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, 27 October 2023.
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'People should proceed as normal', says Presidency as it clarifies public holiday confusion after Bok win News24 reports that the Presidency said on Sunday that South Africans should treat Monday as a normal working day despite widespread calls that President Cyril Ramaphosa should declare the day a public holiday. "In the absence of any official announcement, people should proceed as normal," Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya advised. The confusion came after Ramaphosa joked about considering announcing a public holiday should the Springboks win the Rugby World Cup final. He made the comment while speaking at the second green hydrogen summit in Cape Town two weeks ago, on the back of SA’s quarter-final victory over host nation France. Ramaphosa said: “South Africans are revelling in this incredible success that our boys have achieved in Paris. Many of them [South Africans] felt that we should declare [Monday] as a public holiday, and I declined, and I said we would only consider that when they [the Springboks] win the final, which I will be personally present [for].” On Saturday, the Springboks won the World Cup final match, with Ramaphosa in attendance. On Monday, he is expected to address South Africans at 20:00. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Cebelihle Mthethwa at News24 (subscriber access only). See too, Public holiday in the offing, with Ramaphosa to address the nation on Monday, at The Citizen. And also, Public holiday or not, President Ramaphosa is expected to address us on Monday, at IOL News Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Tshwane mayor under fire from coalition partner over labour crisis Sunday Times reports that Tshwane’s Democratic Alliance (DA) mayor Cilliers Brink has been accused of ignoring an instruction from the metro’s multiparty coalition to negotiate with unions to try to end three months of labour strife. Brink maintains the city cannot afford the pay rise demanded by the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) and the Independent Municipal & Allied Trade Union (Imatu). The SA Local Government Bargaining Council has ruled in favour of the unions, but the metro has appealed this to the Labour Court (LC). Two weeks ago, the metro coalition’s two biggest parties, the DA and ActionSA, requested the coalition oversight group – consisting of the parties’ national leaders – to intervene in deciding how to resolve the impasse. It came out on the side of negotiating with the unions. But, Brink has yet to participate in dispute resolution efforts led by the CCMA, citing “conflicting scheduling” with other commitments. A highly placed non-DA coalition insider accused Brink of delaying tactics, saying he had no intention of negotiating with the unions and was waiting for the LC to take up the issue. Mayoral spokesperson Sipho Stuurman confirmed that the review application concerning the bargaining council decision was going ahead and feedback was awaited from the court on a hearing date. He added: “Regarding other mediation efforts, we have always stated that we are open to engagements and that we respect labour and the role of unions. However our view has been that the violence and property destruction must stop. We can’t engage in an environment where violence and criminality is used as a tool to coerce the city into the negotiating table.” The unions said the metro’s attitude was an injustice because their members had already returned to work in good faith. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sisanda Mbolekwa at Sunday Times (subscriber access only)
NUM gives its members thumbs up to return to work at Gold One mine EWN reports that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has given its members the go-ahead to return to work at the Gold One mine. This followed a grueling three-day hostage drama last week at the Modder East operation. More than 500 mineworkers affiliated with the NUM failed to resurface at the end of their shift on Sunday, 22 October, because they were allegedly being held captive by the rival Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) amid a wage dispute. AMCU has, however, denied this version of events, claiming it was a voluntary and planned sit-in to force the company to grant the union organising rights at the mine. In the aftermath of the hostage drama, the NUM flagged some of its safety concerns. According to the union’s Victor Ngwane, at a meeting between NUM regional leaders and mine management at the Gold One, the company had addressed some of their concerns. “Workers will be going back systematically, in groups ... your officials, overseers, and miners have started preparing underground – looking for faults to clean up about a full return to work [that] can be executed as and when there is a need. They will call people back to work,” Ngwane said. He indicated that it could take up to two weeks for operations to run at optimum levels. Disruptions to mine activities have reportedly cost up to R 8 million a day. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Nokukhanya Mntambo at EWN Legally employed miners and syndicates assist zama-zamas in illegal mining operations City Press reports that illegal mining is prevalent not only in abandoned, disused shafts, but also in fully operational ones – thanks to inside help and well-connected syndicates. Evidence from the heart of illegal operations has emerged, showing how smoothly minerals such as gold are being stolen by zama-zamas with the assistance of underground employees and mine security guards. An undercover informant of the Hawks and crime intelligence painted this picture of deception in his testimony to the Barberton Magistrate’s Court during an inquest into the deaths of three mine workers at Lily Mine in February 2016. The court released its judgment on 9 October, which found that the three employees were killed by the collapse of the mine’s crown pillar – and that illegal mining had contributed significantly to the disaster. “Illegal miners hollowed the crown pillar and weakened its structure. The hollowed crown pillar caved in and gave away,” the court found. The undercover informant had been a legitimate mine employee until he lost his job and became a zama-zama. He was employed at Lily Mine, but was still doing illegal mining in order to serve as a police informant when the entrance to the mine collapsed. The magistrate found his evidence – including a statement that legally employed miners provided illegal miners with the equipment and sustenance they needed, for which they were paid in gold – to be credible and reliable. This contradicted the evidence given to police in 2020 by the mine’s security manager, Tjaart van Straaten, who has since passed away, that illegal mining was not a problem at Lily Mine, as only three illegal mine workers had been arrested between 2011 and 2016. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sizwe sama Yende at City Press (subscriber access only)
‘We’ll run out of money if we don’t cut spending,’ Godongwana warns ahead of mini budget on Wednesday Sunday Times reports that Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has warned that he won't be bearing good news when he delivers the medium-term budget policy statement on Wednesday. He told delegates at the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation annual growth forum that unless spending cuts were introduced, the government ran the risk of running out of money by March next year. But he indicated that the cuts would not be as severe as initially expected because the government had been forced to bump up borrowing – more than expected – because of rising expenditure. It was reported last month that the National Treasury had written to government departments telling them of the introduction of spending cuts. The steps included a freeze on advertising new appointments, a drastic reduction in spending and a call on departments to fund increases for public servants “within departmental baselines”. On Friday, Godongwana explained that the problem with the state’s debt was the capacity of the economy to service it. “Markets tightened and even on the borrowing side ... there’s less revenue. That’s my pain,” he said. This had happened while spending was growing so the Treasury would have to find a balance, Godongwana pointed out. “If we project the loss of revenue over the next few months up to the beginning of the year, we are going to have a serious challenge ... the Reserve Bank says sooner or later we’re going to run out of cash. Godongwana noted. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sibongakonke Shoba at Sunday Times (subscriber access only) Godongwana plans to raise borrowing to soften blow of budget cuts Fin24 reports that Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana says he will "bump up borrowing" to soften the blow of budget cuts when he tables his medium-term policy statement on Wednesday. Speaking on Friday, Godongwana painted a dire picture of the state of public finances, and said that if nothing was done about public debt, SA would have no cash by the end of March next year. SA has about R4.3 trillion of debt and spends 18c of every tax rand collected on debt service costs. According to Godongwana, SA had been hit by a triple whammy of falling revenue due to low growth, a rising cost of borrowing, and the dumping of SA government bonds by foreign investors. Two of the biggest factors weighing down debt are load shedding and the deteriorating logistics capacity which is constraining mining exports. Godongwana’s plan to make budget cuts in an election year has come under fire in the ANC. "They call me Mr Austerity, I don't like it, but I can live with it," he noted. But Godongwana advised that the proposed budget cuts would be smaller than the amount by which government typically underspent on its budget. In the last financial year, state departments underspent by R28 billion. In the previous year, underspending amounted to R31 billion. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Carol Paton at Fin24 (subscriber access only). Read too, Government may dip into reserve funds, at Business Times (subscriber access only) Other internet posting(s) in this news category
SA labour unions lost more than half a million members in last year Sunday Times reports that labour unions in SA have lost more than half a million members in the last year – the biggest annual drop in union membership numbers in almost three decades. Meantime, half of SA’s registered unions have shut up shop in the last two decades. This is according to annual figures from the office of the registrar of labour relation in the Department of Employment & Labour (DEL) released on Friday. The data reflected union membership since 1995. At the end of March, the number of registered unions stood at 214, far down on the 533 that existed in 2004, with 10 unions folding in the past 12 months. There were 4.5-million members of unions at the end of March last year, but the number dropped to 3.9-million this year. Labour analyst Terry Bell said “messy” competition for members was one of the factors causing some workers to leave unions. “We are having a rebellion among workers themselves, who are saying: 'We are sick and tired of this. We can do it ourselves,'” he argued. Bell said competition for members among unions had become a business and leaders expelled from unions often set up their own competing unions. “The worst thing that can happen is the continual inter-union fighting, and Amcu and NUM are a classic example,” Bell said and added that the fighting often benefited bosses, with “ordinary workers on the shop floor or down a mine the biggest losers in the long run”. But, the NUM’s Victor Ngwane said the problem of some workers opting to become non-unionised was not exclusive to SA but a worldwide phenomenon. “Workers in general throughout the world ... don't see the relevance of unions. You'll see after a few years they [will] then push for unions again. The reality is that most people who leave [a] union don't join any other union, and this is what the stats are saying,” Ngwane said. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Isaac Mahlangu at Sunday Times (subscriber access only)
Samwu accuses municipalities of exploiting the poor employed through EPWP programme Sunday Independent reports that the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) has accused municipalities of exploiting poor people who are employed through the government's Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). The programme, which then President Thabo Mbeki’s administration introduced in 2003, has been used by almost all spheres of government, including state-owned enterprises. Besides providing much-needed income, the programme was designed to provide skills training to the beneficiaries. However, according to Samwu deputy general secretary Nkhetheni Muthavhi, the EPWP had been of almost no benefit except paying small salaries. He said some municipalities replaced permanent general workers who had resigned or gone on pension with EPWPs and paid them salaries that were far less than what was paid to permanent employees. “We are saying the work that they are doing is not a project that comes to an end. It is the work that continues, and therefore, these people (EPWPs) must not be exploited. They should be employed in that space permanently. If I was working in that position permanently, why should I be replaced by a temporary worker who is paid less than what I was earning, even by 70%,” said Muthavhi. According to the union, at the two-day EPWP Phase 5 Indaba held in Pretoria earlier in October, Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Sihle Zikalala announced that the government would implement a “major shake-up” in the EPWP. The union said it wanted the shake-up to include employing them permanently and ending all forms of exploitation. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Bongani Hans at Sunday Independent Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Welkom municipal workers react angrily after learning they won’t be paid until the end of October GroundUp reports that the situation at the Matjhabeng Local Municipality’s offices in Welkom remained tense on Friday as hundreds of municipal workers continued their protests, demanding their unpaid salaries. On Thursday, GroundUp reported on a sit-in by workers led by the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) after thousands of Matjhabeng workers, including the mayor, didn’t receive their salaries for October. The municipality said its account had been frozen a day before payments were to be made. This was amid ongoing legal battles with service providers who claimed the municipality owed them millions of rands. The municipality approached the South Gauteng High Court to get urgent relief to allow it to pay salaries, but its application was denied. Late on Thursday, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Ketso Makume addressed protesting workers and promised the workers that they would be paid eventually. “I cannot promise when you will get paid but I will work hard to engage all the stakeholders to solve the problem. Give me 24 hours. You have worked and I know you need to be paid,” said Makume. A letter signed by the municipal manager on 26 October apologised to workers and stated that it hoped to get the issue resolved by the end of the month. But on Friday morning, frustrated workers dumped piles of rubbish at the entrances of the municipal building. Refuse and many other essential services to communities ground to halt last week amid the strike across all municipal departments. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Becker Semela at GroundUp
Sonke Gender Justice welcomes court ruling on shared parental leave EWN reports that Sonke Gender Justice has welcomed a Johannesburg High Court ruling last Wednesday that found new parents could share the four months of leave that was previously reserved for mothers. The ruling also found that parents who adopted or had children via surrogacy – and previously received less leave than those who had biologically given birth – should be entitled to the same leave regime. The ruling still needs to be confirmed by the Constitutional Court, but Bafana Khumalo of Sonke Gender Justice, which was one of the applicants, said they were confident of the outcome. “The judgment was not just a whim, the judge pointed very, very meticulously to how the current act is an affront of our constitutional provisions, and he gave clear linkages in terms of Section 8 and 9 of our Constitution that speaks to issues of equality and dignity, and therefore we cannot see the Constitutional Court not confirming this judgment,” Khumalo commented. Sonke Gender Justice said that its research showed that when both parents played a role in their child's lives, there was less propensity for gender-based violence. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Bernadette Wicks at EWN
Home Affairs offices lost over 36,000 hours of work in first half of 2023 due to offline systems News24 reports that Department of Home Affairs (DHA) offices across the country lost more than 36,000 hours of work in the first half of 2023, primarily due to system downtime. Minister Aaron Motsoaledi revealed this in response to parliamentary questions from the DA's Adrian Roos. He advised that his department's offices were not operational for a collective 36,772 hours from January to May this year. In 2021, Motsoaledi blamed the downtime on the State Information Technology Agency (SITA), which provides the department with many of its IT systems. But the downtime data he now provided, painted a different picture, according to Roos. In the first three months of the year, the DHA’s SITA system had 95% uptime, but there were more than 13,000 hours of system downtime. In the three months that followed, the SITA system had average uptime of 86%, but 8,600 hours were lost to system downtime. This meant that the DHA’s IT systems had more downtime in the months that SITA's performance was better, Roos pointed out. "Other things are going on here. This story that it's a SITA thing [is] the minister's narrative and he wants this to be driven, but this shows it's not right," Roos argued. SITA spokesperson Tlali Tlali explained that there were multiple points of failure through the DHA value chain. System downtime, he said, could be caused by copper cable vandalism, software that took up huge memory space, and the upgrading of infrastructure. He indicated that SITA had invested R400 million to modernise and upgrade the networks, but that did not remove the responsibility of the DHA to upgrade its package with SITA. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by William Brederode at News24 (subscriber access only)
Unisa heads to court after Nzimande appoints Professor Ihron Rensburg as administrator News24 reports that the University of SA (Unisa) has approached the courts on an urgent basis to challenge Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande's appointment of Professor Ihron Rensburg as the administrator of the institution after the minister dissolved the Unisa council. Nzimande announced in the Government Gazette of 27 October 2023 that Rensburg would take over for 24 months. Unisa said in a statement on Saturday: "The university remains firm on the view that the minister's announcement is premature and in contempt of the court order of 6 October 2023 by [Judge Harshila] Kooverjie that interdicted him from placing the university under administration. The same order reaffirms the earlier order of [Judge Leicester] Adams of 24 August 2023, which ordered the minister not to take any decision pending the finalisation of the interdict application by Unisa, and the minister's undertaking not to take any decision until the application to review and set aside the independent assessor's report would have been heard." Unisa pointed out that the matter had not been finalised and was still before the court. Earlier this month, Nzimande sought to put Unisa under administration but was interdicted. The minister's decision followed the recommendations of independent assessor Professor Themba Mosia and the report of a ministerial task team headed by Vincent Maphai. Mosia's report found financial and other maladministration of a serious nature that undermined the university's effective functioning. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Cebelihle Mthethwa and Lisalee Solomons at News24. Lees ook, Unisa hof toe oor administrasie, by Maroela Media Other internet posting(s) in this news category
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