Shareholder activist Theo Botha responds to a letter from Absa on 14 May under the headline “Most shareholders support pay policy”. He agrees that the wording of the bank’s remuneration policy follows the literal requirements of local and international regulations. But the substance is that shareholders should be able to hold the remuneration committee to account, based on the information furnished, which is not possible with Absa because no key performance indicators (KPIs) or KPI weightings are provided for the executive directors or executive committee members.

• Read Botha’s letter at Business Report

Business leader Bobby Godsell has proposed that SA establish an independent commission into executive pay, which he says is excessive and lacks transparency. He says a similar body is needed such as the independent UK High Pay Commission, the recent recommendations of which include a proposal that executives be paid basic salaries with only one performance-related element.

• This report is on page 2 of today’s Business Day print edition (no internet posting)

• Also reported at Business Report

Minimum wages in SA are said to increasingly be a big headache, with more research coming to the fore that they are causing big problems for the economy. Recent research by economist Mike Schüssler indicated that minimum wages are an important reason for the very high unemployment rate. This has been indirectly confirmed by new research by Cape Town University’s Development Policy Research Unit (DPRU), which shows that 44% of workers are not paid the legally required minimum wages they are entitled to, in part because they are set too high.

• Lees meer by Sake24

South African protesters have become more violent in the last few years and the violent protests which occurred during the apartheid era have made a comeback over the past five years. According to statistics compiled by the SA Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), there have been over a thousand incidents of unrest during strikes since last year. According to the Institute’s Anthea Jeffery, because there has never been a penalty for violence during strikes, it has continued.

• Read this report at The Citizen

The roads crisis in Free State has worsened to such an extent that a popular hotel has had to close its doors and more than 100 workers have lost their jobs. The Little Switzerland resort near Harrismith has closed down because of the bad state of the R74, which makes it impassable for guests. The province relies heavily on tourism and it is feared the generally bad state of the roads will cost it dearly.

• Lees meer by Volksblad

Writing for the Sunday Independent under the heading ‘DA’s youth wage subsidy a bogus, knee-jerk solution’, Cosatu’s Zwelinzima Vavi defends the federation’s record as regards initiatives and efforts to create jobs. On the youth wage subsidy promoted by the Democratic Alliance, he argues that it will only serve to line the pockets of employers. He says they will employ young workers while retrenching an equal or greater number of older workers and thus create no more jobs overall.

• Read Vavi’s article on page 16 of today’s Sunday Independent print edition

• Read there too, ‘Why we will keep on marching for the youth subsidy’, by the DA’s Mmusi Maimane

• Excerpts from Vavi’s article are also at SA Labour News

Nicola Theunissen writes that the mining industry often overlooks the psychological impact of mine accidents and the mental wellbeing of workers. Abnormal working conditions and traumatic incidents expose employees to psychosocial triggers that can cause post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression and anxiety. While some mining companies do employ mental health professionals and provide in-house services, others do not have any support in place. The Chamber of Mines does not run any collective programmes or conduct any research studies on this.

• Read more on page 17 of today’s Sunday Independent print edition (no internet posting)

Recognising that very few can retire comfortably, the government wants to reform the retirement industry, with the Treasury to release a series of discussion papers this year. The proposals will deal with a lack of universal access to approved retirement savings vehicles, low levels of preservation of funds until the retirement age, high costs by service providers and a generally apathetic attitude towards providing for retirement among South Africans.

• Read more at Times Live

About 50 protesters overturned bins and trashed the Besters taxi rank in Phoenix, north of Durban, today. This incident was believed to be related to the taxi strike, which started in the city centre on Thursday and continued on Friday. About 60 people have been arrested since the start of the strike. The city streets were quiet today with no taxis operating or protesters visible.

• This report is at The New Age

• See too,’ Taxis banned from Durban’, at IOL News

ICT company Gilima this week announced pending retrenchments and commentator Mandy de Waal says the more things change for the company, the more they seem to stay the same. Gilima called the retrenchments a “people optimisation process to improve efficiency”, with this streamlining “enhancement” to see 8% to 12% of the company’s about 3,000 people lose their jobs. This means between 250 to 350 people will be “optimised” to improve efficiencies.

• Read this article at Daily Maverick