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 Thursday morning roundup, see
summaries of our selection of recent South African
labour-related reports.
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Prasa employee and contractor die in Salt River depot accident on Monday Cape Times reports that the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) has confirmed the deaths of two people who were carrying out work at the Salt River depot in Cape Town on Monday. In a statement, the agency said a Prasa employee and a contractor died in a “fatal accident” at the depot. “The two lost their lives while they were conducting testing and commissioning of refurbished motor coaches on Monday. The Western Cape management activated emergency procedures once the incident occurred. Regrettably emergency service personnel declared that the pair had lost their lives. The families of the deceased have been notified and family and family and deceased’s immediate colleagues are receiving comprehensive support,” Prasa said. The agency added that provincial authorities had been notified and an investigation was under way. The United National Transport Union (Untu) expressed its condolences to the families of the deceased employees in a post on social media. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Chevon Booysen at Cape Times. See too, Accident claims two lives at Prasa's Salt River depot, at Engineering News. En ook, Twee sterf by Prasa-depot in Wes-Kaap, by Maroela Media Denosa deeply disturbed by stabbing of nurse in parking lot at Helen Joseph Hospital The Star reports that the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA (Denosa) in Gauteng says it is deeply disturbed by a weekend stabbing incident at Helen Joseph Hospital, which resulted in serious injuries to an on-duty nurse. In the incident, two men disguised themselves as the escorts of an injured patient, stormed into the hospital and attacked nursing staff. The assailants converged on a male nurse who had gone outside for a break in the parking lot. They attempted to rob him of his cellphone before stabbing him in the abdomen. Denosa’s Thabang Sonyathi said it was very disturbing and concerning that a nurse was attacked on the premises of the hospital while on duty and the perpetrators managed to escape without a trace. He called on law enforcement agencies to ensure that the perpetrators were apprehended and that justice was served. "We have long been raising our concerns about the safety of nurses at the workplace, and this is yet another example of the employer, the Department of Health (DOH), failing to provide a safe working environment for its employees," said Sonyathi. He added that Denosa would be requesting an urgent meeting with the DOH to find out what the department intended to do about the issue of safety in the workplace for its members. The attack highlighted the need for new security contracts at Gauteng public hospitals, according to the Democratic Alliance's Jack Bloom. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Nonhlanhla Ndlovu at The Star State of siege at Eskom necessitates bulletproof vests and bodyguards Moneyweb reports that in affidavit before the Pretoria High Court, former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter rebuffed claims that sabotage and criminality at the state-owned power utility was “an exaggerated risk”. He was arguing on behalf of Eskom in a case brought by the United Democratic Movement (UDM) and 18 others in which they want the court to compel Eskom to provide sustained, reliable electricity to all South Africans in line with their rights and basic service delivery needs. “On 12 December 2022, I was poisoned with cyanide,” De Ruyter deposed. He provided no further elaboration on the poisoning, but according to press reports he became weak and dizzy after drinking a cup of coffee in his office at Eskom Megawatt Park in Sunninghill. He was rushed to hospital by his security detail, and doctors quickly established that it was cyanide poisoning. He had received several threats against his life prior to the poisoning, and was always accompanied by personal security. In May 2022, Eskom chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer received a bomb threat, allegedly from EFF Emalahleni branch chair Thapelo Mnisi, who was apparently disgruntled because after he was trained as a boilermaker at Kusile Power Station he was denied employment. According to Eskom’s general manager for security, Advocate Karen Pillay, several Eskom executives have been the targets of threats in recent months. De Ruyter’s affidavit provides more chilling evidence of the state of siege under which senior executives and managers at Eskom must operate. The manager at Tutuka Power Station in Mpumalanga “has to wear a bulletproof vest when walking the stations and has to be accompanied by two bodyguards”. His wife and children also have to be accompanied by bodyguards. Eskom spends about R3.2 billion a year on private security due to the sabotage and criminality inflicted on its plant and personnel. Apart from threats to Eskom executives, De Ruyter detailed several instances of sabotage dating back to 2019. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Ciaran Ryan at Moneyweb
Tshiamiso Trust pays out first R1bn in silicosis, TB compensation Mining Weekly reports that two years after the Tshiamiso Trust started processing claims for an historic R5-billion settlement agreement, the trust has announced that the first R1-billion has been paid over to 11,316 eligible silicosis and tuberculosis (TB) claimants. The trust was established in 2020 to give effect to the settlement agreement reached between six mining companies and claimant attorneys in the historic silicosis and TB class action. The companies are African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American SA, AngloGold Ashanti, Harmony Gold, Sibanye-Stillwater and Gold Fields. “It’s been two years since the Tshiamiso Trust officially began accepting claim lodgements. Two years of serving our claimants, with the help of service providers, stakeholders and our staff. Our people come to work every day with the mission of impacting lives for the better, and the first billion rand paid out to over 11,000 families is just the beginning,” acting Tshiamiso CEO Lusanda Jiya said on Wednesday. The Tshiamiso Trust has a lifespan of 12 years, ending February 2031. "Unfortunately, the eligibility criteria dictated by the trust deed results in the majority of claims being rejected for medical reasons alone, and many claims, especially for deceased mineworkers taking far longer to process than we’d like,” Jiya noted. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly NUM fails in urgent court bid to restore export rights to Optimum Coal Mine BL Premium reports that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has lost its urgent court bid to compel Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) to reverse its decision to bar Optimum Coal Mine from exporting coal through its terminal. RBCT in December notified Optimum that its 6.5-million tonnes a year export allocation would be terminated at the end of January due to Optimum’s failure to meet coal exporter requirements pertaining to clauses contained in the RBCT shareholder’s agreement. Optimum, which was previously owned by the Gupta family and implicated in state capture, has been in business rescue since February 2018 and has remained under care and maintenance since then. Optimum’s business rescue practitioners have appealed against the decision to terminate its allocation and the matter is expected to be heard later in March. NUM argued it could not wait for the review application to be heard, and asked the court to declare the decision by RBCT invalid as it risked the jobs of its nearly 2,000 members. In a judgment handed down on Wednesday, the court dismissed the union's application with costs. The judgment found NUM's assertion, namely that its members would suffer irreparable harm in the absence of an interdict, to be disputable. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Kabelo Khumalo at BusinessLive (subscriber access only). Read too, Court dismisses NUM's bid to intervene in Optimum's spat with Richards Bay Terminal, at Fin24 Alexkor audit delayed as high staff turnover left finance department unstable News24Wire reports that the Auditor-General of SA (AGSA) told Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on Tuesday that high staff turnover at state-owned mining company Alexkor – notably in the finance division – has created instability in key operations, including financial reporting. Alexkor's core business is diamond mining along SA’s northwest coast. Its audit for 2020/21 was significantly delayed and only concluded in May 2022. This was due to the late submission of consolidated and separate annual financial statements for audit by management. The 2020/21 audit still contained material misstatements and as a result Alexkor received a qualified audit opinion for that year. ACSA said high staff turnover had impacted Alexkor's timely submission of annual financial statements for audit. Moreover, it led to an impaired ability to ensure appropriate monitoring of financial reporting. Key positions like that of chief financial officer (CFO) should be filled urgently, said the AGSA. Currently, Alexkor does not have an internal audit capability, and the AGSA recommended establishing such a unit urgently. Nonetheless, the AGSA told Scopa that Alexkor was solvent as the unaudited figures for 2022 showed a significant increase in revenues and a good outlook, mainly due to the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions which allowed mining operations to continue. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly Other general posting(s) relating to mining
Winde claims that tourism boom saw Western Cape fill 99% of SA's recent job gains Bloomberg News reports that Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said in an interview on Wednesday that a "cooking" summer holiday season in the province spurred an increase in hiring. He claimed that about 99%, or 167,000 of the 169,000 job gains in SA in the three months through December were in the coastal province. The domestic tourism industry was the main driver of employment in the quarter, followed by the financial and services industries. "This December we had 191 direct international flights coming into Cape Town a week. We did a million tourists through our airport in the summer season," Winde noted. Statistics SA data show the number of tourists visiting SA in December, traditionally the most popular holiday month, increased by 158% from a year earlier. The previous two summer seasons were affected by coronavirus restrictions. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Fin24 Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Basic food basket costs R572 more a month than a year ago TimesLive reports that the latest household affordability index, compiled by the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group (PMBEJD), shows that the average cost of a basic food basket has increased over the past year by R572.64 (13.1%) – from R4,335.70 in February 2022 to R4,928.34 in February 2023. The index tracks food price data from 44 supermarkets and 30 butcheries in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Pietermaritzburg and Springbok in the Northern Cape. Foods that increased in price in February 2023 by 5% or more included maize meal, samp, butternut, spinach, cabbage, green peppers and oranges. Rice, salt, soup, tomatoes, bananas and apples increased by 2% or more. PMBEJD co-ordinator Mervyn Abrahams said the average cost to feed a child increased by R92.11 in the past year, now costing R864.06 a month for a basic nutritious diet. He said child support grants were being used to buy food for children. He reported that government had decided to increase the child support grant by R20 in April, which will be an increase of 4.2% against consumer price index food inflation of 13.8%. In October the government will add R10 to the grant. PMBEJD has called for the R30 to be given in April, instead of being split. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Suthentira Govender at BusinessLive
Local government pension fund collective agreement declared unlawful by high court Moneyweb reports that a SA Local Government Bargaining Council (Salgbc) collective agreement (CA) has been declared unlawful and set aside by a full bench of the High Court in Pretoria, because it undermined the statutory obligations of the Municipal Workers Retirement Fund (MWRF). With the exception of Clause 8 of the agreement, it was reviewed and set aside. The Salgbc, the SA Local Government Association (Salga), the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) and the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) were ordered to pay the legal costs of the MWRF, which lodged the review application. The judgment follows Salgbc entering into a CA with Imatu and Samwu on 15 September 2021. The CA was among other things intended to establish a uniform approach to the provision of retirement fund benefits to employees in the local government sector and impose accreditation criteria on pension funds in the sector. The court found that the CA was prejudicial to the independence of the board of a pension fund, as required by the Pension Funds Act (PFA), while the proposed rule changes were not consistent with the PFA. “The entire construction of the accreditation regime is inimical to the separation of identity and interests between employers and the pension funds and fundamentally amounts to a rule-based intrusion on the statutorily protected independence of the trustees of pension funds,” Judge Anthony Millar ruled. He added that the terms of the CA “stray impermissibly” beyond the scope of a collective agreement as provided for in the Labour Relations Act. MWRF principal officer Themba Mfeka welcomed the judgment, saying that it affirmed the role and independence of boards of retirement funds. Read the full original of the detailed report in the above regard by Roy Cokayne at Moneyweb
Court overturns suspension of Commission for Gender Equality senior official Mbuyiselo Botha Pretoria News reports that the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg has overturned the suspension of Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) senior official Mbuyiselo Botha. The court declared the suspension letter and the suspension of Botha unlawful, invalid and unconstitutional. Judge Jabulani Dlamini ruled that the power to suspend a commissioner only lay in the hands of the president, and only once impeachment proceedings had been instituted by the National Assembly. Botha was suspended in August 2021 by the CGE, for allegedly insulting fellow commissioners. He is alleged to have launched a verbal attack on CGE chairperson Tamara Mathebula and another commissioner, Nomasonto Mazibuko. The remarks were allegedly recorded in a clip in which Botha was apparently heard calling Mazibuko an albino and saying that Mathebula lacked a backbone. Botha told the court that an investigation was conducted into the allegations that he had made certain remarks in breach of the commission’s code of conduct. He subsequently received a letter from CGE chairperson Tamara Mathebula, advising him that he was suspended as a commissioner with immediate effect, pending the outcome of disciplinary action. Botha said he was not issued with a final warning, he was not reprimanded to behave accordingly and, to his knowledge, the Speaker of the National Assembly had not been requested to commence proceedings to remove him. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Zelda Venter at Pretoria News
Fourteen passengers in hospital after petrol bomb attack on Go George bus Cape Times reports that fourteen people were treated for injuries, including burn wounds and shock, after the bus they were travelling in was petrol bombed in Pacaltsdorp, George on Wednesday morning. The George municipality confirmed that a petrol bomb was thrown into a Go George bus in Protea Road, Pacaltsdorp. “According to early reports, 14 passengers have been taken to hospital by ambulance – five of them have been treated for burn wounds and nine for shock. The SA Police Service is investigating the incident,” the municipality advised in a statement. Mobility MEC Ricardo Mackenzie said the motive for the attack was unconfirmed. The bus service in the area and all other routes remains fully operational. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Cape Times. Lees ook, Vyf beseer toe petrolbom in Wes-Kaapse bus beland, by Maroela Media Free ride for Western Cape train arsonists Cape Times reports that a failure of crime intelligence and poor monitoring by the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) to find the suspects responsible for the decade-long arson attacks that brought Cape Town’s railway system to its knees has been blamed for the prolonged “sabotage” of the train system. An investigation has revealed that no major arrests, prosecutions, or links have been made relating to the arson attacks that have cost the economy billions of rand. Three years prior to Covid-19, more than 200 trains were torched across the country, of which at least 170 were in the Western Cape. Only two minors were handed a five-year suspended sentence each, after they were found guilty of torching two trains causing damage of R61 million four years ago. In another case a suspect was allegedly deemed to be mentally unfit and released. Last year, Ricardo Khan, who worked at the Eerste River taxi rank, was sentenced to 20 years for a March 2020 fire where the Eerste River train station sustained R3.5m in damages. Since 2019, thousands of commuters have been forced to make use of alternative transport modes at much higher prices. The rail service, especially the once buzzing Central Line, has since struggled to rebuild and get back up and running. GOOD secretary-general and MP Brett Herron said the sustained attacks on the commuter rail system for the past 10 years must be regarded as sabotage and crime-fighting agencies should be co-ordinating their efforts to establish the links between the relentless attacks. Meantime, the Western Cape government has continued its call on the national government to fast-track the devolution of rail as a priority. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Okuhle Hlati at Cape Times
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