In our roundup of weekend and recent reports,
see summaries of our selection of South African
labour-related stories that recently appeared.
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Angry customer shoots KZN supermarket employee in both legs with rifle News24 reports that a supermarket employee was shot in both legs during an argument with a customer at a shop in Sundumbili, KwaZulu-Natal, on Friday. Police spokesperson, Colonel Robert Netshiunda, confirmed police were investigating a case of attempted murder. He said the employee was involved in an argument with a man employed as a security guard at a nearby taxi rank. "It is also reported the security guard left the store and came back a little later, armed with a rifle, and opened fire at the victim before fleeing from the scene of [the] crime," Netshiunda reported. The firearm was later found at the man's place of residence. A search is still under way for the man. Paramedics said the employee sustained critical injuries. After being stabilised, he was transported to an appropriate facility for further care. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jenni Evans & Cebelihle Mthethwa at News24. Read too, Shop employee ‘shot in the legs with rifle’ by irate customer in KwaZulu-Natal, at TimesLIVE Primary school pupil arrested after principal shot, wounded on Friday in Primrose TimesLIVE reports that a primary school pupil faces charges of attempted murder after he allegedly shot his principal in Primrose, Ekurhuleni, on Friday morning. The pupil, 13, was arrested. The Primrose Hill Primary School principal, 51, was taken to hospital for treatment. “The circumstances that led to the shooting are unknown. Police have launched an investigation to establish the origin of the firearm, which has been seized by police,” said spokesperson Col Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi. The firearm is thought to belong to a parent of the grade 6 pupil. The pupil is expected to appear in the Germiston Magistrate's court soon. Gauteng education MEC Matome Chiloane said he was “deeply devastated” by the shooting and went on to say: “The incident is reported to have occurred on Friday morning when the principal saw learners sitting in the foyer and instructed [them] to take out their workbooks to study. The grade 6 learner allegedly mumbled something in response but the principal ignored him. He saw the learner again later near the staff room, which is when he was shot by him with a firearm.” Disciplinary action is to be taken against the learner. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Rorisang Kgosana at SowetanLive. Lees ook, Laerskoolleerder skiet skoolhoof in Germiston, by Maroela Media Teachers resign as gangsterism takes centre stage at two schools in Ekurhuleni City Press reports that a 42-year-old teacher suffered anxiety attacks whenever he had to go to work as he often wondered if he would stay alive to come home. The teacher was one of those who resigned from their duties because of escalating gang violence at William Hills and Liverpool secondary schools in Benoni, Ekurhuleni. Teachers and pupils have complained about gang violence at the schools. They said gang members, who were also pupils at the school, came to school armed with guns and were freely smoking drugs on the school premises. Wattville community members also voiced concern over alcohol and substance abuse in their area, which they said spilt over on to school grounds and negatively affected teaching at schools. The teacher said: “I spent sleepless nights as I was concerned about my safety. The trauma of being surrounded by pupils who carry guns and smoke drugs was scary. There was nothing we could do to stop the gangs from fighting because we feared for our lives.” The teacher, who had been working at one of the schools for eight years, resigned after he realised that gangsterism was escalating at the school. Another teacher said working at William Hills school felt like guarding dangerous inmates. She witnessed gagsters physically abusing and attacking teachers and pupils. The teacher also left the school in September last year, after she was sexually assaulted by a Grade 10 pupil. National police spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said the Actonville Police Station management was not aware of any gangsterism at either school. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Promise Marupeng at City Press (subscriber access only) SANDF names soldiers killed in DRC mortar explosion TimesLIVE reports that two soldiers killed at an SA National Defence Force (SANDF) camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been named. Capt Simon Mkhulu Bobe and L/Cpl Irven Thabang Semono died last Wednesday when a mortar landed inside the base. Three wounded soldiers are still recovering in hospital. Bobe and Semono, from 1 South African Infantry Battalion, were deployed with 2 South African Infantry Battalion when they died. According to City Press, the South African soldiers, who were preparing a camp, did not have the necessary support. They allegedly did not have the intended G5 guns, drones or mortar groups to protect them. SANDF spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini said details about the memorial and funeral services for the two soldiers would be communicated soon. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Shonisani Tshikalange at TimesLIVE. Lees ook, DRK: Name bekend van SA se gestorwe soldate; VSA veroordeel geweld, by Maroela Media SA army is defenseless, weak and has no support in the DRC City Press reports that the South African soldiers who were killed by rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in a mortar attack last week were defenceless because they did not have the necessary support. None of the force’s intended G5 guns, drones or mortar groups were there to protect the soldiers, who were preparing a camp. Captain SM Bobe and Lance Corporal IT Semono were killed, while three of their comrades were injured. The dangerous situation in which the SA troops deployed in the DRC find themselves was confirmed early last week when another lieutenant of the special forces was injured. He was flown to 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria and may lose the sight of one eye. About two weeks ago, an Oryx helicopter was also shot at, during which Major Jannie Augustyn was hit in a finger and a leg, while a medical orderly was hit in the upper body. Only 250 members of the larger South African presence of 2,900 soldiers, who form part of the new regional force called the Southern African Development Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC), are already there. After last week’s mortar attack, the departure to the DRC of an assault group with special force soldiers has been brought forward. The SA Presidency has confirmed, after weeks of speculation, that the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) will provide the majority of the brigade of 5,000 soldiers in the regional force, at an estimated cost of R2.3 billion. What leaves experts concerned is where the army will gather enough combat soldiers from to fulfil all its foreign and domestic obligations. The dilapidated condition of the defence force’s combat vehicles – causing them to break down during full-scale offensives – is a further cause for concern. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Erika Gibson at City Press (subscriber access only)
Sars too broke to fully implement salary increases in terms of court ruling Sunday Independent reports that the dispute between the SA Revenue Service (Sars) and unions representing its employees, could be heading back to court after the taxman indicated that it could not afford pay hikes dating back to 2021. Hundreds of Sars staff members were expecting negotiations between their representatives, namely the Public Servants Association (PSA) and the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu), and the employer to start last month. However, according to the PSA, at a three-day task team meeting in January, Sars reported that due to financial constraints, the agency was unable to implement the salary increase directed by the North Gauteng High Court in November last year. Sars furthermore indicated that without additional funding from the National Treasury, the implementation of the ruling in full would necessitate more cost-cutting measures such as the non-filling of vacant posts, non-renewal of building leases, a strict travel approval process, voluntary severance packages, and possible retrenchments. Sars also issued an internal communiqué earlier this month, pleading with its employees to accept a once-off settlement of 2% back pay from April 2021 to March 2024 (36 months), and a 1% salary increase to the guaranteed total package as at 31 March 2021. It promised that should employees accept the offer, it would be processed this month. But according to the PSA, any settlement proposal should have been presented before the November judgment. The union has undertaken, with the majority members’ approval, to commence enforcement proceedings and get its legal team into action in coming days. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Loyiso Sidimba at Sunday Independent
Jana van Wyk appointed GM of Marula’s Southern African operations Mining Weekly reports that as part of Marula Mining’s continuing efforts to strengthen its executive management team, the company has appointed Jana van Wyk as GM of its Southern African operations, effective from 1 March. Van Wyk holds a BSc with Honours in Geology, Chemistry and Environmental Geology from North-West University. Over the past several years, she has gained significant experience in the Northern Cape, where the company’s Blesberg lithium and tantalum mine operates. Most recently, Van Wyk held the role of GM for South African copper producer Copper 360, where she was involved in mineral resource management and quality control from processing the final product. She also assisted in the company’s strategic planning and direction that transformed it from a minor copper producer to a medium-sized copper producer, and management of copper production from the solvent extraction and electrowinning copper plant. In her GM role in South Africa, Van Wyk will be responsible for the mineral resource management, engineering and maintenance programmes, and the health and safety aspects of the company’s Southern African operations and projects. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly
2024 Budget Speech: Solidarity proposes special priority fund In anticipation of the Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s national budget speech on Wednesday, Solidarity commented that no more hard-earned money could be taken from overtaxed South African citizens. According to Theuns du Buisson, economic researcher at the Solidarity Research Institute (SRI), the state does not have a problem with income, but rather a problem with its expenses. “Currently about a quarter of all money in circulation in South Africa is spent on taxes. It simply cannot continue like this. Minister Godongwana must realise that tax cannot make a country rich. Growth is needed and here with us it is urgently needed,” Du Buisson pointed out. In his view, one driver for growth would be to loosen the stranglehold of high taxes on the economy. “For this reason, the personal income tax bracket must be adjusted by more than inflation this year. Citizens, including our members, are under great financial stress. They certainly cannot afford to have their increase taxed more heavily than is already the case,” Du Buisson argued. As a way forward, Solidarity has proposed a special priority fund of approximately R5 billion that can be allocated annually to not only address one problem but to actively solve it. “If the priority fund is simply allocated to the relevant department, it forms part of the general budget of that department and creates an expectation that the money will be available again the next year. It is therefore important that it is handled separately. Our proposal is to first restore law and order by ensuring that the police’s equipment and vehicles are properly replenished. Next year the transport crises may be the priority and the following year infrastructure at schools may receive attention,” Du Buisson explained. Read Solidarity’s full press statement on the budget at Politicsweb. Lees ook, Begroting: Belasting nié die oplossing vir vinnig ryk word, pleit Solidariteit, by Maroela Media Other internet posting(s) in this news category
PSC slams government as citizen satisfaction nosedives, with most complaints against labour department Sunday Independent reports that the Public Service Commission (PSC) has slammed the government, including President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office, for being unresponsive in resolving some of South Africans’ most pressing needs. In its report dated December 2023 on the performance of national departments, the commission found that the overall level of citizen satisfaction declined in most services provided by the government. The report noted that the presidential hotline suggested that the government was unresponsive to the needs of the citizens it served, specifically on social benefits during the second quarter of the current financial year (2023/24). ”Statistics SA shows that local government is the least trusted sphere of government in seven of nine provinces with exception to Gauteng and Western Cape,” the PSC pointed out. The level of citizens’ satisfaction declined in most services such as public housing, policing, courts, home affairs, social security services, public schools, SA Revenue Service, and institutions of higher learning, according to Statistics SA. The commission said the Presidency reported that a total of 3,513 complaints were logged during the second quarter of the 2023/24 for both provincial and national departments. The Department of Employment and Labour had the most complaints with 1,335, and these related to social benefits. Included in the 3,513 complaints were only 681, or 19%, that have been resolved thus far nationally. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Loyiso Sidimba at Sunday Independent
Worst of hiring freeze is over, Western Cape health department assures health workers GroundUp reports that Dr Keith Cloete, head of the Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness, has told health workers in the province that the “severe and drastic measures” taken to “constrain the filling of posts” in the past three months has brought the department back within budget. He was speaking in a video update circulated to the department’s employees on Thursday. Health workers in the province have raised concerns over a “near-complete” freezing of vacant posts to curb budget cuts imposed by National Treasury. Initial cuts to provincial budgets and conditional grants that fund hospitals were made at the start of 2023/24 and were further exacerbated by in-year cuts. Provincial governments also had to absorb within their existing budgets a mandatory public sector wage increase. National Treasury recommended in November that provincial departments freeze hiring. Since November, posts in the Western Cape could only be filled on approval by head office, but Cloete said that those decisions will now be “decentralised” again. Line managers may again fill vacant posts on condition that they “apply their minds” and work within “a tight framework”, said Cloete. In January, there were report of significant staff shortages at Groote Schuur Hospital and Red Cross War Memorial Hospital. In Thursday’s update, Cloete said that the budget for the 2024/25 financial year had not yet been finalised, but budget cuts were expected to continue into the foreseeable future. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Daniel Steyn at GroundUp
Treasury’s Mampho Modise tipped as new Reserve Bank deputy governor Business Times reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to announce a high-ranking National Treasury official as the next deputy governor of the Reserve Bank, a crucial position whose incumbent immediately becomes a member of the powerful Monetary Policy Committee that decides on interest rates. According to insiders within and outside government, Mampho Modise, head of the public finance division at the Treasury, is the preferred candidate to occupy the position soon to be left vacant by Kuben Naidoo, whose six-month notice – or what the Bank calls “gardening leave” – ends on 31 May. Gardening leave is the period when a departing deputy governor is on leave but is not allowed to take full-time employment elsewhere. Modise is understood to be the preferred choice of Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, who is said to have lobbied hard for Naidoo’s replacement to come from the Treasury. The president is said to have privately indicated his preference for a black woman to the outgoing deputy governor. According to another insider, there was growing frustration at Ramaphosa's delay in announcing a new deputy governor as it raised further uncertainty in financial markets. Efficient Group economist Dawie Roodt commented that it would be a “good decision” to appoint someone from the Treasury with a proven track record as the two institutions engaged regularly on monetary as well as fiscal policy. Roodt added that the delay in appointing Naidoo's replacement and the impact on the market were “unfortunate”. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Khulekani Magubane at Business Times (subscriber access only)
Battle over new Transnet group CEO position after Michelle Phillips is recommended City Press reports that the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has not yet announced the new Transnet group CEO after the board conducted interviews and made its recommendations. Yet there is already wrangling behind the scenes about the candidates. Acting group CEO Michelle Phillips has been recommended, but according to some role players, interference allegedly forced the state-owned entity to flout the recruitment regulations. Apparently, the board was forced to abandon its initial shortlist of candidates in favour of candidates (including Phillips) suggested by highly influential and politically connected individuals. At the time that the Transnet board received the instructions, the entity had shortlisted and informed several candidates that it intended interviewing them. These included former Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) CEO Ravi Nair and former Transnet group chief operating officer Mlamuli Buthelezi. After being pressurised to ditch Nair and Buthelezi, the board then submitted three names, including that of Phillips. The problem said an insider was that Phillips did not meet the requirements, because she holds law qualifications. “The advertisement clearly states that the position requires someone with engineering or finance qualifications, which she doesn’t have,” said the source. The violation of recruitment rules and flouting of regulations have angered the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) and the United National Transport Union (Untu), which are calling for the process to be restarted. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Norman Masungwini at City Press (subscriber access only)
Paul Mashatile ‘shields’ his spokesman from sexual harassment scandal Sunday World reports that Deputy President Paul Mashatile and his chief of staff Mduduzi Mbada have been accused of tiptoeing for months around a sexual harassment complaint against his spokesperson, Vukani Mde. This comes after a senior female staffer in the office, reporting directly to Mde, last August complained about unwarranted sexual advances that Mashatile’s spin doctor made towards her. Since August last year, Mashatile and Mbada are believed to have failed to act on Mde until an independent investigator was appointed towards the end of last year. According to insiders, the complainant made a detailed submission and met the independent investigator, while Mde refused to be interviewed by the investigator with one excuse after another. On 7 December, the investigator submitted a report that found prima facie evidence of sexual harassment and recommended that Mde be immediately subjected to a disciplinary hearing. But to date, that has not happened, resulting in Mde’s political principals being accused by staff of delaying and playing political games. The alleged sexual harassment incidents took place between April and July last year, where Mde is alleged to have sent the victim “messages that are sexual in nature to her work cellphone number”. Further, Mde is accused of verbally passing comments that were unwelcome to the victim, “about her sex life and her looks”. “She still has to work with the same people, including the perpetrator, and no one is doing anything about creating a conducive working environment for the victim, who has to work to feed her family,” said a colleague. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mawande Amashabalala at Sunday World
Relocation of more than 880 families from Cape Town central railway line completed GroundUp reports that the temporary relocation of more than 880 families who illegally occupied the railway reserve in Philippi and Nyanga, Cape Town, has been completed. Their shacks next to the Stock Road train station in Philippi East were on land owned by the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (PRASA). People had settled on the railway line and rail reserve during the Covid lockdown in 2020, when many could no longer afford to pay rent as backyarders. Trains had already stopped running on the line in October 2019 because of theft and vandalism. The Central Line has been partially cleared up to Nyanga station, with the latest relocation, which began in December, as part of the plan to reinstate the remainder of the line – to Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha. At the temporary Stock Road site, the City of Cape Town has provided basic services such as water and portable toilets, but residents complain that there aren’t enough toilets and the supply of water is unreliable. PRASA spokesperson Andiswa Makanda explained on Thursday that because the relocation site was temporary, the households would later be moved to a permanent site “once the statutory processes have been finalised”. She went on to say: “The relocated households will allow PRASA to recover the infrastructure and restore services from Nyanga to Chris Hani [in Khayelitsha].” On the permanent relocation of 1,251 households occupying rail reserves in Langa to the Weltevreden site in Mitchells Plain, Makanda said this was dependent on the outcome of the rezoning application submitted to the City. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sandiso Phaliso at GroundUp
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