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 Wednesday morning roundup, see
summaries of our selection of recent South African
labour-related reports.
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National minimum wage – including for domestic workers – will top R4,000 per month from March Business Insider SA reports that from 1 March, a domestic worker who averages 8 hours of work a day for 20 days a month will have to be paid more than R4,000 for the first time, in terms of new national minimum wage rates published on Tuesday. Employment and labour minister Thulas Nxesi decreed that the national minimum wage (NMW), which is the base number for a range of calculations, will be set at R25.42 per hour from that date. That is an increase of 9.6% from the R23.19 per hour of the past year and is well ahead of the annual consumer inflation rate of 6.9%. The R25.42 rate will be the minimum for nearly all employees, including domestic workers and farm workers, with the notable exception of people employed under the government's expanded public works system. They may be paid as little as R13.97 per hour, which remains at a level of just about 55% of the NMW. The minimum wage for domestic workers have seen big jumps in recent years, as the discount between the minimum allowable pay for first farm workers and then domestic workers was closed relative to the standard, national minimum wage. The minimum wage is considered to have a particularly acute impact on the number of domestic workers employed, especially in conditions where their employers are stretched. The minimum wage excludes allowances paid to allow workers to do their jobs, such as for transport, as well as food or other benefits provided on the job. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Phillip de Wet at Business Insider SA
Saftu slams budget cuts, calls for increased service delivery spending ahead of Godongwana's budget speech News24 reports that the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) has demanded that cuts in the national budget be reversed and spending in "critical areas of service delivery" be increased. On Tuesday, the union released a pre-budget statement ahead of Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's budget speech on Wednesday. Saftu also demanded a 10% wage increase for public service workers, a monthly universal basic income grant of R1,500 and allocation of more funds to the SA Post Office (Sapo). In its statement, Saftu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said budget cuts had reduced the availability of jobs in various departments and had led to a shortage of working equipment and a lack of infrastructure, maintenance and repairs. The federation pointed out that the proposed budget cuts from 2022/23 to 2023/24 in the medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) would mainly affect the departments of health and home affairs, and the SA Police Service. According to Saftu's statement, the budget for health will decline by R2.3 billion, home affairs by R600 million and SAPS by R400 million. Vavi said the budget cuts had also negatively impacted state-owned enterprises such as Sapo. "The government has not committed to helping [the Post Office] despite [the fact] that it requires more than R8 billion to be recapitalised, according to its CEO. Meanwhile, the SA Post Office is carrying out its restructuring in the most brutal manner – attacking jobs and wages simultaneously," he stated. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Malaika Ditabo at News24 Civil society movements, unions call on Godongwana to deliver remedial budget EWN reports that Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is due to table his national budget on Wednesday and social movements, labour unions and grassroots organisations protested outside Parliament on Tuesday. The protesters said they were tired of empty promises from the government, and wanted the minister to table a budget that would benefit the poor and working-class people. The protesters, marching under the banner ‘Cry of the Xcluded Forum’, demanded a clear plan on how the government planned to tackle the country's energy crisis, high unemployment, service delivery failures and gender-based violence – among other issues. The forum's Madoda Cuphe said people were tired of the deteriorating living conditions in their areas. "Our communities are being drowned by rubbish everywhere, there are potholes everywhere, we are living with raw sewage in the streets, something you flush in the toilet comes out in front of your door," he complained. Cuphe said they refused to sit idly and watch their communities collapse. Read the original of the short report in the above regard by Ntuthuzelo Nene at EWN. Read too, Budget protesters demand “a decent life”, at GroundUp Big Eskom move needed in national budget and even R200bn in debt relief will not be enough, warns investor Fin24 reports that specialist asset manager Futuregrowth, a large investor in government debt, has warned that the debt relief for Eskom that is expected in Wednesday's national budget must be fair to all types of creditors and big enough – well above 50% – to restore the company to sustainability. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has said that government will relieve Eskom of one-third to two-thirds of its debt. The mechanism how that will be done is keenly awaited by investors and will be revealed when the budget is tabled in Parliament on Wednesday. The options include a voluntary swap of a large chunk of Eskom debt to government debt or annual debt takeovers, of, say, R50 billion a year. But Futuregrowth warns that government needs to go big – even taking 50% of Eskom's debt will not be enough – if the company is expected to service its debt costs in the future. Olga Constantatos, Futuregrowth's head of credit, warns that apart from debt relief, there are other elements that are essential to rebuilding Eskom's sustainability. Without them, Eskom debt would mount up again. These include: cost-reflective tariffs, increased cost efficiencies, and addressing municipal arrears. "Delays, half-measures and 'kicking the can down the road' are not going to get the results the nation needs. Bold, urgent and integrated intervention on Eskom is extremely overdue. This is what we are looking for when the Minister rises to speak on Wednesday," Constantatos advised. Read the full original of the report in the above regard compiled by Carol Paton at Fin24 Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Electricity minister's job ends when loadshedding ends, says ANC’s Fikile Mbalula SowetanLive reports that according to ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, the appointment of an electricity minister in the Presidency is not a departure from the ANC conference resolution. The role is aimed solely at dealing with the load-shedding now crippling the country, and as soon the country is out of the crisis, the ministry will cease to exist. He called the appointment of the ministry a necessary intervention and went on to explain: “The day he (the electricity minister) finishes load-shedding, the job is finished. So the minister of electricity is just an intervention. It is not even related to the total configuration of government plans, it is an intervention to address a crisis. And that's what the president wants to do and the ANC now has endorsed that particular decision.” There have been concerns about Ramaphosa’s decision to move electricity to his office despite the ANC conference resolving that state-owned enterprises should be moved from the department of public enterprises to their respective policy departments. “We have since clarified that this is in no way a departure from the conference resolution on the question of reconfiguration of government. So we are clear in relation to that, about reconfiguration, that the electricity minister does not affect that reconfiguration,” Mbalula claimed. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Kgothatso Madisa at SowetanLive Other internet posting(s) in this news category
People queue from 04:00 at Cape Town labour centre to sort out their UIF issues GroundUp reports that people start queuing from 04:00 daily outside the labour centre on Parade Street in Cape Town. Many who arrive later won’t get served, and many will have to return and queue again, perhaps several times, before their issues are resolved. Some sit on chairs outside, which they rent for R5 an hour. The office opens at 07:30 and closes its doors at 16:00. Most of the people GroundUp spoke to last week were there because they had issues related to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF). Charlene Adiasu said she was there for the fifth time to try to register her UIF claim. It was the first time she had got inside the building, she said. Adiasu is an unemployed mother with six children, and has been borrowing money to travel to the labour centre. She is now awaiting a notification that her UIF payment has been approved and then she must return again. UIF applications can be done online, but not everyone has internet or computer access or can navigate the system. The labour centre serves on average about 600 people per day, according Mawele Ntamo, the Department of Employment and Labour’s chief director of provincial operations in the Western Cape. He said the department was working on the issue of long queues and waiting times by promoting online services. People who did not have internet access were assisted at the centre to make online applications. There are 12 labour offices in the Western Cape, and seven satellite offices. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Liezl Human at Fin24 EPWP employees sleep outside Komani post office for as long as a week waiting to be paid Fin24 reports that about 400 Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) workers from Chris Hani District Municipality have been queuing overnight outside the Komani post office waiting to be paid their salaries by Postbank. Some say they have been sleeping outside the post office since last Wednesday. They claim that electricity outages in Komani, Eskom load shedding, and poor service by the staff have forced them to sleep outside the post office and wait for days before getting paid. The workers are employed by the Department of Public Works and work two days a week for R810 a month. They say their Postbank cards have not been usable at retail shops since October 2022, so they have had to come to the Post Office. Workers from Lady Frere spend between R120 and R180 on taxi fares in order to come and collect their salaries at the Komani post office. Thethiwe Mgobozi, from Ntabethemba, said she had been sleeping outside the post office since Tuesday last week. Nolulama Ngaba, from Lady Frere, said it had been a struggle since the Lady Frere post office closed in 2016. "We then had to come all the way here to Komani Post Office to receive our salaries … Taxi fare became a big problem for us. A taxi from where I live is R120 return trip. But for other people who live in distant places the taxi fare is R180." She went on to say: "In 2020 the Post Office introduced the Postbank cards. But they gave us technical problems. When we used cards at the banks they were swallowed by ATMs. Shops declined them. Then we were all ordered to come to this Post Office." Ngaba said that on Monday a stampede nearly occurred when one of the staff members collected IDs of her favourites, which caused chaos. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mkhuseli Sizani at Fin24
Top official in KZN premier's office arrested over fake qualifications News24 reports that a top official in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) premier's office has been arrested for allegedly submitting fraudulent qualifications. The 40-year-old deputy director was allegedly caught out after the Department of Public Service and Administration conducted a qualification verification and the employee failed to submit original documents as requested. He was arrested by the Hawks on two counts of fraud committed in the premier's office. The official’s first appearance in court will be in March and he has not yet been named. Meanwhile, the premier's office has remained mum on the arrest of yet another senior provincial official. Dr Nonhlanhla Mkhize, director-general in the premier's office, has made appearances in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in relation to charges that include intimidation, obstructing the course of justice and fraud. Mkhize and her three co-accused are accused of being involved in intimidating the chairperson of the Mhlathuze Water Board after an individual impersonating a National Intelligence Agency (NIA) agent allegedly approached the board chair at her home. He claimed he was with the NIA, but allegedly had been sent from the office of the KZN premier. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Kaveel Singh at News24 Two unregistered doctors practising in the Western Cape arrested during crime operation IOL reports that an intelligence-driven operation has led to the arrests of two doctors in the Western Cape who were not registered with the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA). In the first case, Dr Rasheed Fareed Mahfouz was found practising in Philippi in Cape Town and made his first court appearance on 17 February. The HPCSA’s Christopher Tsatsawane reported: “Dr Rasheed Fareed Mahfouz was found practising as a locum whilst erased from the HPCSA register in 2015 in terms of Section 42(1)(c) of the Health Professions Act. During the operation it was established that Dr Augustus, a registered practitioner, employed Dr Mahfouz in his practice. Dr Mahfouz appeared in court on 17 February 2023, and he was remanded in custody.” Mahfouz’s bail hearing will be on Thursday. In the second case, it was found that an unregistered doctor had been practising in Kayamandi in Stellenbosch. During the inspection of where Ilunga Nzabadi, a Congolese national, was practicing, it was further established that Dr Bholat, a registered practitioner, had employed Nzabadi in his practice since November 2022. Nzabadi was arrested and taken to Stellenbosch SAPS. The two registered medical doctors have since been reported to the HPCSA’s complaint-handling unit for misconduct. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Robin-Lee Francke at IOL
Standard Bank fires 82 staffers involved in MyMo accounts debacle BL Premium reports that Standard Bank has dismissed 82 employees, more than half of whom are from the Western Cape, for their role in the illegitimate activation of digital bank accounts held in the name of clients without their consent. A further eight Standard Bank employees are awaiting the conclusion of disciplinary processes after an investigation of more than year into the scandal. It first came to the bank’s attention in the final quarter of 2021 after a staff member blew the whistle on the issue. Standard Bank’s Funeka Montjane advised that the investigation had been extremely complex and took over a year to conclude as they looked through a big pool of people because “we wanted to be really thorough.” The lender initially revealed in May 2022 that it had charged 67 staff with gross misconduct and dishonesty for using their own funds to illegitimately activate the MyMo accounts of existing customers without their knowledge as part of a ploy to meet new business targets. However, the total number of employees implicated soon grew. Montjane reported that the plan to illegitimately activate MyMo accounts originated in the Overberg region of the Western Cape where eight team leaders at branch level and one regional manager apparently masterminded the plan. From there it spread to other branches and regions, resulting in the bank eventually investigating more than 200 staff for potential involvement. Standard Bank’s MyMo account is a fully digital bank account that can be opened using a mobile device within minutes and does not require clients to submit additional documentation. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Garth Theunissen at BusinessLive (subscriber access only) Sheriff to auction assets belonging to IFP-run eMadlangeni municipality to compensate unfairly fired employee IOL reports that a sheriff of the court is set to auction assets belonging to the cash-strapped eMadlangeni (Utrecht) local municipality to raise money to pay an employee who was unfairly fired. The municipality, which is run by the IFP, is set to lose two NP200 Nissan bakkies, 1 Nissan NP300 bakkie, a Mercedes Benz Fire truck and a TLB when the auction finally gets under way. The money to be raised from the auction will go to paying a sum of R679,000 to compensate Zamokuhle Johannes Mkhize, a former senior manager (director of corporate services) who was unfairly fired in April last year. Mkhize’s contract started on 1 February 2018, while the municipality was still under the political leadership of the ANC, and it was supposed to end in January this year. Prior to being fired, Mkhize was earning a basic salary of R67,900 a month. Despite the ruling, the municipality failed to pay him, forcing him to apply to seize the assets of the municipality. The assets were attached in December last year, but the auction never took place. The sheriff has since advertised the auctioning of the assets in the local media. The municipal manager said they were challenging it. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sihle Mavuso at IOL
SA Tourism acting CFO resigns amid Tottenham sponsorship row TimesLive reports that Thozamile Botha, SA Tourism’s board chair, confirmed on Tuesday that the organisation’s chief ef financial officer (CFO) Johan van der Walt, had resigned last Thursday. Before that Van der Walt had been served with a notice inviting him to indicate why he should not be suspended after preliminary investigations suggested he did not declare his conflict of interest or recuse himself from meetings where a sponsorship deal with English Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur was discussed. Van der Walt reportedly had links to an agency that would receive a £1.5m (R33m) fee to “activate” the R1bn sponsorship deal. Van der Walt told parliament’s tourism portfolio committee two weeks ago he had no financial interest in the agency, WWP Group, but he had done consulting work for it, mainly on tax matters. During engagement with the committee, MPs demanded Van der Walt should tender his resignation immediately over the issue. They also wanted him and the sponsorship proposal to be investigated. Botha advised that Van der Walt indicated the reasons for his resignation in his resignation letter and “they are all related to the issue we are talking about and how he got involved”. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Andisiwe Makinana at BusinessLive
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