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Monday, 28 January 2019 11:13

Irvin Jim, general secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) writes that union has been fighting the ANC’s nefarious agenda to destroy and privatise Eskom and other state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

This week, members of the National Union of Mineworkers and Numsa staged a lunchtime picket at Eskom’s headquarters in Johannesburg to protest against looming retrenchments at the SOE and to reject the independent power producers (IPP) programme.

Last month, Eskom retrenched senior management staff. It embarked on this process without consulting unions and it is likely that job shedding will continue.

Together with government, which is a shareholder at Eskom, the executive management team at the electricity public utility has failed to turn it around. Instead, they have looted it and brought it to the brink of collapse. They have now identified privatisation as a way of covering up for their ineptitude and corruption.

The recent ANC lekgotla recommended that Eskom be restructured and broken into generation, transmission and distribution units.

In the name of “efficiency”, thousands of workers will be retrenched so that the politically connected capitalist elite of the ANC can continue to enrich themselves. One need only examine the renewable energy project endorsed by government – the IPP programme – for evidence of the state’s blatant disregard for the working class and the poor.

Eskom’s own studies showed that continuing with the project would lead to the closure of five power stations and the loss of 100 000 jobs.

The IPP agreements were signed without a social plan in place for Mpumalanga, whose economy is almost entirely dependent on the existence of coal-fired power stations.

This will deepen the crisis of unemployment and poverty in a country where the expanded unemployment rate is 37%, and where more than half the population lives in abject poverty.

We are convinced that the load shedding that happened late last year was a ruse created to deepen the crisis to justify privatisation. At 23% reserve margin, which is higher than the 19% required by the National Energy Regulator of SA, there should have been no need for load shedding.

The leadership of Eskom has absolutely no idea how to run the power utility and its power stations, and its ineptitude is the reason we are subjected to systematic blackouts, euphemistically called “load shedding”.

Businesses have shut down because of blackouts and it has cost the country billions in revenue and in jobs that we will never recover.

In 2008, Eskom was mired in scandal when it emerged that some of its executives personally benefited from blackouts through the increased cost of coal. The leadership of Eskom has a history of abusing this process for its own selfish benefit.

WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

The IPP project must be scrapped immediately, in favour of a “just transition” from fossil fuels to renewable energy. This transition must be driven by the working class, which must benefit directly from any renewable energy project. The transition must be state-owned and state-controlled.

History has shown us that privatisation is not beneficial because it always leads to massive job cuts and, because profit is the motive, it translates to higher costs for the consumer. More than two decades after the end of apartheid and the majority of people continue to be denied access to electricity because it is too costly.

We know that the future of the economy lies in the growth of the manufacturing sector and in pursuing a job-led industrial strategy.

The working class majority can never escape the shackles of inequality and poverty if we continue on this disastrous path. We cannot keep surrendering our power to the capitalist elite and hoping for a different outcome. The Socialist Revolutionary Workers’ Party (SRWP) will put the working class first and will pursue an agenda in its interests. More than two decades of ANC capitalist rule have shown us that deviating from the working class has disastrous consequences.

The original of this article by Irvin Jim appeared on page 2 of City Press Business of 27 January 2019

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Monday, 28 January 2019 05:24

ANA reports that rising municipal debt is no longer just an Eskom problem, according to the utility’s chief financial officer.

“Rising municipal debt coupled with Eskom’s poor financial and operational performance poses a systemic risk to the sustainability of the company,” the state-owned entity’s CFO, Calib Cassim, said this week.

He was speaking in Bloemfontein on Wednesday at the National Energy Regulator of SA’s (Nersa) public hearings for Eskom’s three-year tariff application.

He said the Eskom board had assessed the group’s ability to continue as a going concern and had considered a number of mitigating strategies and actions to address the risks identified.

“Eskom cannot solve the financial and operational sustainability challenges it faces alone.

“Eskom’s turnaround is a journey highly dependent on the active involvement of the shareholder, Nersa and other stakeholders including customers.”

Thys Moller, Eskom’s general manager of customer services, said municipal debt rose 80% over the past 18 months, reaching R17 billion by the end of September last year. Soweto’s debt, including interest charges, rose to R17 billion during the same period.

“Eskom continues to participate in the interministerial task team process with a view to finding lasting solutions with other stakeholders,” said Möller.

He added that Eskom had to date installed more than 80 000 split prepayment meters in Soweto and that it would continue to cut off defaulters.

Cassim said Eskom had made every effort to control its operating expenditure, but it needed more revenue from price increases and balance sheet support from the shareholder. The 15% tariff increase over three years it was applying for wouldn’t cover its debt commitments in full.

“The shortfall cannot be met by reducing costs alone and while some have pointed Eskom to the debt market, further debt adds to the problem. In the period 20072008 to 2017-18, Eskom’s debt has gone up ten-fold while prices have increased five-fold.”

The department of energy, via the electricity pricing policy, had indicated Eskom should have reached a tariff level of over R1/ kW/hr last year, he added.

The original of this report appeared on page 5 of The Citizen of 25 January 2019

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Tuesday, 22 January 2019 12:12

The Citizen reports that labour inspections would be conducted at all Mugg & Bean outlets, according to the Bargaining Council for the Restaurant, Catering and Allied Trades. This followed The Citizen’s report on the plight of waitrons at various franchises in Johannesburg.

Maggie Pooe, the council’s general secretary, said the inspections were to ensure compliance to the council’s collective agreement rules.

Trade union federation Cosatu has demanded answers from the body, following the report, and the two bodies were understood to be in continuous engagement on the matter.

The federation was outraged by allegations that waitrons were made to pay a breakage fee among other deductions, despite not earning an actual salary. According to the council, a deduction is only permitted with the written consent of the employee.

More waitrons have since complained to The Citizen, suggesting that even more Mugg & Bean outlets were breaking labour regulations, alleging that they did not earn a minimum wage.

According to the council, employees can be remunerated on a commission, but such a remuneration cannot be less than the minimum wage rate prescribed by the council. As of July last year, this amounted to R20.50 an hour.

Last week, the franchisers effectively denied responsibility for the practices of their franchisees, saying all Mugg & Bean outlets were obliged to comply with the law.

One waitron’s account of working conditions at a Mugg & Bean near Midrand painted a bleak picture of what waitrons have endured there over the past year.

“For starters, on Sundays we have to arrive at 6.15am to scrub the restaurant, for free. We only start trading at 7am. We also pay breakage and the runner as well.”

The waitron, whose identity is known to The Citizen but is being kept confidential as the person fears a backlash, said staff had to pay a R10 breakage free every day they work.

“Saturday and Sunday, we also have to contribute R15 each day to pay a runner. We get paid 3% commission only. We don’t get Sundays or public holiday benefits. Our average monthly salary is between R1 100 and R1 500, if you are fortunate enough you get up to 1800.”

The restaurant apparently makes roughly R400,000 to R500,000 monthly and waiters’ sales went up to about R60 000.

Waitrons in this establishment, according to the source, did not have a specific pay day.  “We only receive our salaries on or after the 5th of every month. If you ask about the late payment, you get told that you’re making tips every day, stop complaining.”

Complaints relayed to The Citizen suggest that the problem went further than just Mugg & Bean. One former employee of a well-known chain restaurant in Boksburg said their experience was nothing short of slave labour.

“No labour laws are being practiced there. And the worst part is that foreigners without papers are being used. If you report these guys to the labour department nothing happens,” he said.

While the prescribed minimum wage for the restaurant and catering industry was R20.50 per hour, the average income for a waitron in South Africa was R15 per hour, according to PayScale.

Last week, The Citizen reported on Mugg & Bean waitrons who did not receive salaries, but were paid a 3% commission, leaving the waitron to carry the risk of not earning a minimum wage every month.

The original of this report by Simnikiwe Hlatshaneni appeared on page 5 of The Citizen of 21 January 2019

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Monday, 21 January 2019 12:06

Sowetan reports that a group of former Sasol employees is exploring its legal options after the company’s black economic empowerment scheme paid them less than they had expected. The retired employees are complaining that they have been robbed of an opportunity to benefit from the Sasol Inzalo empowerment scheme at the company that they worked for most of their lives. The group claims they were allocated 850 shares each by the company in the Inzalo scheme in 2008.

The broad-based black economic empowerment scheme matured last year. The former workers, who left the company for various reasons, including voluntary retrenchment and early retirement, said they thought the scheme was doing well as the company paid them dividends twice a year during the lifespan of Inzalo.

The group’s chairperson Negros Mbowana told Sowetan that they were in the process of initiating legal action against the multinational. “Sasol came up with a new scheme last year called Khanyisa to replace Inzalo and excluded us from it. We feel they should have included us because Inzalo failed,” he said.

The employees said they were told by the company they would not receive any payment because Inzalo did not do well.

The news devastated them because they had planned their lives around the payout. Msebenzi Mthimunye, 66, who took early retirement in 2016, said his wife wanted to file for divorce when he told her that he would not be receiving the Inzalo payout. He had worked for the company for 31 years.

“My wife did not believe me, she thought she was living with a crook.  Our families had to intervene. I’d planned to settle some of my debts with the money and when I couldn’t, my wife thought I was hiding the money,” he said. Mthimunye said he used most of his pension payout to renovate his house.

Sasol spokesperson Matebello Motloung said each employee received approximately R57,000 in dividends payout over the 10-year period of the Sasol Inzalo scheme. Motloung said the Sasol share price had not increased sufficiently over the 10 years. “...For there to be any payout for employees, the Sasol share price needed to be R905 per share. The Sasol share price on June 4 2018 was R479 per share.” Motloung said ex-employees who were not employed by Sasol on June 1 2018 were ineligible to participate in the Sasol Khanyisa transaction. The explanation, however, brought little comfort to the retired employees.

The original of this report by Pertunia Mafokwane appeared on page 9 of Sowetan of 21 January 2019

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Monday, 14 January 2019 04:52

Saturday Star reports that Police Minister Bheki Cele has condemned the killing of a police officer and the wounding of another in the Free State town of Koffiefontein.

“Attacking a member of the South African Police Service is an attack on the state. Safety of our men and women in blue remains high on the agenda of the SAPS and is at the heart of the SAPS’s strategic imperatives to ensure the safety of our members. Police members are a national asset and they need to be protected by all of us, including members of the community,” said Cele.

The incident happened on Thursday evening when police, while out on patrol, spotted a suspect vehicle on Dassiekop farm. Police realised that the vehicle belonged to Coenraad Badenhorst, a neighbouring farmer who was heading to the farm of Paul Nel – a man he had threatened in the past.

A warrant officer phoned Nel to tell him that Badenhorst was heading to his farm, but while she was talking to him she heard noises and then the phone went dead.

Police then mobilised officers from the nearby police station, but when they arrived at the farm, they found Nel’s body on the front porch. He had been shot in the head.

Badenhorst then opened fire on the police from bushes near the house.

Constable Vuyani March was killed when he was shot in the head. Sergeant George Calvert was shot in the face and rushed to Kimberley Hospital. Police returned fire, hitting Badenhorst, who died on his way to hospital.

Police spokesperson Colonel Thandi Mbambo said Badenhorst had threatened other farmers in the area. “This conflict appeared to be over water rights,” said Mbambo.

Police are investigating further. | Staff Reporter

The original of this report appeared on page 5 of Saturday Star of 12 January 2019

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