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Tuesday, 23 April 2019 06:35

Sowetan reports that the Free State’s Kopanong local municipality has failed to pay an estimated R58m in pension fund contributions collected from municipal workers over the past six years to the workers’ pension fund. This emerged from an investigation by the Pension Funds Adjudicator following complaints by three of the many affected municipal workers. Your employer is obliged to pay over the contributions it collects from your salary as well the employer contributions (that form part of your salary package) to your pension fund. But many employers fail to do so, contravening the Pension Funds Act in what amounts to theft of employees’ money.

And the failure of the board of trustees and the administrator of the South African Local Authorities Pension Fund, Fairsure Administration, to take action to force the Kopanong municipality to pay over the money has annoyed adjudicator Muvhango Lukhaimane, who has been campaigning against trustees and administrators who do nothing to stop employers who plunder members’ savings. In the Kopanong case, Fairsure told the adjudicator that the municipality had not paid contributions since March 2013 even though it sent monthly communiques to the municipality regarding the unpaid contributions. Lukhaimane says Fairsure indicated it was discussing the matter with a lawyer, but it did not appear to have taken any legal steps against the municipality.

The adjudicator says the fund’s trustees ought to have advised the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, which regulates the financial services industry, of the municipality’s failure to pay contributions and should have taken action to remedy the nonpayment. Lukhaimane has also been critical of the fund for failing to get the name of the person at the municipality who could be held personally liable for the nonpayment of contributions and whose assets could be attached if the money was not paid over.

The fund needs to be proactive to ensure accountability and to better protect the interests of members, she adds. The administrator was unable to confirm arrear contributions for each individual member of the fund and could only say that the municipality was in arrears to the tune of R58.4m.

You have the right to receive regular information about your pension fund benefits from your fund. The rules governing contributions, the rate at which contributions must be deducted, and how often they must be paid to your fund are contained in the rules of your pension fund which the adjudicator describes as “supreme” and “binding on officials, members, shareholders and beneficiaries of a fund”. Lukhaimane has ordered the municipality to provide the fund with contribution schedules for the employees who complained to her within two weeks of the determination. She has also ordered the municipality to pay the members’ arrears contributions to the fund, with interest, so that the fund could update the records of the affected members. The fund was further ordered to provide the members with a breakdown of their contributions and their latest benefit statements within eight weeks of the determination and to continue to provide benefit statements as long as they remained with the fund. The municipality did not respond when the adjudicator sent it the complaints.

The original of this report by Charlene Steenkamp appeared on page 18 of Sowetan of 18 April 2019

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Tuesday, 16 April 2019 04:42

Business Times reports that Sibanye-Stillwater's plans to take over Lonmin and become the world's largest platinum producer will not be derailed by trade unions, CEO Neal Froneman said last week.

Though the deal will give his company more exposure to the Association of Mineworkers & Construction Union (Amcu), Froneman is not shying away.

"We've just shown them that in two days we can raise R4bn, which gives us R10bn on the balance sheet. It's a little bit of a message to the unions as well that we can access money under the right conditions," he said.

Sibanye tapped shareholders for nearly R2bn and got almost as much from a forward gold sale arrangement with Citibank.

Amcu has been on strike at Sibanye's gold operations for almost five months, casting a shadow over the upcoming wage negotiations in the platinum sector, where it is the dominant union. In 2014 Amcu dragged out a strike in the platinum sector for five months.

"[Even] if the strike continues, and potentially there's another strike in [platinum] they [Sibanye] can stay afloat," said Mergence Investment Managers analyst Thobela Bixa.

Sibanye's US business could be its most useful weapon. Two years ago Sibanye acquired Stillwater, a platinum group metals producer. Froneman said: "I think that further balance sheet strengthening will come from cash flow generation, more specifically out of our US business, which is actually performing quite well at the moment."

Sibanye started off as a South African gold producer when it was spun out of Gold Fields in 2013. It has since built a portfolio of platinum assets, buying some of Anglo American Platinum's mines as well as Aquarius Platinum.

The deal with Lonmin — an all-share offer valued at around R5.2bn — will give it capacity to comfortably produce more than 2-million ounces of platinum a year, making it the world's largest miner of the metal.

But gold has been a problem, mostly due to the strike. Amcu is not the majority union at Sibanye's gold operations, according to an independent verification process.

Amcu previously said the process was flawed. On Friday Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa said the strike would continue.

Old Mutual Invest analyst Meryl Pick sees Amcu's hard line at Sibanye's gold mining business as a "power play more about the platinum assets. The strike in gold seems to have been a warning shot by Amcu."

The union has appealed the decision by competition authorities to approve Sibanye's takeover of Lonmin. And it wants a two-year moratorium on job cuts. Froneman and analysts see the deal going through. He is not known for backing down. "If we have to hold out, we'll hold out for as long as is needed."

The original of this report by Ntando Thukwana and TJ Strydom appeared on page 1 of Sunday Times Business Times of 14 April 2019

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Thursday, 11 April 2019 12:01

The Sunday Independent reports that employees of Johannesburg City Library are up in arms over what they claim is the failure by their employer to stick to the agreement reached with their union last year.

The staff members, who include librarians, assistants and general workers, have alleged the City of Johannesburg has breached a settlement agreement reached with the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu).

The council runs between 90 and 100 libraries in greater Joburg.

Disgruntled workers say they have not been paid for overtime worked since operating hours were extended from 9am-1pm to 9am-5pm on July 4, 2017, by mayor Herman Mashaba.

They are also demanding the refunding of deductions taken from their salaries when they refused to work on Saturdays because the city was not calculating their overtime rates on scales that they were happy with.

Workers have sent a letter to the city in which they accuse the employer of violating parts of a settlement agreement reached on November 6, 2018, with Imatu.

At the time of publishing 7 Apruil), The Sunday Independent had not received a response from city manager Dr Ndivhoniswani Lukhwareni to questions sent by e-mail via spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane.

Since the breaches allegedly occurred before March 13, 2019, in terms of the settlement, the union has the right to rally its members to go on strike.

Imatu Joburg regional chairperson Mark-Lee Gericke could not be reached for comment after several attempts to reach him proved futile.

However, one staffer close to the matter, who insisted on anonymity, confirmed, “No, we are not planning a strike.”

Workers also accuse the city of violations relating to six-day employees who were not remunerated with overtime pay for working extended Saturday hours beyond the 45-hour week, as stipulated by section 35(2)(a) and (b)of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act of 1997. They also claim money deducted from salaries in March-May 2018 was not reimbursed, the city failing to refund money docked from employee salaries during the period August 1, 2018-October 31, 2018, and November 2018. Salaries being docked by the city in violation of clause 5.1.9 of the November settlement, which stated: “The employer undertakes not to process any salary deductions for the period of 1 August 2018 to 31 October 2018.”

The city is also accused of breaking its commitment to repay all money docked from employee salaries by no later than January 31, 2019, which staffers say has not happened.

“Payments did not reflect on 31st January 2019 pay slips as per agreement until staff went to HR to investigate,” reads the letter.

The November settlement – clause 5.1.16 – also spelt out that there will be “no victimisation” of employees employed by the city. But staffers said that registers had been tampered with by top management to victimise them.

The city had for the past 18 months, since July 2017, refused to pay staffers for overtime work done on Saturdays when library operating hours were extended.

Sifiso Mbambo, a librarian and Imatu shop steward, said: “They started with a pilot project for one month in June 2017. During the pilot project, they paid us for working on Saturday, the overtime scale. During implementation, they did not pay for Saturday work.”

City of Johannesburg MMC for Community Development Department Nonhlanhla Sifumba, confirmed this, “The pilot was in June 2017, and the implementation started in July 2017.”

From August 2017, library employees stayed away from work, demanding to be paid on an overtime pay scale on Saturdays.

Consequently, the city’s human resources division began to dock the salaries of staffers in September-October 2017 who stayed away from work on Saturdays. Workers claim amounts ranging between R700 and up to R17 000 were deducted from their salaries between September 2017 and December 2018.

The deductions, which were regarded as “unlawful” by unions and employees, prompted the labour unions to apply for a certificate to strike, which the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration granted.

However, a strike and shut-down of public libraries in Johannesburg was averted when a settlement was entered into on November 6, 2018, between Imatu and the city.

Workers have demanded the reimbursement “in full (tax free)” of all salaries docked, that JCL employees who worked extended hours in November 2018 to be paid.

They also demanded that overtime to be remunerated “from 8am-5pm on Saturdays” instead of the current regime of overtime pay from 1pm-5pm.

The original of this report by Sipho Mabaso appeared on page 2 of The Sunday Independent of 7 April 2019

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Thursday, 11 April 2019 11:13

Sowetan reports that all doctors and nurses could soon be subjected to annual TB tests as health minister Aaron Motsoaledi ups the ante on the rampant infection.

Speaking at the University of Cape Town, Motsoaledi said the long-awaited policy to protect health workers against TB could become a reality after the May 8 elections. The policy, which has been in the pipeline for three years, is meant to address the fact that the TB infection rate of 21% among SA health workers is second only to China’s rate of 30%.

TB is the leading cause of death in SA and affects 60% of HIV-positive people.

Addressing UCT academics and students during a memorial lecture in honour of infectious disease specialist Stephen Lawn, who died of cancer in 2016, Motsoaledi said despite SA being one of the most developed countries in Africa with advanced medicine, it was still crippled by TB.

He said the country would start screening every clinic patient in an effort to identify the 160,000 TB patients believed to be undiagnosed, untreated and infectious.

“We have undertaken to find at least half of these, or 80,000, by the end of next year. You can imagine the number that is still out there with TB, which is not followed up. That is why we emphasise that the health system must put more emphasis on primary health than it is doing today,” he said.

The department had already started intensifying its TB contact-tracing programme, and between April and December 2018 it found 38,000 people who had TB but were undiagnosed, by following up on TB patients and screening their relatives.

Motsoaledi said TB contact-tracing must include health workers who were at high risk of infection. “Perhaps the time has arrived that all health workers must be tested for TB … not screened, tested. By testing I mean lining up all the health workers and putting them through Gene-Xpert [a diagnostic machine] or X-rays. We must have health workers tested, maybe once a year, because many of them are vulnerable to TB.

“My heart breaks when I visit clinics, and I see many of them … the number of nurses who I can’t even look in the eye and see their level of bitterness,” said Motsoaledi.

“They don’t have an ordinary TB but have MDR-TB, which they got from patients. The number of doctors who also get MDR-TB is alarming. We think that the time has come, and we believe that very soon we will be introducing that policy and health workers must be tested once a year.”

The SA Medical Association welcomed Motsoaledi’s proposal but suggested it should apply to everyone who worked in clinics and hospitals, including cleaners.

The original of this Sowetan report by Sipokazi Fokazi appeared on page 4 of Sowetan of 5 April 2019

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Monday, 08 April 2019 13:57

Sowetan reports that dozens of truck drivers have had their salaries cut by thousands after their employers allegedly dumped them onto a labour broker.

Their union, the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu), is embroiled in a labour court challenge with freight company Moody Blue Trade Invest, while the industry’s bargaining council has appointed an inspector to gather evidence in a Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration case against Green Door Cargo 2 Congo.

This was after the companies had also “off-loaded” their permanent employees, some of whom had worked for the companies for over 10 years, to RP Africa Fleet Services. Some drivers at Moody Blue told Sowetan that they were forced to resign and join RP Africa Fleet Services to do the same jobs they were doing before, but at a lower pay. Some of Green Door’s employees showed Sowetan their payslips which showed that their basic salaries had dropped from R8,000 in 2014 to R4,800 18 months ago. The National Bargaining Council of Road Freight and Logistics Industry stipulates a minimum salary of R11,000 for truck drivers. A Zimbabwean truck driver who resides in Tembisa, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he joined Green Door more than four years ago taking home a basic salary of R8,000. In addition, he used to receive a R1,500 food allowance and a R1,200 bonus for reaching his truck off-loading point in Koelwezi, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) within 10 days. However, his salary has dropped to R4,800 in three years. He showed Sowetan copies of his payslips dating back to early 2016.

“The quality of my life has constantly gone down over the last five years... Those who asked questions or tried to fight this are now unemployed,” he said while adding that 40 employees who had questioned the salary cuts had been either laid off or told that the routes they were operating were no longer available.

Richard Hall, a manager at Green Door, said they did not employ any cross-border drivers. “We have an agreement with RP Africa to supply us with cross-border drivers.” He said the company would not comment on the issue unless Sowetan revealed the employees it had spoken to. He also declined to respond to questions relating to the salary cuts Green Door’s employees had seen over the years. “Once again, unless we know who these employees are we cannot comment. Suffice to say that as far as we are concerned, this is untrue,” Hall said.

In court papers seen by Sowetan and filed before the labour court in Johannesburg, Moody Blue has applied for a review of a CCMA November arbitration ruling which found that the matter should fall under the ambit of the freight industry bargaining council. Moody Blue, which has already transferred more than 100 truck drivers to RP Africa Fleet Services, has applied for a review of a CCMA ruling. Neil Demaris, a Moody Blue director, argued in court papers that his company was being forced to be registered under the scope of the road freight bargaining council when it was in actual fact operating in retail.

He claimed in court papers that Moody Blue is a wholesaler which transports its own goods from SA to the DRC while employing a majority Congolese workforce. “The majority of staff is Congolese and only 30 are South African-born,” Demaris said in an affidavit that is before the labour court in Braamfontein.

The original of this Sowetan report by Isaac Mahlangu appeared on page 4 of Sowetan of 8 April 2019

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Monday, 08 April 2019 07:44

Sunday Times Business Times writes that while Sibanye-Stillwater and Lonmin await the outcome of an appeal case brought by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) to block Sibanye's acquisition of the platinum producer, a labour dispute at Sibanye's gold mines is in its fifth month.

Negotiations between Sibanye and Amcu have stalled on a settlement offer of R4,500.

Shadwick Bessit, executive vice-president at Sibanye, said the dispute was not about increases but a return to work settlement. The company said Amcu had agreed on the R4,500 payment, then reneged.

Amcu has accused Sibanye of removing the R4,500 offer from the negotiation table.

Bessit said: "Due to the fact that the longer the strike takes, the more the costs accumulate with respect to the payment in kind, which is the payment the company makes on employees' behalf towards accommodation and food . thus reducing the amount available for the ex gratia payment. This means the ex gratia payment that was put on the table in February decreased to R2,500 in March and has now gone down to zero."

Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa told workers on Friday that the union is urging the company to put the R4,500 offer back on the table. Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman "has the power to end the strike. We are saying to Froneman, it is up to you to end the strike." Mathunjwa was addressing workers at a mass meeting at Sibanye's Driefontein Masizakhele stadium.

He added Froneman had told investors that the strike would end on Friday. But Amcu has not suspended the strike.

Amcu is demanding an increase of R1,000 a month over the next three years. Sibanye said an agreement was signed by NUM, Solidarity and UASA for R700 a month increase for the next three years and no further increases would be considered.

Sibanye's acquisition of Lonmin was approved by the competition authorities last year, but a late objection by Amcu has delayed the deal, which is expected to be finalised by June.

An appeal by Amcu to halt the takeover was heard this week in the high court in Cape Town.

Amcu is opposing the deal because it would lead to job losses. The companies said the merger would result in the loss of 885 jobs, but the Competition Commission calculated that 3,188 jobs would be lost.

HB Senekal, a director in the law firm ENSafrica's competition department who is representing Sibanye, said the judgment in the appeal hearing could be handed down in the next two weeks. Sibanye said the merging parties remained "committed to the transaction".

According to Rene Hochreiter, an investment analyst at Noah Capital Markets, the merger between Sibanye and Lonmin is a good move. "I don't think that Lonmin could have carried on much longer on its own. Lonmin has got so much baggage from Marikana," he said.

Lonmin, now the worst-performing platinum producer, has been operating under immense financial pressure amid weak platinum prices and rising costs.

Added to the pressures is the platinum miner's huge debt.

Bessit said Sibanye "as a result of the strike is suffering significant financial losses due to lower production and additional strike-related costs".

The company has said it was losing R10m to R20m a day during the strike.

Hochreiter said even though the company was making losses, "it was only losing money on the gold side".

"Gold wasn't making money anyway, so the strike was probably a lucky thing for Sibanye: five shafts in Driefontein are going and if the strike carries on much longer, they'll probably close all the gold section," said Hochreiter.

Among Froneman's plans is to possibly move its primary listing offshore. James Wellsted, head of investor relations at Sibanye, said: "To remain competitive in the global mining industry, one of the factors we may consider in future is a potential primary listing in another jurisdiction, which could provide easier access to lower cost capital."

The original of this report by Ntando Thukwana appeared on page 3 of Sunday Times Business Times of 7 April 2019

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Monday, 01 April 2019 11:57

City Press reports that a SA Express board committee has approved a move to cut jobs at the struggling airline following a request made by acting boss Siza Mzimela.

By the end of January the airline had a headcount of 822 employees and 10 aircraft.

Mzimela presented a confidential report, dated 31 January, at the remuneration and human resources transformation committee meeting at the airline’s headquarters in Kempton Park, Gauteng.

In the report, seen by City Press, she sought approval to proceed with downsizing staff at the struggling airline.  According to the minutes of the same meeting the committee resolved to approve the strategy on 31 January.

SA Express company secretary Maryna Gie signed the resolution that approved the “right-sizing initiative” on 13 February.

“SA Express is not competitive in the market place and not optimally operating in regard to its income generation. To ensure operational efficiency, improved service delivery and profitability, redundancies and duplication must be identified and addressed,” Mzimela said.

The airline had 10 aircraft with a projection to have 15 aircraft by the end of this month. Mzimela said the structure was not aligned to the number of aircraft per employee. She said the airline needed to be an aggressive competitor.

“The current benchmarks against our competitor [Airlink] indicate we are overstaffed in that our ratio of employee per aircraft is 56 compared with our competitor, Airlink, at 24. We strive to have our ratio to achieve the benchmark of 25 employees per aircraft,” Mzimela said.

She said the strategic thrust of the airline was to be the most efficient, effective and sustainable airline and this required an optimum fit-for-purpose organisational structure in which human capital was competent, capable, efficient and highly motivated.

Part of cutting jobs included closing stations at places where SA Express did not fly, such as George, Richards Bay and Durban.

She said employees would be offered voluntary severance packages but the focus would be to keep skilled, competent and performing employees.

If this failed, the airline contemplated terminating employees in the corporate services department due to operational requirements.

Consultations were to be made with unions and the process would be facilitated by the Conciliation for Commission, Mediation and Arbitration.

Another option was to freeze filling vacancies other than those pre-approved critical positions.

Mzimela said they were awaiting the finalisation of the review of the headcount. “Once concluded, we will advise on the financial implications,” she said.

SA Express’ acting general manager for human capital, Thuli Mpshe, said that the airline was yet to decide on job cuts.  “The airline has not yet taken a definitive decision on its staffing levels. Should it do that, SA Express will commit itself fully to all due labour relations processes,” she said.

SA Express said its employee numbers were “still geared for the 22 aircraft which the carrier used to operate although (it) was targeting to have a maximum of 15 aircraft in service by the end of April 2019.  However, the reality is that we now have fewer aircraft in operation since we relaunched our operations last year … which means that our staffing levels are currently not in line with our operations.”

The original of this report by Msinsidi Fengu and Poloko Tau appeared on page 4 of City Press Business of 31 March 2019

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Thursday, 28 March 2019 13:41

Sowetan reports that embattled SABC has been ordered to back pay two senior employees in Limpopo for 10 months following a ruling. This after two SABC employees, a current affairs executive producer at Thobela FM and an assignment editor at Munghana Lonene in Polokwane, were overlooked for a post in 2017.

Sello Sam Mochichila and Rudzani Bologo had applied for the post of regional editor in 2017 and approached the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) after being overlooked and, instead, a person without the necessary qualifications was appointed. The CCMA found that the position was irregularly awarded to Jubie Matlou who had no journalism qualification and had also failed a vetting process.

In the ruling delivered this week, which Sowetan has seen, CCMA commissioner Piet Shai found the SABC had committed unfair labour practice. “I order the SABC to pay compensation to the applicants [Mochichila and Bologo] of a sum equivalent to Matlou’s 10 months wages calculated at the latter’s rate at the time of his appointment. The above amount shall be paid on the 30th April 2019. If the parties do not agree as to the amount above, either of them may approach the CCMA to determine same,” he ordered. Shai found the SABC committed unfair labour practice as it failed to finalise the grievance interview within six weeks.

“Also by not finalising the grievance in relation to not finalising the interview process within the required period as provided in the policy, breached its policy of preference for internal candidates before going externally. The SABC further appointed Matlou even though he didn’t qualify in respect of qualifications and vetting,” read the ruling. SABC spokesperson Vuyo Mthembu couldn’t immediately respond to enquiries. The commission also found the public broadcaster failed to convene a meeting with parties within three days after the grievances were lodged. Shai said the manner in which Matlou was appointed gave the impression that the position was reserved for him regardless. Mochichila and Bologo said there was a delay in the appointment and they enquired with a senior manager after which they lodged a grievance. The pair prayed for an order that the process be started all over again, alternatively either of the applicants be appointed in the position or be compensated.

According to a source close to the situation, the contested regional editor post pays between R700,000 and R800,000 per annum. Mochichila said he was told by a senior manager that policies at the SABC were not followed due to political interference.

Matlou said he saw the advertisement and applied and was eventually called for an interview. When it was put to him that he doesn’t have a journalism qualification, Matlou said his degree was in communication but also included journalism.

The original of this report by Peter Ramothwala appeared on page 8 of Sowetan of 28 March 2019

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Friday, 22 March 2019 08:24

The Star reports that the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) commission of inquiry into allegations of impropriety continues this week, and Cosatu reiterates its call for more worker representatives at board level in the embattled financial services institution.

Matthew Parks, Cosatu’s parliamentary co-ordinator, says the majority of PIC funds is money belonging to pensioners employed in state institutions.

Over the past few years, the PIC has been racked by numerous allegations of mass looting, as shown in the media and the commission of inquiry.

Organisations such as Steinhoff and the Lancaster Group, under Markus Jooste and Jayendra Naidoo, respectively, have wiped out billions of rand worth of pensioners’ funds in fraud, bad investments and accounting irregularities.

Last week it was revealed that Naidoo’s Lancaster Group received R9.3 billion from the PIC to be the sole beneficiary of a black economic empowerment scheme with Steinhoff. Of that R9.3bn, a staggering R5bn disappeared when Steinhoff collapsed towards the end of 2017.

In addition, the PIC board has been rendered dysfunctional after the entire board resigned en masse following allegations of corruption against several board members.

Information supplied by Cosatu contends that 87% of funds in the PIC are public servants’ pensions. About 7% of this is workers’ unemployment insurance (UIF), while 4% constitutes worker injury on duty insurance.

According to Parks, the Government Employees’ Pension Fund (GEPF) is projected to have a R25bn shortfall in the future, and as it is a defined-benefit fund, the government would have to cover any shortfall.

“There have been many stories of dubious investments, and politicians, their relatives and dodgy businesses reaping billions off it. Workers cannot afford for the PIC to go the route of Eskom. It is the largest investment fund in SA and Africa. It has shares in most companies. It owns 12.5% of the JSE’s shares. It is too large to fail,” he says.

Putting things into context, Parks alleges that the GEPF, UIF and the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA) boards, as well as Parliament, have struggled to hold the PIC to account.

“It took former deputy finance minister (Mcebisi) Jonas’s intervention to force the PIC to disclose its unlisted investments to Parliament. These are worth R200bn and appear to be where looting is most prominent,” he says.

Parks says the problem is that the PIC Act allows the minister of finance to appoint the board with few checks and balances; no worker representation; no requirements to account to depositors, the public or Parliament; and no investment guidelines.

Most importantly, he says, there have never been any union representatives on the PIC board, and over the past two years, Cosatu has worked closely with ANC MPs in Parliament to draft a PIC Amendment Bill to stem the flow of corruption, stabilise the corporation and force it to be accountable.

The tabled PIC Bill provides for the following five points:

1) Three worker representatives on the board:

• These workers would be selected by unions in proportion to their membership of the Public Service Collective Bargaining Council. This is critical as the minister-appointed representatives could easily be prone to blackmail and intimidation.
• Two of these workers would be from the majority unions and one from the minority unions. This would help to build worker unity and inclusivity.
• The two representatives would be accountable to the unions. They would also have a voice in how worker funds were spent and keep an eye out to help prevent corruption.

2) The PIC would have to account to the minister, Parliament, depositors and the public on all investments (listed and unlisted), ministerial directives in annual reports and as needed.

3) All PIC regulations would have to be tabled at Parliament for scrutiny and comment.

4) The PIC would be required to take its mandate from depositors.

• This, according to Parks, was critical to avoid a scenario where the PIC was used as “petty cash” by the government to fund all sorts of state expenditure and bail out state-owned entities that have been looted into the ground.

5) The PIC, when investing, must do so in a way which protects the interests of depositors, and seek to invest where possible in a manner that promotes job creation, economic growth, sustainable development, and/ or local investments.

Parks says there has been a massive pushback against the bill by those who prefer to see looting and a collapse of good governance continue at the PIC.

“The bill is in the National Council of Provinces now. It is due to be passed by March 28.  It must be passed in order to stem the flow of looting and to stabilise the PIC. The commission of inquiry is welcomed. It is shedding badly needed light on what is happening. It is encouraged to make further recommendations to fix the PIC as well as to strengthen the PIC Act,” Parks says.

Cosatu has worked overtime to see the bill passed and the PIC cleaned up.  “We will continue to expose and fight looting. Our members, workers and pensioners are depending on us,” he adds.

He says the union has encouraged the PIC to save companies where jobs are threatened.  “This was done through the PIC and UIF to save Edcon and its 40,000 employees, and 100,000 workers at factories and companies doing business with Edcon. The UIF Act was amended to provide for such interventions. It also makes financial sense and is more cost effective to the UIF,” concludes Parks.

The original of this report by Ayanda Mdluli appeared on page 4 of The Star of 19 March 2019

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Friday, 22 March 2019 07:21

The Star writes that Xolisa Dyomfana has been bitterly disappointed twice by mining companies.

First he was part of a group of workers who were not paid by the now defunct Aurora mine. Now he is one of the 209 mineworkers fighting Modder East Gold One for money dating back to 2012.

In the Aurora case, he was one of the more than 5 000 workers at the Orkney and Grootvlei gold mines that lost their jobs after the mines were stripped of gold and assets valued at R1.82 billion while under the control of Aurora Empowerment Systems.

The workers were part of a strike in 2012. During the action, the gold producer dismissed half the workforce, 1 044 employees, after introducing a no-work, no-pay rule and obtaining a court interdict to prohibit an illegal wage strike.

For the past seven years, Dyomfana and his colleagues have been fighting for a payout or their jobs back.

Dyomfana, who has a leg injury from a work accident, said: “Some of the people who were with us have died from broken hearts. The rest of us are just sitting at home hoping that we will hear something from the mine.”

According to the group, they were protesting because they wanted their union, the Professional Transport and Allied Workers Union, to be accepted at the mine.

Three days after the strike, a court order ruled that they must return to work, but they were allegedly turned away at the gates.

Buyile Zide, a roof-bolt operator, said they were informed that they needed to do their medical exit tests as they were no longer employed at the Ekurhuleni-based gold mine.

“We refused to do the medical exams because it would mean we didn’t work at Gold One anymore.

“We are stuck because we can’t look for jobs at new companies because they need medical exit forms and we can’t work at Gold One because we are still fighting them,” Zide said.

The workers took their case to the Labour Court but lost in 2016.

Most, who lived at the Skoonplaas informal settlement near the mine, said they survived on piece jobs and the mercy of friends and family.

Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party secretary Vusi Ngqokomash, who is trying to assist the miners, said: “Eighty percent who live in Skoonplaas are unemployed because of this. They’ve been fighting the company for years but nothing has come of it.”

Attempts to get comment from Gold One were unsuccessful.

The original of this report by Tebogo Monama appeared on page 7 of The Star of 20 March 2019

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Friday, 22 March 2019 06:25

The Citizen reports that trade union confederation Cosatu says the decision by Standard Bank to close 91 of its branches and retrench more than 1,000 employees countrywide has reinforced its call for the Labour Relations Act to be amended to make it impossible to lay off employees easily.

Last week, Standard Bank, the biggest lender in Africa by assets, said it plans to close offices and retrench about 1 200 staff by the end of June. The move was necessitated by the need to digitalise its commercial and business bank.

This came not long after the bank’s shareholders were handsomely rewarded after a 5% increase to R12.7 billion in headline earnings for the six months to June 2018. An interim dividend of 430c a share was declared, an increase of 8% compared to 2017.

The profits were attributed to its external operations, making up a footprint in 20 countries on the continent.

It is feared the decision to close offices and retrench staff could trigger a domino effect, with other banks following suit as banking was shifting to internet and mobile banking which had rendered some staff redundant.

On Sunday, the labour federation’s spokesperson, Sizwe Pamla, condemned the bank’s decision.  “We reiterated our position that we need to amend the Labour Relations Act that allows this to be possible,” Pamla said.

The EFF also entered the fray and condemned the Standard Bank’s move describing it as “misguided and unethical”.

It said it was the second time in a week that the “banking cartel” was exposed, referring to them as “blood-sucking money-hungry industry” that was only accountable to its shareholders.

The EFF attributed to the expose that indicated that FNB had deliberately overcharged its black clients over the years for apparently being risky. The matter, exposed by financial investigator Emerald van Zyl was before the Equality Court and was being investigated by the SA Human Rights Commission.

EFF national spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said: “From overcharging black clients to cutting jobs, the South African banking industry continues to show its colours and its unabated willingness to place profit over people.”

According to Ndlozi, as the unemployment rate was sitting at an expanded rate of 37% as per the latest quarterly survey, it could not afford to lose jobs.

“SA’s banking cartel has never and will never care about South African people,” he said. “Standard Bank’s actions are a clear indication of how incompetent government is ... When the EFF takes over government in May, we will place a moratorium on all retrenchments, even by the private sector.”

The original of this report by Eric Naki appeared on page 2 of The Citizen of 18 March 2019

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Monday, 18 March 2019 06:19

City Press reports that state employees will soon be able to retire early with no penalties, but conditions apply.

In his budget speech on 20 February, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni announced an early retirement scheme for public servants, where members of the Government Employees’ Pension Fund (GEPF) could take early retirement without penalties. According to the public service early retirement framework, the offer for early retirement will begin on April 1 and will stand until September 30. At that time, Treasury will assess whether there are sufficient resources to continue with the offer for the remaining two years of the medium-term expenditure framework.

The process to apply for early retirement is open to all public servants between the ages of 55 and 59. Employees in the police, correctional services, defence and intelligence sectors will qualify in terms of their own legislation.

However, each application will be considered on its merits and it does not automatically mean you will qualify. Firstly, it is limited to 30 000 applications, which will be filtered based on skills, efficiency and personal circumstances.

According to the document, “skills are a priority requirement and therefore the skill set will be considered and these employees will not be allowed to leave yet”.

This could affect members with critical skills, including medical doctors, nurses, maths and science teachers, engineers, and other professionals categorised under “occupation specific dispensation”.

Efficiencies in each sector will be considered – in other words, the department will need to ensure they can “deliver services uninterrupted if they allow the employee to exit according to the post provisioning norms”.

The framework document makes it clear that this is not a retrenchment process, but forms part of the public administration reform initiative “to bring about efficiency gains without job losses and to bring on board unemployed young people who need to enter the job market, while balancing the needs of older employees who have been asking to be allowed to leave without any penalties to their monthly pension”.

The early retirement scheme will cost government approximately R16 billion, but will save about R20.3 billion in the wage bill over the three years within which the medium-term expenditure framework will take place.

The original of this report by Maya Fisher-French appeared on page 9 of City Press Business of 17 March 2019

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Thursday, 14 March 2019 12:37

Sowetan reports that “How much do you want to go away?” was a question that retired Constitutional Court judge Zak Yacoob repeatedly asked the axed director of the KZN Blind and Deaf Society to persuade her to drop her case at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).

Yacoob – who is the society’s president – tells Shamilla Surjoo to record their telephonic conversation so that it can go “all over the internet”.

Sowetan’s sister publication, TimesLIVE is in possession of the recording, which has been confirmed by both parties. Yacoob called Surjoo on March 1 to discuss her CCMA challenge following her dismissal for gross negligence, breach of fiduciary duties and loss of trust after a financial officer allegedly transferred R12m into her personal accounts.

While Surjoo, who is legally blind, was not implicated in the fraud and claimed to have blown the whistle on the financial officer, an independent disciplinary committee dismissed her on the grounds that it had occurred under her watch. This led to Surjoo lodging a complaint with the CCMA in order to be reinstated.

When Yacoob asked her during the call how much money she required to “go away”, Surjoo replied that she could not be bought.  Yacoob said:  “I am disgusted that I trusted you, so now, how much do you want to go away? Please man.”

Surjoo referred Yacoob to her lawyer. “I don’t want to talk to your lawyer, I am talking to you. So tell me, how much do you want?” he asked again.

Yacoob went on to send Surjoo text messages asking her again to “name the amount”. He offered to pay it from his personal bank account. Three days later, on March 4, Yacoob sent a letter of apology to Surjoo via her attorney. Yacoob said that he could not comment on the recording, text messages or his offer to pay Surjoo to drop her CCMA case.

The original of this report by Nivashni Nair appeared on page 2 of Sowetan of 14 March 2019

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Wednesday, 13 March 2019 13:43

The Star reports that a small army of workers are gearing up to bring media house Tiso Blackstar to a standstill on Thursday if the company does not pay its black journalists their bonuses and salary increases.

Information Communication and Technology Union (Ictu) president Moeketse Lepheane told Independent Media yesterday a line in the sand had been drawn between employees and senior management after the company took a hard stance on those embarking on industrial action.

Ictu is an affiliate of the SA Federation of Trade Unions.

Lepheane said a last-ditch attempt by the Zondo Commission of Inquiry to resolve the matter would be made within the next 24 hours to try to find common ground between employees and senior management.

The commission is housed at the premises of Tiso Blackstar.

The company’s labour woes stem from an internal memo, where its black journalists accused it of ill treatment, freezing salary increases and discriminatory pay disparities, all along racial lines.

“Starting on March 14, employees of Tiso, along with Saftu-affiliated unions, will be embarking on a strike in solidarity with black journalists who have not been paid their bonuses.

“We are expecting 6,000 union members at the Tiso Blackstar offices,” Lepheane said.

He said the desired outcome was that the company pay journalists their bonuses.

“There are also pay disparities, where whites get paid more than black people.

“What we have uncovered is that from entry level, a white person will earn double what a black person earns within the first six months of employment,” said Lepheane.

Tiso Blackstar managing director Andrew Gill said the union had issued a notice to strike from tomorrow, following a dispute concerning the non-payment of bonuses to staff.

“The company did, in fact, award bonuses to those divisions that met the criteria, as well as award discretionary bonuses to top performers.” He said the company was still prepared to engage with employees.

The company has applied a no work, no pay policy towards the industrial action and said all employees who participated in the strike would have to pay their own monthly medical aid, pension and provident fund contributions.

The original of this report by Ayanda Mdluli appeared on page 2 of The Star of 13 March 2019

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Wednesday, 06 March 2019 13:23

Sowetan reports that the breakdown in relations between the vice-chancellor of the Vaal University of Technology and a senior director has led to the latter walking away with a R4m settlement. Mpho Diago left with a settlement, seen by Times Select, worth two years of his salary and his ongoing studies being paid for.

He and the vice-chancellor, Professor Gordon Zide, have been clashing since 2017 when Zide was appointed as head of VUT. The settlement states that their working relationship had broken down and both agreed to “terminate the employment contract and resolve [their] dispute”.

Diago was paid out last week and left the university, and has withdrawn a case of victimisation before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), he told Times Select. University spokesperson Mike Khuboni said senior human resources staff and management had tried to resolve issues between the vice-chancellor and his staff member but Diago would not “smoke a peace pipe”.

In November, Diago complained in a letter to the council, the institution’s highest authority, about the running of the university and asked minister of higher education Naledi Pandor to get involved. He alleged fraud, mismanagement and breach of human resource policies.

He has now lodged a complaint at the public protector and is waiting for the council to investigate the issues he raised, as ordered by Pandor. He has handed over his alleged evidence to union Nehawu, which said publicly last week it would send it to the minister of higher education, the ANC and the police. The initial settlement, which Diago rejected, subjected him to a confidentiality agreement for 20 years. It proposed that the vice-chancellor and Diago “cease any direct or indirect investigations” into each other. The final settlement had no confidentiality clauses.

Khuboni says this shows how the university worked with Diago to negotiate a mutually beneficial agreement. Diago said the university was struggling financially and should not have paid him so much to leave. Yet he conceded he took the settlement. In fact, e-mails show he was asked to propose the terms of it and suggested two years of pay.

He said that “given safety issues and all I have done to report these issues [of alleged corruption], the safe and logical thing for me was to accept the settlement and leave”. He asked Nehawu to help him open a case regarding threats to his safety, and provided it with a detailed affidavit about the threats, which Times Select has seen.

Zide told Times Select he felt targeted by employees who wanted to “tarnish his name” in the media.

This, he believed, was because of the forensic investigation he ordered into the university.

• The original of this report by Katharine Child appeared on page 7 of Sowetan of 6 March 2019

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Wednesday, 06 March 2019 12:37

The Star reports that thousands of disgruntled Tiso Blackstar staff may soon embark on national strike action following a decision on Monday by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to grant them a certificate to picket.

The workers are unhappy about the non-payment of bonuses to certain units in the media group, which owns The Sunday Times, Business Day, Sowetan, Daily Dispatch and Financial Mail.

Last month, an internal memorandum sent to senior management was leaked after the group’s non-payment of bonuses.

Employees then sought representation from the Information Communication Technology Union (ICTU), which approached the CCMA.  On Monday, the union members were granted permission to strike.

Tiso Blackstar managing director of media, Andy Gill, said the company did award bonuses to divisions that met the criteria, as well as awarding discretionary bonuses to top performers.

Gill said the union had yet to issue a notice to strike.

ICTU deputy president Origenius Mogoatlhe told The Star the logistics of the strike hadn’t been worked out.

“The company did confirm that they made a profit but they haven’t engaged employees about the bonuses that they deserve,” he said.

Mogoatlhe added that the workers were demanding 25% of the total cost to company with regard to the profit that the company made.

Gill noted:  “We remain committed to constructively engage with our employees on this and any other matter that may arise.”

The union was still strategising for the strike and would not inform the media when it intended to start the action.

The original of this report appeared on page 3 of The Star of 6 March 2019

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Wednesday, 27 February 2019 12:43

Sowetan reports that ministers and deputy ministers will be breaking the law if they leave behind big staff complements in government departments when they are reshuffled or fired.

This new law, gazetted by public service and administration minister Ayanda Dlodlo this month, seeks to reduce the size of the bloated civil service. Ministers and deputy ministers are allowed to have 10 and six personal staff members respectively in their office but many of them violated this rule.

And when ministers are axed or removed from their positions, they insist that their personal staff remain in the civil service and earn from the public coffers even though they usually do not have a job function.

Dlodlo’s spokesperson Mava Scott said the new law “stops ministers from saying come hell or high water my staff will be absorbed in the department”.

“There has been a problem for quite some time where ministers leave staff in departments and it becomes a bloated structure,” he said. Scott said some ministers leave as many as 12 people who are transferred to the department from the ministry, further stretching the public purse.

“This law ensures when you leave, your staff leaves too and their term is linked to the political term of office,” he said.

Dlodlo felt the effects of this in her own department when her predecessor Faith Muthambi irregularly appointed 27 people, including friends and relatives, and left many of them behind in the department – working without functions.

The effect of this law is likely to be felt after the elections when the size of the executive is expected to be slashed and many ministers and deputy ministers will be sent packing. Mava said ministers will no longer be able to dictate to departments who should be hired.

Dlodlo has been on the warpath against some of her cabinet colleagues, saying their bloated offices often lead to an unsustainable civil service. Finance minister Tito Mboweni last week introduced measures to trim the public sector wage bill by R27bn over the next three years.

The original of this report by Qaanitah Hunter appeared on page 4 of Sowetan of 27 February 2019

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Tuesday, 26 February 2019 07:47

BL Premium reports that a high wage bill and low productivity at South32’s Hillside aluminium smelter have led the diversified miner to start a retrenchment process which could affect up to 500 jobs.

This comes at a difficult time for SA’s steel industry, which has been haemorrhaging jobs in recent years, losing 8,000 in 2018 alone.

Speaking to Business Day on Monday, COO Mike Fraser said the Richards Bay smelter had “burnt quite a lot of cash” in the six months ended December. Absolute salary levels on site are “very high” while productivity is “too low” compared to the rest of the world, he said.

South32 was spun out of BHP Billiton in 2015.

The aluminium smelting industry is highly competitive, margins are relatively thin and the majority of costs are outside of a company’s control, Fraser said. Labour costs at Hillside, however, account for about 50% of what the South32 deemed “controllable costs”.

“Over 20 years we’ve probably bent over backwards to avoid any kind of industrial action. I think we just bought ourselves peace,” the COO said. “Unless we do something to reset that, we are going to be in difficulty as a business.”

The Section 189 consultation process, as required in terms of the Labour Relations Act, was launched on Monday last week.

Trade union Solidarity said the restructuring process at the smelter appeared highly complex.  “South32 is embarking on extremely complex restructuring process which will involve retrenchments, reorganisation and salary adjustments at the same time. They intend to achieve those three goals by means of one process, which is going to be a difficult task,” deputy general secretary Marius Croucamp said in a statement.

Aside from the restructuring, another matter which is key to the smelter’s sustainability is the renegotiation of a power supply contract with Eskom.

Eskom’s legacy contracts with BHP smelters have been controversial because they were linked to the aluminium price and so caused Eskom to incur large losses when the commodity price was low. Even so, BHP closed its Bayside smelter down in 2014 due to ongoing financial pressure.

South32 wants to renegotiate the contract for Hillside before it expires, ostensibly in 2022, but is yet to obtain clarity from Eskom which is dealing with an operational and financial crisis.

The smelter consumes 1300MW of continuous power and South32 has said a good power contract is needed to ensure Hillside’s sustainability.

Without the smelter, about 29,000 direct jobs are at stake, Fraser said.

Hillside supplies 120,000 tons of liquid metal to the Isizinda project at Bayside and provides material to aluminium supplier, Hulamin.

“Without Hillside we don’t have Isizinda, we don’t have Hulamin and there would also be a further impact on the local customers of Hulamin which then supply into the motor industry,” said Fraser.

“We’ve estimated there’s around 29,000 direct jobs that are dependent on Hillside’s sustainability, because you would actually lose that entire chain.”

Croucamp also expressed concern over the general state of the SA steel industry and the 8,000 jobs lost in 2018, according to the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa.

South32 is meanwhile progressing well with the sale of its SA energy coal business and expects to have binding bids on the table by the end of June this year.

The original of this report by Lisa Steyn appeared at BusinessLive

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Monday, 25 February 2019 06:18

Sowetan reports that a civic organisation has called on the Gauteng government to hire more staff member s at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (Bara) or face the wrath of the masses.

On Thursday, members of the SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco) held a peaceful protest outside the hospital in Diepkloof, Soweto, in support of the plight of hospital staff.

Provincial Sanco chairperson Chris Malatjane said they were there because the department continued to ignore requests to resolve problems at the hospital.  “We are saying to government, this must come to an end.  We want to see doctors and nurses hired in numbers.  We want to see more security,” Malatjane said.

He said Bara needed a bigger budget as it also provided academic training and healthcare for people from the SADC region.  He added that it was disturbing that people were dying at the facility because doctors were overworked.

Marchers held up placards with messages of support and demands.

Sanco deputy chairperson in the Johannesburg region, Phashe Magagane, read out the memorandum, giving the department 14 days to respond.

Magagane said they would mobilise all their branches to engage in a massive protest action should the department fail to resolve the issues.

“There should be an increase in the number of doc- tors, nurses, cleaners and porters in this hospital. We demand adequate medication to be supplied in this hospital,” Magagane said.

The same issues were raised during previous protests organised by labour unions, who called on government to save the facility from falling apart.

Pastor Paseka Mboro, who was among those supporting the protest, said staff needed the support of communities.

“People die in their hands because they are short-staffed. They are not well looked after. We must protest for them. We must be their mouthpiece.”

Head of hospital services in the province Dr Medupi Modisane received the memorandum on behalf of MEC Gwen Ramokgopa.

The original of this report by Zoë Mahopo appeared on page 12 of Sowetan of 22 February 2019

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Monday, 25 February 2019 04:56

The Sunday Independent reports that the impasse between the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) and the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) at colleges continues as the strike over salaries and working conditions enters its second week.

On Friday, some technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges and community education and training (CET) colleges in Soweto were empty, with only a skeleton staff and a few students on the premises while the department said it remained committed to finding a solution to issues raised by the union.

This comes after talks between Higher Education Minister Naledi Pandor and union leaders broke down earlier in the week when Nehawu demanded that the director-general, Gwebinkundla Qonde, not be part of the meeting.

Among the union’s demands is the removal of Qonde, the transfer of all college-paid lecturers into the government pay system, employing lecturers on a permanent basis and better working conditions.

The union accused Qonde of being unwilling to transform the sector and of blocking every effort to address grievances since 2015.

A student at a South West Gauteng college in Soweto, who identified herself as Nonhlanhla, said she had not attended class since the start of the week.

“Yes, I want to attend class but it comes with understanding some of the issues raised by our lecturers.  I will come and sit here, but who is going to teach me? It’s better I stay at home until they tell us that the strike is over,” she said.

Lecturers initially fell under the Department of Basic Education but were later migrated to Higher Education and Training.  The union has long fought for the migration to be completed, the payment of benefits such as pension funds and medical aid, and the normalization of working hours.

Some lecturers earn below the minimum wage and have been on contract for years.

A lecturer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he had lost hope that the situation would be rectified.  “It’s been years of the same conditions, when Basic Education couldn’t solve our problems.  They threw us to Higher Education and now it is just playing us for fools.  How many meetings must happen before someone understands you can’t give us fancy titles and treat us worse than miners?”

The lecturer said he reported for duty only to sign the register and go back home.

Meanwhile, the union said while it was committed to resolving the impasse, the department had to create an environment that is conducive to proper discussions.  “We don’t want them to have the arrogance of thinking they can deduct our pay for a strike that is their fault to begin with.  Until such time, I am not prepared to teach anybody. Never,” the lecturer said.

Nehawu also accused Qonde of using court interdicts to intimidate its members, adding that it would explore legal avenues as part of its efforts to find relief for its members.

The original of this report by Lerato Diale appeared on page 4 of The Sunday Independent of 24 February 2019

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Friday, 22 February 2019 09:39

Financial Mail reports that, in its results for the year ended December 2018 released last week, Gold Fields said production across the global gold mining group slipped 3%, while revenues were 7% lower.

Losses for the year slid to $348.2m, compared with $19m the year before.

Much of it has to do with South Deep. Though it has one of the world’s largest gold deposits, the mine hasn’t reached production targets for a long time and has proved to be a black hole for Gold Fields cash, guzzling about R100m a month.

The mine was massively restructured in 2018 — a painful and costly process — and Gold Fields expects to see the benefits, soon.

This involved retrenching 1,100 employees and as many as 500 contractors.

It also resulted in the closure of some lower-grade areas.

"It is the first time we’ve done something like this at South Deep and we believe it’s set us up to have a new start at the asset," said longtime Gold Fields CEO Nick Holland at the results presentation.

For the SA operation, it’s do or die now.

All Gold Fields wants from South Deep in 2019 is that it breaks even.

But what if it doesn’t, analysts asked Holland at the presentation.

"We’ve asked ourselves that question, our board has asked us that question," he said. The major restructuring — which has never been done before — has left Gold Fields feeling like it has to give it a go. "But that’s not to say we can continue just putting money into this month after month," he said.

"I have no appetite to do that. I’m also a shareholder in this company. And if we’re going to have a repeat of that, there won’t be a future. There has to be a step change, and soon."

Gold Fields says it will implement a number of initiatives at South Deep including improved drilling and blasting, rigorous performance management, improved fleet utilisation and better stakeholder management.

But investors remain sceptical.

Yatish Chowthee, equity research analyst at Macquarie, notes that many of the plans Gold Fields presented have been recurring themes over the years.

"These things have been there for a while. What makes it different now?" he asks.

Martin Preece, Gold Fields executive vice-president for SA, says: "It is an old story— the difference this time is the nature of restructuring. We’ve taken, I think, fairly bold steps to completely relook at the business. I think we’ve taken complexity out, taking a lot of the low-grade areas out."

He says the layoffs formed part of a selection process to leave the operation with "fewer, better people".

Holland said the company always knew what it had to do but is now focused on tightening up the execution of this.

As if the pain taken at South Deep wasn’t bad enough, Gold Fields, like all other energy users in SA, has Eskom to worry about.

The ailing utility is in financial and operational crisis and on Monday last week implemented stage 4 load-shedding to move 4,000MW from the national power grid to prevent collapse — the highest level of power cuts yet.

Holland said South Deep could work around as load-shedding long as it didn’t go to stage 4. He said Gold Fields has been working on a renewable power solution, which could provide 25% of its sizeable 60MW needs.

Plans stalled during the South Deep restructuring, but it’s now time to "dust that off", he said. "My feeling is, though, this problem with Eskom is a big problem that’s not going to be solved quickly … Business is going to have to create its own solutions."

In the background there has been a flurry of mergers among large gold miners, which has prompted speculation about who might be next.

Gold Fields last month quickly denied a report that it would merge with AngloGold Ashanti, and Holland reiterated he won’t be drawn on speculation but noted: "We don’t feel compelled to do anything except to focus on our projects."

In the context of few new discoveries and capital drying up, mergers make sense, but in the case of Gold Fields it saw the writing on the wall and took steps to prevent this.

"In 2016 we took a decision to run the company cash negative for two years to give us better projects," said Holland. "Our focus is delivering our strategy. Never say never, but it’s not our focus right now."

Gold Fields says it is now on track to produce over 2-million ounces of gold a year for the next decade, starting in 2019.

Capital expenditure will drop in the first half of 2019 and as production ramps up, the company is expected to become cash flow positive in the second half of the year with an assumed gold price of $1,200 per ounce.

"We believe this is likely supported by completion of the South Deep mine restructuring, removing more than $800m from the company’s cost base, and new gold volumes of about 59,000oz from the [Australian] Gruyere project," say Bloomberg Intelligence analysts. "Total attributable gold equivalent production this year may exceed 2017 and 2018 levels."

Read the original of this report by Lisa Steyn at BusinessLive

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Monday, 18 February 2019 10:08

Business Times reports that Gold Fields CEO Nick Holland says that consolidation cannot save SA's gold sector and job cuts are likely to continue.

Holland, whose company has been linked to a possible merger with larger rival AngloGold Ashanti, told Business Times: "There might be some local gold assets that can be moved around, but I think consolidation in the South African industry has largely happened."

With a 132-year history in SA, Gold Fields is one of the few remaining pure gold miners at a time when companies like Sibanye-Stillwater are working to offset gold losses with revenues from platinum operations.

Holland has long held the view that consolidation is good for deriving synergies in the local sector.

Six years ago, Gold Fields unbundled its labour-intensive operations — Kloof, Driefontein and Beatrix mines — into Sibanye, which this week said it was cutting 6,670 jobs to curb losses.

Reflecting on that deal, Holland said: "There's not too much left to happen in SA. I think it's more globally where the opportunities lie."

Ian Cruickshanks, an independent analyst, thinks it's better to have two major gold miners in the country for competition. AngloGold has said it wants to cut ties with SA and a merger would go against that intention.

"I don't see any alternatives there except to carry on as separate entities," said Cruickshanks.

Gold mining is seen as a sunset industry. Regarding its future, Holland admitted: "If you look at the deep-level, conventional, labour-intensive mines, you'll find that they're getting deeper, the grades are declining, the costs keep going up, the trade unions keep getting increases that are beyond inflation when productivity doesn't match it.

"Eskom now wants to get a lot more money, so I think the writing is on the wall. It's not looking good."

The crown jewel of the group is its loss-making South Deep mine, the only mechanised gold mine in the country. More than R32bn has been invested since its conception in 2006.

"We're a little bit different because we're mechanised and we have a large ore body ahead of us and we're shallower than some of those deep-level mines," said Holland.

He remains steadfast in his belief that the mine can still turn in a profit. Analysts have questioned whether Holland and his team will turn around operations.

Holland, 59, has been at the helm since 2008. When asked if he was ready to hand over the reins, he said: "I still have an appetite to lead the company."

Cruickshanks said Holland has been managing as well as anybody else might have done in extremely difficult circumstances over the past few years.

"What I'd like to see is more signs of a succession plan. If something happens, who takes over? The company owes it to the investors to make a plain succession plan available."

Holland said Gold Fields has fixed South Deep's cost base. "The grade on the operation is well understood. Now it's a question of getting the volume. Drive the volume and you'll bring down the cost because of the fairly high fixed cost component of running an operation with the level of infrastructure that we have there."

Gold Fields has brought in three consultants from Australia — where many mines are already mechanised — to assist with operations.

"They're helping us to improve our whole value chain of mining, planning, execution — things like drill or blast, our mechanisation and our fleet management," said Holland.

South Deep has had major restructuring in the past year, reducing its workforce from about 4,000 to 2,460.

This restructuring was met with strong opposition from labour. The National Union of Mineworkers went on a 45-day strike at the end of 2018. The strike cost Gold Fields about R360m in lost revenue, according to its own calculations.

"Gold is only 1% of the country's GDP now. It's not that it's not relevant anymore, but we've seen gold decline year after year for the past 25 years. That trajectory won't change and we have to accept there's a lot of job losses that will probably still happen in the gold industry," said Holland.

On Friday, Gold Fields announced an 82% drop in normalised profit for the 2018 financial year compared with 2017. The group — which has a presence in SA, Ghana, Australia and South America — has seen its share price down 44% from its high in August 2016.

The original of this report by Mudiwa Gavaza appeared on page 1 of Sunday Times Business Times of 17 February 2019

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Monday, 18 February 2019 07:02

The Sunday Independent reports that there is no end in sight in the standoff between the National Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) and the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) at vocational colleges across the country.

The department said it was committed to resolving the issues amid the union’s threat to continue with its industrial action on Monday. Lecturers at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges and Community Education and Training (CET) colleges said little has changed since they migrated from the Department of Basic Education to DHET.

Nehawu this week said it will not back down on its demands for the introduction of a new salary dispensation, better working conditions, the transfer of all college-paid lecturers into the Persal system and the removal of the director-general, Gwebinkundla Qonde. Nehawu spokesperson Khaya Xaba, said the strike will continue indefinitely until their demands are met, adding that the union declined to meet with the minister as they were allocated only an hour.

“Yes a meeting was requested by the minister but was declined because they allocated us an hour to resolve all issues,” said Xaba.

Meanwhile, lecturers said little had changed since they registered their grievances.

“Nothing has changed since we moved. Only the status changed; we are now lecturers but when it comes to salaries and the conditions of employment, nothing has ever changed,” said Nehawu branch chairperson Themba Plaatjie, adding that they were fed up with working under the uncertainty of being contract workers with no benefits and stability.

“Lectures don’t have benefits, medical aid. Most lectures are hired in what we call ‘instructional hours’, which means you work for 2 and 4 hours. How do you pay someone what is not even equal to the minimum wage? We are not entitled to pay progression and 13th cheque. When a lecturer is sick, they must go to a public hospital yet you have directors who are paid exorbitant amounts of money.”

Meanwhile, DHET spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele said the minister wrote to Nehawu on Wednesday, requesting a meeting as a sign of his commitment to resolving the issues.

“Lecturers in the CET colleges are appointed against the operational hours of each Community Learning Centre (CLC). The operational hours vary from centre to centre depending on the subject/courses offered and whether or not the centre has its own infrastructure and/or full-time staff. Most CLCs do not have their own facilities and operate from schools and as a result only teach after school hours,” said Ngqengelele.

Amid the stand-off over transfers some CET college lecturers said they remained unpaid for services they rendered, a situation the department said would be resolved.

“When CET lecturers were transferred to the department, some were paid fixed amounts and were on the payroll of the previous employers.

“These lecturers continue to receive their monthly salaries.

“The other type of lecturers were paid through a claim system, meaning that the centre managers must submit certified claims on a monthly basis with a certification that the hours claimed were indeed offered.

“This has been the case for lecturers in KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape because they are mainly full-time educators.

“The department has since approved that they be moved to a fixed hourly system and it is being implemented. It, however, required that the department conducts a verification audit to avoid paying people who do not teach in the CLCs and the verification has since been completed,” said Ngqengelele.

Despite reported disruptions at some colleges, he said the current assessment of the strike indicates that not all colleges and campuses have been affected.

“There have been reported cases of intimidation to force students and lecturers out of classes. Colleges have been advised to apply for court interdicts where intimidation occurs. Initiatives will be put in place to ensure that lost teaching and learning time is addressed.”

Ngqengelele said the department had committed to signing two agreements regarding the permanent employment of the remaining TVET and CET support staff, and a settlement agreement facilitated by the secretary- general of the General Public Service Sector Co-ordinating Council but Nehawu had not signed.

The original of this report by Lerato Diale appeared on page 6 of The Sunday Independent of 17 February 2019

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Monday, 18 February 2019 04:57

City Press reports that Moipone Tabi was shocked to find a community literally living in the shadow of death around massive open pits left by illegal sand miners. The rural community in villages near Hammanskraal – Dilopye, Suurman and Swartbooistad – had seemingly accepted their lot as a normal way of life.

Children risked their lives daily, walking to school past the pits that filled up with water during the rainy season.

Farmers constantly lost their goats and cattle which accidentally fell into the pits.

Tabi, a community activist based in Marikana in North West, was even more surprised to find that locals did not even know that extracting soil constitutes mining and that the community had a right to stop the practice.

“People have a voice but don’t know how to use it [against illegal sand miners],” said Tabi during a session of the 10th Alternative Mining Indaba (AMI) in Cape Town last week.

The indaba was established by NGOs, civil society and community groups in response to the African Mining Indaba, which is a platform for captains of the mining industry to discuss ways of maximising profits and growing their businesses.

The AMI, on the other hand, gives communities affected by mining the opportunity to share their experiences and build solidarity against mining companies. The events run during parallel times in the same city.

While the focus on illegal mining has been on those involved in the mining of minerals such as gold and diamond, indications are that illegal sand mining happens on an even greater scale and poses a big risk to communities.

Sand and gravel are used in construction and in the manufacture of cement. Rapid development and a greater need for new roads and buildings for residential, business and industrial use continue to push the demand for the resources.

“It [illegal sand mining] leaves a big negative impact on communities. Even land for human settlement is taken up because of illegal sand mining,” said Tabi.

In a 2014 report titled Sand, rarer than one thinks, the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) says sand and gravel account for the largest volume of solid material extracted globally.

It also says sand and gravel account for the highest volume of raw material used on earth after water. UNEP warns that the resources are now being extracted at a rate far greater than their renewal and that the volume of extraction is having a major impact on rivers, deltas, and coastal and marine ecosystems.

This, according to the organisation, results in loss of land through river or coastal erosion, lowering of the water table and decreases in the amount of sediment supply.

Kgosi Oscar Mosielele, a traditional leader in the Moshupa subdistrict of Botswana, says the scourge of illegal sand mining “has reached catastrophic levels” in the area. He says illegal sand mining led to the deaths of three people in the district last year alone. Mosielele says the loss of livestock which are trapped in the gaping pits after falling in there accidentally is even greater.

“You will be surprised that some of this illegally mined sand builds our roads and government offices,” says Mosielele.

He says a combination of a lack of government will and the complicity of influential people in public Have you or your community been affected by illegal mining? How was it handled? SMS us on 35697 using the keyword SAND and tell us your experiences. Please include your name and province. SMSes cost R1.50. By participating, you agree to receive occasional marketing material office posts dealing with practice and legislation issues makes it difficult for traditional leaders to tackle illegal sand miners.

Although illegal sand mining impacts on communities, they hardly derive any benefit from the activity.

“They [illegal sand miners] don’t mind digging near homes. They actually sell the soil back to the very same communities at ridiculously low prices,” says Tabi.

In a study titled The Regulation of Sand Mining in South Africa (Stewart Christopher Green, University of Cape Town) sand mining is described as “relatively unsophisticated and rudimentary”.

Green lists the basic equipment of a sand miner as a bulldozer to clear vegetation and build access roads; an excavator or front-end loader to scoop up sand from the deposit; and trucks to cart the sand away.

“The barriers to entry are, therefore, low and a sand mining operation can be set up with relatively low costs.

“In fact, sand mining is ideally suited to small-scale miners and new entrants to the industry. Profits on the sale of sand can be high, making this industry quite lucrative.”

Glen Monye, a community land rights activist based in Mokopane, says the practice is widespread in villages around the Limpopo town and proposes that there needs to be a concerted effort to educate communities about their rights.

“The issue of sand takes a back seat compared to mineral mining such as diamond and gold. Communities need to be taught how to deal with this,” says Monye.

Tabi says that during workshops held with communities affected by illegal sand mining, it was apparent that most people who were landowners did not know their rights or understand how to deal with illegal sand miners.

She says one of the areas being targeted by illegal sand miners in the Hammanskraal area was in fact earmarked for platinum mining but the landowners didn’t even know about this.

The extraction of sand is protected by the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act of 2002 that stipulates that anyone wishing to mine sand needs to apply for a permit from the department of mineral resources. However, it appears that sand miners simply ignore this regulation.

In 2014, environmental management inspectors, or the Green Scorpions, from the department of environmental affairs went on a countrywide blitz, targeting illegal sand miners.

The operation led to legal action being taken against at least 20 people and companies arrested during the operation.

Although the operation was deemed a success it focused on large-scale miners, meaning that small-scale illegal operators affecting communities like the Hammanskraal villages continue to operate.

In 2016 the department of water and sanitation applied for a court interdict to stop a company without proper permits from mining sand in KwaZuluNatal, one of the areas most affected by illegal mining.

Mosielele says that, in Botswana, the department tasked with regulating mining often cites a lack of resources as one of the challenges impacting on their ability to deal with illegal sand miners.

He says traditional leaders struggle with the issue due to legal challenges, because customary law is superseded by civil law, rendering chiefs powerless against the perpetrators.

“It is not very easy. As a chief my powers are limited. We can’t deal with these cases in our [traditional] courts,” he says.

Tabi says illegal sand miners need to be regulated and monitored in the same way government deals with artisanal miners.

“Why are sand miners not registered and [yet] are referred to as miners but we call others [zama zamas] artisanal miners?”

She says the spiritual connection to the soil needs to be respected as in many communities and societies it is not only viewed as a resource used for construction and industrial use.

“Our umbilical cords fell on that soil. We have a connection [to it] that cannot be explained,” she says.

The issue of sand takes a back seat compared to mineral mining such as diamond and gold. Communities need to be taught how to deal with this

The original of this report by Mukurukuru Media appeared on page 13 of City Press of 17 February 2019

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Thursday, 14 February 2019 13:37

The Star reports that another Gupta-owned company, Shiva Uranium, has resumed retrenching its workforce amid attempts to rescue the ailing mining firm.

Shiva Uranium’s business rescue practitioners Chris Monyela and Juanito Damons announced that Shiva Gold in Hartebeestfontein, North West, had been placed under care and maintenance and the process of retrenching employees had started.

They said an agreement to retrench employees had been signed.

At Shiva Coal in Brakfontein, Mpumalanga, there is ongoing production, with overheads being taken care of by the mining contractor.

National Union of Mineworkers Matlosana regional secretary Masibulele Naki told Independent Media yesterday the process of retrenching the remaining workforce had started, with Shiva Uranium employees undergoing medical examinations that would confirm they were employable in the industry and elsewhere.

According to Naki, Shiva Uranium’s medical station has capacity to conduct medical exit examinations of six mineworkers a day. He said workers should not only be paid retrenchment packages but the salaries Shiva Uranium stopped paying them last year.

By November, the employees were owed about R8.2 million at Shiva Gold while outstanding salaries stood at almost R2m at Shiva Coal.

Naki said before the initial round of retrenchments Shiva Uranium had a workforce of around 600.

The retrenchments come as the legal battle over Shiva Uranium heads back to court after two business rescue practitioners lost their North Gauteng High Court bid to be recognised.

Mahomed Tayob and Eugene Januarie have asked Acting Judge Mokhine Mosopa to grant them leave to appeal the judgment he handed down in December which dismissed the two business rescue practitioners’ application to interdict the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) from implementing the Companies Tribunal’s decision not to recognise them.

Tayob and Januarie say the high court erred in fact in holding that it was necessary for the second business rescue practitioner, Monyela, to give his approval of the appointment made by Shiva Uranium’s board.

“In doing so the court subordinated the correctly taken decision of the board to an incompetent individual not entitled to act for the company on his own,” reads Tayob and Januarie’s application for leave to appeal.

They argue that the correct interpretation of the law requires that on the question of the appointment of a business rescue practitioner in the wake of the resignation of a duly appointed business rescue practitioner, the board alone is competent to make the appointment and does not require the approval of any remaining business rescue practitioner.

“The court erred in approving the appointment of the third respondent (Damons) as a business rescue practitioner to the first respondent (Shiva Uranium) under circumstances where the first respondent, acting through its directors, had not made the appointment of the third respondent,” say Tayob and Januarie.

Tayob and Januarie had wanted the high court to review and set aside the tribunal’s November decision and declare them and Monyela the duly and lawfully appointed business rescue practitioners of Shiva Uranium.

But Judge Mosopa found Monyela’s appointment was not unlawful and that he was competent to remain Shiva Uranium’s business rescue practitioner.

“However, in due regard of the fact that the first respondent (Shiva Uranium) is a large company, the company or the creditors who appointed the practitioner who resigned must take all the necessary steps to ensure that a senior practitioner(s) is appointed to fill the vacant post left by Cloete Murray,” stated the judge.

Murray resigned in September and Shiva Uranium chief executive George van der Merwe, one of the company’s two directors, appointed Tayob and Januarie as joint rescue practitioners.

The CIPC rejected Damons’s appointment because of potential conflict of interest but Monyela successfully requested the tribunal to recognise him.

The original of this report by Loyiso Sidimba appeared on page 25 of The Star of 14 February 2019

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Thursday, 14 February 2019 10:26

The Citizen reports that according to a a labour expert, close to 400,000 jobs must be created per year, with both the government and the private sector playing active roles in the process, or the country will face many more strikes, says.

Innovative Staffing Solutions managing director Arnoux Mare said strikes such as yesterday’s national mass action organised by the trade union federation Cosatu could not be avoided unless unemployment was reduced.

He said strikes over the high rate of unemployment and job losses would continue if the government did not create secure employment at a faster rate than envisaged.

Such strikes inconvenienced both the public and private sectors, devastated the economy and affected investment prospects.

Instead of helping to end unemployment, strikes worsened it, because employers were put under duress due to loss of profits.

This would, in turn, result in many employers considering retrenchments.

National strikes also cost the country billions of rands in lost production and wages.

Cosatu attempted to mobilise its two million members to join yesterday’s national strike demanding an end to the current jobs bloodbath that has seen the official unemployment rate shoot to 27.5% and the unofficial rate exceed 35%.

The unions were protesting retrenchments in the private sector, especially in mines where at least 75 000 jobs were lost over the past three years, with close to 100,000 to go with the pending closure of five coal mines in Mpumalanga.

Mare said President Cyril Ramaphosa’s promise to create more than 270,000 jobs a year was not enough to make a dent in the unemployment rate.

“The country needs to create between 350,000 and 400,000 jobs per year in order to keep the nation at work.

“The private sector, especially entrepreneurs, are the biggest creators of jobs and they must look at how to do more to solve joblessness in the country.” Presently, South Africa’s employment situation was unfavourable, considering the recent Statistics South Africa report finding that 6.1 million people were without jobs.

The statistics indicated the country also had 2.9 million discouraged job seekers and another 12.6 million people who were not economically active.

“The government cannot create mass employment fast enough to eradicate poverty or bring the unemployment rate down to zero,” Mare said.

“Private companies need to assist the stimulation of the economy by creating jobs.

“Our business model has proven successful and has offered our clients the room to focus and grow their companies, which ultimately leads to more people being employed.”

Mare said Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni’s budget speech next week would serve to gauge how the government would adapt its current strategies to provide for the envisaged job creation in both the public and private sectors.

Labour lawyer and partner at Hogan Lovells South Africa, Osborne Molatudi, said the Cosatu strike was a clear political statement to the government that it has to do something about unemployment.

Government cannot create jobs fast enough

The original of this report by Eric Naki appeared on page 2 of The Citizen of 14 February 2019

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Wednesday, 13 February 2019 11:22

Sowetan reports that a last-minute payment of more than 200 intern doctors on Monday averted a legal showdown with the Gauteng department of health.

The doctors had not been paid the January salaries, leading to their association serving the department with an ultimatum to pay or face court action.

The department failed to meet a January 31 deadline for salary payments due to administrative delays, placing scores of intern doctors under financial strain. Yesterday, the South African Medical Association (Sama) said it had served the department with a letter of demand on Friday, with a view to heading to the high court today if the 222 doctors were not paid.

However, spokesperson for health MEC Dr Gwen Ramokgopa, Khutso Rabothatha, said intern doctors had been paid by midday yesterday, adding that there was no need for Sama to approach the high court for relief. “There won’t be any need for that anymore because people were paid,” Rabothatha said. Yesterday, Sama board member Dr Rhulani Ngwenya said they served the department with a letter of demand after some people were still unpaid by February 7. Ngwenya said the aim was to seek an urgent interdict forcing the department to pay salaries.

He said Sama would verify the list of doctors to ensure that everyone was covered. Frustrated doctors had taken to social media to share pictures of their colleagues counting coins to buy food, while some posted videos of themselves singing songs about going hungry. Yesterday, DA health spokesperson MEC Jack Bloom said the payments were a relief, however, the salary crisis reflected poor planning and a lack of proper administration on the part of the department.

“People called me saying that they have been paid, which is good but it is unacceptable for people to get their January salaries 11 days into February.

“This is not a good way for doctors to start the year,” Bloom said.

The original of this report by Zoë Mahopo appeared on page 6 of Sowetan of 12 February 2019

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Tuesday, 12 February 2019 14:30

Sowetan reports that a sixth suspect in the cable theft at the Gupta-owned Gloria Coal Mine in Mpumalanga last week has been released as police conduct more investigations over the incident. Brig Leonard Hlathi told Sowetan yesterday the man was released yesterday because the police had to conduct further investigations as directed by the public prosecutor. The new development came as employees at the mine continued to halt the search and rescue operation for the remaining trapped cable thieves underground.

“The rescue operation won’t continue today [Monday] because we have the employees who won’t permit us to continue the operation until they are paid their salaries‚” business rescue representative for the mine Mike Elliot said yesterday. The disruption started late last week.

Elliot said there was no money to pay the disgruntled employees. In business rescue we were generating money for the employees‚ they have been receiving their salaries all the way up to the end of October [2018]. Basically‚ the cash got used to pay Eskom and other creditors to keep the mine operations running,” Elliot said.

“Eventually, the bills far exceeded the amount of income. We just ran out of cash and there wasn’t production to look after it.” The Gloria mine forms part of the Optimum Coal assets bought by the Gupta family in 2016. They were put into business rescue early last year. Several thieves were trapped underground after a gas explosion on Wednesday while stripping cables at the mine‚ which has been closed for months. Elliot said they received information from the community last week that at least 22 people were trapped underground. “The community thought that there had been some sort of explosion. We went out and examined the main fans and we found that the blast doors‚ which protect the fans against an explosion‚ had been blown off.” Elliot said the atmosphere in the mine was full of poisonous gases‚ including carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. “We couldn’t get to where the community told us that these people were. We can’t reach it with our oxygen set‚ it’s too far. We must re-establish power to the mine that the copper thieves cut‚ [because] they cut the overhead power lines and made them fall down.” Elliot said the copper thieves had also stolen the Eskom supply cable. The bodies of five suspected thieves were recovered.

The original of this report by Iavan Pijoos appeared on page 10 of Sowetan of 12 February 2019

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Thursday, 07 February 2019 10:51

The Star reports that a new mother was among a large number of patients who were barred from either entering or leaving Leratong Hospital due to a strike over staff shortages and alleged nepotism.

Ambulances and patients were turned away at the main entrance as hospital workers, including doctors, nurses and support staff, protested. Their grievances included the alleged “selling” of posts at the hospital on the West Rand.

Staff on night shift on Monday were locked inside the institution.

The new mother, who asked not to be named, said she had given birth at the hospital two days before. She and her baby boy had been discharged, but the child needed to be readmitted for further observation.

“It was stressful (giving birth) and I was delighted when the doctor discharged us.

“I could not wait to get home. As we were about to leave at about 8am, we were told that there was a strike and no one was allowed to come in or leave,” she said.

“We have been sitting outside, waiting to leave, for hours now. I haven’t had a proper meal all day.”

Twitter user @funo_deluxe, who was worried about her mother, who worked night shift on Monday, posted: “My mother went to work last night (Monday) at Leratong Hospital and she hasn’t returned home because there is a strike happening, and they are locked inside the hospital.”

Hospital spokesperson Fikile Oyekanmi said the strike started in the morning, adding that it would not continue today, as hospital management had met with unions to discuss staff grievances.

She said the hospital had more than 1 700 employees.

“Some staff members were inside the premises, helping in the wards. There were patients who were denied access at a certain time and obviously, because there were fewer staff working, we wouldn’t have performed like we normally do.

“There haven’t been any reports of anything drastic happening,” added Oyekanmi.

She confirmed that allegations had been made that posts at the hospital were being sold.

The Star understands that workers are frustrated after posts that were advertised late last year were frozen.

Kagiso police spokesperson Captain Solomon Sibiya dismissed reports of a hostage situation at the hospital. “The workers are protesting peacefully. There was no violence reported but police monitored the situation.”

The original of this report by Sibingile Mashaba appeared on page 2 of The Star of 6 February 2019

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Monday, 04 February 2019 14:05

Sowetan reports that senior officials at the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) have been accused of rigging an interview process for the post of facilities manager in order to appoint their preferred candidate.  This was the finding of an arbitrator at a bargaining council hearing which found that Linda Mphuti was deprived of the appointment to a job after acting in the role for four years.

Mphuti had filed a dispute after another candidate was appointed to the role. He said the interview process had been flawed and skewed in his competitor’s favour.

Arbitrator in the matter Itumeleng Williams recommended that the appointment of another official into the post be set aside because she was allegedly given interview questionnaire prior to her being interviewed.

“The third party [successful candidate] was party to the circumvention of a fair and objective recruitment process,” Williams said.

“There is overwhelming evidence that she had either direct or indirect access to the executive director or the human resources manager, or both, before the interview process.”

Williams said the appointment of the successful candidate was unfair and that the failure to appoint Mphuti as facilities manager constituted an unfair labour practice.

“On the day of the interview, I walked into the waiting area at the venue and found the other applicant going through a set of questions. I knew that something wasn’t right at that moment but didn’t think much of it,” Mphuti told Sowetan. The hearing also found that this was done in a bid to manipulate the recruitment process for the preferred applicant. But a frustrated Mphuti said the appointment was yet to be reversed nearly a year after the finding of the arbitrator. City of Johannesburg spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane said the city was not obliged to abide by the arbitrator’s award. He said the city has approached the labour court to review and set aside the award.

“This matter is sub judice and before the labour court and no action can be expected until such time that the court decides on the application for review,” Modingoane said.

However, in March JMPD chief David Tembe instructed the acting executive director to intervene in the matter. “The evidence showed Mr Linda Mphuti acted with some urgency in referring the dispute to arbitration. “The delay in having the matter heard seems to be systematic in nature. The human resources department should implement the arbitration award as per the ruling.”

This matter is sub judice and before the labour court

The original of this report by Tankiso Makhetha appeared on page 8 of Sowetan of 4 February 2019

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