In our Friday morning roundup, see
summaries of our selection of recent South African
labour-related reports.
|
SARB’s smaller-than-expected repo rate hike comes with bad news that load-shedding will strangle economic growth Fin24 writes that while the first meeting of 2023 of the SA Reserve Bank’s (SARB’s) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) delivered a less painful interest rate hike than expected, the good news reeks of bad news. The more dovish stance came even as the bank sounded the alarm on the economy, and slashed its growth expectations for the next three years. SARB Governor Lesetja Kganyago said it was premature to predict a South Africa recession in 2023, but the bank now expects growth of only 0.3% – due largely to load shedding. Without load shedding, the economy might have expanded by 2.3% this year, the central bank estimated. It said growth will only reach 0.7% in 2024 and 1.0% by 2025 – much slower than previously expected. Kganyago warned that investment would decline amid weaker confidence and lower-than-expected growth, while a downturn in commodity prices would mean smaller exports. With the economy in trouble, and inflation expected to cool down, economists believe Thursday's hike may either be the penultimate or final hike in a painful cycle which has seen rates increase by 375 basis points since 2021. The SARB has been raising rates in an effort to cool inflation, which hit an average rate of 6.9% last year – the highest level since 2009. Old Mutual Investment Group's chief economist Johann Els believes the monetary policy committee will now pause on rate hikes – and may even start to cut rates, by 25 basis points, in the fourth quarter. But Els also thinks the MPC is too negative. "Growth [for 2023] should be closer to 2% than zero. Electricity is a big crisis, but much is being done to add megawatts to the grid," he pointed out. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Helena Wasserman at Fin24. Read too, Power crisis: SARB slashes GDP forecast in half for next two years, at Moneyweb. And also, Reserve Bank increases repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.25%, at TimesLive
Bad news: Petrol, diesel prices set to increase in February Fin24 reports that petrol and diesel prices look set to be hiked in the first week of February. The latest data from the Central Energy Fund (CEF) shows an expected increase of around 52 cents a litre for 95 unleaded petrol and 57c/l for 93 petrol. The diesel price could climb by between 22c/l and 33c/l, while the price of illuminating paraffin could increase by around 38c/l. The fuel prices are usually adjusted on the first Wednesday of a month and determined by the price of international oil and fuel prices and the rand-dollar exchange rate. While the rand has remained relatively firm against the dollar, the oil price has strengthened in recent weeks. A 52c hike in the petrol price will take Gauteng 95 unleaded to above R21.90 a litre – from R20.14 a year before. Diesel looks on track for a rise to between R21.44 and R21.55 a litre – from R18.04 a year ago. "Any increases to fuel prices now, at a time when South Africans are grappling with, among other issues, financial pressures and rolling blackouts, is unwelcome. We again want to urge the government to revisit the fuel pricing structure with a view to finding ways to mitigate against this and other possible increases in future," the Automobile Association (AA) commented. Read the full original of the report in the above regard compiled by Helena Wasserman at Fin24
Solidarity warns about Eskom’s plan to get rid of another 500 white maintenance staff Business Report writes that in the midst of SA’s worst energy crisis in history, Solidarity says ailing state power utility Eskom wants to get rid of another 500 white males by 2025. These are mainly persons who are responsible for maintenance work. The trade union indicated in a statement on Thursday this was according to Eskom’s latest race plan for 2023 to 2025. In a letter issued by Solidarity's legal team to Eskom, it has asked for a moratorium on race-based appointments at Eskom as a measure to help address the power crisis. The union pointed out that there was an urgent need in SA for the deployment of best skills in jobs, regardless of race. “There are competent black and white artisans at Eskom and out there and those are the people Eskom should recruit based on their ability to help solve the power crisis and without looking at the colour of their skin. Solidarity also reserves the right to go to court should Eskom continue with the implementation of its race targets,” the union indicated in its statement. “We do not see in the plan that Eskom is making plans to address its skills challenges. This plan is all about skin colour at the various job levels. Eskom has just announced a huge tariff increase but instead of addressing its skills problem, Eskom is only paying attention to race targets,” .Solidarity chief executive Dr Dirk Hermann commented. Solidarity is also preparing for a court case to have Eskom exempted from black economic empowerment requirements. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Ashley Lechman at Business Report. Read too, ‘Eskom should focus on electricity, forget about race quotas,’ says union, at The Citizen (subscriber access only) Mantashe thinks shorter contract period could get Karpowerships over the finish line News24Wire reports that Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe says cutting the proposed contract periods with Karpowership from 20 years to 10 years could help government realise its ambitions to procure energy urgently from the floating power stations. Mantashe was speaking at an ANC Energy Dialogue on Tuesday. Karpowership – a Turkish company that provides ship-mounted gas power plants – was awarded three projects under government's 2021 emergency power procurement programme to award around 2,000 MW, but these projects have been unable to reach financial close as they have been faced with a raft of lawsuits and administrative challenges. A key concern has been the 20-year duration of the emergency power contracts. Mantashe said the Karpowerships remained an emergency power option to help alleviate SA’s energy crisis. Pravin Gordhan, Minister of Public Enterprises said a great deal of work was being done, and there was a clear plan to ensure collaboration to solve the energy crisis as soon as possible. Gordhan, however, noted there were enormous challenges to deal with at Eskom itself as the new board had found a raft of system issues at the utility. "There is a serious lack of accountability. There's a dysfunctional culture. The engineering discipline has been badly diluted. There's a lack of routine and proper planned maintenance of the right quality. There is a skills exodus that has to be dealt with… There's [inadequate] funding available for outages and maintenance. There's criminality around, and in Eskom itself, the level of corruption is huge around the power stations," he said. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News Power cuts leave fruit farmers in despair Reuters reports that on the cusp of harvesting this season's first fruit, South African deciduous farmer Heinie du Toit frets as the worst power cuts on record threaten to take the shine off his apple and pear crop destined for foreign markets. Situated in Ceres, one of the country's major fruit growing regions, the farm needs a steady electricity supply for an automated irrigation pump network that sprays thousands of trees heavy with fruit. Too little water during the irrigation peak, from end of November to mid-March, affects the size and quality of a wide variety of apple and pear cultivars, hitting produce and revenue as only premier grades can be shipped to the European Union, UK, China and the Middle East. Daily power outages, which utility Eskom anticipates will continue for two more years at least, have hammered economic growth, fuelling widespread discontent among businesses and households. "Many farmers said this is their last chance and if something doesn't happen very quickly they are going to sell their farms... It is a huge concern," Du Toit lamented. The fruit industry isn’t the only one feeling the squeeze. Roughly 20% of maize, 15% of soybeans, 34% of sugarcane and nearly half of SA’s wheat production was under irrigation, noted Wandile Sihlobo of the Agricultural Business Chamber of SA, adding that farmers had raised concerns about power cuts hitting output. Cape Town vegetable farmer Carl Gorgens said: "It's impossible to farm like this, to farm half the amount of seedlings in a season, when you're supplying supermarkets. I might as well stop and close the doors." Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News Sugar industry warns of R723m in loadshedding-induced losses for this year Engineering News reports that industry association SA Canegrowers has appealed to government to implement measures to mitigate the impact of loadshedding on sugarcane growers. It data shows that the local sugar industry is set to lose R723-million this year as a result of loadshedding. "With milling giant Tongaat Hulett in business rescue and the destructive Health Promotion Levy [also known as the sugar tax] already hampering the industry, these losses are potentially catastrophic for growers and the industry’s workers," the association warned. It pointed out that load-shedding was affecting 1,135 irrigated growers who employed more than 10,000 workers. Growers are expected to incur more than R189-million in additional energy costs this year on account of the disruption to irrigation schedules. Growers pay a significantly higher rate for pumping during peak demand times, but as a result of loadshedding they have been forced to irrigate whenever electricity is available. SA Canegrowers’ scenario modelling shows that continuous loadshedding at Stages 4 to 6 will cost growers more than R723-million this year. An escalation to Stages 6 to 8 could cost the industry more than R1.8-billion. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News
Load-shedding threatens supply of South African platinum and palladium Bloomberg news reports that SA’s worst ever power blackouts are threatening platinum and palladium supplies from the top producer, both now and in the years ahead. Outages last year curbed output of the metals, and the power crisis that has crimped the economy has worsened in recent months. The nation’s platinum-group metals production will likely fall this year, according to Impala Platinum (Implats). The electricity crunch is hurting South African industry and agriculture and blackouts are expected for at least two more years, threatening output in Africa’s most industrialised economy. It’s yet another headache for major mining companies such as Anglo American Platinum, Sibanye-Stillwater and Implats, which have found it increasingly harder to run deep and aging shafts. “If things don’t get better soon then we are likely to have a worse period this year than last. If it gets worse it will get to a point when you have certain days where we will stop sending people underground,” Implats spokesperson Johan Theron lamented. Worsening blackouts could lead to the early closure of some marginal shafts, according to Sibanye spokesperson James Wellsted. SA mines roughly 70% of the world’s platinum and about 40% of all palladium. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly Other general posting(s) relating to mining
Angry patient who waited a long time to be assisted throws 'urine' at Ekurhuleni clinic staff on lunch break News24 reports that Gauteng Health and Wellness MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko has condemned the "inhumane and vulgar" treatment of health workers after a patient at Calcot Dlepu Clinic in Ekurhuleni allegedly splashed urine at three staff members. In a video circulating on social media, an angry patient is seen confronting three healthcare workers who were on a lunch break at the clinic on 20 January. In the footage, the man who claimed he had been waiting to be assisted for a very long time, can be heard shouting at the three women. Nkomo-Ralehoko said: “Irrespective of the complaint the member of the public might be having against the health workers, this cannot justify the attack on them. It is uncalled for, and we condemn this vulgar act in the strongest possible terms." She said such violence and hurling of insults would never be acceptable as citizens could escalate complaints to quality assurance staff or the facility manager at the relevant service point. The MEC said she was concerned by the number of provincial healthcare workers who had been subjected to attacks from community members recently. Some were robbed of their belongings, and, in other instances, the attacks ended with patient care being severely hampered, resulting in loss of life. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Zandile Khumalo at News24 Sanral denies any of its employees were arrested over deadly Mpumalanga cash-in-transit heist TimesLive reports that the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) has advised that none of its employees had been arrested in connection with the heist on the R40 near Hazyview in Mpumalanga on Wednesday. Instead, Sanral said, one of the employees of the main contractor responsible for road maintenance was detained after a misunderstanding with the police. He has since been released. A security guard, who also worked as a co-driver, was fatally shot during the heist and other guards suffered minor injuries. The group of about 15 armed suspects then fled with an undisclosed amount of cash. In its report, the police said that while the police team was processing the crime scene, one Sanral employee responsible for cleaning up the roads was found in possession of an undisclosed amount of cash, suspected to have been stolen out of the safe of the damaged cash van. Police said the 32-year-old was immediately arrested on charges of theft. Sanral said one of the employees of VEA Construction, the main contractor responsible for road maintenance, was detained after a misunderstanding with the police. After the misunderstanding had been resolved, the individual was released on Thursday. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Ernest Mabuza at TimesLive
Workers at Makro to start 10-day wage strike on Friday BusinessLive reports that thousands of Makro workers are expected to down tools in a 10-day national strike starting on Friday after their trade union and management reached a deadlock in a bitter wage dispute that has dragged on for months. SA Commercial Catering and Allied Workers’ Union (Saccawu) spokesperson Sithembele Tshwete said on Thursday that “100% of members” — more than 5,000 staff balloted — had voted in support of the strike, while a further 10,000 sympathy strikers would join after repeated attempts to negotiate for a 12% wage settlement and a “no retrenchment” policy in the next two years had failed. However, Massmart Holdings spokesperson Brian Leroni said the firm was not concerned about the strike and had contingency plans to deal with the industrial action. Massmart is fully owned by US retailer Walmart and owns Makro as well as Game and Builders Warehouse. “We do not anticipate trading disruption in the event of Saccawu’s further strike action and will, in line with our recent experience, likely see an increase in productivity,” he said. Leroni claimed that Saccawu had not conducted a strike ballot at Makro. However, Tshwete denied this, saying that “all our members balloted for the strike — 100%, or all 5,000” at Makro. “Because we have closed the 2022 negotiation cycle all these demands (from Saccawu) will now be handled in the 2023 wage negotiation cycle, which begins in March. We will process 2022 increases plus back pay for Makro employees who choose to accept the company offer rather than to rely on Saccawu’s ability to reach a settlement,” Leroni indicated. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lyse Comins at BusinessLive
UCT academic staff reportedly accept '6% increase', but university mum on its wage offer News24 reports that academic staff at the University of Cape Town (UCT) have agreed to accept a 6% wage increase, reportedly being proposed by the university, after threatening last week to strike. But the institution has yet to confirm what it has offered staff on the basis of upholding confidentiality while engagements with unions are underway. The Academic Union, which represents the majority of academic staff at the institution, has been locked in wage negotiations since last year. A majority of union members rejected an offer of a 3% increase while demanding a 6% salary increase instead. In a vote taken by the union's members last week, 87% expressed support for a three-day strike, with the potential for further strikes. On Thursday, Kelley Moult, leader of the union’s salary bargaining team, said members had voted to accept an offer by management of a 6% increase in salaries. "But we have not yet signed the agreement because we are still negotiating on non-salary aspects of the agreement relating to academic workload, conditions of service, and task teams to investigate various areas of mutual interest," she said. Moult added that they were expected to meet with management on Friday to discuss the outstanding items. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Marvin Charles at News24 UCT Employees Union takes university to CCMA over bargaining rights GroundUp reports that conciliation talks between the University of Cape Town (UCT) and members of its Employees Union reached a deadlock on Thursday. With about 1,200 members, the union is the largest representative body at the university and represents non-academic staff responsible for administration, technical work and management at the university. According to the union, management is refusing to come to the table over several issues related to salary increases and is refusing to bargain with the representative body. The matter was heard at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) on Thursday. In a statement on 23 January, the union expressed its concerns about management terminating its bargaining recognition agreement on 18 January. “This action by UCT, seeks to nullify the collective strength of staff to negotiate fair and reasonable pay increases and benefits,” the statement indicated. The union’s Samuel Chetty explained that “management has frustrated every effort the Employees’ Union has made for proposals and thwarted every proposal for negotiation in … labour matters.” On Thursday, UCT said that it had held “extensive engagements” with all unions last year on establishing a single bargaining unit for all Professional, Administrative Support & Service (PASS) staff rather than “multiple arrangements”. According to UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola, “this move does not in any way seek to bring to an end its long-standing relationship with [the union]”. But, Chetty told News24 they would be embarking on a strike. "We will be approaching the CCMA, and we will be issued with a strike certificate within the next 14 days," he said. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Liezl Human at GroundUp
Mpumalanga blows R9 million paying officials to sit at home on suspension The Citizen reports that the Mpumalanga government has failed to respond to damning allegations that over R9 million of taxpayer’s money has been used to pay the salaries of officials sitting at home on suspension. The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the province has revealed that six departments have splurged millions of rands on salaries for 47 officials who have been sitting at home for over 60 days. The provincial department of health accounts for the bulk of the wastage, with over R5.9 million spent on 25 officials on suspension for over a year, with the Public Works, Roads and Transport department following with R870,588 spent on five officials on suspension for 137 days. The Department of Education spent R701,601 paying 12 officials on suspension for over 90 days, and Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane’s office cost the taxpayers R602,306 on two officials suspended for over 210 days. “This is a total of R9,000,697.06 spent on officials who are sitting at home doing nothing. Having officials suspended well over 60 days is a violation of the Disciplinary Codes and Procedure for Public Service Policy and the DPSA (Department of Public Service and Administration) Public Service Precautionary Suspensions Guide – which stipulates that the period of a precautionary suspension should not exceed 60 days,” DA leader in the province, Jane Sithole, pointed out. She lamented that with huge service delivery shortages in the province, it was extremely concerning that since 2016, spending on precautionary suspension has almost tripled from being just over R3.4 million a year to R9 million in the 2021/22 financial year. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sipho Mabena at The Citizen (subscriber access only)
|
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page