In our Thursday morning roundup, see
summaries of our selection of recent South African
labour-related reports.
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Sibanye-Stillwater stands firm on gold wage offer as it warns of economic downturn Fin24 reports that a month into a wage strike at Sibanye-Stillwater's gold mines, CEO Neal Froneman said the group would stand firm on its wage offer as the world faced a potential economic downturn. "It is real likely that the world is going into an economic recession in the next short while and we can't let buoyant commodity prices confuse us in terms of wages and salary service," Froneman stated on Wednesday. Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) and National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) members continue to strike at Sibanye's gold mines in Gauteng and the Free State after having downed tools on 10 March. Against a demand for a monthly R1,000 basic wage increase in each year of a three-year agreement for category 4 to 8 workers, Sibanye has offered a R700 increase in each year. Froneman said Sibanye would not tolerate increases way above inflation. "The industry as a whole has made major catch-ups over the last few decades of wages and, in our view, the wage profile is fair. So if you want to create a cost squeeze, then agree to above-inflation wage increases," he said. Froneman added: “We need to take a very robust stance and, probably as a country, nip these above-inflation increases in the bud," Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lisa Steyn at Fin24. Read too, Sibanye-Stillwater gold mining strike enters second month, at Moneyweb CEO of Anglo American Platinum says women don’t feel safe in SA mines Bloomberg reports that Natascha Viljoen, chief executive officer of Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), says women don’t feel safe working underground in SA mines. While the mining industry’s toxic culture is no secret, an explosive report from Rio Tinto Group in February laid bare the scale and severity of the problem. The abuse of women in mines from Australia to SA is increasing investor scrutiny of the world’s biggest mining companies. Viljoen said at a mining conference on Wednesday: “I was not surprised by the Rio Tinto report. If anybody tells me we don’t face the same challenge in South Africa, I would say you are naive.” The Rio Tinto investigation found that more than a quarter of female workers had experienced sexual harassment and almost half of all staff have been victims of bullying. Sexual harassment in the cages — or elevators — has been a problem for years in SA. While the abuse of women was also a societal issue in SA, the mining industry had to take responsibility for addressing the challenges it faced, the Amplats CEO said, adding that “we can be very impactful on how we address these issues in society and in our physical design of the workplace.” Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Felix Njini at Moneyweb Mineral Resources and Energy DG exits job amid bribery allegation The Star writes that Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) director general Thabo Mokoena will be vacating his position at the end of this month. Mokoena faces pressure relating to the controversial Independent Power Production tender that saw a bidder, DNG Power, accusing him of allegedly soliciting a bribe from DNG Power’s Aldworth Mbalati. Mbalati accused Mokeoena and two other persons said to be close to DMRE Minister Gwede Mantashe of inviting him to Kream restaurant in Pretoria, where in the private lounge Mokoena allegedly told Mbalati that in order to win the tender “he needed to be in the system.” Mokoena did not deny meeting Mbalati, an act already an infringement of the Public Finance Management Act. Mokoena’s sudden departure is said by The Star to be a cover-up of the scandal. His position has already been advertised. Mbalati was vying for a 2,000 megawatt power deal which Turkish company Karpowership eventually won. Putting the tender to a halt, Mbalati’s legal team told the North Gauteng High Court that there was an attempt to bribe Mbalati from the DMRE and people who were close to Mantashe. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lehlohonolo Mashigo on page 1 of The Star of 6 April 2022 Two security guards robbed of firearms outside a Harmony mine in Free State TimesLive reports that police have launched a manhunt after an attack on security guards who were robbed of their firearms outside a mine in Virginia, Free State, on Tuesday night. Virginia police were informed about a shoot-out and a business robbery at Harmony Central Plant about 11.30pm. “Apparently seven armed robbers attempted to hijack a Toyota Quantum driven by security personnel while patrolling outside the mine premises,” police spokesperson Capt Stephen Thakeng reported. Though no-one was injured during the shoot-out, the suspects robbed the security officers' rifle and 9mm pistol and drove off in unknown vehicles. Read the original of the short report in the above regard at TimesLive General posting(s) relating to mining
PepsiCo sub-Saharan Africa launches R1.6-billion employee share ownership plan Engineering News reports that snack and beverage group PepsiCo Sub-Saharan Africa (PepsiCo SSA) has launched a R1.6-billion broad-based black economic empowerment employee share ownership plan (Esop). The Bašumi Trust is the culmination of months of planning, financial modelling and engagement with many stakeholders, and marks the beginning of what PepsiCo SSA CEO Tertius Carstens has described as a “fruitful journey” for all qualifying employees. PepsiCo SSA vowed to the SA government it would support broad socioeconomic imperatives of employment, empowerment and talent development at the time of its acquisition of Pioneer Foods in 2020. The Bašumi Trust complements Pepsico SSA’s Kgodiso Development Fund, which aims to benefit local suppliers and emerging farmers. Carstens indicated that the Bašumi Trust was designed to create the most beneficial outcome, maximising the long-term economic benefit to the about 11,000 beneficiaries of the trust. The trust will function independently and will be governed by a board of trustees, made up of three union-appointed trustees, one representing non-union employees, and one employer-appointed trustee. Essentially, the Bašumi Trust has acquired common stock in PepsiCo, which is listed on the Nasdaq in the US, to the value of R1.65-billion. Each participant will be allocated one unit in the trust and they will receive proceeds from the shares in the form of annual dividends and milestone distributions. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News
SACP could not pay full staff salaries for four months due to Covid-19 BusinessLive reports that the SA Communist Party (SACP) says it could not pay its staff full salaries for four months due to retrenchments and difficulty in raising funds during the Covid-19 pandemic. But, it did make medical aid and provident fund contributions during the period. The SACP is part of the tripartite alliance with labour federation Cosatu and the governing ANC. Employment & labour minister Thulas Nxesi, who is acting as the political head of the public service & administration department, is deputy chair of the SACP. Higher education minister Blade Nzimande is its general secretary. SACP spokesperson Alex Mashilo said the party’s “stable source of funds”, made up of its monthly membership levies and contributions, “was severely affected after massive retrenchments and rising unemployment in the economy in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic”. He added that the SACP’s financial woes were worsened by “extreme difficulty” in fundraising initiatives during the pandemic. “In the face of this situation, the SACP democratically consulted with its staff to reach consensus,” Mashilo said. He indicated that there was never a continuous period of six months when the SACP did not pay staff salaries, adding that the last salary run was in March. In a statement, Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said the SACP, as the vanguard of the working class, should be championing working-class struggles. Its failure to pay staff salaries undermined its credibility in the eyes of workers, he noted. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive
IT sector needs to support schools to ensure future skills pipeline for 4IR Engineering News reports that the SA information technology (IT) industry needs to move quickly to save the industry’s skills pipeline or risk falling behind the world in terms of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) progress. This is according to Institute of Information Technology Professionals SA (IITPSA) vice-chairperson Senele Goba. “There is an urgent need for support at school level. If we want more students to study IT, complete their courses and succeed in the industry, we need to support the subject in high school. Computer sciences at schools ensures students are exposed to IT prior to tertiary education. We need [the lack of IT in high schools] to change,” she indicated. Further, while the Department of Basic Education (DBE) defines IT as a school subject, the number of schools offering the subject is declining year-on-year. According to the DBE, the number of IT learners in all provinces has decreased since 2008 and nationally there is an average of only twelve IT learners per school. Goba proposes the creation of a forum to bridge the needs of educators through the support South African IT companies can offer as a solution. She explained: “For example, IT companies could volunteer the regular support of their IT technicians to manage maintenance. Because a relatively low number of public schools offer IT, this commitment would be manageable and could fall under the company’s [corporate social investment] programme. Coordination plays a role, and this is something we as the institute could support. It cannot be a blanket approach, but we could look at where the most IT students are and where the greatest need is.” Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Health department vows 'we are not going to backtrack' in implementing NHI News24 reports that the Department of Health says it won't back down from implementing the proposed National Health Insurance (NHI). Speaking on Wednesday, the deputy director-general in charge of the NHI at the department, Dr Nicholas Crisp, said they hoped the NHI Bill would go through Parliament by the end of the year. The bill has been before Parliament for two-and-half years. Last week, Crisp briefed MPs on the bill after public hearings and indicated that they had received many comments. "We are ready to respond to the wording and strengthening of the bill. We are not going to backtrack on creating one health system; it is not on our agenda. We want everybody in South Africa to get a good health system," Crisp stated. He went on to indicate: "We know there are parties that have told us, outright, they are taking us to the Constitutional Court. We would have never tabled the bill if we were not confident we would win those cases. We are certain that, if we are challenged, we will be fine." The DA has said it would fight the NHI all the way to the Constitutional Court. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tebogo Monama at News24
Eastern Cape premier suspends head of education department Naledi Mbude over textbook debacle BusinessLive reports that Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane has suspended the head of the department of education, Naledi Mbude, over the delay in delivering textbooks and the forfeiture of a R200m grant meant for school infrastructure. Mabuyane informed Mbude, in a letter dated 5 April, that she had been suspended on full pay “as a precautionary measure pending investigations at the department of education”. This followed an order by the High Court in Makhanda on 15 March instructing the department to ensure all pupils attending public schools in the province be provided with textbooks and stationery by the end of March. Pupils have not been provided with top-up textbooks since schools reopened in January. Top-up textbooks are used to replace those lost, damaged or stolen. A snap survey of 400 schools in the province by the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA revealed that 113 of those that responded by last Friday had not received textbooks. At least 26 of the 115 schools that did receive learning material complained about not being supplied with the correct quantity. The department’s spokesperson, Mali Mtima, said that up until Tuesday, 4,855 of 4,932 schools had been supplied with top-up textbooks. “Deliveries have reached 98.4% with 77 schools remaining,” he said. In his suspension letter, Mabuyane informed Mbude that he had considered her representations about the matterbut was not convinced that her continued presence in the department “will not hinder the investigation”. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Prega Govender at BusinessLive
KZN company director linked to R1 million Covid-19 Ters fraud IOL reports that a 37-year-old company director made her first appearance in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crime Court charged with defrauding the Covid-19 Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (Ters). Phathiswa Bodlani was arrested by Hawks members from Durban Serious Corruption Investigation. Spokesperson Captain Simphiwe Mhlongo advised: “It is alleged that between April 2020 and August 2020 her company registered 49 employees at the Department of Labour for Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF). She allegedly claimed R1,009,338 for the Covid-19 Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (Ters) payment. The department later discovered that some of the registered employees were not working for her company and a case of fraud was reported at Durban Central SAPS and the case docket was allocated to Hawks members for further probe.” Bodlani was released on R5,000 bail and will appear in court on May 20. Read the original of the short report in the above regard by Jolene Marriah-Maharaj at IOL Immigration practitioner and accomplice get 15 years for trying to bribe official to print blank work permits The Citizen reports that Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has welcomed the 15-year direct imprisonment sentence handed down to a corrupt immigration practitioner who was behind a fraudulent South African permit scam. The Pretoria Magistrate’s Court sentenced Nasi Seqola, an immigration practitioner, and her accomplice, Ethiopian national Biru Yosef Alem who holds a permanent residence permit, to 15 years behind bars without an option of a fine. Seqola and Alem were convicted in October 2021 and were sentenced this week. Seqola had tried to recruit an official from the Government Printing Works (GPW) to print 5,000 blank permits. In return, the official was promised R150,000. But the official reported Seqola’s plans to the Counter Corruption Branch, which worked with other law enforcement officials to set up a sting. In the scheme, Alem would have recruited foreign nationals who did not qualify for South African permits, and for a fee, bring them to Seqola, who would have completed a fraudulent permit and then used her corrupt contacts at Home Affairs to insert such a permit in the database. Motsoaledi emphasised that immigration practitioners were not Home Affairs employees. “They must not be confused with immigration officers who are uniformed Department of Home Affairs officials,” he pointed out, adding that some immigration practitioners have had a corrosive effect on Home Affairs service delivery. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at The Citizen
ANC wants to find out why Western Cape social development department has no records of sexual harassment complaints for the past year News24 reports that the ANC is demanding that the Western Cape's social development head of department should explain why it had no record of reports of sexual harassment for the past year, in spite of the accusations levelled at former Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz. "The ANC in the Western Cape legislature is growing tired of DA antics to cushion those who may have knowledge of alleged sexual misconduct by former Social Development and Community Safety MEC, Albert Fritz, from accountability," said ANC MPL Mesuli Kama in a statement. The social development committee sat on Tuesday to update the members on the Western Cape government's sexual harassment policy, which dates back to 2011, and to hear what it is doing about gender-based violence. Premier Alan Winde has called for a review of the policy following the allegations levelled at Fritz, who was subsequently fired when an independent pre-investigation found that the claims against him could be substantiated. Fritz held the powerful position of the DA's provincial leader, and claimed the allegations were no more than a political smear. He has resigned as provincial party leader. The Department of Social Development's in-depth presentation on how it handled sexual harassment and gender-based violence was overshadowed by the ANC wanting to know why it could not just talk about Fritz. The ANC also wanted to know why it had no reports of sexual harassment against senior officials over 10 years, in spite of the policy. Department head Robert Macdonald was present, but side-stepped questions regarding Fritz, focusing on questions related to policy implementation. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jenni Evans at News24
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