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 Thursday morning roundup, see
summaries of our selection of recent South African
labour-related reports.
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Consumer inflation in April hit 5.9% for third time in five months, with big hikes in fuel and food Fin24 reports that Statistics SA reported on Wednesday that annual consumer price inflation remained unchanged at 5.9% in April 2022. This was the third time in five months that the rate hit 5.9%. The SA Reserve Bank’s (SARB’s) upper target rate for inflation is 6%. Consumer inflation last breached 6% in 2017. Transport costs in April were 14.7% higher than a year ago due to higher fuel prices. Despite the temporary reduction in fuel levies in April, fuel prices were 29% higher than in April 2021. From March to April, fuel prices increased by 2.2%. Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 6.0% year-on-year, which was slightly less than March’s 6.2% increase. Food prices have surged as the fall-out from the Ukraine war disrupted supplies of staple grains and vegetable oil. South African wheat prices are currently at record-high levels. The average price of sunflower oil (750 ml) increased from R31.24 in March to R34.89 in April. The inflation rate will be front of mind when the SARB’s monetary policy committee meets on Thursday. Some economists expect that the committee will hike interest rates by 50 basis points, which if so will be its largest hike since January 2016. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Fin24. See too, Consumer inflation remains unchanged in April, at BusinessLive Big 50-basis point interest rate hike widely expected from Reserve Bank on Thursday Moneyweb reports that SA’s consumer inflation rate held steady near the ceiling of the SA Reserve Bank’s target range on the eve of what is expected to be the biggest interest-rate hike in more than six years. While the bank officially targets inflation in a band of 3% to 6%, its monetary policy committee (MPC) prefers to anchor expectations close to the midpoint of the range. After lifting borrowing costs by 25 basis points at each of its last three meetings to 4.25%, the MPC is expected to up the pace of tightening on Thursday this week. Of the 20 economists in a Bloomberg survey, 15 predict a half-percentage point increase, with the remainder expecting a smaller 25 basis-point hike. Momentum economist Sanisha Packirisamy and FNB economist Koketso Mano echoed Bloomberg’s expectations of a 50-basis point hike on Thursday. Packirisamy said elevated international oil prices, the potential feedthrough into food prices and an accelerated hiking cycle globally were likely to support a further normalisation in local interest rates to curb inflation expectations. Mano said higher inflation expectations were likely to support a lift in structural inflation, warranting further tightening by the MPC. Anchor Capital investment analyst Casey Delport added that “the upside inflation risks have increased materially given the rand weakness, persistently high oil prices and the recent spike in global food prices.” Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Prinesha Naidoo at Moneyweb Solidarity warns that interest rate hike will impede economic growth Trade union Solidarity expressed its concern on Wednesday about the impact of higher fuel inflation and a consumer inflation rate that threatens to gravely impoverish the consumer. Presently, fuel price inflation stands at 29.2%. With reference to the expectation that the SA Reserve Bank will increase the interest rate on Thursday, Theuns du Buisson, economics researcher at the Solidarity Research Institute (SRI), commented: “Higher interest rates will not make the world’s oil flow, will not bring peace to Ukraine or change US monetary policy. Consumers are under incredible pressure and any attempt to do something about it by increasing interest rates will only make matters worse.” According to Du Buisson, interest rate hikes will only put consumers under greater pressure while doing nothing to control inflation. “The only thing that an interest rate increase will achieve is to withdraw capital from the economy which will impede job creation and growth. Rates in South Africa are already relatively high compared to the rest of the world. Further increases will prejudice all chances for proper economic growth by restricting local citizens’ access to capital,” Du Buisson contended. In his view, there were more important problems that needed to be addressed, such as fuel price inflation. “Fuel prices should be totally deregulated so that the market can determine prices that give consumers a breather,” Du Buisson argued. Read Solidarity’s press statement in the above regard at Politicsweb
After electricity overload trip, City of Tshwane staff held hostage by residents, forced to cut power to neighbouring suburb News24 reports that on Tuesday, City of Tshwane employees were held hostage in Mamelodi by a group of residents. According to City spokesperson Selby Bokaba, residents were angry after there was a trip at the Mamelodi 2 substation. The trip occurred just after load shedding because of the grid being overloaded, Bokaba said. "Teams were on site attending to a service interruption when some community members that are serviced by the Mamelodi Hinterland Substation held the City’s System Operators hostage and forced them to switch off electricity at Nellmapius Ext 22 and 24. The petrified officials had no choice but… to comply for safety reasons." Tshwane Metro Police Department officers who came to the workers' rescue were also chased away. "A decision was taken to hastily withdraw all the teams from sites in Mamelodi for safety reasons, to prevent the community from forcing them to perform further illegal operations," Bokaba said. After a meeting with local councillors on Wednesday, the City agreed that the workers could go back to the area. Bokaba added that City workers were increasingly being targeted in areas like Nellmapius and in parts of Soshanguve and Mamelodi. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tebogo Monama at News24
We won’t see as much death in the fifth wave due to vaccines working, UKZN expert predicts IOL reports that a University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) professor says vaccine efficiency and herd immunity are two key reasons there won’t be as many deaths in the fifth wave of Covid-19. SA is now in a fifth wave with a 20% positivity rate having been reported. The Department of Health indicated that more than 5,096 new cases had been recorded on Tuesday, with 41 deaths in the preceding 48 hours. But Head of Public Health Medicine at UKZN, Professor Saloshni Naidoo, said that while there would be many infections, most of those cases would be mild and moderate. “We are not seeing the pressure for hospitals. While there are admissions and people are in ICU, hospitals are not under pressure like in the previous waves.” Naidoo pointed out this was largely due to the vaccines working. “That is the message that needs to get across, is that vaccines work, and people need to get vaccinated,” Naidoo said, adding that the deaths being reported were mostly in the elderly and those with comorbidities. SA has fully vaccinated only 45% of its 39.7 million adult population. Naidoo was uncertain when the fifth wave would end. “We are currently also in winter, so we will plateau before anything changes,” she noted. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jolene Marriah-Maharaj at IOL Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Sibanye-Stillwater could offer unions “a back door” to end ten-week gold strike, says CEO Neal Froneman Miningmx reports that Sibanye-Stillwater could provide unions with “a back door” in order to end the strike at the producer’s gold mines which will have run for 10 weeks on Thursday. “They need to find a back door to step out of. We will help them, but it’s not about increasing the number,” said CEO Neal Froneman of Sibanye’s last offer of a R850 per month increase for entry level employees. In the past, mining companies have offered unions an ex-gratia payment or restructuring of the agreement such that union demands were met in its final year. There was also the option of constructing a longer pay agreement term such as five years. Froneman said of wage negotiations: “You shouldn’t go into a strike unless you are absolutely sure that you are not going to infringe on the rights of your members. It’s incumbent on the unions to find a solution to their own problems. We will help them but it’s not about raising the number.” He added that the company was not under pressure to conclude a deal with unions at its gold mines as it could survive a strike “for years and years”. According to Froneman, employees had been back-paid their salaries to end-March despite the no work no pay rule, but employee cash funds were depleting. “My executive feels that we are doing the wrong thing because by paying back pay you provide striking workers to go on longer. But that is not the point. We have done a poll and about 85% of our employees accept this wage offer,” Froneman stated. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by David McKay at Miningmx Godongwana says Ubank had enough time to devise ‘credible action plan’ before being placed under curatorship Fin24 reports that according to Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, the lack of a "credible action plan" to resolve issues at Ubank, despite it being given enough time, and lack of alignment between its board and ownership trustees, accelerated the need for it to be placed under curatorship. On Wednesday, he told MPs that the SA Reserve Bank's intervention was aimed at saving the troubled bank, not closing it down. On Monday, Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago announced that Ubank had been put under curatorship, as its the capital adequacy ratio had dipped to 3%, down from 23% in 2020. The ratio is below the minimum regulatory requirement set for the bank. Lack of corporate internal controls also presented risks for its 4.7 million accounts, many of which are for mineworkers and their families. "I have been dealing with the concerns of the Prudential Authority (PA) that Ubank's capital adequacy levels have been deteriorating over the last 18 months, and the inability of the board and its shareholders to adopt and implement an action plan to reverse this decline," Godongwana said. He indicated that meetings had been happening with previous finance ministers, and since March this year "intensified" to weekly meetings, before finally culminating in daily ones over the past week. Ubank, formerly known as Teba Bank, is owned by the Teba Fund Trust, which is administered by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Minerals Council SA (MCSA), with three trustees each. Neither the MCSA nor the NUM has a stake or financial interest in Ubank. The beneficiaries of the trust are the bank's customers. The NUM said on Monday it was "highly shocked and surprised" by the announcement. But the MCSA said it supported the action taken to place Ubank under curatorship Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Khulekani Magubane at Fin24. Read too, MTN's Mobile Money wallets held by Ubank are in 'ring-fenced' account, at Fin24 Other general posting(s) relating to mining
Government to lay down criteria for SOE funding BL Premium reports that National Treasury plans to lay down criteria for government funding of state-entities in a bid to reduce their reliance on the fiscus. Set conditions would simplify decisions by the National Treasury on bailouts for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) which have been a drain on government finances for many years, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana told MPs on Wednesday. Having set criteria would be in line with the “tough love” approach that Godongwana has advocated as the government seeks to improve the performance of SOEs, including Eskom, SAA and Denel, which rely on regular cash injections to keep operating. Delivering the medium term budget policy statement (MTBPS) in November, Godongwana said struggling state enterprises needed to drastically improve their performance before receiving any further government funds. In his speech on the National Treasury budget vote he said a review of governance systems at several high-risk SOEs was in progress and the department was also working on a sustainable solution for Eskom’s debt of about R392bn “that is equitable and fair to all shareholders” and about which further details will be released later this year. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Linda Ensor at BusinessLive (subscriber access only) Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Gauteng transport MEC Jacob Mamabolo admits 85 key vacancies not filled in 2020/2021 despite full funding Pretoria News reports that Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport Jacob Mamabolo has admitted that his department failed to fill 85 key positions despite the fact that all those positions were fully funded posts for the 2020/2021 financial year. This was confirmed by Mamabolo in his written replies to questions in the Gauteng provincial legislature from DA spokesperson on roads and transport Evert du Plessis. In his reply, Mamabolo said the lack of recruitment for the 85 vacancies was due to the organisation review project that was currently under way in his department. Du Plessis had also wanted to find out if any consequence management had been executed against the executive officer. Mamabolo replied that there had been no consequences for the accounting officer, saying “the rational for not implementing consequence management is due to the fact that the organisational structure review process has not yet been completed”. Despite his written response, Mamabolo over the weekend launched a R500 million grass cutting project which saw 19 companies awarded tenders. A total of 1,000 jobs were created and the initial project began at the R21 Albertina Sisulu Road. Referring to the vacancies, Du Plessis noted: “Furthermore, no consequence management for this took place, which again highlights that no political will exists within the Premier (David) Makhura-led administration to ensure that service delivery takes place.” Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Baldwin Ndaba at IOL Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Expert concerned that proposed 10-year term for directors-general might 'encourage complacency' News24 reports that the SA government is looking to increase the term lengths of directors-general (DGs) to 10 years, to improve stability and reduce political interference. During his budget speech, acting Public Service and Administration Minister Thulas Nxesi said the policy change was part of a framework to overhaul the public service. The high turnover of DGs has been cited as a reason for the proposed change, as acting DGs often fill positions for years. Two governance experts spoke about the impact of changing the term lengths of DGs, and what problems the change in policy might cause. University of Johannesburg's professor of political studies, Steven Friedman, noted that efficiency problems in the state were certainly not limited to the short terms of DGs. He queried whether DG appointments were political appointments or civil service appointments. He noted that if they were political appointment, “it didn't make sense to give DGs a 10-year contract as the next minister might want another DG.” However, increasing the term to 10 years might help a DG to refuse to act in an illegal or unethical manner at the minister's request. But, Friedman pointed out that even if 10-year contracts were offered to DGs, they might still decide to leave the department concerned sooner, which would not improve stability. North-West University's Afrocentric Governance of Public Affairs Research Director, Professor Costa Hofisi, said that, in his view, there was nothing wrong with the current terms of DGs. For him, what was critical was whether “government departments are going to improve their performance in terms of their effectiveness and efficiency in delivery." Hofisi said the policy change might also "encourage complacency" for DGs. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by James de Villiers at News24 (subscriber access only)
Shoprite Checkers launches new R8.9bn BEE employee share scheme Fin24 reports that the Shoprite Group is issuing R8.9 billion worth of Shoprite Checkers shares to its employees through a new black economic empowerment (BEE) trust, effectively increasing black ownership in the subsidiary to 19.2%. The 40 million Shoprite Checkers shares will be "for the benefit of its employees to recognise their valued contribution and ensure their ongoing participation in the Shoprite Group’s continued growth and success," the group explained on Tuesday. At least 126,000 South African employees are expected to benefit from the Shoprite Employee Trust. About 16,000 non-South African will receive "equivalent benefits through their respective payroll". The Shoprite Checkers dividends will be linked to Shoprite Holdings dividends per share. The group said this was so that employees recognised the benefits of the group as whole achieving strong results. "The transaction is intended to retain, motivate and incentivise the employees of the Shoprite Group to continue to contribute towards its success going forward. The transaction represents a material step that has been taken in strengthening the relationship between the Shoprite Group and its employees for the benefit of the Shoprite Group," the group said. There will be initial distribution of R77 million for the six months to 2 January for eligible South African and non-South African employees. Read the full original of the report in the above regard compiled by Ahmed Areff at Fin24. Read too, Shoprite launches BEE employee trust worth nearly R9bn over the next decade, at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
NHI Bill gathers momentum in parliament, despite opposition parties giving it the thumbs down News24 reports that the Portfolio Committee on Health has voted to move forward with the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill, with ANC MPs using their majority by voting for the bill to be debated in Parliament. The vote means the bill is one step closer to being brought into law. Wednesday's vote, which saw all ANC MPs voting to move the bill forward, was rejected by opposition MPs. The NHI Bill envisions universal healthcare by establishing a NHI Fund. According to the committee's bill summary, the fund would purchase healthcare services for registered users to equalise access to healthcare. Talks about the NHI began as early as 2019 when Parliament first held a presentation by the health department. Opposition political parties rejected the committee's decision to move forward with the bill, saying the NHI would not address healthcare inequalities in its current form. The DA said the state would be left bankrupt by the insurance plan. According to DA MP Michele Clarke, the bill did not provide any solutions, and the state could not procure services ethically without corruption. "The DA will continue to fight the NHI Bill with everything in our power. We encourage all South Africans to oppose the NHI Bill and to sign our petition. The bill in its current form – and under ANC management – will never be the answer to universal healthcare in South Africa,” Clarke asserted. The EFF shared similar concerns that the bill lacked a clear outline of solutions for the country's struggling healthcare system. The party said that, despite its support for universal healthcare, the NHI, in its current form, would only help the private sector to access public money. The bill will now be debated by Parliament, where it will likely be voted on and passed. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Zintle Mahlati at News24. Lees ook, NGV nog ’n tree nader aan werklikheid, by Maroela Media
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