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 Friday morning roundup, see
summaries of our selection of recent South African
labour-related reports.
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Cosatu to embark on national strike on Wednesday next week as SA economy struggles to create jobs EWN reports that the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has issued a call to all workers and South Africans to join its national strike next week. The trade union federation called on people to stay away from work or take to the streets in various rally's across the country on Wednesday, 24 August. Briefing the media at Cosatu House in Braamfontein on Thursday, the federation’s president Zingiswa Losi said the protected national strike was meant to put pressure on both the government and the private sector to correct and resolve the socioeconomic challenges that continued to stifle South African households. “Workers cannot continue to sit back whilst we continue to suffer. The lives of the people of South Africa need to change and so we are urging that we all join hands together and raise these issues because it is not about workers who are on slave wages, but it is also about the economy that is not able to create employment,” she asserted. Sending a strong message to the governing party, Losi said the ANC must act on the concerns raised by disgruntled South Africans or face their wrath at the polls. Cosatu’s announcement came just a week after the SA Federation of Trade Unions indicated it would also be embarking on a national shutdown on the same day against the rising cost of living, load shedding and fuel hikes. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Veronica Mokhoali at EWN. Lees ook, Cosatu wil land tot stilstand bring, by Maroela Media Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Neasa launches new legal attack on workplace Covid-19 vaccination policies BL Premium reports that the National Employers Association of SA (Neasa) has launched another attack at the government’s support for mandatory workplace Covid-19 vaccination policies. It has asked the Pretoria High Court to scrap the labour department’s code of practice for managing exposure to the disease. Neasa represents 8,000 employers and has been a vocal critic of the Covid-19 vaccination policies implemented by many leading SA companies. It claims that the government has created a regulatory framework that nudges employers to introduce mandatory vaccination policies. The latest code of good practice for managing exposure to Sars-Cov-2 in the workplace was released by labour minister Thulas Nxesi on June 24. It replaced a February version of the code and differed only in that it was issued by Nedlac in terms of section 203(1) of the Labour Relations Act (LRA), which allows the organisation to prepare and issue codes of good practice. The February version had been issued in terms of section 203(a) of the LRA, which allows the minister to issue a code if Nedlac reports that it has been unable to agree on the matter. Neasa, which took legal action against the first code, has now asked the court to declare the latest version unlawful and unconstitutional and set it aside. It argues that Nedlac does not have the power to issue codes that are essentially regulations, therefore amounting to legislative action that is the preserve of parliament. The labour department’s Thembinkosi Mkaliphi said the government would oppose Neasa’s latest attempt to strike down the code. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive (subscriber access only) Mystery surrounds disappearance of three female guards from work, who were later found disorientated, tied up News24 reports that three security guards, who had mysteriously disappeared while on night duty at a Free State stadium, were found 5km away, disorientated and their hands bound with their shoelaces. The security guards were on night duty at Seeisoville Stadium in Maokeng, Kroonstad, on Wednesday when they were reported missing by their morning shift colleagues. Police spokesperson Sergeant Mahlomola Kareli said the women were nowhere to be found, but their personal belongings were left at the scene. After a joint search in Maokeng by the police and residents, the women were found in Lovedale on the outskirts of Maokeng on Wednesday at around 21:30. Kareli said the three disorientated women were in a "bad condition" and were rushed to hospital for observation and tests. According to Kareli, the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the women and details of the perpetrators were unknown at this stage. "The women have suffered great trauma and have to undergo counselling before the police can ask them questions about the incident," he indicated. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Zandile Khumalo at News24
JMPD and unions reach 'amicable agreement' after wage-related strike on Thursday News24 reports that according to Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) spokesperson Xolani Fihla, the City of Johannesburg reached an amicable resolution with striking police officers after they embarked on wage-related industrial action on Thursday. Fihla could not divulge details about the agreement, saying the city would issue a statement in due course, but he indicated that the striking employees were affiliated with the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) and the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu). It was reported earlier that officers had blocked the M2 highway in the city centre from 13:00. Fihla said between 100 and 200 officers joined the demonstrations. Asked if the agreement meant there would be no more demonstrations, Fihla responded: "We don't expect any disruptions or disturbances." Samwu Gauteng regional chairperson Ester Mtatyana advised that union representatives had met with acting city manager Bryne Madukathat and the wage agreement would be signed on Friday. However, she denied that Samwu members had been on strike. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Cebelihle Bhengu at News24 Uber, Bolt drivers in Cape Town strike for two days, demanding more money and an end to freeze on new licences GroundUp reports that some Uber, Bolt and inDriver drivers went on strike in Cape Town on Wednesday and Thursday, demanding an end to the freeze on permits and to the impounding of their cars. According to traffic services spokesperson Maxine Bezuidenhout, 1,936 vehicles have been impounded this year. The drivers also wanted the commissions the companies take off their fares to be reduced to 10%. Uber currently takes 25% and Bolt 26%. The drivers, some of whom protested outside Uber offices and the Cape Town Civic Centre, also said they wanted a minimum fare of R40 and a rate of R10 a kilometre. Lists of demands were handed over to Uber, Bolt, inDriver and the City of Cape Town by the Western Cape E-Hailing Association, which had organised the protest. The Association’s Samy Bala said that just over 1,000 members were not working. Rob Quintas, the City’s Mayco Member for Urban Mobility, said that the freeze on new permits, imposed in February 2021, was necessary “to ensure the long-term sustainability of the metered-taxi industry”. He advised that the number of metered-taxi operating licences had increased from 685 in 2015 to about 4,300 (inclusive of e-hailing services). Uber spokesperson Mpho Sebelebele said that the company had been open to engaging with the e-hailing association to “find workable solutions” but was disappointed that the drivers “are not willing to engage with us at this time, and only after the protest”. Bolt SA’s Takura Malaba said the company would continue to engage with drivers to better understand their grievances. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Liezl Human at GroundUp Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Marikana bereaved say ‘no real healing’ can occur until someone takes responsibility for massacre Mining Weekly reports that during a virtual event which commemorated those who lost their lives during the Lonmin unrest in Marikana in August 2012, bereaved families and community representative Joel Lehopa said there has been “no real healing” because no one had taken responsibility or been held to account over the deaths that occurred. On Thursday, Sibanye-Stillwater, which acquired Lonmin’s assets in 2019, hosted a virtual lecture through its Marikana Renewal initiative – which is led by the Archbishop of Cape Town Thabo Makgoba – to commemorate the ten-year anniversary of the event. Lehopa specifically singled out President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was a shareholder and director of Lonmin at the time of the incident, for failing to address the affected community and families as he allegedly promised to do, despite numerous requests. “The families are still demanding that the President must come and address them – this which he promised to do publicly at some point. The families . . . believe there will be healing that takes place if he does this. This is a unanimous call by all the families,” Lehopa said. As the keynote speaker, Professor Adam Habib said conversations and deliberations needed to go beyond critique and blame if healing was to be achieved and he emphasised the need for a social compact as a means for achieving this. However, Habib stressed that such a social pact would not emerge through grand agreements made in a ‘lekgotla’ at a national level and noted that the only way to move forward was to build citizens’ trust through small local actions that demonstrated short-term benefits for citizens themselves. Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman reiterated this view, defining a social compact as the voluntary collaboration of entities in delivering social advancement and value. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly
Numsa spokesperson in row over alleged defamation of Saftu president Ruth Ntlokotse GroundUp reports that the spokesperson for the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), Phakamile Hlubi-Majola, has been sent a letter of demand from lawyers acting for SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) president Ruth Ntlokotse. The letter follows WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook posts made by Hlubi-Majola, entitled “Ruth’s Lies”. The letter alleges that on 17 August 2022, Hlubi-Majola embarked on a campaign using “unlawful, wrongful and defamatory material”. A Twitter post by Hlubli-Majola claimed that Ntlokotse “wants to destroy NUMSA”. Hlubi-Majola has 26,000 Twitter followers. The post had received 12 “likes” by time of publication. In this post, Hlubli-Majola suggested that Ntlokotse had told “lies” in the run-up to the union’s elective conference in July and that she was seeking to collapse the union by trying to nullify the conference. Ntlokotse is challenging the validity of the national congress and its elections in the Johannesburg Labour Court. In the letter, Ntlokotse’s lawyers say that Mlubi-Majola’s posts are an effort to “disparage” her, and to “sully” her reputation within Numsa, Saftu, South Africa and internationally. The letter demands that Hlubi-Majola remove all the posts related to Nltokotse, promise not to make any further posts, and make a public apology to Ntlokotse. On Friday, the Labour Court will hear Ntlokotse’s application to nullify Numsa’s national congress and to find the union, and its leaders in contempt of court. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by James Stent at GroundUp
Ramaphosa signs law barring municipal and senior managers from political office News24 reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law the Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Bill, which bars municipal managers and senior managers from holding political office. He signed the Bill on 16 August 2022. The National Assembly passed the Bill in December 2020. It prevents municipal managers, and senior managers who are directly accountable to municipal managers, from holding political office, whether they have been appointed in a permanent, temporary or acting capacity. Section 71B also prevents staff members from holding office in a political party. "A staff member may not hold political office in a political party, whether in a permanent, temporary or acting capacity. A person who has been appointed as a staff member before [the legislation] takes effect, must comply with [it] within one year of the commencement of [the legislation]," it reads. The Act defines political office as a position of chairperson, deputy chairperson, secretary, deputy secretary or treasurer of a political party nationally or in any province, region or other area in which the party operates. The 2011 Amendment Act, which this Act replaces, had a similar political office ban, but it only applied to municipal managers and their direct reports. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jason Felix at News24
Salaries of staff of Vhavenda royal house stopped until new monarch appointed SowetanLive reports that staff members at the troubled Vhavenda Royal House in Nzhelele, Makhado in Limpopo have had to rely on loans and friends since April as they have not been paid. The lack of salaries is linked to the recently concluded succession battle that saw former king Toni Mphephu Ramabulana being legally replaced by his niece Princess Masindi, who has yet to officially ascend to the throne. The royal family has since nominated Mavhungu David Mphephu Ramabulana as their regent. The cooperative governance, human settlements and traditional affairs department in Limpopo, which is responsible for salaries of staff, said it won’t release the funds until a recognised king or queen is officially appointed. About 16 staff members are affected. Letters have been addressed by the royal house to the department pleading for salaries to be paid. One of the letters dated 25 July 2022, makes reference to MEC Basikopo Makamu’s visit to the royal family on 11 February 2022, when he apparently assured them that the kingship disputes would not interfere with the normal running of the office. Spokesperson for the royal family Ntsieni Ramabulana advised that they had started discussions with lawyers with the view of taking the department to court over the matter. But departmental spokesperson Hitekani Magwedze said taking the department to court would be a futile exercise as legally the department was not obliged to pay salaries until a recognised king or queen had been appointed. He said the official monarch would then have to appoint staff and submit their contracts to the department so that salaries could be paid. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Zoe Mahopo at SowetanLive Other internet posting(s) in this news category
National Arts Council interim CEO challenges her dismissal for allegedly wanting to report wasteful expenditure The Citizen reports that National Arts Council (NAC) interim CEO Marion Mbina-Mthembu, who was fired with immediate effect on Monday, has hit back at the NAC in another eventful episode of the crisis engulfing the arts agency. The NAC is an agency of the Department of Arts and Culture. Mbina-Mthembu on Wednesday approached the CCMA to challenge her dismissal. She was appointed in September last year, after interim CEO Julie Diphofa went on sick leave. Diphora took over from former CEO Rosemary Mangope, who left after striking a deal with the NAC while facing a disciplinary process. Diphofa was never returned to her post after she returned to work. Instead, Mbina-Mthembu was allowed to continue as interim CEO. Now, Diphofa is being brought back into the saddle as interim CEO following Mbina-Mthembu’s departure. According to insiders, Mbina-Mthembu fell out with chairperson Celenhle Dlamini after she was instructed to fire capacity building manager Tshepo Mashiane on his first day at work. In an email dated 16 August 2022 sent to Dlamini and council members, Mbina-Mthembu informed them that she would be reporting all wasteful expenditure incurred by the NAC to the Auditor-General and Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Sports and Culture. Inside sources indicate that she was fired immediately after she sent the email. Mbina-Mthembu is also said to have ruffled feathers when she started examining why R65 million meant to fund artists was allegedly sent to the NAC account at the SA Reserve Bank to earn huge interest, while executives claimed previously that there was no cash for funding. Two weeks ago, council members Linda Mvanana and Dlamini’s deputy Phumzile Zitumane tendered their resignations one after the other. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Getrude Makhafola at The Citizen
Bookkeeper who stole R11m from UIF’s Covid Ters scheme to spend 20 years behind bars IOL reports that Lindelani Gumede, a bookkeeper who stole over R11m through the Unemployment Insurance Fund’s (UIF’s) Covid-19 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (Ters) has been sentenced to 135 years, but is likely to spend only 20 years behind bars. Gumede was sentenced at the Johannesburg Specialized Commercial Crimes Court on Thursday. Gumede was found guilty on 32 counts of theft for stealing over R11m by creating and submitting applications by employers on behalf of their employees on the Covid-19 Ters system in the form of Comma-Separated Values (CSV) files. Gumede used the details of employees of companies for which he did bookkeeping. The companies included Country Pies, LPG Clotilda, Odonus Investments and La Mela, none of which ever submitted applications for temporary relief funds to the UIF. Ters was aimed at helping employers by paying a limited portion of their employees’ salaries during a time when businesses were suffering and economic activity was experiencing a slowdown as many businesses were not permitted to operate. Funds from Ters were paid out to the employers who were required to make applications on behalf of their employees to the UIF. The UIF welcomed the sentence. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sisipho Bhuta at IOL Free State cop on bail for falsely accusing man of rape, then allegedly extorting money to drop case News24 reports that Free State police are looking into a possible extortion syndicate after arresting a second police officer this year for allegedly accusing innocent men of rape and then demanding money to quash the non-existent cases. Constable Mosimanegape Samuel Seleke, 35, is the second police officer to be arrested following an incident in which he and his accomplices allegedly accused a man of raping a woman. According to police spokesperson Captain Stephen Thakeng, the man was threatened with arrest, and told that the sentence for rape would be 25 years if he did not pay R100,000. "The victim was then forced to the bank, where money was transferred to the given bank account," Thakeng indicated. A case of extortion was registered and assigned to the provincial Anti-Corruption Unit, which led to the arrest of Seleke on 16 August. Seleke, who is attached to the Thabong Visible Policing Unit, appeared in the Welkom Magistrate's Court on Wednesday on a charge of extortion. He was granted bail of R1,000 and is set to appear in court on 31 August. Thakeng said the constable was part of a syndicate operating in the area, in which information was sourced about the victims and they were then followed around, after which the extortion demand took place. In a similar case, a female Meloding police officer and a 29-year-old woman were arrested earlier this year when they were caught using the same modus operandi. The female offer was dismissed from the police force and is still in custody. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Zandile Khumalo at News24 Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Domestic worker who accused her employer of rape is still waiting four years later for justice due to DNA test delays GroundUp reports that an East London domestic worker who laid charges of rape against her employer four years ago is still waiting for the case to come to court. Alice (not her real name) from Mdantsane, alleges she was raped repeatedly between 2016 and 2018. She said at first she did not report the matter to the police because her rapist threatened to kill her if she told anyone. In May 2018 she finally broke her silence and reported the matter to Vulindlela police station in Mdantsane. Police spokesperson Brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana confirmed that the Mdantsane Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit was investigating a case of rape. He said a 53-year-old man had been arrested a few days after the charge was laid, but the case had been withdrawn pending DNA results. Four years later, there is still no sign of the DNA test results. Alice said she was slowly losing faith in the justice system. She stated that she was now seen as a liar who tried to break up her employer’s marriage. Alice indicated that she started working for the man’s family when she was 17, looking after the children, and that her employer started raping her when his wife went away to study. Kinana could not say when the DNA results would be available as this depended on the work of the forensic laboratory. Such delays were not unusual, lamented an organisation which assists rape survivors. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik at GroundUp
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