In our Thursday morning roundup, see
summaries of our selection of recent South African
labour-related reports.
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Gun-toting robbers blow up cash van in Mpumalanga, leaving guard dead and two more injured IOL reports that a cash guard was shot dead and his two colleagues injured during a brazen heist in Mpumalanga on Wednesday morning. The cash-carrying vehicle was travelling along the R40 between White River and Hazyview when it came under fire. Emer-G-Med spokesperson Kyle van Reenen indicated: "Reports from the scene are that an unknown number of armed suspects ambushed the cash van before blowing it up with an explosive device. A shoot-out ensued, resulting in one officer sustaining fatal gunshot wounds and two others being left with moderate injuries." The guard was declared dead by paramedics, while his two injured colleagues were treated and stabilised at the scene before they were rushed to a nearby hospital for further care. In a separate incident, a gang of men bombed a cash van on the N12 in the North West. The men, travelling in four cars, rammed into the cash van en route to Wolmaransstad from Klerksdorp. The robbers bombed the cash van and made off with an undisclosed amount of money. Read the original of the report in the above regard by Se-Anne Rall at IOL. Lees ook, Wag in transitorooftog doodgeskiet, by Maroela Media Popcru says cops are being targeted for their firearms, which are later used to commit crime News24 reports that the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) has condemned the recent spate of police killings and has called for swift action against the perpetrators. Popcru spokesperson Richard Mamabolo noted that according to SA Police Service (SAPS) reports, 22 police officers were killed between July and September 2022. "With the continued killings beyond the stated period, we are concerned that these numbers will continue to rise unabated if no action is taken. This randomness and apparent targeting of police officers, whether on or off duty, has inevitably increased members' feelings of unsafety and insecurity. It is a clear sign that these officers are being singled out as targets for attacks for their firearms, which are later utilised to perpetrate further criminal activities," Mamabolo stated. He said there was an urgent need to examine the reasons behind the attacks on police officers and that no longer could members accept injury or death “as merely a consequence or an acceptable risk in the normal execution of their daily work”. In the latest police killing, gunmen ambushed and shot dead a KwaZulu-Natal police officer, his wife and two of his children while they were seated in their car in Port Edward on Saturday. The officer’s other daughter is the sole survivor of the incident and is in critical condition in hospital. While the motive has yet to be established, investigators from the Hawks are following up on leads. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lisalee Solomons at News24 Fort Hare Council says clean-up operation behind threat to safety of staffers EWN reports that the Fort Hare University's Council believes the tragic acts that have taken place at the institution are linked to the implementation of a clean-up operation. According to the Council, the university’s staff continue to be intimidated and threatened with violence due to the operation’s achievements over the last two years. Since the university put in place measures to root out corruption at the institution, two lives have been lost and there was an assassination attempt on vice-chancellor Sakhela Buhlungu. A university employee, Mboneli Vesele, was recently killed when unknown assailants opened fire on Buhlungu's car. Arrests have yet to be made for Vesele's death. It is the Council’s belief that the success of the renewal project underpins the terror campaign, but it indicated that it would continue supporting the renewal project. The council called on law enforcement agencies to ensure that arrests are made so that the renewal project can be secured. Read the original of the short report in the above regard by Gloria Motsoere at EWN
Load-shedding an ANC-made problem, says DA at march to Luthuli House on Wednesday TimesLive reports that the Democratic Alliance (DA) marched to ANC headquarters Luthuli House on Wednesday demanding that the governing party account for the energy crisis and arguing that the rolling blackouts have been caused by the ANC's cadre deployment policy and corruption. Addressing her party's supporters at the “power to the people” march, DA chief whip Siviwe Gwarube said they wanted to make it clear to the ANC that load-shedding and blackouts were an ANC-manufactured problem and resulted from the ruling party’s poor governance, mismanagement and corruption. She added that as the official opposition party, they were refusing to accept the dire situation and would not let the ANC plunge the country into darkness. ANC Youth league (ANCYL) members were also present at the protest and national organiser Tlangi Mogale explained that they felt the need to come and peacefully protect the ANC head office. Mogale pointed out that despite the ANC being the governing party, it had delegated its powers to the management of Eskom and its board. The parties dispersed shortly after DA federal leader John Steenhuisen addressed his supporters. ANCYL members then moved to a dialogue hosted at University of Johannesburg to discuss the ongoing crisis and attended by energy minister Gwede Mantashe and ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula. Newly elected ANC NEC member and national convener of the ANCYL task team Nonceba Mhlauli also announced the league would embark on its own march to Eskom next week. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sisanda Mbolekwa at TimesLive. Sien ook, Betogers vaar strate in oor beurtkrag, by Maroela Media Load shedding, unemployment combo could trigger a wave of violence throughout SA The Citizen writes that Eskom’s power cuts are worryingly attracting more crime and violence for businesses and communities, while government’s ability to control social unrest is waning. This is according to security experts, who on Tuesday tackled the impact of electricity blackouts on the country’s security. They said the impact of power cuts on job losses and food security could trigger another violent wave of protests, as people were becoming more despondent and impatient with the state. Gareth Newman of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) noted that as communities voiced their disdain at the planned electricity tariff hike and power cuts, and while opposition parties planned protests and court action, possible social unrest could pose a serious problem for the state. “If we face something very extreme such as the collapse of a grid – although load shedding was implemented to prevent that in the first place – if that would happen, the scale of unrest would be far greater than what the state apparatus could respond to,” he warned. Newman went on to say that load shedding was a concern as “we’ve seen businesses closing down, meaning unemployment is rising further, there are also potential food shortages – all that could cause a trigger.” He added that any widespread unrest could see police unprepared to act quickly, as happened two years ago. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Getrude Makhafola at The Citizen (subscriber access only). Read too, Will Eskom crisis prompt rioting in the streets? at BizNews
Angry Emfuleni workers trash council chamber over nonpayment of January salaries IOL reports that the ANC-run Emfuleni Local Municipality in Gauteng has told its employees that it might have challenges in paying them their monthly salaries for the month of January. It attributed the problem to its accounts having been attached by Eskom in court action over a huge electricity debt of R1.3 billion. The notice was sent to the employees on Tuesday, hours before they would have received their first salaries for 2023. The memo, sent out by acting municipal manager April Ntuli, indicated: “On behalf of senior management this communication serves to inform employees of the Emfuleni Local Municipality that the municipality is currently facing a challenge with regard to the processing of salaries for the month of January, 2023. The non-processing of salaries is based on Eskom having attached Emfuleni Municipality’s bank account.” He added that Eskom had undertaken to meet them on Wednesday over the matter. Ntuli said the employer was “trying its utmost best to resolve the situation and accordingly, keep employees informed of any developments.” Maroela Media reports that chaos erupted in the council chamber on Wednesday over the matter. About 400 angry employees and members of the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) arrived at the chamber in Vanderbijlpark at about 9am, where councillors were already gathered for a meeting due to start at 10am. Councillors were confronted about the salary non payments and they had to be escorted out through the emergency exit. A guard suffered a head injury in the process. The protestors trashed the chamber. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sihle Mavuso at IOL. Sien ook, Emfuleni-raadsaal geplunder oor onbetaalde salarisse, by Maroela Media
BankservAfrica index shows workers getting poorer as pay packages shrink BL Premium reports that SA’s average take-home pay shrunk in December, even without taking into account the effect of inflation on purchasing power. BankservAfrica released its take-home pay index on Wednesday, which showed that average nominal take-home pay slipped in the month to R14,663, which was 4.8% lower than the previous year when the average nominal take-home pay was R15,403. The index is calculated on a monthly basis by dividing the total value of salaries paid into the bank accounts of employees by the total number of salary payments. At the same time, consumer inflation reached 6.9% in 2022 – the highest since 2009 when headline inflation for the year was 7.1% – thereby increasing the costs of goods and services and leaving consumers with less money to spend. Data showed that the average wage settlement rate in collective bargaining agreements in the first nine months came to 6%, also below 2022 headline inflation. Growth in nominal remuneration per worker in the private sector remained unchanged at 5.7% on an annual basis. Economist Elize Kruger pointed out that nominal wage increases lagged behind actual inflation trends during 2022 and “even more so in real terms. “This has given rise to a notable erosion of South Africans’ purchasing power, a trend that filtered through to lacklustre consumption expenditure by households in 2022,” Kruger said. On a more positive note, the data also showed that employment levels picked up, a trend shown by recent StatsSA data, even though this still represented catch-up for the job losses incurred from the Covid-19 pandemic. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Thuletho Zwane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only). Read too, Take-home pay falls almost 5% in December, capping off dismal year, at Fin24. En ook, Krag, vervoer vreet helfte van werkers se salaris, by Maroela Media
March to KZN premier's office planned for Thursday to demand jobs for hundreds of doctors TimesLive reports that hundreds of doctors across KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) are expected to march to the premier's office in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday morning to voice their frustrations about the unemployment of hundreds of doctors in the province. The march is also expected to highlight the poor working conditions of those doctors who do have jobs. SA Medical Association Trade Union (Samatu) provincial chairperson Dr Sibahle Khumalo claims that more than 400 doctors have been without work after having successfully completed their community service. She said although the union has engaged the national department of health, its efforts have yielded no positive results. “We have doctors who come from impoverished backgrounds and who wish to go back to their communities. They saw the need to do so during their stints of training but they are unable to do so because there are no opportunities,” said Khumalo, adding that there were no budget allocations to place them. “Our biggest challenge here is that we have a mass shortage of doctors. The government can't say there is no obligation to hire doctors when the health facilities are operating with such minimal staff,” said Khumalo. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mfundo Mkhize at TimesLive
All jobs at Denny Mushrooms farm go up in smoke as a result of arson attack in September BL Premium reports that KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN’s) largest mushroom farm, Denny Mushrooms, has retrenched all its staff, leaving hundreds of workers jobless after an alleged arson attack brought the operation to its knees last September. A well-placed source within Libstar Holdings, which owns Denny Mushrooms, indicated on Tuesday that 315 farm employees, including artisans, pickers, office workers and managers, had been retrenched after a decision was taken in December to shut the operation for good. However, Denny Mushrooms said on Tuesday that, while all its staff had been retrenched, the insurance claim had not yet been finalised in full and a decision had not yet been made regarding the longer-term future of the farm. The company said that together with the CCMA, it had “consulted extensively” with employees. “The unanimous decision of our employees was to accept retrenchment, which meant that all employees, except a small number of core employees who could be deployed in different parts of the business, received termination of employment compensation.” This facilitated access to unemployment benefits for affected employees. Wage-earning workers were apparently retrenched about two months after the fire and the balance of salaried staff in December. Some employees had been offered transfers to farms in Gauteng and the Western Cape but were reluctant to move away from KZN. No arrests have been made in connection with the arson. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lyse Comins at BusinessLive (subscriber access only) Prosus and Naspers to reduce staff at corporate centres over the next year, including at SA offices Bloomberg News reports that Amsterdam-listed Prosus and its Cape Town-based parent Naspers are planning to cut their corporate workforce by 30%, so becoming the latest global tech company to announce layoffs. Prosus, one of Europe’s largest e-commerce companies by asset value, will make cuts at its corporate centres, including hubs in Hong Kong, Amsterdam and SA, CEO Bob van Dijk indicated on Wednesday. The job cuts will take place over the next year and about 15 locations will be affected, he said. Van Dijk declined to say how many people would lose their jobs. Prosus employed 30,000 people globally at the end of March last year, according to an earnings report, but these roles were spread across corporate hubs and a range of businesses the e-commerce group invests in and operates. Prosus will also seek to cut costs at the more than 80 companies it has invested in, though those interventions have different timelines and scales. The company has already closed some offices and made cuts at others. Tencent, in which Prosus is the largest investor, has already announced job cuts in recent months. The measures should help Prosus become profitable by the first half of 2025, according to Van Dijk. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Loni Prinsloo at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
Western Cape teacher found guilty of eight sexual misconduct charges, dismissal recommended in his absence News24 reports that the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) has found a Western Cape teacher guilty of eight charges of sexual misconduct and has recommended his dismissal. In a ruling on 17 January, the council found that Zamani Edwin Nyaniso Diniso, a Grade 4 Mathematics teacher at a primary school in Plettenberg, had kissed and fondled 10 and 11-year-old pupils during the first quarter of 2022. It was only in July that the pupils decided to come forward. Diniso was suspended, pending the outcome of an inquiry. During the inquiry, there was testimony from the school's acting principal, a fellow teacher, the head of the department (HOD) and nine pupils who were in Grade 4 at the school in 2022. Diniso did not attend the hearing, but it proceeded in his absence. Analysing the evidence, panellist Alta Reynold said there were no substantive motives for why the witnesses would fabricate their evidence and versions. Reynold noted that Diniso had a clean slate before the allegations were levelled against him. But she added that his failure to attend the inquiry and his disappearance contributed to the negative inference she had drawn and the probability that he was guilty of the charges. Rad the full original of the report in the above regard by Zandile Khumalo at News24
President and Transport Minister urged to sack Prasa’s board and hand over passenger rail to metros and provinces GroundUp reports that commuter activist group #UniteBehind has urged President Cyril Ramaphosa and Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula to dissolve the board of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa), appoint a new board and move passenger rail to the metros and provinces. In a letter of demand of 24 January, #UniteBehind wants Mbalula to dissolve the current Prasa board and appoint a competent new board; place Prasa under judicial management or business rescue; appoint independent engineers to resolve the Siyangena matter (pending since 2020); and make plans with municipalities that have commuter rail infrastructure – Cape Town and Gauteng in particular – to ensure that the service is handed over as soon as possible. #UniteBehind set a deadline of 14 February and intends to go to court if its demands are not met by then. Devolution of commuter rail transport has been official government policy since 1996 and Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has been asking Mbalula to pass on responsibility for commuter rail in the city. The Gauteng provincial government has also indicated a wish to take over from the crisis-riddled Prasa. But remarks last week by Mmamoloko Kubayi, Minister of Human Settlements and head of the ANC’s economic transformation subcommittee, suggest that, contrary to policy documents and legislation, the government’s stance is to resist devolution. On Monday, Hill-Lewis called on the President to clarify whether Kubayi’s comments were, in fact, government policy. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by James Stent at GroundUp
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