This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.
In our Thursday roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that have appeared since
midday on Tuesday, 8 August 2017.
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Cosatu takes to the streets on Women’s Day to end gender-based violence City Press reports that, as the country celebrated National Women’s Day on Wednesday, Cosatu held various marches nationwide to raise awareness against the scourge of gender-based violence. In a statement, the labour federation said that despite the various legal frameworks in place such as the Domestic Violence Act, femicide and other atrocities linked to gender-based violence were on the rise. Cosatu also spoke of the LGBTI communities and the hate crimes which were inflicted upon the LGBTI communities daily, including corrective rape, “which undermines their constitutional right to their private life and right to choose how they relate to fellow human beings”. In the North West, Cosatu marched to the Klerksdorp Police Station, where a memorandum of demands was handed over. In Limpopo, Cosatu decided to take the march to rural areas in order to raise awareness about gender-based violence. In Gauteng and the Western Cape, Cosatu called for the maximum conviction of perpetrators, with mostly female Cosatu members protesting outside Greenpoint police station. Read this report by Avantika Seeth in full at City Press. See too, Cosatu marches in North West for end to gender based violence, at SABC News. Read Cosatu’s press statement at Cosatu Today Survey shows still not enough women in top positions Business Report writes that 28% of senior management roles in South African businesses are held by women in 2017. This is according to Grant Thornton’s International Business Report, "Women in Business: New perspectives on risk and reward", based on its annual survey of 5,500 businesses in 36 economies. “While this is an improvement from last year’s level of 23%, it is concerning that this number has not improved beyond 29% in all the 13 years since we started doing this survey,” said Christelle Grohmann, a director of advisory services at Grant Thornton. The research also shows this is a global phenomenon. Female representation in senior management has a long way to go in North America (23%), the G7 economies (22%) and developed economies in Asia Pacific (13%). South Africa compares favourably, with only 31% of businesses having no women in senior management, down from 39% last year. Read this report in full at Business Report Other internet posting(s) in this news category
BLF‚ Mngxitama in contempt of court for harassing journalists TimesLive reports that Black First Land First (BLF) and its leader‚ Andile Mngxitama‚ were found on Tuesday to be in contempt of a court order issued last month which prevented them from harassing‚ intimidating and assaulting journalists. Sam Sole of the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism‚ Ferial Haffajee of HuffPost and the SA National Editors Forum (Sanef) approached the Johannesburg High Court last week with the complaint that BLF and Mngxitama were in contempt of an earlier order interdicted them from harassing‚ intimidating or assaulting a number of journalists. On Tuesday, Judge Sharise Weiner said it was clear from video footage of what had transpired on 27 July at an event organised by amaBhungane that BLF and Mngxitama were indeed in contempt of the earlier order. The judge ordered that Mngxitama be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of three months, which was suspended on condition that BLF and Mngxitama did not breach the earlier order again. She also ruled that if the order made last month was breached again‚ Mngxitama and BLF should be ordered to pay a fine of R100‚000. Read this report by Ernest Mabuza in full at TimesLive. See too, High Court finds BLF, Mngxitama guilty of contempt of court, at The Citizen. And also, Sanef happy with BLF contempt of court ruling, at eNCA. As well as BLF considering appealing contempt of court ruling, at News24 Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Gold Fields boss says about disputed mining charter he’d prefer talk over court Business Report writes that, as the Chamber of Mines on Tuesday defended itself against claims by Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane that it was trying to block transformation in the industry, Gold Fields CE Nick Holland said his mining company would favour talks to resolve issues regarding the Mining Charter over court action. Holland told Bloomberg television the issue might affect other companies considering restructuring or deals, but that it was not affecting Gold Fields operations or plans. He indicated that it was unclear how the Chamber’s court challenge against the third version of the Charter would pan out. Holland did however note that the Charter process had followed a lack of consultation with industry. The Chamber has applied to the court for an urgent interdict against the implementation of the Charter, which was gazetted on 15 June. Responding to comments by Zwane, the Chamber on Tuesday said it was not true that it was opposed to the transformation of the mining industry. “The Chamber’s only proviso is that real transformation must be implemented with due regard to what is achievable, bearing in mind the realities of the situation the industry faces,” it said. Read the original of this report by Dineo Faku, which appeared in Business Report on 10 August 2017, at SA Labour News Other postings on Mining Charter
Other labour/community posting(s) related to mining
Man shot dead, 21 arrested in jobs protest in Tlhabane near Rustenburg ANA reports that a man was shot dead and 21 people were arrested during a protest in Tlhabane near Rustenburg, North West police said on Wednesday. Police spokesperson Sergeant Ofentse Mokgadi said a 25-year-old man died after he was allegedly shot by security officers attempting to disperse a group of people who wanted to forcefully gain entry to a construction site. The deceased was identified as Letlhogonolo Maimela of Phokeng by his cousin Obakeng Mathews, who was with him when he was shot and who said they were not part of the protest. The protest was allegedly triggered by the failure of the project manager at the construction site for a new shopping mall to table a fair report to the community regarding hiring of workers and SMME (small, medium and micro-enterprises) development. A group of Tlhabane residents went to the site to protest against the alleged irregular and unfair employment of casual workers and SMME development. Previously on 2 August, residents had protested at the construction site demanding to be employed. Read this report in full at The Citizen Samwu to march on Midvaal municipality on Thursday ANA reports that the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) was due on Thursday to conduct a march to the Midvaal municipal offices in protest against working conditions and to deliver a memorandum of demands. Samwu said numerous grievances have been raised with the management of the DA-run municipality to no avail. Its memo will apparently include allegations of maladministration in the municipality, irregular awarding of tenders, irregular appointment of attorneys for the council, racism, sexual harassment, flawed recruitment processes, outsourcing, and the use of labour brokers. Samwu also said its members intended to picket every day from 07:30 to 16:00 within a demarcated area in the public parking space at the municipal offices for an indefinite period. In a notice to residents and business owners, the municipal manager confirmed that Samwu had notified the municipality that it would be embarking on strike action from Thursday. Read this report in full at Engineering News. Read Samwu’s press statement at Samwu online
Politics jeopardising employment in South Africa, says Solidarity Engineering News reports that trade union Solidarity on Tuesday expressed concern about SA’s persistently weak unemployment statistics. This came after Monday’s release by Statistics SA of its Quarterly Labour Force Survey, which showed that under the expanded definition (i.e. inclusive of those who have given up on finding a job) unemployment had widened from 36.4% in the first quarter to 36.6% in the second quarter. Solidarity Research Institute economics researcher Gerhard van Onselen pointed out that this had been the sixth consecutive quarter since the fourth quarter of 2015 in which the number of unemployed people measured on the expanded definition had increased faster on a year-on-year basis than the number of those who were employed. Van Onselen said that political uncertainty and reckless policy actions did not help improve unfavourable labour conditions and that what was urgently needed was a more market-friendly policy and political environment. Read this report in full at Engineering News. Read Solidarity’s press statement at Solidarity online. See too, ‘Politiek en inmenging kelder indiensneming’, at Maroela Media Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Seventy-two JSE firms get scrutinised over employment equity compliance Reuters reports that the Department of Labour said on Thursday that it has started a review to inspect 72 Johannesburg Stock Exchange- (JSE-) listed firms to ensure compliance with employment equity laws. SA’s employment equity legislation aims to remove unfair discrimination and accelerate diversity in workplaces as the government seeks to redress the race-based policies of apartheid which ended in 1994 when the ruling ANC came to power. The department indicated that any company which breached employment equity laws could face a fine of R1.5 million or be liable for criminal prosecution to enforce compliance. This short report is at Business Report. Read the Department of Labour’s press statement in this regard at DOL online
Treasury’s Ismail Momoniat calls for law on unclaimed retirement funds BusinessLive reports that Treasury deputy director-general Ismail Momoniat says that legislation is needed to compel pension fund administrators to increase efforts to trace beneficiaries and pay out billions of rand in unclaimed funds. The Financial Services Board (FSB) estimates that more than R40bn in pension funds remains unclaimed. Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi recently said billions of rand due to former mine workers remained unclaimed, while Chamber of Mines CEO Roger Baxter put the figure at R3bn for the mining sector. The unclaimed benefits, which include cash accumulated towards retirement and deaths, are held in investment vehicles and overseen by trustees, who use tracing companies to find beneficiaries, albeit sometimes reluctantly. Momoniat, an FSB board member, said on Wednesday that a law was needed to provide guidelines and to compel trustees to find beneficiaries and pay out the money. The FSB has been asked to deal with this issue. A lack of record-keeping, the weak provision of information to employees as well as poor tracing efforts are among the reasons that workers’ benefits remained unclaimed. Read this report by Michelle Gumede in full at BusinessLive
N3 reopened following pedestrian bridge collapse on Wednesday ANA reports that the N3 north and south bound between the M2 Gildenhuys and N3 Gillooly’s interchanges was reopened on Thursday morning after the collapse of an abandoned pedestrian bridge over the highway early on Wednesday. According to reports, the scene of the bridge collapse has been cleared and traffic is flowing smoothly. The collapse resulted in the closure of the N3 with three people seriously injured. The decommissioned pedestrian bridge collapsed around midnight. It was constructed in 1978 and has not been in use for a number of years. Read this report in full at IOL News. Read too, Could illegal mining be the cause of Bedfordview bridge collapse? at TimesLive
Manana’s apology for assault an attempt to justify the unjustifiable, says Numsa City Press reports that the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has called the apology by Deputy Minister of Higher Education Mduduzi Manana for allegedly a woman at a nightclub an attempt to justify the unjustifiable. The deputy minister and some of his friends were at the Cubana restaurant in Fourways in the early hours of Sunday morning when he assaulted Mandisa Duma. The altercation is alleged to have been as a result of Manana being called “gay”, something he took offence to. He has admitted to slapping Duma, and since apologised to both her and the staff at Cubana. In his statement, Manana stated: “Regardless of the extreme provocation, I should have exercised restraint.” Numsa acting spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi said this was an attempt to justify the unjustifiable. She called on government to act swiftly by setting an example and arresting Manana in order “to send a clear message to perpetrators”. Read this report by Avantika Seeth in full at City Press. See too, Numsa calls for Manana's head, at eNCA. Numsa’s press statement in this regard is at Politicsweb Other internet posting(s) in this news category
See our listing of links to labour articles published on the internet on Tuesday, 8 August and Wednesday, 9 August 2017 at SA Labour News
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