Today's Labour News

newsThis 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.

Last Update: 08-08-2025

news shutterstockIn our Monday roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that appeared so far on
Wednesday, 8 November 2017.

The New Age reports that scores of motorists watched in disbelief when an on-duty senior traffic officer attached to the Thembisile Hani local municipality was issued with a R500 traffic fine by his provincial counterpart on the notorious Moloto Road in Phola Park near KwaMhanga on Thursday morning.

This followed after the local traffic supervisor, Themba Godfrey Skhosana, 41, in full uniform and in an unmarked state vehicle, failed to stop at a four way intersection.

Thereafter, his provincial counterpart, who was monitoring the intersection, pulled him off and issued him with a traffic fine in full view of The New Age reporter, who was driving behind Skhosana and witnessed his disrespect for traffic regulations.

When approached for comment on breaking the law, Skhosana said:  Journalist, look here, I am a traffic supervisor.  Do not worry, here is the fine you wanted the officer to issue me with and I will approach the court of law to reduce the fine.  What else do you want?  Let me go because I’m in a hurry to report to work.”

Thembisile Hani local municipality’s spokesperson, Simphiwe Mashiyane, said they were shocked by the conduct of the senior law enforcement officer.  “Such behaviour cannot be tolerated because no one is above the law.  We call on our traffic officers to also practice what they preach.  Everyone has to obey the law regardless of his or her position.”

Community safety, security and liaison provincial spokesperson Moeti Mmusi said law enforcers failing to adhere to the law should also be dealt with harshly.  “”We applaud the provincial officer for issuing the local officer with a fine for breaking the law.  We once again thank The New Age for ensuring that the officer also leaves the spot with a fine like other law breakers.”

Mmusi went on to say:  As the province, we strongly condemn such behaviour and appeal to all our law enforcers to respect what they are enforcing to others as well.”

This report by France Nyaka appeared on page 21 of The New Age of 10 November 2017


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newsBusiness Report writers that Stefanutti Stocks, the JSE-listed construction group, has reduced its employee headcount in the past two years from about 13,000 to 10,000 people as the number of its construction projects had shrunk.

Willie Meyburgh, chief executive of Stefanutti Stocks, said yesterday that the group was forced to proactively rightsize the business and expected a further reduction in the headcount in the next few years.

Meyburgh’s comments follow the Construction Industry Development Board this week reporting that the industry shed 140 000 jobs between the first and second quarters of this year and the job losses by the industry total about 240 000 jobs this calendar year.

Meyburgh said trading conditions remained extremely challenging and, although there were opportunities, they were fiercely contested.  He said Stefanutti Stocks’s order book at end-August was R13.9 billion, which was almost the same when the group reported its annual financial results in May this year.  “Even in this difficult environment, when work takes a long time to get to the market, we find the drawings are all available and the documents have been prepared, but it is just not getting to tender stage in the private and public stage,” he said.

However, Meyburgh said mining houses were putting out more work for tender for mining infrastructure and there were extremely good opportunities for open-pit mining.

On the infrastructure side, roads and bridges, marine and water and sanitation continued to offer opportunities for the group.

Meyburgh said the work prospects for Stefanutti Stocks for the next 24 months totalled R65bn, of which 38% represented cross-border work, but this had reduced from more than R100bn over the past four years.

“It’s not that the opportunities are not there,” he said.  “It’s just that it takes so damn long to come to the market place, which is really what’s causing pressure on our business.”

Meyburgh said Stefanutti Stocks still managed to improve its operating profit in the six months to August, despite the shortage of infrastructure work and the ongoing challenging trading environment.

But Meyburgh said that the group still had a problem with slow payments from the governments of Zambia, Nigeria, Mozambique and in South Africa, especially from the human settlement department.  The total amount outstanding was just above R700m, which was not in dispute.  He added that one of the group’s clients in the oil and gas division had cancelled an R800m two-year contract in December, which had impacted on the division’s turnover and operating profit.

Read this report by Roy Cokayne in full on page 18 of Business Report of 10 November 2017


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Business Report writes that at least 900 workers at global home-appliance manufacturer Whirlpool have downed tools in KwaZulu-Natal in support of their demand for housing.

They have been on strike since Monday, because the employer was “refusing to engage” on their demands, according to the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa).

Mbuso Ngubane, Numsa’s regional secretary, said they had been negotiating with the employer to try to resolve the impasse, but to date no progress has been made. He said workers had made it clear they would not return to work until the company agreed to provide housing as part of the wage agreement. “The lowest paid worker at Whirlpool earns R43 per hour, and this makes accessing decent accommodation almost impossible.

In South Africa, more than 50 percent of the population live in poverty as a result of earning starvation wages,” said Ngubane.

The cabinet last week approved a national minimum wage of R20 an hour, to be implemented in May

The original of this report by Luyolo Mkentane is on page 17 of Business Report of 8 November 2017


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news shutterstockIn our afternoon roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that appeared so far on
Tuesday, 7 November 2017.