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 roundup of weekend news, see
summaries of our selection of South African
labour-related stories that appeared since
Friday, 1 July 2022.
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Unions consider Eskom’s revised wage offer, with NUM ‘confident’ it may bring end to strike The Citizen reports that trade unions are consulting with their members after Eskom tabled a revised 7% wage offer and agreed to some of the workers’ demands on Saturday. National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) spokesperson Livhuwani Mamburu said the revised offer was presented to the unions on Saturday. “They have offered 7% across the board. They have also reversed last year’s decision to change the conditions of employment. On the other demand of housing allowance, Eskom offered R400 housing allowance. Eskom didn’t agree with us on wage gap. There are still white employees earning more than black employees, and that has caused so much anger at Eskom,” Mamburu told the SABC. A joint NUM and National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) shop stewards’ meeting will be held on Tuesday where they would be revealing whether the offer has been accepted or not. Mamburu said he was “positive” that the new offer might bring an end to the strike. Numsa initially demanded 15% across the board at the start of the wage battle, but revised its demand downward to 12%. The NUM’s wage demands currently range between 8% and 10%, while Solidarity, which condemned employee protests, has made a demand of 5.9%. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at The Citizen. Read too, NUM expects power situation to return to normal following latest wage negotiations, at SABC News. And also, Eskom wage talks to resume amid power blackouts, at BusinessLive Half of last week’s power cuts attributable to illegal strike, claims Eskom Bloomberg reports that about half of SA’s record electricity outages last week were caused by employees staying away from work during illegal protests, Eskom CEO André de Ruyter told reporters on Friday. The state-owned power utility was forced to implement stage 6 power outages because of disruptions that lasted a week after negotiations on wage increases stalled. The strike is illegal because electricity is considered an essential service in SA. In addition, in the previous week Eskom obtained a court interdict that compelled workers to return to their posts. “We will be taking disciplinary action against workers that have stayed away unlawfully,” De Ruyter said. The two biggest labor unions at Eskom on 28 June urged their members to return to work after a meeting with the company. Still, about 90% of staff at three coal-fired power plants — Matla, Hendrina and Arnot — did not report for duty. The situation, in which “the country is held hostage by wildcat actions,” was not sustainable because plant operators could not be replaced at short notice, said De Ruyter. He also confirmed that a briefing had taken place with President Cyril Ramaphosa, but declined to provide details. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Paul Burkhardt & Rene Vollgraaff at Moneyweb. Read too, Eskom CEO says he briefed Ramaphosa on power crisis and they discussed a number of potential options, at Moneyweb Harsh power cuts in store this week, while Eskom’s recovery from strike could take several weeks BL Premium reports that SA is set to enter a second week of intense power cuts, with state-owned power utility Eskom warning it could take several weeks to recover from last week’s wildcat strike, which prevented up to 90% of staff going to work at some plants. The industrial action, which unions say they did not sanction, forced Eskom to implement stage 6 load-shedding last Tuesday for the first time since 2019, and revert to stage 4 only at the weekend. In a statement released on Sunday, the utility said it would implement stage 6 load-shedding on Monday afternoon, with varying degrees of cuts throughout the week, depending on the extent to which employees return to work on Monday. With a full workforce, it would gradually lower load-shedding to stage 2 by the weekend, it said. “With the exception of Matla [power station], there has been a marked increase in employees returning to work during the weekend. We expect all workers to return this week as the wage negotiations get resolved,” Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said. Wage talks between Eskom and unions are expected to resume on Tuesday. Eskom CEO André de Ruyter said on Friday that about half of SA’s power outages last week were due to the strike. Eskom staff are classified as essential workers and are ostensibly prohibited from striking. The utility will be taking disciplinary action against workers who stayed away unlawfully. All alleged acts of intimidation will be investigated, De Ruyter said, referring to reports that the homes of some senior Eskom officials were torched by striking workers and that non-strikers were prevented from entering power plants. Criminal acts will be reported to the SA Police Service to investigate, while other offences will be investigated internally, De Ruyter said. Eskom head of generation Rhulani Mathebula said management had not detected any evidence of sabotage during the strike, but some employees who had reported for duty had their personal property damaged. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tamar Kahn & Denene Erasmus at BusinessLive (subscriber access only). Read too, Eskom to take disciplinary action against staff who embarked on unlawful strike, at EWN. And also, Police have opened two cases of intimidation related to Eskom protests, at Fin24 Striking Eskom workers aren't underpaid, but others at a more senior level are City Press reports that the lowest-paid Eskom employee, typically a general worker, currently receives R176,820 a year. That equates to R14,735 a month – just a few rands more than the R14,696 which, according to BankservAfrica, was the average take-home pay for the whole economy in May. The highest salary such an Eskom worker can earn at the same job level is R221,820 a year, or R18,485 a month. The annual figures include a 13th cheque, but other bonuses and overtime are excluded. Economist Dawie Roodt believes the amount is hopelessly too much for this type of work. However, he believes the R650,460 salary, typically earned by an engineer or senior technician, is on the low side for that level of qualification and responsibility. According to Roodt, the increase in the lowest salary level since 2017 is keeping pace with inflation. This is despite the increase of only 1.5% last year. Roodt believes that the biggest advantage Eskom staff have is that they know their employer cannot go bankrupt, “because we [the taxpayers] keep it going”. He says Eskom staff should actually be paid less than other employees, “because they face less risk”. In February, the average worker in the electricity, gas and water sector earned almost twice as much as the national average monthly remuneration in the formal sector. The average monthly salary for workers in that sector was R44,868 in February (at constant prices, not adjusted for inflation), inclusive of bonuses and overtime pay. That figure was largely determined by Eskom salaries, however it also included Eskom management, which is not part of the bargaining unit. According to Stats SA, the average worker in the formal sector earned just over R23,500 a month in February (bonuses and overtime pay included). Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Antoinette Slabbert & Riana De Lange at City Press (subscriber access only) Is CEO André de Ruyter to blame for Eskom's blackout woes? City Press writes that there was much hope of a light at the end of the load shedding tunnel when André de Ruyter was appointed CEO of Eskom two years ago, but that was not to be. Instead, the country has experienced its worst bouts of load shedding with De Ruyter and the organisation’s current executive committee and board at the helm. In a number of media briefings, Eskom’s leadership said sabotage by unknown saboteurs crippled the utility’s capacity to provide continuous electricity. However, according to Duma Gqubule of the Centre for Economic Development and Transformation, the elephant in the room is the CEO at Eskom and the entire executive committee leadership, who are being handled with kid gloves, despite their incompetence. “If André were a black person, he’d have been fired a long time ago. I think he’s protected because he’s white. We must tell it like it is. The level of incompetence of this leadership is incredible – and there’s also no leadership from the top in terms of the president,” said Gqubule. He went on to indicate: “They must stop scapegoating the workers. We had three or four days of labour unrest and now they’re blaming the workers for long-term systemic issues … These are systemic issues that have worsened under André’s leadership and the leadership of this board.” The Black Business Council (BBC) agrees. Trade union Numsa, whose members have been on strike at Eskom over a wage increase, said De Ruyter had been the wrong person for the job from the outset: “In our view, he’s executing a mandate, which is to privatise Eskom. Stabilising the grid is something of which he actually has no understanding, which is why we’ve experienced the highest level of load shedding.” Energy expert Ted Blom said that De Ruyter had long passed his sell-by date: “He’s done nothing – absolutely nothing – to fix Eskom.” However, economist Lumkile Mondi said the problems at Eskom were beyond De Ruyter’s scope as the root problem was a corrupt governing party that had run out of ideas. Mondi added that Eskom, like many other state-owned enterprises, had had its resources hollowed out. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Dimakatso Leshoro at City Press (subscriber access only). Read too, De Ruyter still in charge thanks to ‘white privilege’, at Sunday Independent Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Numsa says murders won’t stop it recruiting in mining sector Business Times reports that the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) says it will not stop recruiting members in the mining sector despite the murders of a union shop steward and a volunteer recruiter on the platinum belt in North West. Spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said Numsa was concerned about the killings in the Rustenburg area as workers had the right to join the union of their choice. Mahlomola Hlothoane, an Impala Platinum shop steward, was shot dead on 24 June, less than a year after volunteer recruiter Malibongwe Mdazo was gunned down on the steps of the offices of the CCMA in Rustenburg in August 2021. Numsa, which has historically recruited in the manufacturing and steel sectors, branched out into other parts of the economy, including mining, after breaking away from Cosatu in 2014. A labour movement insider said he was worried about Numsa’s move to recruit in the mining industry: “If Numsa is going to recruit permanent members in the mining industry, including Impala Platinum, we may see violence. We know they have been secretly recruiting in Sibanye-Stillwater’s Driefontein mine”. But, Hlubi-Majola said: “This is not the wild west. This is SA, where the constitution reigns supreme. Workers have the constitutional right to join a union of their choice and they should be able to do so without risking their lives. What we have seen playing out in Rustenburg and surrounding areas is very abnormal.” The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), which has majority membership on the platinum belt, are the dominant worker representatives in the mining sector. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Dineo Faku at BusinessLive (subscriber access only) Other general posting(s) relating to mining
Court rules that Ramaphosa can be sued personally for Marikana massacre City Press reports that a scathing court ruling has found President Cyril Ramaphosa might carry some blame for the lead-up to the bloody Marikana massacre. The Johannesburg High Court ruled last week that a case could be made that he “participated in, masterminded and championed the toxic collusion” between mining company Lonmin and the SA Police Service (SAPS) that led to the Marikana massacre. The ruling has opened a door for the 349 surviving Marikana mine workers to hold Ramaphosa personally liable for compensation for their injuries during the 2012 carnage near Rustenburg, North West. The mine workers had applied to court to claim damages against Ramaphosa and Sibanye-Stillwater (which acquired Lonmin a few years after the massacre) for the injuries suffered during the incident in August 2012, when police shot and killed 34 striking Lonmin employees. The complainants are among the striking workers who were wounded in the hail of bullets and were subsequently arrested. They are seeking nearly R1 billion in compensation from Ramaphosa and Sibanye. In defence, Ramaphosa raised eight grounds of exception, citing why the application should be dismissed, while Sibanye raised 10. In terms of the notice of exceptions, Ramaphosa and Sibanye wanted the mine workers to remove from the application allegations that were “vague and embarrassing”. On Friday, Judge Frits van Oosten upheld four of the president’s exceptions, but rejected one, in which he found that Ramaphosa had taken part in, planned and endorsed the cooperation between Lonmin mine in Marikana and the SAPS, which had culminated in the deaths, injuries, arrests and detention of the striking mine workers. The Farlam commission of inquiry into the shootings was of the view that Ramaphosa could not be said to have been the cause of the massacre Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Setumo Stone at City Press (subscriber access only). See too, Ramaphosa ‘liable’ in Marikana mine debacle, at The Citizen
Joint parliamentary oversight committee finds minimum wage not paid on some North West farms Cape Times reports that a joint parliamentary committee has found that the minimum wage was not paid on some farms during an oversight visit in North West over the weekend. The portfolio committee on agriculture, land reform and rural development, as well as the portfolio committee on employment and labour, conducted a joint visit to three farms in Matlosana Municipality to assess the living and working conditions of farm workers, farm dwellers and labour tenants on Saturday. The joint committee visited Bona Bona Game Farm and found that the farm was non-compliant with some of the legislation impacting farm labourers. “The areas of non-compliance included the non-payment of the standard minimum wage, and they were not compensated at the correct rate for overtime worked on a Saturday or Sunday,” the committee advised. It also said the farm was not compliant with the payment towards the Unemployment Insurance Fund. The farm was given 14 days to rectify the areas of non-compliance and the Department of Employment and Labour will be following up with the farm. The committee said it found 52 families were relocated to Hartbeesfontein farm from the surrounding farms when they were evicted. The farm was bought by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALR&RD), but there were no houses to accommodate the families. There were some temporary units and shacks with no water, electricity or sanitation. The committee requested the DALR&RD to engage with the Department of Human Settlements and the municipality to fast track the building of houses and the delivery of services to the area. Meanwhile, the committee found families were living in deplorable conditions in dilapidated mud and iron structures with no running water, electricity or sanitation on Beatrix Farm. The farm was acquired in 2014 for 13 families who have lived there since 1952. The beneficiaries appealed to the committee to intervene and to fast track the approval of the business plan that was submitted by the provincial office to the national department. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mayibongwe Maqhina at Cape Times
Potential investors line up to keep Tiger Brand’s canning business in Ashton open and save jobs BL Premium reports that potential investors are said to be circling to give financial backing to a consortium of farmers for whom the clock is ticking to find the money to purchase the Tiger Brands canning factory in Ashton, Western Cape, before the listed food producer shutters it. Agri SA executive director Christo van der Rheede — who has been working with the Canned Fruit Producers Association and 160 farmers to buy out Africa’s largest fruit canning factory after Tiger Brands gave the consortium a 60-day deadline before it pulls the plug — said interested lenders were coming forward to stop an imminent foreclosure. The sudden interest of financial backers for the deciduous fruit business, which produces tinned peaches, apricots and pears, brings hope that the 250 full-time jobs, and 4,500 seasonal jobs that are on the line might be saved along with the small town of Ashton, whose entire economy is dependent on the factory. Tiger Brands has been struggling to find a buyer for the loss-making Langeberg & Ashton Foods fruit canning business and in October 2020 the consortium tabled an “indicative offer” to buy it. By March this year the farmers had not found the cash, so Tiger last month launched a “consultation period” which ends in August. Since then, the consortium has been scrambling to secure a lender. Trade union federation Cosatu has labelled Tiger Brands “insensitive” for wanting to close the factory, calling on it and the relevant ministries to explore “serious alternatives” to closure. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Michelle Gumede at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
PSL clubs caught up in row over unpaid salaries City Press reports that nearly 50 players in the PSL have not been paid salaries for the past two months and some claim they are even owed salaries for December. This was claimed by SA Football Players’ Union deputy secretary-general Calvin Motloung on Friday. He said the number could be even higher, as some players were suffering in silence. According to Motloung, seven PSL clubs, including financially strained DStv Premiership side Swallows, have not paid players. In the NFD, Free State Stars, Pretoria Callies, Polokwane City Rovers, Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila, the relegated TS Sporting and Jomo Cosmos were also accused of not paying some players their salaries. Rovers and Callies are apparently the main transgressors with 15 and 10 unpaid players, respectively. There were five cases each reported to the union by players at Swallows and Stars, four at Tshakhuma, three at Cosmos and two from Sporting. Motloung commented: “It impacts the players so badly. These guys have families, they’ve got people who depend on them.” Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tiisetso Malepa at City Press (subscriber access only)
Adding e-tolls cost to fuel levy no longer an option, says Transport Minister BusinessLive reports that Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula says the government scrapped plans to add the cost of e-tolls to the fuel levy after things became “messy”. Addressing the media on Thursday, Mbalula said the cabinet abandoned the plan after Russia invaded Ukraine, which led to record fuel prices. He indicated that a final decision on the future of e-tolls would be announced in October when Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana delivers the medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS). Mbalula noted he had made “a lot of promises and concessions” regarding e-tolls when he was “almost certain” a decision would be delivered. “That was last year, when Tito Mboweni was minister of finance, and now it’s Godongwana. So this one is certain, we agreed last week. Our teams are working on the issues before we make a final decision,” Mbalula indicated. The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) last week called for the R1.50 fuel levy relief to be extended for July. The fuel levy reprieve of R1.50 per litre has been in place for April, May and June. “Should Godongwana reduce this to a reprieve of 75c per litre from July 6 to August 2, as planned, we can expect a petrol price increase of around R2.50 in July, pushing the price of 95 octane inland from R24.17 per litre to around R26.70,” Outa noted. The organisation said Godongwana should not reduce the fuel levy reprieve to 75c in July, but wait until geopolitical factors, combined with an improvement in the rand exchange rate, could bring about a significant reduction in the price of petrol. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Unathi Nkanjeni at BusinessLive Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Limpopo Health HOD resigns amid dark cloud of PPE procurement scandal Pretoria News reports that Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha has accepted the resignation of Department of Health head Thokozani Mhlongo amid the cloud of a PPE scandal she is alleged to be involved in. According to the premier’s spokesperson Ndavhe Ramakuela, Mhlongo cited personal reasons for her resignation. Mhlongo, together with the chief financial officer Justice Modau and other senior officials, was undergoing an internal disciplinary process for their role in the PPE scandal. According to Ramakuela, Mathabatha has not yet received the internal disciplinary hearing report. He said an acting head of department would be appointed for a period until the vacancy was filled. In January, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) revealed in a report a range of offences relating to the procurement of PPE in the province, including that the provincial health department had irregularly awarded PPE tenders worth R125 million. In April, Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane published a report on an investigation into allegations of maladministration and procurement irregularities in the awarding of tenders for the supply of PPE by the Limpopo department of health. Unions, political parties and Mkhwebane have been calling on Mathabatha to activate remedial action against Mhlongo and other departmental officials. The Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA (Denosa) had called for the immediate suspension of all implicated in the SIU report, including Mhlongo. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mashudu Sadike at Pretoria News
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