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 Friday morning roundup, see
summaries of our selection of recent South
African labour-related reports.
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Walter Sisulu University senior official shot dead at Mthatha campus gate News24 reports that a staff member of Walter Sisulu University (WSU) was shot dead at the Mthatha campus on Thursday evening. Eastern Cape police said the employee was discovered inside a stationary vehicle, near the Nkululekweni entrance gate adjacent to the N2 highway, just before 18:00. “Preliminary forensic analysis confirms the victim sustained multiple gunshot wounds while seated in the driver’s [seat]. The motive remains unknown,” said Brigadier Nobuntu Gantana. The identity of the deceased will be formally released once next-of-kin notification is complete, however according to a SABC News report, he was a senior WSU official. Acting provincial police commissioner Major General Thandiswa Kupiso said they had mobilised maximum resources to pursue all leads in the staff member’s murder. This was the second reported shooting at the campus in recent months. On 15 April, Bachelor of Education student Sisonke Mbolekwa was shot dead, allegedly by the university’s residence manager, Manelisi Mampane. Mampane, who was arrested on charges including murder and attempted murder, is currently out on R10,000 bail Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jenna Verster at News24 (subscription / trial registration required). Read too, Eastern Cape police investigate fatal shooting of senior WSU official, at SABC News Eastern Cape transport department crew robbed while repairing flood-damaged road in Cala News24 reports that a group of armed men robbed provincial transport department construction workers who were sent to repair a flood-damaged road in Cala in the Chris Hani district in the Eastern Cape. “The incident occurred in Cala late [on Wednesday] as the workers were out to attend to a rural bridge damaged by the recent floods in a village in Cala. A bakkie driven by a group of balaclava-clad men armed with rifles approached them while working at a nearby quarry,” Transport MEC Xolile Nqatha reported. He indicated that the men tied up the workers, demanded keys to their bakkie, and removed several tyres from their tipper truck. They loaded the tyres onto the stolen bakkie, and both vehicles sped off, leaving the crew stranded but unharmed. The incident came only days after Gift of the Givers Foundation aid workers were intimidated while providing essential aid to flood victims in Mthatha on Saturday. Police are now escorting Gift of the Givers teams when delivering aid to affected people. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Nicole McCain at News24 (subscription / trial registration required) Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Nehawu in Free State threatens strike if hazardous working conditions at Pelonomi Hospital aren’t addressed SABC News reports that National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) members in the Free State say Health MEC Matso Mahlatsi must address hazardous working conditions at the Pelonomi Hospital in Bloemfontein or they will go on strike. Workers also claim there is a shortage of staff and beds. Nehawu’s Free State secretary, Khauhelo Mnqibisa, indicated: “The demonstration (of members) also emphasized that there is a continuous experience of critical influx of patients while operating with severe staff shortage in a form of both clinical and non-clinical staff. This pressure has been exacerbated by the closure of some wards at National Hospital, which remained non-operational since the fire incident last year. As a result Pelonomi is bearing the burden of an overstretched system leaving its limited staff overwhelmed and struggling to meet the demands of patients care.” Read the original of the short report in the above regard at SABC News
Workers at Denel protest to demand payment of overdue 7% salary increase IOL News reports that workers of Denel, the state-owned arms manufacturer, picketed outside the company's head office in Centurion on Wednesday, demanding a 7% salary increment that was agreed upon almost a year ago. The workers affiliated to the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) said they had grown impatient with the delay in implementing the agreement. The picket coincided with a meeting between the workers' union representatives and the company's board members to discuss the ongoing dispute over salary increases. Numsa spokesperson Phakamile-Hlubi Majola indicated: “Workers have been denied increases for five financial years. They were promised 7% earlier this year by the executive management, but the board withdrew that proposal and offered an inflation-based increase instead.” Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim explained further that Wednesday’s meeting had not been intended to reopen negotiations, as an agreement on a salary increase had already been reached in 2024 with the engineering sector, which Denel fell under. He added: “All Denel needs to do is to implement that agreement. And they are basically delaying the implementation of that. In the recent past we engaged with the management and they would have agreed that they were running out of money last year. At the beginning of this year they made a commitment of 5% plus 2% which would have taken that to 7%. From where we are sitting making our own assessment it is the board that is playing delaying tactics.” He warned that if the board failed to meet the workers' demands, the union would call for the board to be dissolved. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Rapula Moatshe at IOL News. Lees ook, Numsa eis 7%-loonverhoging by Denel, by Maroela Media
Former Nehawu members form breakaway union News24 reports that fed up with what they describe as “tyranny”, at least 100 former National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) members have formed a breakaway union. The National Democratic and Servant Workers Union (Ndaswu) was founded after a meeting in Tshwane over the past weekend. One of the founding members, Zolani Masoleng, said a mass recruitment drive was in full swing in the Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng and Mpumalanga. According to Masoleng, some 1,000 members had been signed up in the first week. He indicated that one of the reasons that had prompted members to break away was that Nehawu no longer represented the needs and aspirations of its members. “Nehawu is no longer controlled by its members. There is a top-down approach. It has become painfully clear that Nehawu no longer represents the needs, priorities, and aspirations of a significant portion of its membership,” Masoleng claimed. Other reasons for cutting ties included a leadership deficit, alleged financial mismanagement, ineffective representation, neglect of sector-specific issues and a failure to support members. Masoleng said the new union would fill in gaps where Nehawu had no reach, including the private health sector, parastatals, higher education and artificial-intelligence based sectors. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Siyamtanda Capa at News24 (subscription / trial registration required)
Amid concerns over diversion of subscription fees, NUM braces for bruising elective conference BL Premium reports that the upcoming elective conference of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is set to be a bruising showdown between its president, Dan Balepile, and his deputy, Phillip Vilakazi. The conference is set to kick off in Boksburg on Tuesday. The NUM continues to be plagued by warring factions and its past two conferences were characterised by debilitating factional fights. With about 180,000 members, vastly diminished from its heyday of 300,000 members, NUM still manages vast resources. Meantime, the union’s leadership is swatting off dissatisfaction over the lifting of the suspension of a top Highveld regional leader accused of involvement in a scam in which subscriptions amounting to more than R11m were diverted. The leader is expected to attend next week’s meeting and the team investigating the matter has since been disbanded. There is a suspicion among members that Balepile and acting secretary-general Mpho Phakedi pushed for the suspension of the official to be lifted as they “may be involved”. A senior union leader commented: “The situation is very messy ... the factions want access to resources ... it’s all about money.” A second source said: “It has never happened in the history of NUM that subscriptions were diverted. It is causing serious problems in the union.” Politically, the conference is likely to take a firm decision on whether to support the SA Communist Party (SACP) in its bid to contest the upcoming local elections independently. Apparently, the groupings aligned to both Balepile and Vilakazi are likely to throw the union’s weight behind the SACP. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Natasha Marrian at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
Proposed new regulations threaten thousands of jobs in the beauty industry, Solidarity warns Maroela Media reports that according to Solidarity, draft new regulations that would require mandatory registration and licensing for specialists in the somatology industry threaten the future of numerous businesses in this field and could lead to unnecessary job losses. In a letter to the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, the trade union objected to the proposed regulations of the Allied Health Professions Council of SA (Ahpcsa). With the decision on the proposed regulations now resting with the minister, Solidarity has insisted that he should conduct a thorough consultation process beforehand and provide clear accompanying guidelines. According to Johan Roos, network organiser at Solidarity, there was insufficient consultation with interest groups in the industry before the regulations were drafted. “We do not object to regulation within the industry. However, these are unnecessary and excessive provisions that could lead to thousands of people losing their jobs and small businesses being forced to close their doors,” Roos stated. The regulations include the requirement that a somatologist may only operate from a registered practice and may no longer, as is currently the case, provide services such as laser treatment or sell specialised products from beauty salons or other premises. According to Solidarity, the mandatory registration would harm individuals, practices, and students, and would also entail high costs and complicated compliance requirements. Read the full original of the report in Afrikaans in the above regard at Maroela Media Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Panyaza Lesufi’s Nasi iSpani plagued by payment chaos as relaunch looms Daily Maverick reports that less than a month after Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi announced that his highly criticised Nasi Ispani employment recruitment initiative would be relaunched, more information on the initiative’s struggles to pay the Expanded Public Works Programme workers has come to light. In 2024, more than 4,000 workers in Lesufi’s “Green Army” project faced significant payment delays, with millions of rands having to be diverted from other departments to cover the stipend shortfalls. Now, as Lesufi pushes ahead with a controversial relaunch of the employment initiative, concerns have been sparked about its funding and sustainability. Lesufi’s Green Army project was launched unfunded in May 2024. Agriculture and Rural Development MEC Vuyiswa Ramokgopa has revealed that between June and November 2024, a total of 4,716 workers in the Green Army had not paid on time by both the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DA&RD) and the Department of the Environment (DOE). When the Nasi iSpani project ended abruptly in November last year (along with all other projects under the Nasi iSpani banner), it had already spent R73-million on the Green Army, an expenditure that left the DA&RDunable to pay service providers. Additionally, another R59-million had to be diverted from the DOE between September and November to pay the stipends of the 6,000 workers in the programme. In a statement on Tuesday, DA Shadow Agriculture MEC Bronwynn Engelbrecht demanded that before Lesufi relaunched Nasi iSpani, the premier had to ensure that “there is enough money to pay all workers on time and that money is not taken from the budgets of other service delivery programmes”. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lerato Mutsila at Daily Maverick
Terry Motau says he ‘did not participate’ in Nkabane’s panel that advised on SETA chair appointments News24 reports that advocate Terry Motau has disputed Higher Education and Training Minister Nobuhle Nkabane’s claim that he led a panel to assist her in appointing chairpersons of various Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETA) boards. In a letter to Nkabane, Motau states that he never met Nkabane regarding the process and never received any documentation relating to it. After initial reluctance, Nkabane disclosed to Parliament the names of the members of the advisory panel whom she claimed had assisted her with the controversial appointments. Among the names was Motau, who, according to the minister, was appointed to chair the five-person panel. However, she noted in her letter to the parliamentary oversight committee that he never attended any of the panel’s meetings. The SETA board appointments caused public outrage last month as a number of the appointees were either ANC members or somehow linked to the party. As frustrated MPs demanded transparency, Nkabane refused to name the panel that assisted her. Her stance only changed after President Cyril Ramaphosa asked her to submit a report about her conduct in Parliament and for her to give him the names of the panel. Meanwhile, the DA has referred Nkabane to the ethics committee, accusing her of misleading the committee when she stated that all members of the SETA chairpersons’ selection and evaluation panel were independent. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jason Felix at News24 (subscription / trial registration required). Lees ook, Nkabane nou ook by OB verkla, by Maroela Media Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Two-pot payouts surge to R57bn, with four million withdrawals and R15bn collected in taxes Moneyweb reports that retirement fund members have withdrawn nearly R57 billion from their savings since the implementation of the two-pot retirement system in September 2024, with almost four million withdrawals recorded to date. Under the two-pot system, one-third of contributions is allocated to a savings pot accessible before retirement, while two-thirds must be preserved in a retirement pot and annuitised upon retirement. Speaking at the 2025 Sanlam Benchmark event on Thursday, Edward Kieswetter, SA Revenue Service (SARS) Commissioner, revealed that the total amount of tax collected amounted to around R15 billion. Debt retained from those withdrawals was “just short of R1 billion”. Out of the nearly four million withdrawals, just short of 500,000 were repeat withdrawals. “This year, about 478,000 of people who dipped in last year came and dipped in again. And we expect that to continue because the financial distress people are in hasn’t changed,” Kieswetter indicated. Although the two-pot system was not without flaws, Kieswetter described it as a “healthy balance”. People are expected to prepare financially for the future, yet many struggle to meet basic needs today. National Treasury indicated in February 2025 that there was consideration to allow members to access a portion of their retirement savings if they were retrenched, but this would be subject to strict conditions, including proof that the individual had no other source of income after a specified period. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Liesl Peyper at Moneyweb Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Labour Court upholds dismissal of Standard Bank employee fired over dishonest balance sheet IOL News reports that a former employee of Standard Bank has lost an appeal at the Johannesburg Labour Court following his dismissal for dishonesty after submitting a false balance sheet. Banele Mbuyane was employed as a treasury custodian and worked under the supervision of N Nkosi, with both responsible for handling cash received from the security company SBV. The protocol required that any discrepancies in cash amounts received be rectified immediately, with accurate balance sheets generated to reflect the true cash status. The chain of events began in October 2019, when a delivery of coin from SBV was weighed by Mbuyane, revealing a shortfall in one of the bags. After discussing the matter with Nkosi, they agreed on the shortfall, with Nkosi instructing Mbuyane to return the erroneous bag during the next delivery from SBV. However, in a breach of protocol, Nkosi advised him that the system would still record the original full amount, rather than the reduced quantity actually received. The truth of their misrepresentation surfaced during a surprise cash inspection by the bank’s risk mitigation team. The inspection revealed that three bags were short, prompting an internal disciplinary enquiry that ultimately confirmed Mbuyane's dismissal alongside Nkosi. Mbuyane turned to the CCMA, where it was ruled that his dismissal was both substantively and procedurally fair. He then appealed to the Labour Court. Judge Robert Lagrange presided over the matter and looked at Mbuyane's arguments and the arbitrator's reasoning for dismissing his application. The arbitrator had found that Mbuyane actively participated in making the misrepresentation, that he had been dishonest, and his actions had been a serious misconduct. Judge Lagrange affirmed that the findings regarding Mbuyane’s misconduct were reasonable based on the evidence provided. "That said, it does not mean that another reasonable arbitrator could not have concluded, on the same evidence, that the sanction of dismissal was too harsh," said the judge. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sinenhlanhla Masilela at IOL News
Eastern Cape cop back at work after pleading guilty to armed robbery, 12 more still on duty in province despite criminal records Daily Maverick reports that a Nelson Mandela Bay police officer who pleaded guilty – in a disciplinary hearing – to charges of armed robbery, possession of stolen property and the possession of an unlicensed firearm has returned to work after a two-month suspension. The officer, who had been working in the child protection unit at the Mount Road Police station has, however, been redeployed to a different police station. According to Eastern Cape MEC for Community Safety, Xolile Nqatha, the criminal matter was still ongoing. He also confirmed that 12 police officers with criminal convictions were currently serving in the SA Police Service (SAPS) in the province, and 217 cases involving police officers were under investigation. However, the DA’s Yusuf Cassim said there were serious irregularities with the officer’s disciplinary hearing. He said the hearing was chaired by a captain despite the SAPS Discipline Regulations of 2016 requiring that an officer with the rank of brigadier or higher had to chair such a case. “This breach raises serious questions about other disciplinary cases that have allowed convicted criminals to remain in positions where they are supposed to enforce the very laws they have been found guilty of breaking,” he stated. “I will be writing to the National Commissioner to request a comprehensive review of all SAPS members with criminal convictions or pending criminal charges in the Eastern Cape, including an examination of the disciplinary processes followed in each case and whether these processes complied with national regulations,” Cassim indicated. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Estelle Ellis at Daily Maverick Other internet posting(s) in this news category
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