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 Tuesday morning roundup, see
summaries of our selection of recent South African
labour-related reports.
|
Loadshedding taking a huge toll on business operations and profits Bloomberg News reports that Netcare, SA’s largest private health care network, expects diesel costs to more than quadruple to R165m this year as it runs generators to help contain the impact of rolling blackouts. Generator diesel costs increased to R67m in the six months through March from R10m a year earlier because of the consistently high number of power cuts and increased fuel costs, the company reported on Monday. It is among a growing number of businesses forced to rely on alternative sources of electricity as Eskom implements daily blackouts. Astral Foods, one of South Africa’s biggest chicken producers by revenue, skipped paying an interim dividend as profit dropped by 89% because of power cuts. Load-shedding cost the group R741m in the first half of the year. That was due to increased spending on feed as it had to sustain birds for longer because outages delayed slaughtering, as well as the cost of diesel, wages and overtime. For the second half of the year, Astral forecasts spending about R45m a month on diesel and all capital expenditure has been placed on hold. Food services franchiser Famous Brands will take a lower royalty and marketing percentage on sales generated by its franchise partners during load-shedding hours to help support the businesses. “We remain concerned about South Africa’s weak economic prospects and expected high levels of load-shedding. This will continue to strain consumers and the small business sector,” Famous Brands said. Pharmacy chain Dis-Chem Pharmacies spent R90.7m on diesel to run generators and keep its stores open in the year through March. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Rene Vollgraaff, Antony Sguazzin & Adelaide Changole at TimesLIVE Premium Electricity minister corrects ANC’s Mbalula and says power cuts won't stop by the end of December TimesLIVE reports that Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has disputed ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula's sentiments that load-shedding will stop before the end of this year. Ramokgopa on Monday assessed the progress on measures taken to bring back four units at Kusile power station by December. The media was offered an opportunity to get a glimpse of the work done since the collapse of the duct (chimney) at the power station. “Yes, I am on record — it doesn't look possible for us to end load-shedding by the end of the year,” the minister said. Mbalula made the statement recently that the government was on top of the electricity crisis and power cuts would stop by the end of the year. “What I know from where I'm seated, from the work that's been done by government and ministers and so on, load-shedding, before the end of the year, should have been something of the past. I can assure you load-shedding will be reversed and will be dealt with decisively,” Mbalula stated. Ramokgopa said he couldn't rule out the possibility of higher stages of load-shedding in winter but the ministry, working with Eskom, was striving to remain within tolerable levels of load-shedding. He added: “I am saying this reluctantly because load-shedding is load-shedding, it is devastating to the South African economy. It will be very irresponsible of me to declare by decree there will be no stage 8. We are doing everything possible to ensure that we don't go to higher stages of load-shedding.” Read the original of the report in the above regard by Phathu Luvhengo at TimesLIVE Electricity Minister eventually gets his powers, but they are not made public yet TimesLIVE reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa has delegated Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa his responsibilities, but these haven’t been made public yet. Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said a proclamation allocating Ramokgopa his powers had been signed and would soon be gazetted. “The president has not failed to allocate powers to the minister of electricity. The issue has been resolved, the proclamation has been signed. You will have the details of that proclamation once it has been gazetted,” said Magwenya on Monday. He could not give the time frame for the Gazetting, but said it would be “as soon as possible” as the proclamation has been signed. Ramokgopa’s powers and responsibilities have been a matter of speculation after media reports of a turf war in the cabinet since his appointment in March. Last month there were reports that mineral resources and energy minister Gwede Mantashe and public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan were opposed to granting Ramokgopa the powers originally envisaged, in particular in respect of procurement of new energy sources for Eskom. Ramaphosa later denied there was a standoff over control of Eskom. “There are no territorial battles on this issue. When I appointed the minister of electricity I made it clear what the roles of the three ministers would be. I made it clear the minister of electricity is going to focus his attention on ridding our country of load-shedding,” he said. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Andisiwe Makinana at TimesLIVE Other internet posting(s) in this news category
After two fatal crashes, Satawu says 'exploitation' of long-distance bus drivers needs to be addressed by the labour department News24 reports that the SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) has raised concerns over recent long-distance bus crashes in which 10 people were killed in two separate incidents in the Western Cape. On 28 April, four people died, and more than 40 others were injured after the bus they were travelling in overturned on the N2 near Swellendam. The driver survived the crash. On 13 May, at least six people died, and 32 others were injured in a crash between Intercape and Williams Coach Tours buses on the N2 between Mossel Bay and Voorbaai. Drivers of both buses were killed in the crash. Police are investigating both incidents. Satawu’s Amanda Tshemese said the recent bus crashes were of "major concern" to the union. Satawu apparently continuously lobbies for the Department of Employment & Labour (DET) to address the issue of the "exploitation of drivers" on long-distance buses, but the department has so far failed to intervene. "Our members are exploited and abused by the employer they work for. How do the bus companies expect only to have one or two drivers to drive more than 60 people from Cape Town to Gauteng? It is of great concern," Tshemese lamented. She added: "When do they (drivers) get time to rest? The reality is fatigue plays a huge role in these accidents, and it's the employer's fault. The employer is greedy and selfish, and our members and workers are making millions for these companies, yet they remain the most undermined and underpaid workers.” Tshemese said the DET needed "to work with us to address these issues". According to the union, a task team was set up in April in the passenger sector to discuss medical aid matters and at the next meeting a request would be put forward to the team to look into bus crashes. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lisalee Solomons at News24 Denosa in Gauteng calls on national government to intervene over water crisis in Hammanskraal The Star reports that the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA (Denosa) in Gauteng has called on the national government to intervene in respect of the cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal. The trade union warned that the situation was putting further strain on the healthcare system in the area. Denosa also called for an urgent inquiry into the water crisis in the Hammanskraal area, which would serve to point out where the crisis began and hold those responsible for the disaster accountable. “The water crisis in Hammanskraal has been there for years now and is living proof that the City of Tshwane has failed dismally to administer clean water service to the people of Hammanskraal,” Denosa claimed. “As a result of this failure, Jubilee Hospital is now experiencing an influx of patients, which is stretching the facility to a breaking point. Nurses in facilities in the area will also be made to perform duties that are outside their scope of practice, where they may be expected to carry water buckets to the water tankers,” Denosa stated. The organisation added that it did not encourage nurses to perform duties that were outside their scope. It called on the national Department of Water and Sanitation to come to the rescue and save many people from potential diarrhoeal infection. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Chulumanco Mahamba at The Star. Lees ook, Cholera: Dodetal styg tot 15, by Maroela Media. As well as, Suspend load-shedding in Hammanskraal to combat cholera, at Mail & Guardian North West teacher threatens to sue education department following assault by learner, a staff member and a SGB member The Citizen reports that a North West mathematics teacher is threatening to sue the Department of Basic Education following severe injuries received after an alleged assault by a pupil who had been misbehaving, a gardener who is the pupil’s father, and a member of the school governing body (SGB). The incident, which required the teacher to take sick leave, took place on 14 February at Obang High School in Amalia near Schweizer-Reneke. In a horrific video, the teacher is seen lying on his back in the middle of a crowd of pupils. Blood flowing on the floor seems to come from the teacher’s head. The teacher lost consciousness after he was allegedly punched by a SGB member. According to the teacher, he regained consciousness in the school’s sick room where he was advised to go to the hospital. An assault case will be heard for the second time on Monday. North West department of education spokesperson Elias Malindi confirmed they were aware of the case but did not respond to questions sent to him. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Kenneth Moeng Mokgatlhe at The Citizen Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Undertaking made that 1,000 employees of North West Transport Investments will receive outstanding pay soon TimesLIVE reports that according to the SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu), its 997 members employed at North West Transport Investments (NTI), who have not been paid for three months, will be paid soon. NTI, a North West government entity whose subsidiary North West Star provides transport services to thousands of commuters monthly, has not paid employees for March and April, and their pension and medical aid contributions have not been paid over to relevant institutions. Satawu spokesperson Amanda Tshemese noted on Monday that NTI has been in financial distress for years, with allegations of corruption and maladministration having been made. This led NTI going into voluntary business rescue. According to Tshemese, most of the employees did not receive their salaries for March and April, while some employees received only half their salaries in March. On Friday, Satawu general secretary Jack Mazibuko met North West community safety and transport management MEC Sello Lehari and NTI management to discuss the unpaid salaries. Mazibuko and the union's Gauteng leadership were scheduled to meet North West premier Bushy Maape and officials from the North West provincial treasury on Monday afternoon. Tshemese said the meeting was to get an exact date of when the salaries would be paid. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Ernest Mabuza at TimesLIVE
Moonlighting civil servants pocketed R45m in paid work outside public service in 2021/22 Cape Times reports that the Democratic Alliance (DA) wants Public Service and Administration Minister Noxolo Kiviet and her department to assist departments to take appropriate disciplinary action against senior managers who could not prove they had obtained permission to engage in paid work outside the public service. This comes after Kiviet revealed, in a response to parliamentary questions from DA MP Mimmy Gondwe, that the Public Service Commission (PSC) had found 379 members of the senior management service (SMS) were engaged in other remunerative work. National departments had in total 212 SMS members who were engaged in other remunerative work during the period under review. “Only 128 of these SMS members provided proof of prior approval to engage in other remunerative work. The other 84 did not provide such proof, which could either mean that they engaged in other remunerative work without obtaining prior permission to do so, or it could have been oversight on their part,” Kiviet indicated. Her responses showed that the senior managers pocketed R45,049,361 during the 2021-2022 financial year. “Of this total, R31,385,858 was generated by SMS members in the National Departments and National Government Components. The amount of remuneration generated by SMS members in the provincial departments was R13,663,502,” Kiviet advised. She said various actions were taken as a result of the PSC’s findings and recommendations. “Unless urgent action is taken to address this growing practice of engaging in other remunerative work without obtaining permission from the relevant EA, conflicts of interest, and possibly corruption, will be difficult to root out of the public service,” Gondwe pointed out. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mayibongwe Maqhina at Cape Times
Netcare warns nursing shortage a threat to everyone’s healthcare, but government chooses to ignore the crisis BL Premium reports that Richard Friedland, CEO of private hospital group Netcare, has sounded a stark warning about SA’s nursing shortage, which he says threatenes the provision of healthcare in both the public and private sectors. The private hospital sector has grown outspoken about SA’s nursing shortage as it is frustrated by the state’s squeeze on the number of nurses trained in the private sector. Netcare, for example, had been accredited to train more than 3,000 a year, but now it trains barely a tenth of that. “We have an ageing population of nurses, just as [Eskom] has an ageing fleet [of power stations]. The government was warned of this well in advance and chose to ignore it. We have a crisis at hand and it needs to be addressed,” Friedland said. He expressed frustration that Netcare’s proposal to the government to create 50,000 jobs by training more nurses had failed to find traction. The plan, which was tabled at the presidential jobs summit in 2018 by the Hospital Association of SA (Hasa), could have eliminated the shortage within eight years. Hasa views the nursing shortage as “a serious threat to national healthcare provision and our social fabric” and is using “all the levers” at its disposal to deal with the issue, including seeking legal opinion on the matter. Friedland’s sentiments were echoed by Life Healthcare CEO Peter Wharton-Hood, who said the nursing shortage posed a bigger threat than Eskom’s rolling blackouts. Hospitals could buffer themselves against electricity outages with investment in generators, diesel and solar panels, but could do little to mitigate the risks of staff shortages, he pointed out. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tamar Kahn & Nico Gouws at BusinessLive (subscriber access only) More than nursing students in limbo as Gauteng health department can’t absorb them TimesLIVE reports that more than 100 nursing students who were given bursaries by the Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) say they are in limbo as the department does not have funds to place them for community service and absorb them for employment. The students from the Gauteng College of Nursing R. 171 programme began their studies in 2020 and were given bursaries by the department. They were the first group in the three-year nursing programme after it was introduced in 2020. Mpho Rantsu, spokesperson for the students, said the lack of further funding by the department has caused distress. “We feel misled and let down by the department. When we were welcomed into the course in February 2020 by then Gauteng health MEC Dr Bandile Masuku, we were assured we would be placed for employment on course completion. Not only are we under a bursary programme but we are trained under high standards of nursing education and training and it is common knowledge we have a shortage of nursing staff in South Africa, especially professional nurses. Not once did we think we would face being part of the high statistics of unemployed graduates,” said Rantsu. The nursing college campuses affected are Ann Latsky, Bonalesedi, Baragwanath and SG Lourens. The students are set to meet the department on Tuesday and have threatened to shut down all four campuses if they do not get a favourable response. Another issue they have raised is that in their third year they were allegedly suddenly told they had to write board exams before being professionally registered with the SA Nursing Council (SANC) as professional nurses. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Kgaugelo Masweneng at SowetanLive
UCT council chairperson resigns amid probe into governance crisis News24 reports that University of Cape Town (UCT) Council chair Babalwa Ngonyama has tendered her resignation, which was effective immediately. Citing the impact of the "current circumstances on [her] wellness and health", she said she considered her "unreserved commitment… which was and is to put the interests of the institution first and foremost at all times". The move comes weeks after the departure of former vice-chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, who – together with Ngonyama – found themselves at the centre of an independent judicial investigation into the governance crisis at the institution. A panel was constituted last year, following allegations that Ngonyama had supplied false reasons to the UCT senate for the early departure of Professor Lis Lange, who had been the deputy vice-chancellor for learning and teaching. According to Ngonyama, Lange chose to leave of her own accord for personal reasons. Lange, however, denied this, saying Ngonyama had effectively pushed her out and told her that Phakeng didn't want her to continue as her second in command. In a communiqué announcing her resignation, Ngonyama said she was "willing to cooperate with the work of the panel as it presents UCT with an opportunity to address the challenges that beset the university". But, she argued, it was "one thing to focus on improving governance at UCT; it is a completely different matter to use the process in an attempt to lay blame". Ngonyama earlier challenged the procedural fairness of the process as well as the nature and extent of the panel's powers in court. "This prompted the panel to release a pre-emptive interim report to council, recommending that steps be taken to remove me as chair," she stated. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tammy Petersen at News24 Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Four arrested in connection with a former North West Univerity professor’s fraud case The Star reports that four persons, namely Bafo Sinayo Diko, Nqophisa Diko, Nomakade Diko and Siyabulela Ndengane handed themselves over to the Hawks on 17 May and were all arrested for fraud and money laundering. According to Captain Tlangelani Rikhotso, the arrests emanated from an investigation into alleged fraud in which Nolutho Diko, a former North West University (NWU) professor, allegedly defrauded the university of R438,302. Rikhotso explained that between May 2016 and April 2017, Diko allegedly submitted financial claims to the university under the name of her company, seemingly on behalf of external consultants and other service providers whom she alleged rendered services to the university. It was subsequently discovered that those service providers never rendered any services to the university. Diko appeared before the Mmabatho Magistrate’s Court on 26 September 2022, where she was released on a warning. “Meanwhile, three of her children and her brother, who are co-directors of Fabued College Co-operative Limited, appeared before Mmabatho Magistrate’s Court on May 17, where they each faced 12 counts of fraud and 11 counts of money laundering. The case against all accused was remanded to June 15,” said Rikhotso. Read the original of the report in the above regard by Nonhlanhla Ndlovu at The Star Other internet posting(s) in this news category
|
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page