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Monday, 08 April 2019 07:44

Sunday Times Business Times writes that while Sibanye-Stillwater and Lonmin await the outcome of an appeal case brought by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) to block Sibanye's acquisition of the platinum producer, a labour dispute at Sibanye's gold mines is in its fifth month.

Negotiations between Sibanye and Amcu have stalled on a settlement offer of R4,500.

Shadwick Bessit, executive vice-president at Sibanye, said the dispute was not about increases but a return to work settlement. The company said Amcu had agreed on the R4,500 payment, then reneged.

Amcu has accused Sibanye of removing the R4,500 offer from the negotiation table.

Bessit said: "Due to the fact that the longer the strike takes, the more the costs accumulate with respect to the payment in kind, which is the payment the company makes on employees' behalf towards accommodation and food . thus reducing the amount available for the ex gratia payment. This means the ex gratia payment that was put on the table in February decreased to R2,500 in March and has now gone down to zero."

Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa told workers on Friday that the union is urging the company to put the R4,500 offer back on the table. Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman "has the power to end the strike. We are saying to Froneman, it is up to you to end the strike." Mathunjwa was addressing workers at a mass meeting at Sibanye's Driefontein Masizakhele stadium.

He added Froneman had told investors that the strike would end on Friday. But Amcu has not suspended the strike.

Amcu is demanding an increase of R1,000 a month over the next three years. Sibanye said an agreement was signed by NUM, Solidarity and UASA for R700 a month increase for the next three years and no further increases would be considered.

Sibanye's acquisition of Lonmin was approved by the competition authorities last year, but a late objection by Amcu has delayed the deal, which is expected to be finalised by June.

An appeal by Amcu to halt the takeover was heard this week in the high court in Cape Town.

Amcu is opposing the deal because it would lead to job losses. The companies said the merger would result in the loss of 885 jobs, but the Competition Commission calculated that 3,188 jobs would be lost.

HB Senekal, a director in the law firm ENSafrica's competition department who is representing Sibanye, said the judgment in the appeal hearing could be handed down in the next two weeks. Sibanye said the merging parties remained "committed to the transaction".

According to Rene Hochreiter, an investment analyst at Noah Capital Markets, the merger between Sibanye and Lonmin is a good move. "I don't think that Lonmin could have carried on much longer on its own. Lonmin has got so much baggage from Marikana," he said.

Lonmin, now the worst-performing platinum producer, has been operating under immense financial pressure amid weak platinum prices and rising costs.

Added to the pressures is the platinum miner's huge debt.

Bessit said Sibanye "as a result of the strike is suffering significant financial losses due to lower production and additional strike-related costs".

The company has said it was losing R10m to R20m a day during the strike.

Hochreiter said even though the company was making losses, "it was only losing money on the gold side".

"Gold wasn't making money anyway, so the strike was probably a lucky thing for Sibanye: five shafts in Driefontein are going and if the strike carries on much longer, they'll probably close all the gold section," said Hochreiter.

Among Froneman's plans is to possibly move its primary listing offshore. James Wellsted, head of investor relations at Sibanye, said: "To remain competitive in the global mining industry, one of the factors we may consider in future is a potential primary listing in another jurisdiction, which could provide easier access to lower cost capital."

The original of this report by Ntando Thukwana appeared on page 3 of Sunday Times Business Times of 7 April 2019

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Monday, 01 April 2019 11:57

City Press reports that a SA Express board committee has approved a move to cut jobs at the struggling airline following a request made by acting boss Siza Mzimela.

By the end of January the airline had a headcount of 822 employees and 10 aircraft.

Mzimela presented a confidential report, dated 31 January, at the remuneration and human resources transformation committee meeting at the airline’s headquarters in Kempton Park, Gauteng.

In the report, seen by City Press, she sought approval to proceed with downsizing staff at the struggling airline.  According to the minutes of the same meeting the committee resolved to approve the strategy on 31 January.

SA Express company secretary Maryna Gie signed the resolution that approved the “right-sizing initiative” on 13 February.

“SA Express is not competitive in the market place and not optimally operating in regard to its income generation. To ensure operational efficiency, improved service delivery and profitability, redundancies and duplication must be identified and addressed,” Mzimela said.

The airline had 10 aircraft with a projection to have 15 aircraft by the end of this month. Mzimela said the structure was not aligned to the number of aircraft per employee. She said the airline needed to be an aggressive competitor.

“The current benchmarks against our competitor [Airlink] indicate we are overstaffed in that our ratio of employee per aircraft is 56 compared with our competitor, Airlink, at 24. We strive to have our ratio to achieve the benchmark of 25 employees per aircraft,” Mzimela said.

She said the strategic thrust of the airline was to be the most efficient, effective and sustainable airline and this required an optimum fit-for-purpose organisational structure in which human capital was competent, capable, efficient and highly motivated.

Part of cutting jobs included closing stations at places where SA Express did not fly, such as George, Richards Bay and Durban.

She said employees would be offered voluntary severance packages but the focus would be to keep skilled, competent and performing employees.

If this failed, the airline contemplated terminating employees in the corporate services department due to operational requirements.

Consultations were to be made with unions and the process would be facilitated by the Conciliation for Commission, Mediation and Arbitration.

Another option was to freeze filling vacancies other than those pre-approved critical positions.

Mzimela said they were awaiting the finalisation of the review of the headcount. “Once concluded, we will advise on the financial implications,” she said.

SA Express’ acting general manager for human capital, Thuli Mpshe, said that the airline was yet to decide on job cuts.  “The airline has not yet taken a definitive decision on its staffing levels. Should it do that, SA Express will commit itself fully to all due labour relations processes,” she said.

SA Express said its employee numbers were “still geared for the 22 aircraft which the carrier used to operate although (it) was targeting to have a maximum of 15 aircraft in service by the end of April 2019.  However, the reality is that we now have fewer aircraft in operation since we relaunched our operations last year … which means that our staffing levels are currently not in line with our operations.”

The original of this report by Msinsidi Fengu and Poloko Tau appeared on page 4 of City Press Business of 31 March 2019

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Thursday, 28 March 2019 13:41

Sowetan reports that embattled SABC has been ordered to back pay two senior employees in Limpopo for 10 months following a ruling. This after two SABC employees, a current affairs executive producer at Thobela FM and an assignment editor at Munghana Lonene in Polokwane, were overlooked for a post in 2017.

Sello Sam Mochichila and Rudzani Bologo had applied for the post of regional editor in 2017 and approached the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) after being overlooked and, instead, a person without the necessary qualifications was appointed. The CCMA found that the position was irregularly awarded to Jubie Matlou who had no journalism qualification and had also failed a vetting process.

In the ruling delivered this week, which Sowetan has seen, CCMA commissioner Piet Shai found the SABC had committed unfair labour practice. “I order the SABC to pay compensation to the applicants [Mochichila and Bologo] of a sum equivalent to Matlou’s 10 months wages calculated at the latter’s rate at the time of his appointment. The above amount shall be paid on the 30th April 2019. If the parties do not agree as to the amount above, either of them may approach the CCMA to determine same,” he ordered. Shai found the SABC committed unfair labour practice as it failed to finalise the grievance interview within six weeks.

“Also by not finalising the grievance in relation to not finalising the interview process within the required period as provided in the policy, breached its policy of preference for internal candidates before going externally. The SABC further appointed Matlou even though he didn’t qualify in respect of qualifications and vetting,” read the ruling. SABC spokesperson Vuyo Mthembu couldn’t immediately respond to enquiries. The commission also found the public broadcaster failed to convene a meeting with parties within three days after the grievances were lodged. Shai said the manner in which Matlou was appointed gave the impression that the position was reserved for him regardless. Mochichila and Bologo said there was a delay in the appointment and they enquired with a senior manager after which they lodged a grievance. The pair prayed for an order that the process be started all over again, alternatively either of the applicants be appointed in the position or be compensated.

According to a source close to the situation, the contested regional editor post pays between R700,000 and R800,000 per annum. Mochichila said he was told by a senior manager that policies at the SABC were not followed due to political interference.

Matlou said he saw the advertisement and applied and was eventually called for an interview. When it was put to him that he doesn’t have a journalism qualification, Matlou said his degree was in communication but also included journalism.

The original of this report by Peter Ramothwala appeared on page 8 of Sowetan of 28 March 2019

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Friday, 22 March 2019 08:24

The Star reports that the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) commission of inquiry into allegations of impropriety continues this week, and Cosatu reiterates its call for more worker representatives at board level in the embattled financial services institution.

Matthew Parks, Cosatu’s parliamentary co-ordinator, says the majority of PIC funds is money belonging to pensioners employed in state institutions.

Over the past few years, the PIC has been racked by numerous allegations of mass looting, as shown in the media and the commission of inquiry.

Organisations such as Steinhoff and the Lancaster Group, under Markus Jooste and Jayendra Naidoo, respectively, have wiped out billions of rand worth of pensioners’ funds in fraud, bad investments and accounting irregularities.

Last week it was revealed that Naidoo’s Lancaster Group received R9.3 billion from the PIC to be the sole beneficiary of a black economic empowerment scheme with Steinhoff. Of that R9.3bn, a staggering R5bn disappeared when Steinhoff collapsed towards the end of 2017.

In addition, the PIC board has been rendered dysfunctional after the entire board resigned en masse following allegations of corruption against several board members.

Information supplied by Cosatu contends that 87% of funds in the PIC are public servants’ pensions. About 7% of this is workers’ unemployment insurance (UIF), while 4% constitutes worker injury on duty insurance.

According to Parks, the Government Employees’ Pension Fund (GEPF) is projected to have a R25bn shortfall in the future, and as it is a defined-benefit fund, the government would have to cover any shortfall.

“There have been many stories of dubious investments, and politicians, their relatives and dodgy businesses reaping billions off it. Workers cannot afford for the PIC to go the route of Eskom. It is the largest investment fund in SA and Africa. It has shares in most companies. It owns 12.5% of the JSE’s shares. It is too large to fail,” he says.

Putting things into context, Parks alleges that the GEPF, UIF and the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA) boards, as well as Parliament, have struggled to hold the PIC to account.

“It took former deputy finance minister (Mcebisi) Jonas’s intervention to force the PIC to disclose its unlisted investments to Parliament. These are worth R200bn and appear to be where looting is most prominent,” he says.

Parks says the problem is that the PIC Act allows the minister of finance to appoint the board with few checks and balances; no worker representation; no requirements to account to depositors, the public or Parliament; and no investment guidelines.

Most importantly, he says, there have never been any union representatives on the PIC board, and over the past two years, Cosatu has worked closely with ANC MPs in Parliament to draft a PIC Amendment Bill to stem the flow of corruption, stabilise the corporation and force it to be accountable.

The tabled PIC Bill provides for the following five points:

1) Three worker representatives on the board:

• These workers would be selected by unions in proportion to their membership of the Public Service Collective Bargaining Council. This is critical as the minister-appointed representatives could easily be prone to blackmail and intimidation.
• Two of these workers would be from the majority unions and one from the minority unions. This would help to build worker unity and inclusivity.
• The two representatives would be accountable to the unions. They would also have a voice in how worker funds were spent and keep an eye out to help prevent corruption.

2) The PIC would have to account to the minister, Parliament, depositors and the public on all investments (listed and unlisted), ministerial directives in annual reports and as needed.

3) All PIC regulations would have to be tabled at Parliament for scrutiny and comment.

4) The PIC would be required to take its mandate from depositors.

• This, according to Parks, was critical to avoid a scenario where the PIC was used as “petty cash” by the government to fund all sorts of state expenditure and bail out state-owned entities that have been looted into the ground.

5) The PIC, when investing, must do so in a way which protects the interests of depositors, and seek to invest where possible in a manner that promotes job creation, economic growth, sustainable development, and/ or local investments.

Parks says there has been a massive pushback against the bill by those who prefer to see looting and a collapse of good governance continue at the PIC.

“The bill is in the National Council of Provinces now. It is due to be passed by March 28.  It must be passed in order to stem the flow of looting and to stabilise the PIC. The commission of inquiry is welcomed. It is shedding badly needed light on what is happening. It is encouraged to make further recommendations to fix the PIC as well as to strengthen the PIC Act,” Parks says.

Cosatu has worked overtime to see the bill passed and the PIC cleaned up.  “We will continue to expose and fight looting. Our members, workers and pensioners are depending on us,” he adds.

He says the union has encouraged the PIC to save companies where jobs are threatened.  “This was done through the PIC and UIF to save Edcon and its 40,000 employees, and 100,000 workers at factories and companies doing business with Edcon. The UIF Act was amended to provide for such interventions. It also makes financial sense and is more cost effective to the UIF,” concludes Parks.

The original of this report by Ayanda Mdluli appeared on page 4 of The Star of 19 March 2019

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Friday, 22 March 2019 07:21

The Star writes that Xolisa Dyomfana has been bitterly disappointed twice by mining companies.

First he was part of a group of workers who were not paid by the now defunct Aurora mine. Now he is one of the 209 mineworkers fighting Modder East Gold One for money dating back to 2012.

In the Aurora case, he was one of the more than 5 000 workers at the Orkney and Grootvlei gold mines that lost their jobs after the mines were stripped of gold and assets valued at R1.82 billion while under the control of Aurora Empowerment Systems.

The workers were part of a strike in 2012. During the action, the gold producer dismissed half the workforce, 1 044 employees, after introducing a no-work, no-pay rule and obtaining a court interdict to prohibit an illegal wage strike.

For the past seven years, Dyomfana and his colleagues have been fighting for a payout or their jobs back.

Dyomfana, who has a leg injury from a work accident, said: “Some of the people who were with us have died from broken hearts. The rest of us are just sitting at home hoping that we will hear something from the mine.”

According to the group, they were protesting because they wanted their union, the Professional Transport and Allied Workers Union, to be accepted at the mine.

Three days after the strike, a court order ruled that they must return to work, but they were allegedly turned away at the gates.

Buyile Zide, a roof-bolt operator, said they were informed that they needed to do their medical exit tests as they were no longer employed at the Ekurhuleni-based gold mine.

“We refused to do the medical exams because it would mean we didn’t work at Gold One anymore.

“We are stuck because we can’t look for jobs at new companies because they need medical exit forms and we can’t work at Gold One because we are still fighting them,” Zide said.

The workers took their case to the Labour Court but lost in 2016.

Most, who lived at the Skoonplaas informal settlement near the mine, said they survived on piece jobs and the mercy of friends and family.

Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party secretary Vusi Ngqokomash, who is trying to assist the miners, said: “Eighty percent who live in Skoonplaas are unemployed because of this. They’ve been fighting the company for years but nothing has come of it.”

Attempts to get comment from Gold One were unsuccessful.

The original of this report by Tebogo Monama appeared on page 7 of The Star of 20 March 2019

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