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Tuesday, 28 August 2018 10:54

Business Report writes that the United National Transport Union (Untu) has branded the embattled Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) trains as a disaster waiting to happen and accused the government of ignoring red flags.

The union said yesterday that it was in the process of launching a court bid to force Prasa to adhere to safety standards.

Steve Harris, the general secretary of Untu, said more than 50 percent of the signals used by train crews were out of order due to theft and vandalism.

“Manual train authorisations (MTAs) make trains more exposed to coalitions and derailments as human error may occur, like what happened at the Geldenhuys Station in Germiston, on the East Rand, in January, when three trains were authorised to continue on the same route due to MTAs being used,” Harris said.

Untu has called on its members, who constitute more than half of Prasa’s workforce, to inform the union of each incident, irrespective of the seriousness, to allow it to compose a comprehensive timeline to bolster its case.

The trade union further hit out at Minister of Transport Blade Nzimande, accusing him of forcing the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) to issue the rail agency with a temporary safety permit earlier this month.

The troubled rail agency briefly operated without a valid safety permit this month after its permit, which was previously issued with special conditions, expired at midnight on July 31.

Prasa spokesperson Nana Zenani said the company was committed to complying with safety standards and would not wilfully risk the lives of its employees and commuters.

Department of Transport spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi hit back at the allegations made by Untu. “The statement by Untu is reckless and unfounded. Minister Nzimande has not issued a directive to the RSR to issue Prasa with a compliance permit,” Mnisi said.

“Rail safety is one of the tenets of providing a reliable metro rail service and the minister will not issue a directive that will endanger or compromise the lives of the commuters and South Africans at large.”

The RSR could not be immediately reached for comment to the allegations. The country has had a few rail accidents in the past few months.

In January a Shosholoza Meyl train en route from Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg crashed into a truck that allegedly failed to stop at a level crossing. The accident involved nine carriages and more than 200 passengers were injured, while 18 people lost their lives.

In May four people were killed in a collision between a vehicle and a train in Magaliesburg, north-west of Johannesburg.

The auditor-general said last week that the entity had incurred a loss of R4.4 billion in the 2017 financial year. The agency has still not tabled its statements for the 2016/17 financial year in Parliament.

The original of this report by Kabelo Khumalo appeared on page 15 of Business Report of 28 August 2018

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Monday, 27 August 2018 05:50

Saturday Citizen reports that the ANC has come under sharp criticism from its ally the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) for excluding all gender and gay and lesbian rights protection clauses from the Traditional Courts Bill before parliament.

Cosatu has called for the Bill to be halted while giving time for the consultation on the omitted clauses that the federation demanded be reinstated.

It said as it stood, the Bill was fatally flawed and simply unconstitutional. Cosatu vowed to engage President Cyril Ramaphosa, the ANC, ministers of justice and of women, the speaker and chief whip in parliament to intervene as a matter of urgency.

Ironically, the legislation was earlier rejected by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) for not catering for the rights of women and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning and intersex community (LGBTQI).

Cosatu’s parliamentary coordinator, Matthew Parks, lashed out at ANC parliamentarians in the portfolio committee on justice and correctional services for being behind the move to remove the gender and human rights protection clause.

Parks hit out at the ANC MPs serving in the ruling party’s study group on justice and correctional services.

The Bill initially contained crucial concessions, mainly suggested by the civil society organisations during their interaction with the justice ministry, that protected the women and LGBTQI people, including the right to opt out of traditional courts and protection of the rights of both men and women who did not want a traditional court imposed upon them. The bodies also demanded that traditional courts be gender representative and that such courts should not discriminate on the basis of gender or sexual orientation.

“It is simply shocking and bewildering that the ANC MPs in the [portfolio committee] have decided to side with traditional leaders and remove all the clauses seeking to protect women and LGBTQI persons from the Bill,” Parks said.

He said the concessions were made by the ministry of justice after extensive engagements with civil society.

The previous version of the Bill was overwhelmingly rejected by the NCOP for failing to deal with these rights.

“It’s tantamount to negotiating in bad faith by the ANC justice committee study group,” Parks said.

According to Cosatu, the concessions, while not perfect, were progressive and critical to protect women and the LGBTQI community. The federation expressed disappointment that such key human rights provisions had now been removed by the ANC MPs at the behest of traditional leaders.

“Cosatu calls on parliament to halt this Bill,” Parks said. “The ANC will be delusional to believe that the votes of a couple hundred traditional leaders are more important the votes of millions of women living in traditional areas.”

But Mathole Motshekga, chair of the justice and correctional services portfolio committee, denied that the Bill excluded gender and LGBTQI rights

“Everybody is catered for in the legislation, but we don’t have to repeat what is in the constitution,” Motshekga said.

Cosatu calls upon parliament to halt this Bill.

The original of this report by Eric Naki appeared on page 6 of Saturday Citizen of 25 August 2018

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Monday, 20 August 2018 12:16

Sowetan reports that the City of Tshwane has launched an investigation into the status of the qualifications of its emergency services boss Previn Govender, in the latest of scandals involving the hiring of top officials in the capital.

The South African Municipal Workers Union in Tshwane wrote a letter to executive mayor Solly Msimanga questioning Govender’s qualifications as head of emergency services.

Govender was appointed to the position, which has an annual salary of more than R1.2-million, in August last year.

His highest qualifications, according to his CV, are an Advanced (associate) Diploma in Fire Technology obtained from the Southern African Emergency Services Institute (Saesi) obtained in June 1996, as well as a Graduate Diploma in Fire Engineering Science from Institution of Fire Engineers in the UK, which he obtained in December of the same year.

In his CV, Govender stated that the Saesi diploma was an NQF Level 7 qualification.

The SA Qualification Authority (SAQA) has, however, disputed the level of one of his qualifications, saying the Saesi diploma is not an NQF-registered qualification and therefore cannot be assigned an NQF level.

SAQA’s CEO Joe Samuels said Saesi was a professional body recognised by SAQA, but said the advanced diploma was an in-house qualification historically offered by Saesi.

Samuels said the Institution of Fire Engineers in the UK was an overseas body officially recognised in that country, but SAQA had never received an application for this qualification to be granted SAQA status.

“If anyone applies to SAQA with a qualification from this body, we would establish whether the qualifications are registered in the UK. We cannot express a definite view until we receive such an application,” Samuels added.

This is the latest scandal to hit Tshwane’s top echelons after Msimanga’s chief of staff, Marietha Aucamp, resigned under a dark cloud when it was discovered that she had lied about her qualifications for the R1.2-million per annum salary post in May.

Last month, it also emerged that executive head in the mayor’s office, Stefan de Villiers, was appointed to the position that required a bachelor’s degree as a minimum qualification, which he does not possess.

The metro’s spokesperson, Selby Bokaba, said that the city had received the certificates and verified them during the selection process, but were not aware of SAQA status of these qualifications.

“With the new development, we were not aware. The city manager (Moeketsi Mosola) has vowed to launch an investigation into the information that has come to light,” he said, adding that the processes to be followed would be guided by the outcome of the investigation.

Govender referred all questions to city manager Mosola’s office “as this is an employment-related query”.

Govender reports directly to Mosola, who in June said he had personally overseen the appointment of all senior managers reporting to him and had verified their qualifications with SAQA.

As emergency services boss, Govender runs the capital’s fire brigade, emergency medical services, disaster management, specialist task force and emergency operational call centre.

The original of this report by Sipho Mabena & Penwell Dlamini appeared on page 5 of Sowetan of 20 August 2018

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Monday, 20 August 2018 11:16

BL PREMIUM writes that the strongest indication that the Ramaphosa honeymoon is over was delivered last week in a scathing attack from union federation Cosatu, the president’s first political home and the first in the ruling party alliance to openly support Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidency.

Cosatu threatened not to support the ANC in the 2019 election should the economic situation — particularly regarding retrenchments — fail to improve.

It is not the first time Cosatu has faced disappointment in its pick for ANC presidency, although the descent into despair has certainly been quicker than it was for former president Jacob Zuma. This despair is quickly morphing into anger, likely to prompt the federation to take far-reaching decisions at its national congress in September.

Among them could be a resolution to push the SA Communist Party towards contesting future elections. Depending on whether the mood in the country shifts by then, it could even put the ANC on terms over which party it will support in the national election in 2019.

Cosatu has repeatedly threatened to withhold its support, but this time its own survival is at stake. This time, if it blinks or capitulates, it risks complete irrelevance.

The conditions in the country are not as they were in 1995, 2005, 2007 or even 2014, when Cosatu emasculated itself rather than threaten the hegemony of the ANC.

It is worth going back to the reasons that propelled Cosatu to call on the ANC to remove Zuma. The discussion on this decision took place some weeks after the announcement of the 2016 election results, in which the ANC’s support nationally slipped to 56% from 64% in the 2011 local government elections.

The party lost control of three metros — including the metro with the largest budget on the continent, Johannesburg, as well as the administrative capital of the country, Tshwane.

Cosatu’s decision to swell the ranks of the ANC might have had noble motives but in the end what it translated to was positions in government.

After 2016, the realisation hit that with an ANC-led government’s electoral support on the decline, positions in the government were set to become hot property.

In addition, Cosatu leaders who had in the past been deployed to the government on an ANC ticket quickly showed where their loyalties were located: with the party deploying them and not the federation. These appointees have therefore had little effect on governance in Cosatu’s favour — in fact many tried hard to prove their loyalty to the ANC to keep their jobs.

A second critical factor in the current landscape is within the labour space itself, where Cosatu is now largely seen as a public sector player. Its competitor, the Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa), has, according to Cosatu insiders, "come out of their shell". This has resulted in Fedusa affiliate the Public Service Association (PSA) asserting itself in labour disputes in various sectors of the state. In fact, it was the PSA that threatened the public sector wage talks when it rejected the government’s offer, which had already been signed by Cosatu-aligned unions.

Then there is the SA Federation of Trade Unions, which by all accounts has not had a huge impact on the union space, except through its largest affiliate, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa). Numsa is now a general union, corroding Cosatu unions not only in the private space but also among public sector unions. Its investment company is intent on listing its financial services division on the JSE by 2020. Despite misgivings over whether this should be done in the next two years, even from board members, the Numsa leadership is pushing ahead.

Numsa’s handling of both the bus strike and the Eskom strike has gained the admiration of members of Cosatu unions. This is according to sources inside Cosatu House who are concerned about the influence of unions outside the fold of the federation. The increased competition in the labour space, which mirrors the increased competition in the political space, means Cosatu has little option but to go back to basics. This is the theme of its congress next month, and ironically was the theme pushed by former general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi before he was axed.

Cosatu does not have the luxury any longer of playing the ANC’s game, characterised by positions as a reward for political support, because in future the ANC itself is not guaranteed the number of posts it currently has in parliament and the provincial legislatures.

Its space for dispensing patronage is rapidly narrowing and those who have been at the receiving end of that patronage are having to find alternatives, and fast.

The federation is also faced with a dire economic situation that is placing its members at risk, including wage deals at state-owned enterprises such as Eskom, where fiscal room has been narrowed due to years of state capture and corruption.

The public sector is next, with talk of large-scale retrenchments of retirement-aged employees on the cards.

While reports that 30,000 public sector employees are set to be retrenched have been rejected by the government, those near retirement age are set to be worked out of the system, and the numbers could potentially be above those projected publicly.

This means that at its conference Cosatu will have to consider adopting a vastly different stance toward its allies, which it has traditionally protected as a matter of principle. It is now facing the arduous task of choosing between its own organisational existence and that of its political masters in the ANC.

The original of this report by Natasha Marrian appeared at BL Premium (paywall access)

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Monday, 20 August 2018 06:42

Business Times writes that the name Lonmin will forever be linked to the deaths of 44 people at Marikana in 2012, but the company itself could soon be consumed by Sibanye-Stillwater and the assets of the once-proud, third-largest global platinum miner will become just a reporting line. It didn't have to be like this.

The 109-year-old Lonmin was one of the pioneers in trying to forge a mechanised mining strategy which has now become the holy grail for SA's mining sector and the platinum industry in particular. The vision under then-CEO Brad Mills was ahead of its time and remarkably prescient. It was a strategy he steadfastly and clearly articulated since his appointment to the nascent platinum miner in 2004.

Mills said at the time: "With many of the projects advancing from the trial phase into that of fully fledged mining operations, we now have many people working in a safer, healthier environment who are highly skilled and hence better rewarded."

The thinking was to have safe, low-cost, continuous mining and Mills pushed the strategy hard, rolling it out at the core Marikana mines as well as Lonmin's ill-starred Limpopo mine that was doomed by adverse geological conditions and a lack of underground development.

Mechanised mining, which was intended to account for 50% of production by 2010, was almost breathlessly extolled by Mills, who has been subsequently pilloried in a number of quarters for his efforts.

In 2006, he spoke of the new Hossy, Saffy and K4 deep-level mines as "an opportunity to create a new generation of mines" at which "we intend to set a new industry standard". He said: "The new shafts will be much more employee-friendly with airport terminal-style facilities providing rest areas, work stations and catering on the employees' way to or from their activities underground."

By 2008, the dream was dead. Mills was gone and replaced by Ian Farmer as CEO, who immediately stopped the mechanisation strategy, citing the cost differences between conventional, labour-intensive, hand-held drilling and mining compared to the more expensive mechanised operations.

That was the year in which the platinum price shot up to $2,200 an ounce on fears of supply disruptions from SA, the world's largest source of the metal, because of electricity shortages.

Prices then plunged to around $1,000 an ounce as the global financial crisis struck. Meanwhile, input costs in SA soared in 2008, forcing a cold splash of reality for platinum companies, which until then had been planning unfettered growth.

"Brad was right, you know. If Lonmin had stuck to its guns and made mechanisation work they would be like Anglo American Platinum [Amplats] now," said a senior industry figure, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Five or six years ago, conventional mining was cheaper than mechanised mining. Now that has switched around and mechanised mining delivers the lowest-cost ounces."

Years of above-inflation wage increases and falling productivity have made conventional, labour-intensive mining, which comprises about half of companies' costs, uncompetitive when compared to the cost of smaller workforces operating machines.

Amplats has since 2013 embarked on an aggressive strategy of selling its labour-intensive, deep-level mines to focus on shallow, mechanised operations, and has been by far the best-performing platinum mining company in terms of profits and share performance.

"Brad was doing exactly the right thing, but it was just too early. The capital spend was high and Lonmin couldn't realise the efficiencies when compared to conventional mining at the time," the industry figure said.

A second industry source had a different view. "Back in the day, Lonmin's operations were the best in the industry. Then Brad Mills converted to mechanisation at ore bodies generally not suited for that type of mining. That was a very costly and disruptive process, and trying to repair it took a long time and put Lonmin on the back foot."

Lonmin in recent years found itself with unsustainably high debt levels, labour and community problems that bedevilled production, strict debt covenants and evaporating investor confidence, which meant neither banks nor shareholders were willing to put any more money into the company.

Without the takeover bid from Sibanye, which persuaded lenders to hold back on demanding repayment of a $150m (about R2.2bn) loan after Lonmin breached its debt covenants in 2017, there was a good chance that the company would have gone out of business, taking 30,000 jobs with it.

At the heart of the Marikana protests in 2012 were the appalling living conditions around the mines, where Lonmin singularly failed to honour its housing commitments to build 5,500 houses, and squalid, unserviced informal settlements mushroomed around its operations.

The social mess around the mines is a problem that Sibanye will have to address if its shareholders approve the all-share takeover bid later this year.

It will also have to continue the process started by Lonmin of laying off 12,600 people over the next three years as it shuts down old, unprofitable mines. The ranks of unemployed miners will swell further over the next two years as neighbouring Impala Platinum lays off up to 13,000 employees as it shuts or sells five of its 11 shafts.

The growth in unemployment in communities around its operations will exacerbate tensions that continue to simmer because Lonmin has simply not had the money to meet its early commitments around housing and social development.

"We have a different approach in our engagements with communities, labour and stakeholders. We want to create superior value for all stakeholders. We know this is important if we want sustainable operations," said Sibanye spokesperson James Wellsted. "We are fully aware that we are inheriting difficult relationships and promises that the company made before us. We have our plans that we can talk about once the deal is finalised."

The Original of this report by Allan Seccombe appeared on page 7 of The Sunday Times Business Times of 20 August 2018

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