Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi on Friday said the trade union federation would fight for its independence and would not be used as a conveyor belt for the ANC. Vavi's comments came in the wake of President Jacob Zuma’s call for members of the tripartite alliance to be disciplined and accept decisions made by the ANC. Vavi made the comments while speaking to National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) members in Johannesburg as that union marked its 26th birthday. Vavi called on the ANC and the SA Communist Party (SACP) to provide the labour federation with room to criticise.

• This report is at EWN

Following a report on Thursday that a Boksburg scrap metal-factory was cordoned off after a bin containing radioactive material was discovered, Greenpeace Africa issued a statement expressing concern about the management of radioactive waste in SA, which it said needed to be overhauled. The organisation stated that the mining sector produced radioactive waste as a by-product, which has reportedly been polluting rivers close to the mines. It called on the National Nuclear Regulator to ensure that companies complied with the highest standard of disposing of radioactive waste and to provide a list of all licensed companies who transport radioactive material and metals.

• Greenpeace’s press statement is at Link2Media
• A short report on the factory incident is at EWN

Police officials had labelled last year's Marikana unrest as an "Amcu unrest", the Farlam Commission heard on Friday. Cross-examining Maj-Gen Charl Annandale, who headed the police tactical response team during the unrest, Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) lawyer Heidi Barnes said police documents spoke of "clashes between Amcu and security guards" and "clashes between Amcu and police." Annandale agreed that the Marikana unrest was not just wage-related, but also based on clashes between members of Amcu and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). Barnes pointed out that during a meeting with police on 13 August, Lonmin said the strikers were faceless people and was not even sure they were its employees. Annandale said he learnt from police intelligence officers and Lonmin officials that those involved in the unrest and those injured were Amcu members.

• This report is at The New Age

Workers at Lonmin's platinum mine in Rustenburg were back at work following a wildcat strike, the company said on Friday. "Employees are back at work this morning [Friday] and discussions are ongoing," said a spokeswoman. Workers affiliated to the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) went on an unprotected strike on Tuesday, demanding that the National Union of Mineworkers' (NUM’s) offices at Lonmin be shut down. They suspended the strike after Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa ordered them to return to work with immediate effect on Wednesday. Lonmin said 83% of workers returned to work for the night shift on Wednesday and 86% on Thursday morning. Sowetan reported on Friday that Mathunjwa, when he addressed union members on Wednesday, failed to tell them the Labour Court had declared the strike illegal.

• Read this report at Mail & Guardian

Business Report writes that economists have put the government’s relative inertia over the bubbling mining troubles in the platinum belt down to a lack of leadership skill and a failure to understand the new political dynamics operating in the mining sector. The government’s dilly-dallying over how to handle the crisis – including issuing a statement only yesterday calling for “unions to resolve their dispute amicably”, days after violence flared and most workers had gone back to work – has been ascribed to political paralysis because it is unable to understand the new dynamics of an angry, anti-ANC and anti-Cosatu union which has turned platinum mining into a political minefield. Pan African Capital economist Iraj Abedian said the government had underestimated “the order of magnitude that is involved”, while Meganomics economist Colen Garrow said that in the run-up to national elections due to be held next year, the governing party was wary of putting the wrong foot forward.

• Read this article at Business Report

The New Age reports that the SA Military Ombudsman is planning to establish a call centre to make his unit more accessible. Ombudsman, retired Lt-General, Themba Matanzima, said this would make communication easier for people on the ground to report wrongdoing by military staff and would help reduce walk-in complaints. The year-old ombudsman’s office has already registered more than 300 grievances from SA National Defence Force members since its establishment. The office has 11 staff members with a start-up budget of R10m, which has grown to R20m. Matanzima said his office was not replacing existing structures, but was creating room for amicable solutions to all grievances brought forward without favour or victimization of junior staff.

• Read this report on page 6 of Friday’s The New Age

EWN reports that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Thursday it doesn't expect the strike committee at Anglo American Platinum’s (Amplats’) operations in Rustenburg to get any support from the miners as it plans an illegal strike. The committee threatened to stop work to oppose a restructuring proposal which could see 6,000 workers lose their jobs. The committee said it would wait for an announcement by the company's CEO on Friday to determine whether the wildcat strike would go ahead. But the NUM’s Lesiba Seshoka said the move was bound to fail. “The so-called strike committee will not be supported by workers because we as a union rejected their proposal for a strike because it is illegal.” But the strike committee’s Godfrey Lindani insists miners have already been mobilised and are ready to strike.

• Read this report at EWN

A man has been arrested near Durban for the murder of the sangoma believed to have masterminded rituals performed on Marikana mineworkers, police consultant Makhosini Nkosi said on Thursday. The Hawks arrested the 28-year-old man from KwaMaphumulo, outside Pietermaritzburg, at KwaMashu Hostel on Tuesday night. He was linked to the murder of sangoma Alton Zikhuthele Joja, 69, also known as Ndzabe, and will appear in the Bizana Magistrate's Court on Friday. "The SA Police Service had wanted [Joja] to testify at the Marikana Commission regarding his alleged role in the rituals that made protesters believe they would be invisible and invincible in the face of gunfire," said Nkosi. The commission is investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 44 people in strike-related violence at Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana in August last year.

• Read at News24

Business Day reports that fractures are starting to show within the labour force at Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), with rival claims by factions about whether a strike would take place today. Mixed messages from an array of spokesmen claiming to represent workers at Amplats have created a distorted picture, reinforcing the view that self-seeking factions are vying with each other to capture workers’ loyalties. The demands from various worker representatives have ranged from calling on Amplats to halt plans to retrench up to 6,000 employees to increasing wages. Amplats is in talks with all recognised unions about restructuring as part of a formal process under the Labour Relations Act. The company has recognised the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) as the majority worker representative at its mines. Some of the demands have been made by members of "workers’ committees", unaffiliated structures that do not operate within formal channels.

• Read this report at BDLive

The Times writes that, as President Jacob Zuma orders more deployments of military personnel on deadly peacekeeping missions across Africa, the army is battling to deliver the manpower. With critical equipment the worse for wear and the infantry severely overstretched, the army is being asked to deliver well beyond its capabilities on its present budget. The army's commanders are hoping next week's defence budget review will give them some breathing space. Army chief Lieutenant-General Vusumuzi Masondo described the military's financial situation as "scary" in Pretoria yesterday, saying the army's R10bn budget was nowhere near enough. "You would be frightened to death to know what we really need to operate optimally and to fulfil our increasing mandates,” he stated.

• Read this report at Times Live
• See too, ‘Cash-strapped SANDF: Between a bullet and a budget’, at Daily Maverick