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.
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)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page