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 Thursday morning roundup, see
summaries of our selection of recent South
African labour-related reports.
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With thousands of jobs on the line, Gwarube seeks urgent meeting with finance counterpart over education budget crisis BusinessLive reports that Department of Basic Education (DBE) Minister Siviwe Gwarube has requested an urgent meeting with Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana as provincial education departments scramble to manage a collective budget shortfall of R28.7bn for the current fiscal year. Godongwana and Treasury officials are finalising the medium-term budget policy statement, due to be announced on 30 October. Gwarube said she had requested a ‘ten by ten’ meeting between herself, Godongwana, the nine MEC’s of education along with their counterparts in Treasury. “We must work together ... to unlock additional funds to alleviate the pressures facing the education sector, even if it is for the short term, and to prevent further cuts to teaching posts and critical support services like school nutrition and transport,” Gwarube said at a media briefing on Wednesday. Provincial education departments raised the alarm about the budget pressures facing the sector in parliament in August, warning that tens of thousands of teachers’ jobs were on the line. While none of the provinces were planning retrenchments, many would be reducing the number of funded posts, Gwarube said. She called for a government-wide review of its spending plans. “In my view, you have to prioritise the things that matter the most – teaching, healthcare, policing. We... cannot fund things that are not critical,” she argued, while pointing out that the government spent R331bn bailing out state-owned enterprises from 2013 to 2023 Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive. Lees ook, Nasionale onderwys krisis dreig oor begrotingstekort, by Maroela Media. En, Omvattende bestedingsoorsig gevra, by Maroela Media In a sea of unemployment, cutting the education budget 'is a disaster', Archbishop warns TimesLIVE reports that the Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, says the government's failure to increase funding for provincial basic education departments to cover the full costs of salary increases has thrown the education sector into a funding crisis. According to the Western Cape education department, 2,400 teaching posts would be cut in 2025 because of a R3.8bn budget shortfall over the next three years. “In the sea of unemployment in which we are drowning, cutting education budgets spells disaster. If we are to educate a modern workforce, we should be increasing investment in education, not reducing it. Adopting 'austerity measures' in the fields of education, health and social welfare is a recipe for trouble,” Makgoba said at the opening of the church's 37th session of the provincial synod in the Western Cape. Makgoba, who heads the Anglican Church of Southern Africa – which includes dioceses in SA, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and St Helena – said the effects of unemployment, low wages and poor economic growth were seen in the shocking levels of poverty in the different nations. According to Makgoba, by any definition, great numbers of people are chronically poor and vulnerable. “South Africa, a country blessed by natural resources, is blighted by the fact that nearly 40% of people earn less than R65 a day and 60% earn less than R125,” he pointed out. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Shonisani Tshikalange at TimesLIVE ANC’s alliance partners call for education minister Gwarube to be fired over Bela Act signing boycott Mail & Guardian reports that the ANC’s alliance partners have called for President Cyril Ramaphosa to fire basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube for failing to attend the signing of the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act. The leaders of Cosatu and the SA Communist Party (SACP) called for Gwarube’s head during the 10th elective congress of the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu), being held in Boksburg. Hours before the Bela Act signing ceremony, Gwarube issued a statement saying she had written to Ramaphosa to notify him that she could not attend the ceremony until her concerns regarding the bill were addressed. Gwarube said she had always been, and remained, opposed to the bill in its current form and had requested that Ramaphosa to refer it back to parliament for reconsideration. Instead, the president agreed to hold the implementation of two contentious sections of the Act for 90 days while discussions took place around how to address the impasse. Gwarube has undertaken to implement the rest of the Act while this process takes place. But, according to SACP’s Solly Mapaila, Ramaphosa should have fired Gwarube for defying him. He also supported Sadtu’s decision not to invite Gwarube to the congress as she had “no interest in the public, but the DA”. Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi said it would have been incorrect for Sadtu to invite Gwarube due to her disrespect for the president in boycotting the signing of the Act and that the union’s frustration was understandable. “I don’t think that Sadtu did anything wrong by not inviting the minister because, if you have a minister that is disregarding the president, what would she come here and say? Losi asked. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lunga Mzangwe at Mail & Guardian Doublespeak: Gwarube and Mashatile appear to be at odds over teacher remuneration News24 reports that according to the Department of Basic Education (DBE) Minister Siviwe Gwarube, the public wage bill has seen unsustainable increases that consistently outpaced inflation over the past 15 years. "While we must fairly compensate public servants, these above-inflation increases have rendered the public wage bill unaffordable," Gwarube told a media briefing on Wednesday. But barely an hour later, Deputy President Paul Mashatile told delegates attending the SA Democratic Teachers Union's (Sadtu’s) tenth national congress that teachers worked very hard and "it must be up to us, as the leadership, to make sure that we deal with the conditions of employment of teachers and, dare I say, including better remuneration for teachers". His comments triggered loud applause. Mashatile did not tell congress delegates by when he would like better remuneration for teachers or how this would be achieved. Meantime, the National Professional Teachers' Organisation of SA (Naptosa) said that Gwarube's comments were "out of touch with the reality of how things are in teaching". Gwarube's spokesperson, Lukhanyo Vangqa, said the reality was that the public sector has traditionally seen above-inflation wage increases. He went on to say: "The minister also wishes to see a future in which our teachers receive better salaries and other benefits. However, now, the country is not in a fiscal position to be able to achieve that. We need a growing economy and an improving tax base to be able to get to that point." In his view, Gwarube and Mashatile "do not disagree on the facts of the wage bill nor on the desire to improve teachers' conditions of employment. This is simply a matter of how these competing priorities are communicated." Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Prega Govender at News24 (registration required) Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Huawei's SA workforce is now majority local, from 90% foreign two years ago Fin24 reports that in two years, tech giant Huawei transitioned from having 90% of its employee base in SA as foreign nationals to employing mostly local people. As of March 2024, 56% of Huawei's staff contingent in SA consisted of local people, while 44% were foreign nationals, according to data supplied by Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) Minister Nomakhosazana Meth in reply to a parliamentary question. The DEL took Huawei to court in February 2022, claiming that the Chinese-headquartered company violated local employment equity policies by failing to meet local employment quotas. A month later, the parties jointly announced an out-of-court settlement after the DEL accepted Huawei's employment equity plan, which aimed to increase the representation of South Africans to above 50% within three years. Huawei SA has now surpassed that target ahead of time. The data supplied by Meth indicated that foreign nationals had a greater share of top and senior management positions than was average in the company as a whole. Based on the data, 60% of top management, 53% of senior management, and 64% of professionally qualified middle management positions were held by foreign nationals. Some 65% of skilled technical and junior management roles were held by locals, and there were no foreign nationals employed at the lowest, semi-skilled, level in the organisation. Meth said that the DEL would keep an eye on local employment in management at the company. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by William Brederode at Fin24 (registration required) Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Home Affairs manages to clear ID backlog of nearly 250,000 in five weeks BL Premium reports that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) said in a statement on Wednesday that it has cleared a backlog of nearly 250,000 identity documents in one month. The backlog started to accumulate in November 2023 following a change in IT service providers, which created a bottleneck in multiple areas in the production value chain. As a result, nearly a quarter of a million applications became ‘stuck’ in a growing backlog. The statement indicated: “As part of the department’s commitment to clearing backlogs and enhancing efficiency, on August 21 2024, home affairs consolidated all of the ‘stuck’ IDs into a single database in order to systematically clear the backlog. On that day, there were 247,500 IDs in the backlog. Today, on September 25 2024, the number is zero, with the backlog completely eradicated.” DHA Minister Leon Schreiber commented: “The clearing of the ID backlog, which had been accumulating since November 2023, within a single month, serves as yet more tangible proof that long-standing challenges at home affairs can be resolved when we work in a systematic and focused manner. This achievement, alongside our progress in reducing the visa backlog, reforming regulations to attract tourism, skills and investment, as well as the important initial steps we are taking towards digital transformation, should lead to growing confidence in our ability to drive the reforms required for home affairs to deliver dignity to all.” Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Linda Ensor at BusinessLive (subscriber access only). Lees ook, Amper 250,000 ID’s in ʼn maand verwerk, by Maroela Media
Border control authority short of funds and manpower, says Home Affairs Minister Schreiber BL Premium reports that the organisation meant to secure SA’s borders and control the movement of people and goods into and out of the country will be short of R4,35bn in funding over the next three years. This means the Border Management Authority (BMA) cannot employ sufficient staff to meet its requirements and invest in the technology used by border authorities globally. Critics have frequently raised alarm at what they call “porous” borders which facilitate the influx of illegal immigrants and goods into SA. The BMA, which was formally established in 2023, is responsible for border law enforcement related to port health, immigration control, access control, biosecurity, food safety and phytosanitary control, and land border infrastructure at all 71 of SA’s land, air and maritime ports of entry. Its establishment created a single command and control structure and replaced the previous multi-agency system. In a written reply to a parliamentary question. Department of Home Affairs (DHA) Minister Leon Schreiber said the shortfall in funding was a result of the BMA not receiving the full amount requested from National Treasury. Schreiber pointed out the total human resource structure for the BMA was 11,115 but at end-June 2024 only 2,566 positions were filled leaving 8,549 posts vacant. Another reason for the shortfall, Schreiber said, was that transferring departments had only transferred an accurate budget to pay staff salaries, but not the full budget for goods and services. The R4,35bn shortfall over three years included R3,2bn for human resources, R757m for information, communication and technology and R350m for tools and trade. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Linda Ensor at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
Take-home pay for August showed first ‘real’ improvement since 2020 BL Premium reports that amid persistently high inflation, any increases South Africans saw in their salaries over the past few years failed to keep up with the pace at which prices were rising, ultimately leaving households worse off. But after five consecutive months of improvement, take-home pay in SA is now on track to beat inflation for the first time since 2020. According to BankservAfrica’s take-home pay index for August released on Wednesday, the average nominal take-home pay for the four million salary earners surveyed was up 6.7% year-on-year to R16,582. In real terms, salaries adjusted for inflation were up 1.9% on year-ago levels. Average nominal take-home pay for the first eight months of 2024 was up 6.6% compared with the same period in 2023 and 1.3% in real terms. “These numbers suggest 2024 is likely to be the best year for salaries since 2020 – or the first year in which the increase in average nominal take-home pay beats inflation since 2020. This improvement in purchasing power will go some way to provide much-needed relief to cash-strapped households and could provide support for consumer spending,” independent economist Elize Kruger commented. Consumer inflation has moderated markedly in 2024, dropping from an average of 6.9% and 6% in 2022 and 2023 respectively, to 4.4% in August. The SA Reserve Bank now expects inflation to average 4.6% in 2024 (down from 4.9% previously), with fourth-quarter inflation forecast to average 3.6%. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Denene Erasmus at BusinessLive (subscriber access only) Hit in real terms to pension payments in first eight months of 2024 BusinessTech reports that pension payments in SA dropped in real terms over the first eight months of 2024 – whereas take-home pay continued to trend upwards. The BankservAfrica Private Pensions Index (BPPI), which tracks the pension payments of about 700,000 pensioners, moderated in both nominal and real terms in August 2024. The BPPI reflects only pension payments to actual pensioners. “The average nominal private pension subsided to R11,122 in August 2024, lower than the previous month, but still up from January’s R10,868, and still 3.4% higher than a year earlier,” BankservAfrica’s Shergeran Naidoo reported. In real terms, the average BPPI for August 2024 moderated every month and dipped 1.0% below a year prior. When comparing the average nominal BPPI for the first eight months of 2024 to the prior corresponding period, a 4.9% increase can be seen. That said, the real BPPI declined marginally in the first eight months of 2024 compared to the corresponding period in 2023. Meantime, the BankservAfrica Take-home Pay Index (BTPI), which tracks the average nominal take-home pay among an estimated 4 million salary earners in SA, improved for the fifth month in August. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luke Fraser at BusinessTech
Discovery’s remuneration for its top five executives topped R205m in the 2024 financial year Moneyweb reports that the top five executives at financial services group Discovery Holdings received total remuneration of R205 million in the last financial year to 30 June. This included executive directors Adrian Gore (CEO), Deon Viljoen (CFO), and Barry Swartzberg, as well as Hylton Kallner (CEO of Discovery Bank) and Neville Koopowitz (Vitality Group CEO and CEO of Vitality UK). Kallner and Koopowitz ceased being executive directors on 1 March 2023 and transitioned to being prescribed officers. However, the group still disclosed their remuneration alongside that of executive directors. Despite being group CEO, Gore received the third-highest remuneration, namely R30.7 million, during the 2024 financial year. Gore’s base salary for FY24 was R8.4 million, a 5% increase on the FY23 figure. He was paid a performance bonus of R9.1 million and received cash-settled and equity-settled incentives from the group’s long-term incentive plan totalling R11.4 million. Other benefits, which include medical aid contributions, travel and other allowances, totalled nearly R500,000. Kallner received total remuneration of R50 million, of which nearly half, R22.7 million, was a performance bonus. With the bank tracking ahead of plan in its path to profitability, that was no surprise. Koopowitz received the highest remuneration across the group (R78.7 million), but this is distorted because his salary and performance bonus were both paid in pound sterling. His salary alone equated to R24 million. When compared to FY23, at R204 million, the total remuneration for executives in FY24 was roughly in line. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Moneyweb
Three former and present Renosterberg municipal managers up for R73.5m pension fund fraud SowetanLive reports that the mayor of a Northern Cape municipality whose senior managers are being hauled to court over R73.5m of workers’ pension contributions that were never paid to fund administrators says employees hoping to take advantage of the two-pot system may not be able to because of the municipality’s financial problems. Renosterberg mayor Andrew Samson also said those who have reached retirement age may not get their full savings because the municipality has not been consistent with making contributions towards workers’ pensions due to its precarious financial position brought on by residents who fail to pay for services. “Given the fact that we are behind with the pension fund, which is a reality that I won’t hide, at this moment we won’t be able to [ensure that the workers draw from the two-pot or get money upon retirement],” Samson said. Last week, the Hawks in Northern Cape served summons on two former employees and a current employee of the municipality to answer as to why R73.5m of workers’ pension monies were never paid to the funds’ administrators. The 44-year-old former acting municipal manager, the current unit manager at the municipality, 50, and the 51-year-old former municipal manager, have been charged with fraud/theft, contravention of Municipal Finance Management Act and Pension Funds Act. The municipality failed to pay contributions between 2018 and 2023. The Municipal Workers Retirement Fund is owed R15m in unpaid contributions for 47 employees from the municipality. The SA Municipal Workers’ Union said the municipality has not been able to make basic obligations to employees for some period now and that there was a time they were unpaid for months. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Botho Molosankwe at SowetanLive North West municipal employees raise concerns about pension fund irregularities SABC News reports that employees of the Ngaka Modiri Molema Municipality have registered their concerns after discovering inconsistencies with their pension funds held under the Municipal Employees Pension Fund (MEPF). Despite contributing 7.5% of their salaries to the fund, many employees in the North West municipality were shocked to find that their pension funds were allegedly not available. They made this discovery when they started to inquire about the new ‘two-pot’ system. This has left employees deeply concerned about the management of their retirement funds. According to Ngaka Modiri mayor Khumalo Molefe, the municipality has been contributing an additional 22% towards the employees’ pensions. However, the MEPF says the municipality’s contributions were directed towards administration fees rather than the actual pension fund. According to Molefe, they have taken the matter to court. Cosatu in the province also expressed concern over the issue, with provincial secretary Kopano Konopi indicating: ”It is a cause for concern for us and we are going to call on all our unions so that they can a survey to say which of the employers are defaulting in terms of the payment of the third parties. Because sometimes you arrive at Sars you want to declare in terms of tax returns they will tell you the last time that the employer has transferred the money it’s a year or two. You go on retirement or somebody dies in the family. You’ll only discover at the time the money has not been paid over to the fund administrator and it is something that we must look at it.” Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tsholofelo Mogami at SABC News
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