive strike” at Sibanye-Stillwater’s local gold operations after its membership rejected the company’s latest revised wage offer of R700 each year for three years for underground and surface workers. The company has also proposed a R100 increase in the living out allowance in each year of the multi-term agreement. According to the proposal, so-called artisans, miners and officials would have received 5% each year over the multiyear agreement. In a joint media briefing on Thursday, leaders of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Solidarity and Uasa said their members wanted an increase of R1,000 per month or 6%. Amcu general secretary Jeff Mphahlele said the four unions were getting ready to embark on a “massive strike of more than 30,000 workers” at Sibanye’s gold operations. The threat by unions to embark on a strike has been lingering for weeks. The balloting of the unions’ membership will be held on 1 March and will be overseen by officials from the CCMA. If the members elect to down tools, the unions will have to serve the gold producer with a 48-hour strike notice. Mphahlele said the unions were disappointed that Sibanye is “pleading poverty ... against the backdrop of its performance on the market”. Solidarity’s Riaan Visser said there was no sufficient mandate from the union’s membership to accept the 5% wage offer and that the demand for 6% still stood. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
Cosatu drifting away from the economic approach of Ramaphosa administration, insisting that state intervention should drive the making of a developmental state, not the private sector Mawande AmaShabalala writes that Cosatu has criticised the economic direction of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration, accusing the regime of pursuing “neoliberal policies”. This emerged in a statement laying out the outcomes of the trade union federation’s central executive committee (CEC) meeting held from Monday to Wednesday. After Ramaphosa caused a political traffic jam for stating in his state of the nation address that it was not government that created jobs but rather the private sector, Cosatu said it disagreed with him. The federation expressed concern about the economic trajectory the country was taking, saying the administration was elevating the role of the private sector instead of taking a state-led approach. Cosatu’s statement reads as follows: “Our position is that a developmental state cannot be built on the foundations of neoliberal policies. The federation raised concerns that the existing dominant market-driven logic in the state continues to retard the realisation of the vision of a developmental state. Even progressive elements of the new administration’s agenda remain relatively timid when it comes to questions such as direct state intervention in the economy, state economic ownership, action against monopolies.” According to Cosatu, there was incoherence in the Ramaphosa government’s economic development approach, which was problematic as it appeared to be tiptoeing on issues in order not to upset big business. Cosatu has been instrumental in Ramaphosa’s rise to the highest office in the land, having been among the formations that endorsed him and campaigned for him before the ANC’s 2017 Nasrec conference. Its support of his administration has in large part been a friendly one but that seems to be changing. But Cosatu’s ultimate attitude towards the president is likely to become clearer at its congress scheduled for September this year. Read the full original of the opinion piece in the above regard at TimesLive ANC’s alliance partner not impressed with budget as job creation ‘falls short’ The Citizen reports that Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s generosity in his budget on Wednesday was not enough to impress the ANC’s alliance partner. The Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) shot it down as an “extremely disappointing budget and a repeat of the old promises”. Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said: “An anticipated 1.8% GDP growth trajectory over the [medium-term expenditure framework] will not see any reduction in unemployment. Overall, this was an extremely disappointing budget that repeated old promises, continued its austerity trajectory and was devoid of any new policy interventions to solve the problem of economic stagnation.” He said Cosatu felt that the central ideas in the budget were not focused on enhancing the labour-absorbing capacity of the economy. There was no plan to fix the economy or create jobs, no plan to fight corruption and no plan to stop the leakages that have led to 10% of the budget being lost to corruption. The state-owned enterprises did not have a funding model, municipalities were still teetering on the brink and budget cuts have continued to be imposed on rural development, the CCMA and the department of home affairs. Meantime, the sugar industry was disappointed by Godongwana’s announcement that the health promotion levy would increase from 2.21 to 2.31 cents per gram of sugar. Andrew Russell, chair of SA Canegrowers, said: “This hike will threaten thousands more rural jobs.” He indicated that they would request a meeting with the minister to ask him to change his mind. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Eric Naki at The Citizen. Read too, Labour wants more funding for basic income grant and claims ‘youth wage subsidy not working’, at SowetanLive Other internet posting(s) in this news category
New wings for SAA as sale of 51% stake toTakatso Consortium confirmed Sunday Times reports that SA Airways (SAA) has been given a new lease on life, with the government announcing it had finally concluded the sale of a 51% interest in the airline to private consortium Takatso. The deal comes eight months after government had first announced the group as its preferred strategic equity partner for the airline. The announcement in a cabinet statement that the deal had been concluded between SAA shareholder, the public enterprises department (DPE), and Takatso ends months of uncertainty about the future of the airline, which exited business rescue at the end of April and took to the skies again in September. The statement said the sales and purchase process had “now been concluded and signed” by the DPE and Takatso Consortium, adding that the next step involved “the approval of this transaction by various regulatory bodies”. The statement did not disclose the sales price. In a statement on Wednesday, Takatso said as follows: “Takatso is confident that the relaunched SAA has strong growth prospects domestically, regionally and internationally, and will in due course consider partnerships with other aviation players to achieve its growth strategy.” Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Nick Wilson at Sunday Times Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Huawei and labour department seek to agree out of court in case of non-compliance with local hiring quotas The Citizen reports that Huawei Technologies SA has entered into talks with the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) to reach a settlement agreement after it was revealed that 90% of its employees are foreigners. The talks include a resolution by both parties to stay court proceedings instituted by the department against Huawei on 11 February 2022 pending the outcome of the negotiations. The hiring quotas for foreign-owned companies operating in SA stipulate that at least 60% of employees must be local. Huawei said in a statement that it had demonstrated its extensive ICT skills transfer and training programmes to the department. The DEL has apparently acknowledged the skills transfer programme and advised Huawei to expand this further in its Employment Equity plan. “Discussions are ongoing. Huawei is committed to being fully cooperative with the department, and both sides are positive that this matter will be concluded shortly,” said the Chinese tech giant. But Huawei’s latest statement did not address or clarify the department’s allegations that 90% of its employees in SA were foreigners, including its top five managers. The DEL has apparently also accused the tech company of lying that it had a Home Affairs permit to circumvent the Employment Equity Act 40% cap on foreign hires. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Narissa Subramoney at The Citizen Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Daybreak Farms 'whistleblower' unfairly fired, CCMA rules ahead of her criminal court appearance Fin24 reports that just days before a former employee of state-owned chicken producer Daybreak Farms has to appear in the Special Commercial Crimes Court (SCCC), the CCMA ruled that she had been unfairly dismissed. The arbitration ruling states that Mathapelo More must be reinstated by Daybreak Farms as from 25 March in a position no less favourable to the one she held prior the dismissal. Daybreak must also pay her R721,229.10 in back pay by no later than 18 March 2022. More is Daybreak's former head of internal audit, and was also the company's technical executive until she was suspended by the board in mid-February 2021. At the time, the board claimed the relationship with her had "irretrievably broken down with no prospects of restoration". A subsequent letter to her from the board alleged a "breach of fiduciary duty of care". Daybreak Farms has laid criminal charges against More and she must appear in the SCCC in Pretoria on Friday. According to her lawyer, More formed part of a group of individuals at Daybreak Farms who last year blew the whistle on alleged poor corporate governance and corruption at Daybreak involving most of the current board. Apparently, the Public Investment Corporation must still investigate the disclosures made in the whistleblowers' report, which was shared with it more than a year ago. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Carin Smith at Fin24
Northern Cape hospital staff member suspended over allegations of sexual harassing a patient The Citizen reports that the Northern Cape department of health has suspended an employee working at the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe hospital following a case of sexual harassment lodged by a female patient. The department confirmed in a statement on Thursday that it had placed the employee concerned on precautionary suspension for 60 days, pending the outcome of an investigation into serious allegations of misconduct, including sexual harassment. The department indicated that a preliminary report on the ongoing investigation revealed that the alleged perpetrator “advanced in an unwelcome sexual behavior and violation of human dignity towards the patient”. Whilst investigations were underway, the department said it would provide psycho-social support to the victim and directed the accused official not to access the departmental premises, have access to official documents or speak to any potential witness on the matter. Further updates will be provided at a later stage, after the investigation has been concluded. In another case, a Tzaneen doctor has been sentenced to an effective eight years in prison for raping a 17-year-old patient in October 2017. Dumisani Chauke raped the teenager when she was on an examination bed in his surgery in Nkowankowa for a consultation. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at The Citizen
Prasa says Cape Town Central Line to return to service in December GroundUp reports that on Wednesday the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) reported on its rail services in the Western Cape to the Western Cape Provincial Parliament’s Standing Committee on Transport and Public Works. The Central Line, which extends from Cape Town Station to Kapteinsklip in Mitchells Plain and to Chris Hani Station in Khayelitsha, will only be operating in December 2022, according to Prasa’s plans. The line has been closed since October 2019. The agency intends to open sections of the Central Line, without signalling, between March and July this year. Kaparo Molefi, acting regional manager of Prasa Western Cape, took the committee’s members through figures that showed a stabilising, though much-diminished, rail service. In June 2019, Prasa – already in decline – was operating 444 train trips on a weekday in Cape Town. In 2020, before the pandemic, this had dropped to 270 trains. Presently, there are 153 train trips across the city on a weekday. Molefi said that Prasa’s target was to exceed the June 2019 trip figures by the end of this year. While the plan to restore Cape Town’s Central Line was the focus of the meeting, Prasa also unveiled seven property developments, including large social and affordable housing projects on land alongside its rails. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by James Stent at GroundUp Other internet posting(s) in this news category
SA could face more fuel price hikes as oil prices spiral, at BusinessLive Some 12 000 new police officers set to be part of the government’s spending plans, at Business Report Police must put themselves in our shoes, says sex worker, at GroundUp Khayelitsha hospital staff overwhelmed with cases, at GroundUp Domestic worker leaves ‘sorry’ note after allegedly stealing R120K from employer, at The Citizen
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