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 Wednesday roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that have appeared since
midday on Tuesday, 29 August 2017.
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Pupil appears over alleged stabbing, teacher assaulted at same Cape Town school Cape Times reports that a Kuils River Technical High School pupil, who was arrested for allegedly stabbing a fellow pupil, has been released into the care of his parents following a court appearance on Tuesday. The incident on Monday occurred during a fight between the two pupils. On the same day, police opened a common assault case after a pupil from the same school allegedly assaulted a teacher. Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said the alleged assault occurred after the pupil had handed over a script. “While the teacher read through the answers, the learner tried to grab it out of the teacher’s hand. The learner assaulted the teacher with her bare hands,” Van Wyk said. The two incidents came a week after a Soneike High School pupil was allegedly assaulted by a fellow pupil. Read this report by Chevon Booysen in full at Cape Times. See too, Pupils put teachers under siege (video clip), at eNCA. And also, More teachers are turning to the stick to enforce discipline, say unions, at Daily News. As well as, KZN education department to continue acting against teachers caning pupils, at EWN Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Rescue teams inching closer to trapped miners at Harmony’s Kusasalethu mine EWN reports that Harmony Gold has said that its rescue teams are inching closer and closer to the mineworkers who have been trapped underground at its Kusasalethu Mine in the West Rand. Although mine management earlier said that it was positive that those still trapped would be retrieved by Tuesday night, rescuers were forced to slow down their efforts amid fears of unstable surface conditions. This follows seismic activity at the mine that led to a rock fall on Friday, trapping five men. The bodies of three of those men have since been recovered. Harmony’s Marian van der Walt said that while rescue operations slowed down on Tuesday night over instability fears, the rescue teams continued to work throughout the night. Read this report by Hitekani Magwedze in full at EWN. See too, Family members identify bodies of Harmony mine accident victims, at SABC News Put safety first, Solidarity pleads following Kusasalethu deaths Netwerk24 reports that in response to the tragic mining accident at Harmony Gold’s Kusasalethu mine over the weekend, trade union Solidarity has called on employers to renew their efforts to prevent further mine deaths. According to Adv. Paul Mardon, Deputy General Secretary of the Occupational Health and Safety division at Solidarity, 2017 has been a difficult year in the mining industry and several incidents have occurred. “That is precisely why we cannot place enough focus on and pledge dedication to health and safety in mines,” Mardon said. He noted that mining deaths for 2017 currently amounted to about 53 - apparently an 11% improvement compared with the corresponding time last year - but when the recent mine deaths were taken into account, the number of deaths could exceed those of 2016. According to Mardon, the increase in deaths could be attributed to the demands imposed by a repressed economy on the sustainability of the industry and on mineworkers. In his view there is a correlation between increased retrenchments at mines and a decline in focus and concentration by employers. Read a report in this regard at Netwerk24 (limit on access). Read Solidarity’s press statement in this regard at Solidarity online. See too, Mynsterftes 2017: Rede tot kommer sê Solidariteit, at Maroela Media. And also, ‘Veiliger in weermag as in myne’, at Netwerk24 (limit on access) Other labour posting(s) relating to mining
Community postings relating to mining
Demands submitted by Samwu to Magalies Water include 20% wage increase Business Report writes that the SA Municipal Workers' Union (Samwu) has submitted its wage and other demands for the 2017/18 financial year to Magalies Water, which supplies water to the Rustenburg, Madibeng and Moretele Local Municipalities in the North West. Among the union’s demands are the following: a single year agreement backdated from 1 July 2017; 20% salary increase for all workers; an additional 10% salary hike for workers on P7 - P18 on a total cost to company basis; 12.5% standby allowance; 15% shift allowance; 12% retirement contribution by the employer; and increases to various categories of leave. Negotiations on Samwu’s demands will begin on 30 August 2017. Read this report by Tamaryn Africa in full at Business Report. Read Samwu’s press statement in this regard at Cosatu Today
Outrage that City of Johannesburg job applicants have to declare any political party positions SowetanLive reports that the Democratic Alliance (DA) administration in the City of Johannesburg wants to know if its prospective employees hold any political office. This is stated in a new job application form for the city, which compels applicants to disclose political positions - permanent or temporary. The DA said the intention was to ensure that there was a clear divide between party and state, and that those who hold senior positions in the city's administration are appointed due to their professional qualifications rather than loyalty or seniority in any political party. The move has been met with outrage by the SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), whose regional secretary Bafana Zungu said the question was abnormal and that such a requirement was unheard of. However, Mayor Herman Mashaba's spokesman defended the move, saying the question was about preventing cadre deployment and was in line with the Municipal Systems Act. "It asks you whether you hold political office, not what party do you support,” he pointed out. The DA added in a statement last night that the question was introduced in 2014 under the previous administration, but this could not be recalled by former city manager Trevor Fowler. Read this report by Isaac Mahlangu and Loyiso Sidimba in full at SowetanLive Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Solidarity reacts strongly to request by Eskom's board to make payment to Brian Molefe Business Report writes that trade union Solidarity on Tuesday reacted strongly following a report that Eskom’s board wanted to make a payment of R11.2m to former CEO Brian Molefe. According to a Sunday report, Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown had rejected a bid by Eskom's board to pay Molefe a multimillion-rand golden handshake. According to Deon Reyneke, Solidarity’s Deputy General Secretary for the Energy Industry, any payment in whatever form made to Molefe would amount to contempt of court. Solidarity had approached the Labour Court earlier this year to get a ruling that all Eskom payments in favour of Molefe to the pension fund as well as payments from the pension fund to Molefe be declared unlawful. Reyneke indicated that the matter would be heard by the end of November and that should any payment be made before the court date and, pending the outcome of litigation, the Minister and/or Eskom could be held in contempt of court. Read this report by Songezo Ndlendle in full at Business Report. Read Solidarity’s press statement at Solidarity online Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Minister Nzimande salutes women artisans and apprentices Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande has saluted women artisans and apprentices for venturing beyond social stereotypes and debunking the myth that certain skills and occupations were the preserves of men. He paid tribute to them during a ceremony on Tuesday at the Ekurhuleni West Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College held to honour women in artisanship. In his address, Nzimande said women artisans and apprentices must be empowered economically so that they can win the war against poverty and he went on to say that income inequality based on gender bias needed to be confronted and reversed. The Minister acknowledged that the numbers of females registered for artisanal trades were still low at below 25% for the 2015/16 financial year. He said his department would continue with the Decade of the Artisan Programme, which aimed to showcase to young women that it was “cool” to be a woman artisan. Read this report in full at SA Govt News Agency. See too, Nzimande encourages women to become artisans, at SABC News Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Gigaba’s bombshell that PIC funds could be used to bail SOEs out angers Cosatu BusinessLive reports that Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba has told Cosatu’s central executive committee (CEC) meeting that he cannot guarantee that the government will not attempt to make use of the Public Investment Corporation’s (PIC’s) funds to capitalise state-owned entities (SOEs). This comes as the government scrambles to raise money for struggling SOEs, notably airline SAA. The labour federation’s leaders apparently took the minister to task after his presentation on Monday, demanding the assurance that the crisis of the country’s burdened fiscus would not affect workers’ "hard-earned" pensions and savings. Cosatu’s biggest affiliate, Nehawu, has already stated its opposition to a potential bail-out of SAA by the PIC. The union said such a move would be an abuse of employees’ retirement funds, to rescue SAA, which was a "mismanaged and corrupt" entity. Delegates to the CEC meeting were due to debate the minister’s presentation on Tuesday night. The PIC manages assets worth more than R1.8-trillion and invests funds on behalf of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) and other social funds. The Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) said that it would never agree that PIC funds could be used to bail out "mismanaged" government entities. Read this report by Theto Mahlakoana in full at BusinessLive (paywall access) Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Progressive Professionals Forum and Cosatu demand reinstatement of 'FNB4' Business Report writes that the Progressive Professionals Forum (PPF) issued a statement on Tuesday calling on First National Bank (FNB) to reinstate the so-called 'FNB4' with immediate effect. The organisation noted "with grave concern and disappointment" reports that FNB has dismissed four of its employees "on the basis of them exercising their democratic rights to expressing their social and political views". The PPF drew attention to the allegation that the main reason why the employees were dismissed was due to their comments about DA leader Mmusi Maimane and "the general unhappiness with the state of oppression and racism within FNB" and generally in the country. The PPF stated that it was further shocked that FNB would go all out to violate employees’ rights by monitoring their emails and WhatsApp chats. Meantime, labour federation Cosatu also condemned the dismissals and demanded that FNB reconsider its decision and reinstate the employees as soon as possible. The four were seemingly fired for “political talk and using insulting language” after the bank monitored their business e-mails and WhatsApp group conversations for several months last year. Read this report in full at Business Report. See too, PPF demands reinstatement of 'FNB 4', at Fin24. Read Cosatu’s press statement in this regard at SA Labour News FNB denies that it had spied on dismissed employees Fin24 reports that FNB on Tuesday denied all allegations that it had intercepted the WhatsApp and email messages of former employees. This followed a report that four former FNB employees claimed their WhatsApp and email conversations had been monitored for several months before their dismissals. “The bank did not intercept any private communication,” FNB human resources spokesperson Shamala Moodley said. FNB confirmed that the individuals referred to were no longer in the bank's employ, following a thorough and rigorous internal disciplinary and CCMA process which was concluded nearly a year ago. It also said the bank’s policies were applied in accordance with labour laws. It was reported that the four former employees were dismissed after they had commented on Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane’s marriage to a white woman, as well as an apparent lack of transformation and pay disparities at FNB. The original of this report by Kyle Venktess is at Fin24
Ex-municipal CFO ordered to cough up R100k for fraud Diamond Fields Advertiser reports that the former chief financial officer of Karoo Hoogland Municipality, Marius Botha, and bogus company owner, Ockert Cloete, were on Monday ordered to pay the Asset Forfeiture Unit for unduly benefiting from the proceeds of crime. In May they were found guilty in the Williston Regional Court on nine charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering and for contravening the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA). The Asset Forfeiture Unit ordered Botha to repay R100,000, while Cloete was ordered to repay R50,000 to recover the proceeds of crime. The former municipal manager at the municipality, Louis Nothnagel, was found guilty of contravening the MFMA, for failing to prevent corruption. The charges related to undue payments that were made to a bogus company that was appointed by the municipality to install 600 solar geysers for the community in Williston. Sentencing procedures were due to begin on Tuesday. Read this report by Sandi Kwon Hoo in full at Diamond Fields Advertiser Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Treasury urged to review double tax on expat workers Fin24 reports that tax experts on Tuesday urged National Treasury to give careful consideration to the economic implications of repealing a provision that exempts certain South Africans who work overseas from paying tax in SA. They were addressing Parliament’s standing committee on finance on new tax proposals, one of the most controversial of which is to repeal the exemption that allows locals who work abroad for a period of longer than 183 days a year to pay tax in the country where they are working, and not in SA. Treasury claims the exemption, which was introduced in 2001, has been abused and created the opportunity for some South Africans to not pay any tax at all – especially those living in low or no tax jurisdictions. Among the points made were that the higher cost of living associated with living overseas should be taken into account; that South Africans working abroad would not receive a tax credit for making contributions to social security in the countries where they worked; and that a number of expats were maintaining two households. In response, Treasury stated it would take the submissions and public comments into account before a decision was reached. The new regulation is expected to be implemented in 2019. Read this report by Liesl Peyper in full at Fin24. See too, Oorsese werkers pleit; tesourie sê hy sal luister, at Netwerk24 (limit on access). And also, Reg om belasting op te dok vir oorsee werk, sê EFF, at Netwerk24. As well as, Parliament hears about 'fake' expat tax proposals, at Fin24
See our listing of links to labour articles published on the internet on Tuesday, 29 August 2017 at SA Labour News
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