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Thursday, 26 July 2018 12:40

Sowetan reports that relatives of workers who perished in a Limpopo copper mine last week have accused the company of leaving them in debt, after it did not pay for funeral costs as it had apparently promised.  They said they had to foot the burial costs despite a promise by the company to do so.

Six miners died at Palabora Mining Company in Phalaborwa after an underground conveyor belt caught fire on July 15. Preliminary investigations revealed that the fire suppression system was not functional at the time of incident.

During the dead miners’ memorial service last week, trade union representatives called on the mine to pay 100% of the funeral costs.

Phillip Ntivane, branch secretary of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, confirmed yesterday that the company had agreed to carry the costs of the dead miners.

“But what we have learnt is that the company only contributed R30 000 to each of the families, the money of which was sourced from the funeral cover the employees had with the company,” he said.

Ntivane said they would still make an inquiry to uncover the truth into the matter.

“As of now we are still unsure about the details of the contribution the company had made to the families but we will conduct an investigation.”

Jerry Malatji, the brother of deceased miner Elliot Maake, said they had been left with a huge burden after incurring debts towards the funeral.

“We believed in the lies of the company and as families of the deceased we incurred huge debts hoping that we would be assisted with costs. And nothing has come forth,” Malatji said yesterday.

Another relative, Kedibone Mashigo, the mother of Shaun, 26, one of the deceased, said the company only sent officials to inform them that it was still conducting investigations.

“I expected the company to erect a tombstone for my son. I also wanted it to provide transport for the mourners. But they did nothing to assist,” said the 48-year-old woman.

A third relative, Tiyani Mayindi, whose father Eckson, 60, also died, said his family was also not happy with the company’s contribution towards the funeral.

Spokeswoman for Palabora Mining Lydia Radebe said it would be insensitive for the company to engage in such matters through the media.

“We are appealing to the families of our departed colleagues that if there is anything that they are of the view that we have not done properly, our doors are always open for engagement,” Radebe said.

“We therefore appeal to the families to engage with us in private spaces if there is anything that they might be feeling aggrieved about.”

The original of this report by Frank Maponya appeared on page 12 of IB of 26 July 2018

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Wednesday, 25 July 2018 10:43

ANA reports that that the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) was due to launch a graduate recruitment scheme on Wednesday in a bid to tackle high numbers of graduate unemployment in South Africa.

The scheme, which was approved by Cabinet in December last year, would offer new graduates work opportunities and training in government departments, the department said.

“The National Development Plan recommends that to achieve a professional public service, the state needs to be a career of choice by attracting the best graduates and youth with potential,” the department said.

During the launch, dialogue with stakeholders would explore perspectives on youth development initiatives in the public service and interventions to promote it as a career of choice.

The department said the scheme would, among others, strengthen the talent pipeline for the public service’s future capacity – especially in scarce occupations and critical areas of service delivery.

It will also provide best practice on existing graduate schemes in the public service and the principles for implementation across the public service.

Among the invited participants at the launch will be the beneficiaries of various graduate programmes in the public service, the current final year students in higher education institutions nationwide and young professionals with an interest in public service.

The original of this report appeared on page 8 of The Citizen of 25 July 2018

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Wednesday, 25 July 2018 04:53

Sowetan reports that South Africans can now get a qualification from the work they have done or skills they have acquired in their workplace.

On Friday, Minister of Higher Education and Training Naledi Pandor announced a 23-member reference group which will ensure recognition of prior learning (RPL) is realised.

The group will be chaired by Universities South Africa CEO Professor Ahmed Bawa.

Bawa said this policy will open up a way for people who have work experience and have learnt theory to be accredited by institutions of higher learning for their work experience.

“We want to try and formalise this coordination policy to be available in all our institutions of higher learning. We will think of ways to systematise it so that it can become a common knowledge. For instance, if you have worked as an electrician and gained mathematical skills over the years, you should be accredited for that when you want to pursue your studies further,” Bawa said.

The reference group has been appointed for a period of three years but still have to meet and help develop a strategy and implementation plan of the coordination policy.

The policy is based on the report and proposal from the ministerial task team on a national strategy for RPL.

Part of the policy stated that for RPL to be fully realised, it needs to be given concrete expression in the policies and practices of education and training providers.

Ministry of Higher Education and Training spokesman Lunga Ngqengelele said the purpose of the policy is to provide a strong environment for further development across the post-school education and training system.

He said it also aims to facilitate access to and mobility and progression within education and training and career paths.

“It will also accelerate the redress of the past unfair discrimination in education, training and employment opportunities,” Ngqengelele said.

The reference group’s main function will also be to advise Pandor about funding for the coordinating mechanism for the policy in the first phase.

“They will also monitor and evaluate the progress made in RPL implementation and coordination across the education and training sector.”

The original of this report by Yoliswa Sobuwa appeared on page 2 of Sowetan of 23 July 2018

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Monday, 23 July 2018 14:01

Business Report writes that multinational internet and media group Naspers paid its executive directors a combined $18.86 million (R252m) during the year to March, according to the company’s annual report released on Friday.

The media group’s chief executive Bob van Dijk was paid an annual salary of $1.33m, up from last year’s salary of $1.1m. His total remuneration escalated to $2.4m when a bonus of $1.06m is included in the figure. During the year he also earned $9.64m in fair value long-term share incentives to take the overall package to $12.02m.

Two other executives in the group were also handsomely rewarded during the year.

Basil Sgourdos, the chief financial officer, received a salary of $862 000 plus a bonus of $605 000 to take home a total package of $1.47m. However, he also received an amount of $1.95m as long-term share incentives during the year.

Mark Sorour, who stepped down as the company’s executive director and group chief investment officer at the end of the financial year, received an annual salary of $719 000, a bonus of $1.9m and long-term incentives of $778 000.

Executives only received payouts under its longterm incentive plans when the value of underlying assets or the Naspers share price increased.

The original of this report by Sandile Mchunu appeared on page 15 of Business Report of 23 July 2018

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Monday, 23 July 2018 03:37

Personal Finance writes that if were recently retrenched, specifically if you took a voluntary retrenchment package over the past 12 to 18 months, you may have been overtaxed.

Patricia Williams, a tax dispute expert at law firm Bowmans and the chairperson of the tax administration work group of the South African Institute of Tax Practitioners (SAIT), says severance benefits received on retrenchment typically qualify for favourable tax treatment: there is a once-off exemption of R500 000, and lower tax rates for the balance.

Williams says that, in about July last year, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) issued a completion guide for IRP3(a) and IRP3(s) forms in which there was an implicit legal interpretation that “voluntary retrenchment” did not qualify for this favourable tax treatment.

SAIT, with input from Bowmans, approached Sars to reclassify “voluntary retrenchment” as “involuntary”, because it believed the practice was incorrect and unfair. Sars accepted the submission and indicated that the changes would be spelt out in a new tax completion guide.

Says Williams: “The problem for an employee is that the employer is responsible for classifying the payments made, both in the application to Sars for a tax directive and in the source code that is put on the employee’s tax certificate (IRP5). As an individual, when you submit your tax return, your IRP5 is usually pre-populated on the return, and the source code applied by your employer tells Sars how you must be taxed. If your employer put the wrong code on your IRP5, you may end up being incorrectly taxed.”

This means, Williams says, that if you were retrenched within the past 12 to 18 months, it is possible that the tax codes on your tax return that tell Sars how to tax you might have been incorrect, resulting in significant overtaxation.

Williams says you should check on the following to see whether you were overtaxed:

• If you were retrenched not as one person with a “mutual separation” agreement but as part of the overall retrenchment of a group of people; and
• The payout you received should be reflected with source code 3901, and the employees’ tax (Pay-AsYou-Earn) deducted should be reflected with source code 4115. If these are the codes on your IRP5, you were probably correctly taxed. If, however, the payout you received was reflected with source code 3907, and your tax was reflected with source code 4102, you were probably overtaxed.

Williams says: “If you have not submitted your income tax return for the period when you received your severance benefit, the problem can be fixed during the tax return submission process, either when submitting your return or when objecting against the assessment as soon as the return has been submitted (ideally, incorporating a formal request for a reduced assessment).

“If you have submitted your tax return for the period in which you were retrenched (it could have been in the 2016/17 tax year), you need to object against your assessment, preferably including a formal request for a reduced assessment. Sars has guides explaining how to object against an assessment.”

The original of this report appeared in Personal Finance of 7 July 2018

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