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 roundup of weekend news, see
summaries of our selection of South African
labour-related stories that appeared since
Friday, 25 August 2023.
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Construction worker who caused Pretoria school explosion that killed two colleagues to plead not guilty News24 reports that a construction worker is accused of burning two colleagues to death and injuring three others after allegedly causing an explosion by throwing an open gas cylinder into a mobile classroom and setting it on fire last Wednesday. Moloko Ramogwadi appeared in the Atteridgeville Magistrate's Court in Pretoria on Friday, charged with two counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder. The explosion happened at Zodwa Special School in Atteridgeville. The school caters for children with intellectual and physical disabilities. Ramogwadi was not asked to plead and will remain in custody until his next appearance. Reading from the charge sheet, the magistrate said it was alleged that Ramogwadi "unlawfully or intentionally killed or attempted to kill the victims by opening a gas bottle and pouring the gas onto the floor, which then caused an explosion". The state prosecutor said it was not clear whether the incident was premeditated, which would cause it to be a Schedule 6 offence. Ramogwadi’s lawyer said afterwards that his client intended to plead not guilty. Tshwane Emergency Services reported that the two workers who died were employees of a contractor appointed to repair two container classrooms. The three survivors are recovering in hospital. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Malibongwe Dayimani at News24 Man accused of killing two Kimberley flying squad officers 'had several brushes with the law', sent for psychiatric evaluation News24 reports that the man accused of killing two Kimberly Flying Squad officers will be sent for a psychiatric evaluation. It has also come to light that Daniel Wilfred Alberts, 38, had previously been arrested for other crimes. Alberts appeared in the Kimberley Magistrate's Court on Thursday on two counts of murder, three of robbery with aggravating circumstances, one of motor vehicle theft and one of theft. Alberts declined to apply for bail and will remain in custody until his next virtual court appearance on 5 October. A Northern Cape National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson indicated: "He (Alberts) will be sent for a psychiatric evaluation, and the report will be provided to the court after he indicated to the court that he had been admitted to several psychiatric facilities." The Flying Squad officers, Constable Okaetse Mandindi and Sergeant Kedimetse Masilo, were in the process of tracing a stolen vehicle en route to Bloemfontein on Tuesday when Alberts allegedly shot them dead. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Cebelihle Bhengu at News24. Lees ook, Verdagte in beamptes se moord is psigiatriese pasiënt, hoor hof, by Maroela Media Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Man who could have identified masterminds behind whistleblower Babita Deokaran's murder died two years ago Sunday Times reports that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) says it's hunting for three men who can help identify the person or persons who ordered the killing of whistleblower Babita Deokaran two years ago – but one of them is dead. The murdered Gauteng health department official had raised the alarm over millions in dodgy tenders at Tembisa Hospital. Khanyisani Mpungose’s name featured prominently in a plea deal reached between the NPA and six men who stalked Deokaran in the days before she was gunned down at her home on 23 August 2021. They received sentences ranging from six to 22 years in prison. But the new development suggests that unless police can track down two other suspects named by the six men in the plea deal, the masterminds behind the murder may never be found. A police source confirmed that Mpungose was killed in Germiston, four months after Deokaran’s assassination, allegedly in a feud between taxi owners. Mpungose was taken in for questioning shortly after Deokaran’s murder but was released when the police could not find evidence linking him to the crime. NPA spokesperson Phindile Mjonondwane last week suggested the agency was unaware that a key witness was already dead. She said: “We are now following up on the three people they named. We are hoping that the investigation will … help with getting the person who gave the instruction [for Deokaran to be killed].” However, another source close to the Deokaran investigation claimed the NPA was indeed aware of Mpungose’s death. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tankiso Makhetha at Sunday Times (subscriber access only)
Tshwane’s application for exemption from pay increases to be considered on Wednesday after objections by Samwu dismissed Pretoria News reports that in limine arguments raised by the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) to dismiss the City of Tshwane’s application for an exemption from pay increases were rejected by the local government bargaining council on Thursday. Workers under the Samwu banner demanding a 5.4% salary increase have been conducting a strike that has entered its fifth week. The metro, Samwu and the Independent Municipal and Allied Union (Imatu) met with the bargaining council on Tuesday. However, the meeting was stalled after Samwu put forward some new arguments for senior commissioner Eleanor Hambidge to consider before the hearing takes place on 30 August. Amongst the union’s contentions were that the city’s exemption application was late, was defective because it did not contain all prescribed documents and was not in compliance with the wage and salary collective agreement. In her ruling, Hambidge dismissed Samwu’s bid and requested case management to schedule the exemption for argument on Wednesday. City chief of staff Jordan Griffiths welcomed the decision and indicated that they would be prepared to make their arguments on 30 August. Samwu’s provincial secretary, Mpho Tladinyane, said the union was not shaken by the ruling and was also looking forward to the hearing. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mashudu Sadike at Pretoria News Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Wescoal Mining enters into voluntary business rescue Mining Weekly reports that the Salungano Group’s subsidiary Wescoal Mining, which comprises the Khanyisa and Elandspruit mines, is to commence with a voluntary business rescue process. On 21 August, Salungano advised shareholders that a mining contractor of Wescoal Mining had taken legal steps to apply for the provisional winding-up of Wescoal Mining, which had filed a notice of opposition to the liquidation application. Shareholders were also advised that Salungano, in its capacity as an affected party, had launched a court application to place Wescoal Mining into business rescue, which application was heard on 22 August. On 24 August, the parties to the liquidation application agreed to settle the matter and the terms of the settlement agreement were made an order of the court. The liquidation application was withdrawn and business rescue process will now begin. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly. Read too, Salungano contractor withdraws liquidation bid for Wescoal and will back business rescue, at Fin24 (subscriber access only) Creditors at war over Arnot OpCo business rescue plan Business Times reports that a group of disgruntled creditors of the troubled Arnot OpCo mine has taken issue with the business rescue process, rejecting a R435m proposal that other major creditors are backing. Arnot OpCo was established in 2019 as a joint venture between Wescoal, now known as Salungano, and Arnot InvestCo, which was formed by Exxaro Resources employees who were about to be retrenched after the expiry of the company’s coal supply agreement with Eskom in 2015. Arnot OpCo operates the Arnot mine in Mpumalanga. It resumed coal supplies to the Arnot power station in February last year, but a few months later Wescoal/Salungano went to the South Gauteng High Court to have the company placed under supervision and business rescue. It argued that the management had misused funds and was blurring the line between rehabilitation costs and re-establishment costs. Arnot InvestCo in turn accused Salungano of wanting to control the mine and of failing to honour its funding obligations to the business. The court placed the mine in business rescue in October last year. Phahlani Mkhombo from Genesis Corporate Solutions was appointed business rescue practitioner. In his business rescue plan published on 14 July, Mkhombo proposed a management restructuring plan that required a capital injection. On 28 July, creditors voted to accept an offer of R435m from Ndalamo’s Resources. But, six companies have now launched an urgent court application opposing the Ndalamo proposal. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Dineo Faku at BusinessLive (subscriber access only) Other labour / community posting(s) related to mining
eThekwini was putting right a wrong by bumping up metro head's salary to almost R4m, says mayor News24 reports that eThekwini ANC Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda has defended municipal manager Musa Mbhele's salary increase as well as the controversial R1.7 million spent on an awards event for municipal employees. In a closed meeting, the council approved a waiver application to place Mbhele on the maximum of the upper limits of the total remuneration package of R3.9 million – a notch below President Cyril Ramaphosa's annual R4.1 million pay. Kaunda said there had been "a lot of noise" about the application and explained: “We've been having an abnormal situation where the City manager is compensated less than the people he heads as the head of administration. We're correcting that. We've approved the decision and the application will go to the Cogta minister, who will make a determination on the upper limit." In the same council meeting, the ANC/EFF-led council approved almost R11 million for awards, a hip-hop festival, the commemoration of national holidays and picnics, among other events. Kaunda commented: "We have noted the concerns raised by the awards. It is a normal practice that every organisation motivates their employees and boosts their morale." He added that it was "incorrect" and "mischievous" to suggest that the City had redirected a budget meant for other services. The DA said it would ask the Auditor-General to look into whether around R11 million spent on "useless'' awards and festivals constituted wasteful expenditure. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Soyiso Maliti at News24
Labour department cracks whip on minimum wage compliance Sunday World reports that the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) warned last week that there would be no place to hide for companies and employers who paid their employees less than the set national minimum wage (NMW). Speaking at a seminar in Richards Bay last week, the DEL said employers who failed to comply with the NMW would suffer a heavy penalty. Head of the department’s advocacy and stakeholder relations unit Pravine Naidoo said: “An employer who is found to have failed to comply with the national minimum wage will be fined by a labour inspector an amount equal to twice the value of the underpayment or twice the monthly wage, whichever is greater for first offenders and an amount equal to thrice the value of the underpayment or thrice the monthly wage, whichever is the greater, for repeat offenders.” Naidoo said in addition to the penalties, the department was required by the NMW Act to publish in its official website, on a quarterly basis, all the employers that had been issued with compliance orders for failure to comply with the NMW. He added that it was an unfair labour practice for an employer to unilaterally alter hours of work or other conditions of employment. Naidoo gave a stern warning to employers that they should desist from making deductions without employees agreeing in writing or there being a debt specified in the agreement. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Bongani Mdakane at Sunday World
Regulators still investigating irregular payroll deduction systems for unregulated loans City Press reports that concerns regarding payroll deductions have been raised for many years, starting with an investigation into the payroll deduction system in 2016, led by the SA Reserve Bank (SARB) and National Treasury. A joint consultation paper was published in 2018 highlighting that “significant shortcomings have been identified relating to the payroll deduction service and its negative impact on the financial system and vulnerable employees”. Several submissions have been made to the SARB regarding the issue, which argued that the existing, formalised national payment system is sufficient in collecting loans and premiums and that payroll deductions are unnecessary, unregulated and creating over-indebtedness. Yet no action has taken place. In response to a query by City Press, the SARB referred to the notice issued in July 2016, which “advised stakeholders and participants in the National Payments System [NPS] to refrain from entering into or executing non-statutory commercial arrangements for payroll deduction services as these could contravene the NPS regulatory framework”. According to the SARB, the committee is “urgently finalising a few matters before publishing an agreed regulatory position for public consultation”. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Maya Fisher-French at City Press (subscriber access only)
Group of doctors vows to stay in SA despite introduction of NHI City Press reports that as many as 40% of medical specialists, general practitioners and other healthcare workers are threatening to leave SA should national health insurance (NHI) be introduced, but a group of 36 of the country’s top medical fraternity say they are staying. This group have even put their own money into a new private surgical hospital in Johannesburg, worth R700 million. Among those who will work at the new Johannesburg Surgical Hospital (JSH) in Northcliff are physicians, orthopaedic surgeons, plastic surgeons, vascular surgeons, cardiothoracic surgeons and neurosurgeons, cardiologists, urologists, radiologists, a neurologist and a nephrologist. All of them are shareholders in the scheme. Orthopaedic specialist Dr Jaco Strobos obtained the licence for the private specialist surgical hospital in 2019. The new hospital, which will have 150 beds and 13 modern operating theatres, opens in early September and will be able to admit patients soon afterwards. This is in the midst of government’s planned NHI launch, which will make the state the sole purchaser of private and public health services for citizens. There is great uncertainty about what private medical funds will be able to pay for under the NHI and how people will get access to specialists. However, Strobos is unconcerned and indicated: “There will always be sickness and people will need medical care, and we believe that, even with NHI, there’ll be a need for collaboration with the JSH because of our specialist fields.” Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Riana De Lange at City Press (subscriber access only)
Medical schemes regulator urges action on allegations of manipulation of billing codes at Mediclinic BL Premium reports that the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) has called for a swift, thorough investigation of allegations of billing fraud that an anonymous whistleblower made against private hospital group Mediclinic. A person identifying as a former Mediclinic employee emailed medical schemes and journalists last week, alleging billing codes were manipulated to inflate claims submitted to medical schemes. The email describes alleged billing manipulation at six Mediclinic hospitals at which the whistleblower claims to have worked. The CMS said it was concerned about the allegations because inflated hospital claims could lead to members running out of funds prematurely and facing “unnecessary out of pocket and catastrophic health expenditures”. On Friday, the CMS called for “a comprehensive, unhindered and speedy investigation of these allegations by an objective and trusted authority.” It went on to indicate: “The investigation should not just aim to get the names of the responsible parties apprehended but should also ensure that the funds involved are quantified and returned to their rightful owners – the medical scheme members.” Mediclinic said it had appointed independent forensic expert Steven Powell of law firm ENSafrica to review the accusations and implicated hospitals. Mediclinic said it viewed the accusations in a serious light but was confident Powell’s investigation would confirm its billing processes were accurate and ethical. SA’s biggest medical scheme administrator Discovery Health said it had initiated its own investigation. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive (subscriber access only). Read too, Fraud claims: Mediclinic names independent investigator, at Fin24
Survey reveals massive decline in rail passengers over the past ten years GroundUp reports that Stats SA’s latest transport survey shows how rail as a means of public transport has declined over the last ten years. There were 46-million fewer train trips by South Africans in June 2023 than there were a decade ago, according to the latest Stats SA Land and Transport Survey. According to the survey, there were 3.2-million passenger journeys on Metrorail services where they operated in the Western Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and Eastern Cape during June 2023, whereas the 2013 survey showed 49.2-million passenger journeys in June of that year. Grand-scale corruption at the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa), destruction of the rail network as well as the fact that most of the rail network wasn’t operational during the Covid lockdown are the reasons for the drastic drop in passenger numbers. However, nationwide train passenger journeys have tripled over the last year, with just more than one million recorded in June 2022 compared to the 3.2-million recorded in June 2023. The survey’s figures follow recent calls for rail services in Cape Town to be devolved from Prasa to the metropolitan municipality. Following extended efforts to get Prasa to sign a Service Level Agreement as a first step towards a devolution process, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis earlier this month indicated that the City would follow an Intergovernmental Dispute Resolution processes should President Cyril Ramaphosa not respond to a request to create a joint working committee on rail devolution by 31 August. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Matthew Hirsch at GroundUp Other internet posting(s) in this news category
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