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.
GroundUp reports that the board of the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) has approved a reparation process that will lead to apologies and, in some cases, financial reparation, to former staff who were punished or driven out of their jobs for blowing the whistle on corruption.
The NLC will use a reparation model similar to the one used by the SA Revenue Services, which apologised and paid reparation to staff who were forced out during the capture and hollowing-out of the organisation during Jacob Zuma’s administration. The new commissioner, Jodi Scholtz, explained: “The idea is to say sorry in a way that is meaningful and for everyone. My original proposal was for staff only. But communities have also been affected. They have been hurt. We cannot just say it is business as usual.” With regard to projects that collapsed when grants were looted, the NLC has asked the Industrial Development Corporation to provide engineers to investigate abandoned or unfinished projects "to see what could be done to make them useful for the communities where these facilities are situated". Since last year a clean-up at the NLC has led to the replacement of the entire NLC board and much of the senior executive, as well as the resignations of the previous Commissioner, Thabang Mampane, and the former chief operating officer, Phillemon Letwaba. Several other senior staff are currently on suspension pending disciplinary inquiries. Scholtz also confirmed that the NLC planned to introduce lifestyle audits and integrity testing for all staff "starting from the top … me, the executive and the NLC board". One idea being considered was to fund reparation awards from money raised by selling off assets such as seized luxury houses and properties and cars bought with looted lottery funds, Scholtz said. The Special Tribunal has already issued preservation orders running into hundreds of millions of rands on properties and other assets, involving multiple individuals, companies and non-profit companies. Scholtz has been meeting staff and labour unions as part of an organisation-wide clean-up.
- Read the full original of the extensive report in the above regard by Raymond Joseph at News24
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page