Labour South Africa

Army could help curb crime

2007-02-02T12:39:00.000-08:00

January 30 2007
Sending young men to the army could help end violent crime, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said at the weekend.

"The worrying trend whereby our youths are involved in the current spate of armed robberies and other related violent crimes that are ravaging our country could be reversed once they join the army," he told a ceremony to commemorate King Mampuru of the Bapedi nation and King Nyabela of amaNdebele at Mamone village in Limpopo.

This was according to a statement issued by his department on Monday.

Quoting from the African National Congress' strategy and tactics document, Mdladlana continued: "Conscripting our young people would not only help inculcate discipline but make them understand better the importance of defending our hard-earned liberation."

It was at the same ceremony that Mdladlana invited the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) to watch a bull-slaughtering ceremony at his Eastern Cape village on Saturday.

The invitation follows senior ANC member Tony Yengeni's reportedly spearing a bull before it was slaughtered at his parent's home in Guguletu, sparking accusations of animal cruelty.

The SPCA has declined the invitation.

SPCA accepts Mdladlana’s invite to ritual ceremony

2007-02-01T11:20:00.000-08:00

Business Day: 30 January 2007
AFTER initially declining, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) today accepted an invitation by Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana to attend a ritual ceremony where a bull will be slaughtered.

"As a leader of our country the minister is sure to uphold the law and we are confident that no suffering will take place during the traditional slaughter, said SPCA executive director Marcelle Meredith.

"We are assured there is no suffering, if the slaughter is carried out in the traditional manner by a skilled person taking into account the transport, handling and restraining of the animal," said Meredith.

Mdladlana’s traditional ceremony will take place at his Eastern Cape rural home on Saturday. Mdladlana said the bull would be slaughtered "without being anaesthetised".

His invitation followed a furore that erupted after former ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni reportedly speared a bull before it was slaughtered at his parents’ home in Guguletu, Cape Town, last weekend. The slaughter was part of a cleansing ritual following his recent release from prison after serving four months of a four-year sentence for fraud.

Meredith said this would not be the first time the SPCA attended a religious or traditional ceremony as they were present at Steve Biko commemoration, and at a cleansing ceremony at Vlakplaas, a former apartheid death-squad farm where people opposing apartheid were killed.

They had also been to Moria in Limpopo where the Zion Christian Church gather for their annual pilgrimage during the Easter holidays.

"We respect the rights of religious and traditional beliefs and have worked together with the leaders of organisations for many years," said Meredith.

SPCA refuses to be baited by minister

2007-01-31T10:58:00.000-08:00

January 30 2007
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) on Monday declined an invitation by Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana to the ritual slaughter of a bull at a ceremony.

The SPCA would not allow the minister to bait it, said its executive director Marcelle Meredith.

"For now we have no further comments. We might possibly send a media release tomorrow," she said.

Mdladlana said that the bull would be slaughtered without being anaesthetised.

"We want the bull to bellow - and then we'll sing the praises of our ancestors," Mdladlana told a ceremony to commemorate King Mampuru of the Bapedi nation and King Nyabela of amadebele in Limpopo on Saturday.

A furore erupted when Tony Yengeni reportedly speared a bull before it was slaughtered at his parent's home in Gugulethu last weekend in a cleansing ritual after his release from prison after serving four months of a four-year sentence for fraud.

The SPCA at first said it would investigate, but on Friday said it had insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges against Yengeni.

Striking guards urged to find a solution

2007-01-26T22:48:00.000-08:00

January 18, 2007
South Africa labour minister Membathisi Mdladlana urged striking USB security guards and their employers on Thursday to settle their differences as they entered the second day of a strike.

The SA Transport and Allied Workers' Union (Satawu) - to which the guards are affiliated - said while "things were looking up", it was not calling off the strike.

"It is not like we are not talking (to the employers) or anything. There is no violence," said spokesman Ronnie Mamba.

Mdladlana urged both parties to use all legal mechanisms at their disposal to ensure the dispute did not get out of hand.

A solution had to be found as quickly as possible to avoid "regrettable scenes" similar to those that marred a dispute last year, he said.

About 1000 USB guards - tasked with protecting mainly government, municipality and Telkom premises - marched to their employer's Johannesburg headquarters on Wednesday.

Their main grievance was the money being deducted by the company "as some sort of penalty" for their participation in a dispute last year, said Mamba.

They were also unhappy at not receiving leave pay and over the non-payment of bonuses, he said.

Mamba said the guards' employer had acknowledged the problems and "they are going to pay".

The company was in the process of obtaining the money in the form of a loan, which was to be finalised on Wednesday with payment expected on Thursday.

He said talks between the union and the employers would resume at 9am on Thursday.

"We are hopeful that we are going to sort the issue out."

Anti-Affirmative Action Campaign Launched

2006-12-25T16:08:00.000-08:00

One thousand balloons were released on Tuesday by the Solidarity Youth Movement on top of a hill in the administrative capital of Pretoria “to symbolise the plea of head boys and girls from schools across the country to be exempted from affirmative action”.

The chairperson of the youth wing of the largely white trade union, Solidarity, Ernst Roets, said in a statement that the balloons were released from a hill which overlooks Freedom Park—which honours the liberation struggle.

“At the moment freedom is out of our reach—we can see it, but we cannot experience it. That is why we picked a hill overlooking Freedom Park rather than Freedom Park itself,” said Roets.

The movement announced that it was planning a campaign in 2007 to demand that young people be exempt from affirmative action. The campaign will include music concerts, campus referendums and petitions to Parliament.

The occasion was also used to release data obtained by a Markinor survey showing that 53% of people from all race groups between the ages of 18 and 23 felt that young people should be exempt from affirmative action.

“Exempting young people from affirmative action is not just the right thing to do, it is the democratic thing to do,” Roets said.

“We will not cease our campaign until we have achieved our objective. Matrics who finished their final school year in 2006 completed their entire education during the post-1994 era. They should not be disadvantaged on the grounds of affirmative action. This is a generation free from the apartheid past. By imposing affirmative action on them on the grounds of the so-called wrongs of the past violates their human dignity, since they are being accused of something in which they played no part,” Roets said.

“The response of head boys and head girls was amazing.”

He reported that about 95% of the respondents supported the call for exemption from affirmative action.

“These young people are not only angry about being discriminated against—they are embittered,” he said.

Fight against work-equity violators to intensify

2006-11-20T23:12:00.000-08:00

The new year would see "an even more" intensified fight against employment-equity violators, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said on Monday.

He was addressing the launch of a new multimillion-rand computer literacy skills centre for people with disabilities in Richards Bay in northern KwaZulu-Natal.

Mdladlana said the department's investigation of such companies -- which led to much controversy this year -- was just the beginning. "The issue of employment-equity violation is going to be my project next year," he said in a speech reported by his ministry.

"Employment equity reports indicate that [in] eleven years since our democracy, we have not moved much in the higher echelons of industry in terms of race and gender, while skills development reports indicate that only 2% of people with disabilities are participating in our programmes despite the new incentives that we have introduced.

"These are the kinds of things that make people uncomfortable," he said.

The input of workers and the current labour legislation are the primary reasons the country's economy is doing so well, he argued.

Labour Department under scrutiny

2006-11-11T12:58:00.000-08:00

The National Department of Labour (DoL) is in hot water with the national legislature's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa).

The department has not taken “adequate action” to withdraw more than R45,5 million from its Seta Zero fund.

A Scopa report said “At year-end the nature or purpose of the monies in the Seta Zero account could not be verified.”

Only money gathered from skills development levies are supposed to be paid into this account, which is then supposed to be allocated to the relevant skills development agencies.
According to Scopa, the DoL could not provide documents to back R90,1 million in claims owed to them.

The DoL was rapped on the knuckles by Scopa for not implementing “elementary” aspects of proper financial administration.

According to the Scopa report, the DoL is guilty of “various instances of non-compliance with the Public Finance Management Act and Treasury Regulations”.

It recommended the department’s accounting officer report back to the Minister of Labour, Membathisi Mdladlana, within 30 days on how this was being addressed.

The department also has to hand in a detailed report on why performance management bonuses to the value of 5,06% of its personnel expenditure were paid out.

Public Service directives determine that performance bonuses should not be paid out in excess of 1,5% of a department's personnel expenditure.

The DoL indicated it would comment on Scopa’s findings as soon as it had consulted relevant parties.

Lost cause

2006-11-07T03:11:00.000-08:00

Most of South Africa's experts in exile aren't prepared to return home, a study has shown.

A study by Research Surveys into what it calls "The 'Scatterlings' of (South) Africa" shows that only around one-third of those who have left SA "could realistically be expected to entertain the idea of returning".

The willingness to return also depends a lot on the country that expatriates are living in.

Research Surveys says almost 50% of those living in Britain would consider returning, followed by 40% in Asia, the Middle East and other European countries.

Of those living in North America, only 20% indicate that they would consider returning.

Most distressing though is the revelation that a mere 9% of South Africans who have left for Australia and New Zealand say they'd consider returning to the land of their birth.

The key word here is "consider". The likelihood of a family uprooting itself for a second time to move to a country with a lower level of political stability is highly unlikely.

In fact, Research Surveys suggests that trying to lure South Africans back home from Australia is simply a lost cause.

"Australia is SA's biggest threat. Once a South African moves to that country his/her availability to return drops dramatically. Australia competes with SA in terms of quality of life, the weather and the outdoor environment.

"It beats SA hands down when it comes to lack of crime and feelings of safety. The return on investment in terms of trying to convince South Africans in Australia to return is therefore too low to contemplate."

Nonetheless, AfriForum's (a division of Solidarity) Come Home Campaign has managed to repatriate about 1 200 skilled South Africans, most of them qualified individuals working in the information technology, medical, engineering and teaching professions.

Though Alana Bailey, manager of the AfriForum campaign, says the majority are English-speaking whites, with the next biggest group white Afrikaners, an increasing number of returnees are black, coloured and Indian professionals. That proves it isn't just white skills that are being lured from SA's shores.

Thus far, all 1 200 returnees have been placed in jobs, with the majority having returned from Britain, followed by Canada, the United States, Australia and the Netherlands.

"Our strategy is only to bring back people who we can place in jobs," says Bailey. Sadly, when compared to the almost 1 million who have left, a mere 1 200 returnees fades into insignificance.

Another organisation trying to persuade South Africans to return is the Homecoming Revolution, now run by MD Martine Schaffer. In contrast to Bailey, Schaffer says it's very difficult to arrive at a reliable estimate of the number of South Africans who have returned.

However, Schaffer does add that Homecoming Revolution is focusing its efforts on the estimated 750 000 to 1.4m South Africans in Britain (that's according to the SA High Commission in London. Britain's census puts the figure at a more moderate 400 000).

"The large concentration of South Africans in London makes Britain the most viable location to hold (Homecoming) seminars," says Schaffer.

Of concern, though, is that public corporations Eskom and Transnet have expressed no interest in the initiative - strange, considering their continuous lament about capacity constraints.

Eskom spokesman Fani Zulu says the State utility is engaged in a drive to recruit South Africans from overseas but says its first priority is to "exhaust all avenues in the domestic market".

Stop exodus of whites

2006-11-07T02:57:00.000-08:00

A leading South African think-tank called on the government to halt an exodus of skilled whites, saying their departure could prove fatal for the country's economy.

Africa's economic powerhouse suffers from an acute lack of skilled workers in both the private and the public sector, a problem the group said was exacerbated by what it called misconceived legislation designed to boost jobs for blacks.

"The country is very seriously short of skills - there could be potentially fatal consequences for economic growth," John Kane-Berman, chief executive of the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), said in an interview on Tuesday.

The African National Congress-led government, which took power in 1994, has sought to remedy apartheid-era injustices that discriminated against blacks by introducing an affirmative action programme.

The white population in South Africa declined by 841,000 between 1995 and 2005, the biggest drop in at least 50 years, according to SAIRR, which was formed in 1929 to promote democracy and improve race relations in South Africa.

"The (affirmative action) legislation was entirely misconceived. The reason there aren't so many blacks in managerial positions is lack of supply not lack of demand. There are not sufficiently qualified black people," Kane-Berman said.

Government officials were not immediately available to comment on the criticism.

While many whites complain about affirmative action, blacks say there is a lack of educational opportunities.

Education Minister Naledi Pandor said last week poor quality education in public schools threatened long-term economic growth.

Whites, who have always been a minority in South Africa, now account for 9% of the estimated population of 45 million people, down from 12.5% in 1995, according to the think-tank, which based its analysis on official data.

The government cannot confirm the rate of the exodus because it stopped publishing emigration figures in 2004.

"The heads of families are emigrating. They're professionals and they're taking their kids with them. We cannot afford to lose those skills," said Kane-Berman, an outspoken voice against apartheid whose group continues to monitor race relations.

Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka recently acknowledged the exodus of skilled South Africans was a serious problem and that the government was taking steps to encourage people to remain or return to the country.

Jobs up, but numbers not high enough

2006-11-03T13:32:00.000-08:00

More than half-a-million jobs were created in South Africa in the past year, but economists and labour warn it is not enough to make a serious dent in unemployment.

The 2006 Labour Force Survey conducted by the government's Statistics South Africa showed 544,000 jobs had been created in the 12 months ending March 2006, resulting in a modest decline in the unemployment rate by 0.9 percent to 25.6 percent.

"At a glance there seems to have been a very big increase in employment, but if it is put into perspective it is not so dramatic" said Azar Jammine, an economist at Econometrix, a South African economics consultancy. He pointed out that most of the new jobs were created in the first half of 2005 in the agricultural sector and were seasonal.

"While there has been an improvement in the employment rate, but the rate at which jobs are being created is not sufficient to keep up with the number of students leaving school every year," commented Johan Botha, an economist with the Standard Bank of South Africa. He noted that at least 500,000 students wrote the school-leaving exam last year.

A recent survey by the South African Graduate Development Association found that graduates were the fastest growing group swelling the numbers of the unemployed. It's findings were backed by statistics from a marketing company this week, which showed that up to 30 percent of university students in South Africa were unable to find jobs after they graduated.

The problem, Jammine pointed out, was that the economy's direction was towards creating businesses that were service, knowledge and skills intensive, while the "profile of the South African workforce is largely unskilled at the moment".

Recognising the need, the government has launched the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition to address the shortage of skilled labour. It has set skills acquisition targets in various sectors, for example, increasing the number of engineers by 2,400 a year and the number of skilled artisans by 50,000 over the next four to five years.

However, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is demanding more action on job creation. "If we are to meet the government's modest target of halving unemployment by 2014, we need to reverse the loss of jobs in the sectors that are shedding jobs and create far more new, sustainable and quality jobs, particularly in manufacturing, at a far faster rate," the labour federation has warned.

The International Monetary Fund projects a required annual growth of at least seven percent to meet the UN's Millennium Development goals of halving poverty by 2015. Mozambique and Angola are the only two Southern African economies to have achieved the target.

Economists have blamed South Africa's stringent labour legislation, which makes hiring an expensive proposition for small-scale companies, and have suggested that government relax legislation to enable small firms to easily hire and fire.

Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana has been holding meetings with business and labour to review legislation, said his spokesman Mokgadi Pela. Mdladlana has also expressed concern at the quality of jobs being generated and has described unemployment as a "ticking time bomb."

Eager to get experts back

2006-10-29T12:40:00.000-08:00

The Soccer World Cup tournament in 2010 is starting to lure white experts such as engineers, construction workers and accountants back to South Africa.

Trade union Solidarity said a total 1 000 experts who had placed their names on its unemployment list, already had found work.

Provincial governments also are actively recruiting people with rare skills.

Themba Sepotokele of the Gauteng government said they'd already called on retired engineers and accountants to help with preparations for the 2010 World Cup.

"We are fully aware of the skills shortage in the province," he said.

Joel Mafereka, MEC for the Free State provincial government, agreed that the skills shortage had become a source of concern in his province.

"We will welcome the experts with open arms. They must help us build stadiums."

The Western Cape government also called on Solidarity and others to help with the recruitment.

Experts are especially needed in transport, building and related industries.

Solidarity's Come Home campaign has helped to bring back experts to South Africa, said spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans.

"By giving skilled people work, you automatically are creating work for the semi-skilled. With limited skills, you hamper economic growth," he said.

"We have lost too many experts. Most of them are retired or abroad. That's why we believe in the strategy of Marius Fransman (Western Cape minister of transport and public works)," said Kleynhans.

Fransman said he was aware many engineers had left the country and that they worked in other careers.

"We're eager to get them back. We need their expertise."

Another Western Cape minister, Lynn Brown, agreed the country urgently needed white skills. "We will welcome these people with open arms," she said.

Kleynhans said the big semi-government institutions all lost engineers. "Training in the engineering sector, especially, is highly specialised."

Graham Power, chairperson of Power Construction, said the skills shortage had a negative effect on the expansion of his business.

"I also know for a fact that those who went to work overseas are unhappy there," said Power.

Dr Fanie Bekker, executive director of the Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut in the Western Cape, has called on engineers to sign contracts with, and to help, the government.

But he also said the government must get moving because the planning on road infrastructure took a long time.

"Many of our engineers are either retired or they moved overseas because of black economic empowerment.

"These people can definitely mean something for the South African market because they have the skills," said Bekker.

SA faces IT skill shortage

2006-10-25T07:15:00.000-07:00

Unless the networking skills shortage is addressed urgently, by 2009 demand for networking skills in South Africa will exceed supply by 24% and there will be a shortage of more than 113 900 skilled people required to help drive economic growth.

This is one of the findings of a new report on the demand for networking skills across Middle East and Africa (MEA), part of a series from the IDC, commissioned by Cisco Systems.

In contrast, findings from the same study carried out across Western and Eastern Europe revealed an average networking skills gap of 11.8% by 2008, emphasising the challenge that South Africa is facing.

"The government identified the shortage of suitably skilled labour as the single biggest threat to the successful implementation of the Accelerated and Shared Growth-South Africa (Asgisa) initiative, with the shortage most prominent in the areas of engineering, construction, sciences, management and skilled technical fields such as IT technicians/engineers," said Duncan Hindle, director general of department of education.

Given the fact that South Africa continues to experience impressive economic growth and has consistently maintained GDP growth levels of 4-5%, the IDC expects the ongoing economic expansion in South Africa to fuel the demand for ICT technologies.

"The business environment has evolved in recent years where supply chains compete against supply chains.

"Organisations are now, more than ever, interconnected entities that depend on the network for integration with their business partners.

"Not having sufficient networking skills available for this integration influences the competitiveness of not only organisations, but for the country as a whole," said Phillip van Heerden, senior IDC analyst.

The situation is even more extreme when certain technology areas are singled out. For example, the shortfall between supply and demand in advanced networking technology skills (IP telephony, security and wireless) will be 30% in 2009.

This represents 69 700 skilled people.

Again, this is in contrast to findings from Western and Eastern Europe that showed an average advanced networking skills gap of 15.8% by 2008.

Dr Clive Fynn, general manager Cisco Systems South Africa, said although there are a number of initiatives currently underway in South Africa to promote further training in science and technology, the forecasted gaps highlight the need for more work to be done to provide the right training courses and to encourage student enrollment.

"If plans are not put into place now, technology adoption, business competitiveness and market growth will be placed at risk," Fynn noted.

Death threats for media training CEO

2006-10-24T23:24:00.000-07:00

The media, advertising, publishing, printing and packing sector education and training authority had hired a security company to protect staff members and the CEO, who had allegedly received death threats, said Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana.

In a written reply to a parliamentary question by Democratic Alliance labour spokesman Mark Louw, he said he would be asking for assistance from Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula in the matter, which has also been referred to the Scorpions.

Louw said CEO Melanie Bernard-Fryer had received death threats, and that she and her family were living under armed guard.

After raising concerns about R47m in irregular payments made by the body, Bernard-Fryer started receiving threatening phone calls.

An unidentified man tried to run her daughter off the road, and there was an attempted break-in at room housing the training body’s computer servers.

Mdladlana said that while he was aware of the threats, he was also concerned about the amount of money meant for skills develop-ment that had been spent on security services.

He also noted that R12m had been paid by the body to training institutions without valid supporting documentation.

On a separate matter, Mdladlana said an investigation undertaken by accounting firm Deloitte into the financial affairs of the health and welfare sector education and training authority had found it had submitted incorrect information to the auditor-general in its 2005-06 financial statements.

Mdladlana said the investigation led to the suspension of the CEO and chief financial officer, who left after disciplinary action was taken against them.

He said the investigation found evidence that the financial statements submitted to the auditor-general on May 31 were not a true reflection of the financial status of the training body.

“Furthermore, a bank account was opened without proper approval. Various policies were either not in place or aligned with treasury regulations. Irregularities were found in the procurement of an electronic data management system and this resulted in wasteful expenditure of more than R500000,” Mdladlana said.

Director general's report card

2006-10-20T03:45:00.000-07:00

When Vanguard Mkhosana was appointed Director General of the Department of Labour in 2004, he vowed to turn it into one of the best-performing government institutions. But two years on, very little suggests he is on the right track.

For two years the department received qualified audit statements from the Auditor General. The latest was tabled in Parliament last month.

Also last month, the Public Service Commission criticised the department for inadequate performance management. The commission said in its report that some senior employees have received performance bonuses without performance agreements.

Senior officials within the department who spoke to the Mail & Guardian on condition of anonymity said the findings of the Auditor General and the commission were long overdue. They described Mkhosana "as an incompetent administrator" who got the director general's job because of his closeness to Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana.

Mkhosana has also failed to address a long-standing problem of vacancies within the department.
According to its recent annual report, more than 500 posts, including key positions in areas such as statistics, research, programme management, finance management and human resource management, remain unfilled.

I won't apologise

2006-10-14T07:38:00.000-07:00

Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana insisted on Friday that he would not apologise for errors in a "name-and-shame" campaign.

Mdladlana said that those companies that submitted equity reports under different names were at fault.

He issued a stern warning to 1 296 employers he claimed had not submitted equity reports for 2005. "Clear your house before we come," he said.

Mdladlana recently landed in hot water when the names of at least 10 JSE-listed companies, initially criticised by the minister for failing to adhere to employment equity legislation, lodged sharp denials.

In the "name-and-shame" campaign he had said the companies failed to submit the reports. However, it emerged that many of them had filed reports, but possibly under different names.

Mdladlana said companies were not hiding from the way they addressed employment equity, but he was "very disappointed" at how the companies addressed employment equity.

In a hard-hitting speech he also accused Shoprite of "arrogance of a tall order" when it announced the salary of the chief executive Whitey Basson as it was handling employees' wage negotiations.

Basson received a salary increase of R9,9-million, or 30%, as striking workers demanded 10% and eventually settled for an 8,54 % increase.

Referring to the job market, he said young people were emerging with skills from many tertiary institutions that left them unemployed. "It is a very sad thing what we are doing to our young people," he said.

He said despite problems with the Construction, Education and Training Authority (Ceta) he believed that the Ceta boards were necessary. "I will defend them with my life. I still believe in them, but they have not been managed properly," he said.

Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni lamented the high turnover in black professional staff. He said it saddened him to have people trained at the Bank only to see them leave for greener pastures.

The film is shocking

2006-10-13T05:57:00.000-07:00

A South African trade union leader said she would urge President Thabo Mbeki to break his silence on Zimbabwe after giving him a film exposing rights abuses in the neighbouring country.

Mary Malete, leader of the Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) said she would try and give Mbeki a copy of a film showing leaders of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) being beaten and arrested by police when they tried to launch an anti-government march on September 13.

The government nipped the protest in the bud by evoking a tough law, which bars "unauthorised" marches.

Lawyers for the ZCTU members said secretary-general Wellington Chibebe had a fractured arm while 29 others sustained bruises and cuts after being assaulted in police custody.

The ZCTU had hoped to rope in thousands to denounce fuel and food shortages, four-digit inflation and 80 percent unemployment - which critics blame on economic mismanagement by President Robert Mugabe's government.

Malete said she would urge President Mbeki - who has been roundly attacked over his so-called "quiet diplomacy" towards Zimbabwe - to speak out against Mugabe, who is seen by critics as a liberator turned oppressor.

"The film is shocking," she said. "We (South Africans) are complaining about the resources not being enough for us. What about the thousands of people coming in from Zimbabwe with whom we have to share the meagre resources?"

Zimbabwe is in its seventh year of economic hardship with a four-digit inflation, spiralling unemployment and a huge deficit of food and essential goods, blamed on the southern African country's controversial land reforms.

At least three million Zimbabweans are thought to have migrated to neighbouring countries, especially continental powerhouse South Africa.

Dealing from the bottom of the deck

2006-10-13T05:36:00.000-07:00

South Africa and China are set to sign an agreement to further develop trade relations between the two countries, with focus on creating employment. How can you further trade relations when you are about to impose import quotas on clothing from the same nation?

A Chinese delegation, led by labour and social security vice-minister Zhang Xiajian, arrived in Cape Town to hold talks with South African Labour Minister, Membathisi Mdladlana, before signing a memorandum of understanding.

"South Africa's trade relations with China will be further cemented, with skills empowerment and job-creation, dominating discussions during next week's five-day official visit by that country's labour and social security ministry delegation," the department of labour said.

This is ludicrous

2006-10-12T08:39:00.000-07:00

IT WAS “ludicrous” that the labour department had turned down the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of SA’s (Seifsa’s) request for funding to train 500 artisans, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said yesterday.

“The fact that government is turning down legitimate funding requests for legitimate priority skills development programmes because of red tape, when money is available, is ludicrous,” said DA labour spokesman Mark Lowe.

There is a major shortage of artisans in SA, and artisan training is a focus point for the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa), which wants to boost the number of artisans in SA by an additional 50000 by 2009.

Most of the country’s artisans are older than 54.

Seifsa’s request was turned down because it asked for funds directly from the department’s National Skills Fund (NSF) under Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana and because the NSF had already disbursed R38m to 11 sectoral education and training authorities (Setas) this year, the department said.

Jipsa is project-managing government’s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of SA (Asgi-SA) through which government is spending R372bn on a five-year public infrastructure investment programme in an attempt to boost the economy, create jobs and increase training.

Seifsa skills development director Janet Lopez said the federation had not been “driven to despair” and was in negotiations with the Gauteng labour department over funding, which would result in 500 artisans being trained.

The Seta for the manufacturing and engineering sector is already funding the training of 3200 apprentices in its metal chamber this year. The money is needed urgently because artisan training begins in January and Seifsa wants to start the project then.

This was why Seifsa had sidestepped the usual procedure of applying to the Seta for the manufacturing and engineering sector, said Lopez.

Seifsa had commitments from several employers who were prepared to be involved in the training from January, which Lopez described as a “coup”.

Lowe said the DA would be submitting a series of parliamentary questions to establish what was obstructing the disbursement of funds for skills development, and how much the NSF had in surplus funds.

“Government needs to understand that money held in the NSF is not normal taxpayers’ money. It was raised from the business sector to fund skills development and therefore belongs to the business sector for that purpose,” Lowe said.

The plot thickens

2006-10-11T13:49:00.000-07:00

During last month's ferocious lobbying to influence the outcome of Cosatu's leadership poll, South African Communist Party (SACP) general-secretary Blade Nzimande was a regular at the Gallagher Estate open-air restaurant with its immaculate, scenic garden.

The refreshing breeze and the serenity of the picturesque setting provided a sharp contrast to the stuffy, noisy and tense atmosphere in the conference plenary hall about 100m away. But the hushed voices, the plotting, back-stabbing, horse-trading and strategies hatched from the restaurant polluted its pristine ambience.

Nzimande was central to the so-called bush caucus, whose aim - against the backdrop of intense lobbying at the Parktonian Hotel in Johannesburg - was to oust Cosatu president Willie Madisha and, some say, to hijack the labour federation as a strategic weapon to influence the ANC and change the composition of the ruling party's leadership.

He was the target of President Thabo Mbeki's caustic personal attack at the ANC's national executive committee (NEC) meeting at the weekend. Mbeki accused him of being "extraordinarily arrogant" and cautioned members of the NEC of the dangers of Nzimande's provocation.

Nzimande's speech at the Cosatu congress - perceived as an attack on Mbeki's presidency - forced an ANC delegation to walk out so as to caucus and strategise a response.

It even hit hard inside Nzimande's party, with one of his communist colleagues privately complaining about workers "being misled by Blade".

However, Mbeki was rather provoked by earlier discussion documents of the SACP's central committee in which he was isolated as the main cause of the crisis within the ANC. The accusation - what they call a "1996 class project" - was that Mbeki's presidency was too dominant and not innocuous in the political battles currently being waged.

Unofficial advisers to the president saw it as a strategy to undermine his leadership and to try to propel his rival, ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma, to the top job in the ruling party.

Mbeki's criticism of Nzimande at the NEC meeting centred around what he saw as the communist leader's assertion that he was deviating from ANC policy. There was also inherent criticism of his leadership style.

But Nzimande is not the only one raising these issues. Others include:

ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe. During his address at the ANC's Limpopo provincial general council recently, he warned government against deviating from ANC policy, saying this would make the ruling party fail to achieve the goals of the Freedom Charter.

In his address to the SA Democratic Teachers Union recently, Jacob Zuma said workers must guard against deviation from the Freedom Charter. He also warned against centralisation of power and suppression of debate.

Cosatu's general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi. He was harsh, saying that, under Mbeki, the country was drifting towards a dictatorship.

ANC executive member Ngoako Ramatlhodi. Although he apologised for his remarks later, he earlier accused the president of autocratic tendencies.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. He cautioned, during the Nelson Mandela lecture, against a culture of sycophancy. The president reacted ruthlessly to the cleric.

Some of the ANC's members during the national general council. They rejected some of the proposals associated with Mbeki, such as modernisation of the ANC, and they questioned his prerogative in terms of presidential powers.

But why did he target Nzimande?

Despite Nzimande's sharp intellect and polemical astuteness, Mbeki commands supremacy in terms of his mastery of the art of struggle politics, including communism itself.

Despite Nzimande's egotistical outspokenness, Mbeki is a respected statesman who could paralyse his rival with his erudite and scholarly adroitness. So, why, indeed, did the president lose his cool?

Such an emotional response, says one NEC member sympathetic to Mbeki, could expose the president and the presidency to more attacks from the cacophonous fringe of Zuma supporters.

Is the thin-skinned Mbeki - who was once prodded by a junior Democratic Alliance member into a racial outburst - becoming paranoid and feeling that he is under siege? His 12-year presidency has never been pummelled before in the way it has been over the past 15 months. Nzimande's provocation threatens his authority.

Without offices, financial backing, electoral stamina and a vast membership to challenge the ANC, Nzimande literally and figuratively operates from Cosatu, tactically exploiting its muscle and its ability to penetrate and sway the ruling party's thinking.

Although Ndzimande initially struggled to infiltrate workers, to use their power as a base from which to pound Mbeki's leadership, Zuma's brushes with the law gave the communist leader the gap to strike at his target: Mbeki.

Despite the workers seeing Zuma as an iconic figure able to rise up in the ANC without any family connections, they also used tensions around him - largely nudged by Nzimande and the Cosatu leadership - as a way to vent their emotions about their own socio-economic conditions.

They were told, by Nzimande and Vavi, that Mbeki's policies were to blame.

A comfort zone at Cosatu suddenly turned the SACP, and Nzimande in particular, into a powerful force within the alliance. He is a tactical mind for the labour federation and a hazard to Mbeki.

But Nzimande's comfortable office on the third floor of Cosatu House, unlike the open-air restaurant command centre at Gallagher Estate, might be demolished, depending on who wins the succession skirmish.

For now, his close ties with Vavi and Zuma, and his charismatic militant appeal to the workers, have firmly entrenched Nzimande in Cosatu - and he is using this position to his advantage.

Prior to the Cosatu congress, Nzimande called on workers to influence the direction of the ANC, even if it meant changing its leadership. But, like Mbeki, he is not entirely in control of his party as the tempest threatens his own captaincy.

One of his own party leaders, according to ANC spokesman Smuts Ngonyama, contradicted him during the NEC meeting, even though Nzimande questioned Ngonyama's probity.

Wits sociologist and labour analyst Sakhela Buhlungu warned in a book he edited that Cosatu would split if the union decided to back the SACP, with its membership of around 40 000, in an election.

It is publicly known that SACP central committee members such as Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils, Safety and Security Minister and SACP chairman Charles Nqakula, Provincial Minister Sydney Mufamadi, Madisha and deputy chairman Dipuo Mvelase are opposed to Nzimande's leadership.

While there are plans to purge these members, there are equally vicious plots to get rid of Nzimande at the SACP's congress in July next year, or even before that.

His key ally in the politburo is the respected former National Union of Mineworkers general-secretary Gwede Mantashe, who is earmarked to replace Nqakula or even be installed as ANC secretary-general.

As was shown by the battle to oust or retain Madisha in Cosatu, the two factions of the SACP will battle it out in the next eight months . . . with the central figure being the diminutive Nzimande.

Cosatu should visit China

2006-10-11T02:55:00.000-07:00

SA’s trade unionists should go to China and see for themselves “the brilliant experience that country has had in achieving its integration on its own terms into the global economy”, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said.

He addressed journalists after signing an extension of a memorandum of understanding in Cape Town with Chinese Labour and Social Security Vice-Minister Zhan Xiajian.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has concerns about the power of the Chinese export market and its potential to flood the South African market with cheap goods.

A war of words erupted between former comrades-in-arms Zwelinzima Vavi and Tito Mboweni last week. Vavi, Cosatu general secretary, launched a blistering attack on Reserve Bank governor Mboweni for his comments that the government’s proposed quotas on Chinese imports did not make economic sense and would not save an uncompetitive industry.

“If you have not become competitive, you have no chance in hell of becoming competitive in the three years or so that the quotas will be imposed,” Mboweni was quoted as saying.

In response, Vavi described Mboweni’s statement as “irresponsible” and “unfortunate”. Mboweni had also argued that the quotas would just delay the inevitable. He said there was no chance that the textile industry in this country would be able to compete with sweat shop production in China and other Asian countries.

Mdladlana said he did not know what the South African Communist Party (SACP) and Cosatu leaders knew, but he had visited China and witnessed the enormous progress the country had made in building its economy, as witnessed by the huge buildings that had sprung up after China began integrating into the global economy.

He noted that China had carried out this integration on its own terms.

For example, there was a 49% foreign ownership ceiling — versus 51% local Chinese ownership requirement — applying to foreign direct investment in China. In SA there were no such restrictions on foreign ownership of companies, he said.

Referring particularly to the potential for the flooding of the South African market by Chinese cars — a warning sounded by Cosatu president Willie Madisha in his recent opening speech at the Cosatu congress — the minister said SA needed to learn how to make the goods to supply and compete for, for example, the African market.

Just as toys and cars were produced by China and sold all over the world, SA needed to learn to export its cars and toys to the rest of Africa.

Mdladlana offered to take union leaders to China — which is still a socialist state — to see for themselves how that country had made “everyone run around”.

We can't have dirty streets at night and then in the morning it's suddenly clean

2006-10-10T10:49:00.000-07:00

Striking cleaners return to work from today, ending a 57-day strike. Wage negotiations between the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) and the National Contract Cleaners Association (NCCA) are still in deadlock, but Western Cape Satawu chairman Jerome Fortune said the two parties had settled the matters of provident funds and bonuses.

Fortune said no agreement had been signed, but that the cleaners were "happy" with the proposed bonus increase.

NCCA spokesman Paul Roux said the union had called off negotiations of its own accord. It would rather wait for Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana to settle on a fitting wage increase, he said.

"They were the ones to call off the wage negotiations be-cause they wanted to go back to work. They would rather not strike, and (will) wait for the labour minister to decide," said Roux.

Fortune said the strike had been called off because some of the union's demands had been met and because of the "lack of commitment" from strikers.

"There has been a problem with moonlighting. We can't have the streets dirty at night and then in the morning it's suddenly clean.

"If everyone is not committed, what's the use of continuing the strike? They may as well go back to work."

But Roux said the NCCA was not pleased with the uni-on's actions because "there was no point to the strike and negotiations" if the decision was handed over to Mdladlana.

"Why have a violent two-month-long strike when in the end they're going to leave it all up to the minister anyway and it would all for nothing?"

Cleaners have been asking for a 10% increase for urban workers and a 12% increase for rural workers. Employers have been offering 6%.

The wages of affirmative action

2006-10-04T04:31:00.000-07:00

A leading South African think-tank called on the government to halt an exodus of skilled whites, saying their departure could prove fatal for the country's economy.

Africa's economic powerhouse suffers from an acute lack of skilled workers in both the private and the public sector, a problem the group said was exacerbated by what it called misconceived legislation designed to boost jobs for blacks.

"The country is very seriously short of skills - there could be potentially fatal consequences for economic growth," John Kane-Berman, chief executive of the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), said in an interview on Tuesday.

The African National Congress-led government, which took power in 1994, has sought to remedy apartheid-era injustices that discriminated against blacks by introducing an affirmative action programme.

The white population in South Africa declined by 841,000 between 1995 and 2005, the biggest drop in at least 50 years, according to SAIRR, which was formed in 1929 to promote democracy and improve race relations in South Africa.

"The (affirmative action) legislation was entirely misconceived. The reason there aren't so many blacks in managerial positions is lack of supply not lack of demand. There are not sufficiently qualified black people," Kane-Berman said.

Government officials were not immediately available to comment on the criticism.

While many whites complain about affirmative action, blacks say there is a lack of educational opportunities. Education Minister Naledi Pandor said last week poor quality education in public schools threatened long-term economic growth.

Whites, who have always been a minority in South Africa, now account for 9% of the estimated population of 45 million people, down from 12.5% in 1995, according to the think-tank, which based its analysis on official data.

The government cannot confirm the rate of the exodus because it stopped publishing emigration figures in 2004.

"The heads of families are emigrating. They're professionals and they're taking their kids with them. We cannot afford to lose those skills," said Kane-Berman, an outspoken voice against apartheid whose group continues to monitor race relations.

Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka recently acknowledged the exodus of skilled South Africans was a serious problem and that the government was taking steps to encourage people to remain or return to the country.

Business grovels to labour minister

2006-10-03T02:33:00.000-07:00

The Department of Labour has agreed to meet with several companies which it named and shamed three weeks ago for failing to comply with employment equity laws.

Mokgadi Pela, a spokesperson at the department, said that both listed and unlisted companies had requested a meeting with the minister of labour, Membathisi Mdladlana, to iron out their difficulties. He was not prepared to name the businesses

The department named and shamed several companies for not complying with employment equity, including listed companies, such as African Bank, Ceramic Industries, Netcare, Tongaat-Hulett, Ellerines and Gold Fields.

When these companies fired back with proof of their submissions the department said it would slap businesses with fraud charges for flouting the Employment Equity Act by using questionable tactics.

It has acted on its threat. Last Wednesday the Durban Labour Court reserved judgement against two Newcastle-based textile firms charged with violating provisions of the Employment Equity Act.

The two companies, Jinghua Garments and Wincool Industrial, are facing fines of up to R500 000 if found guilty.

The companies face charges of failing to comply with Sections 20 and 21 of the Employment Equity Act, which require employers to display the summary of the act on their notice boards, and oblige them to send their equity plans to the department.

Clutching at straws

2006-09-29T02:36:00.000-07:00

The so-called drop in unemployment is insignificant, but the Labour minister is touting it as an indication of what a fine job he is doing. In the real world, jobs are being created despite of Labour policies and not because of them.

A drop in unemployment figures was an indication of good labour market policies, Membathisi Mdladlana, the labour minister said. "This is an indication of how well our labour market policies are functioning," he said in a statement.

Figures released by Statistics SA yesterday showed a decline in unemployment from 26.5% in March 2005 to 25.6% in March this year, the lowest since 2001.

Mdladlana said: "Also critical in the key findings is the fact that the number of people who are actively seeking employment has increased. Interestingly, there is also an increase in agriculture employment, despite an attack on the regulatory stance of the department in that sector, through the promulgation of the sectoral determination."

He said the statistics were released at a time when the department's policies were under constant attack. He said the problem was not with the policies, but how they were put into effect. "Hence, 1.2 million jobs have been created over a five-year period."

Mdladlana said there was still room for improvement, especially in absorbing women into the labour market. "Together with the social partners, we are continuing to interrogate what might be the stumbling blocks in the smooth implementation of policies. Some progress has been made in this regard. We need targeted interventions that will unblock any bottlenecks identified in this process."

Not enough jobs

2006-09-29T02:33:00.000-07:00

More than half-a-million jobs were created in South Africa in the past year, a new survey said this week, but economists and labour warn it is not enough to make a serious dent in unemployment.

The 2006 Labour Force Survey conducted by the government's Statistics South Africa showed 544,000 jobs had been created in the 12 months ending March 2006, resulting in a modest decline in the unemployment rate by 0.9 percent to 25.6 percent.

The South African government's goal is to halve poverty and unemployment by 2014. It's Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative, launched earlier this year, aims to deliver economic growth of six percent. The Bureau for Economic Research at the University of Stellenbosch forecasts growth at 4.5 percent in 2006/07, slightly down on last year's 4.9 percent.

At a glance there seems to have been a very big increase in employment, but if it is put into perspective it is not so dramatic. Most of the new jobs were created in the first half of 2005 in the agricultural sector and were seasonal.

While there has been an improvement in the employment rate, but the rate at which jobs are being created is not sufficient to keep up with the number of students leaving school every year. At least 500,000 students wrote the school-leaving exam last year.

A recent survey by the South African Graduate Development Association found that graduates were the fastest growing group swelling the numbers of the unemployed. It's findings were backed by statistics from a marketing company this week, which showed that up to 30 percent of university students in South Africa were unable to find jobs after they graduated.

The problem is that the economy's direction was towards creating businesses that were service, knowledge and skills intensive, while the profile of the South African workforce is largely unskilled at the moment.

The government has launched the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition to address the shortage of skilled labour. It has set skills acquisition targets in various sectors, for example, increasing the number of engineers by 2,400 a year and the number of skilled artisans by 50,000 over the next four to five years.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is demanding more action on job creation. "If we are to meet the government's modest target of halving unemployment by 2014, we need to reverse the loss of jobs in the sectors that are shedding jobs and create far more new, sustainable and quality jobs, particularly in manufacturing, at a far faster rate," the labour federation has warned.

The International Monetary Fund projects a required annual growth of at least seven percent to meet the UN's Millennium Development goals of halving poverty by 2015. Mozambique and Angola are the only two Southern African economies to have achieved the target.

Economists have blamed South Africa's stringent labour legislation, which makes hiring an expensive proposition for small-scale companies, and have suggested that government relax legislation to enable small firms to easily hire and fire.

Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana has been holding meetings with business and labour to review legislation, said his spokesman Mokgadi Pela. Mdladlana has also expressed concern at the quality of jobs being generated and has described unemployment as a "ticking time bomb."

Apartheid is dead, long live apartheid

2006-09-27T03:21:00.000-07:00

The South African department of labour wants to use the new regulations to return to a dispensation in which the labour force is classified along racial lines. The regime states that top positions are where power lies, and acknowledge that power interests them.

With the deadline for companies to file their employment equity reports looming, trade union Solidarity has criticised labour regulations asking employees to indicate their race.

The employment equity reports, due on Monday, include a form, EEA1, to be filled out by mployees, asking them to indicate “to which categories you belong”. The aim of the report was to determine the progress of affirmative action.

People could tick either “African”, “Coloured”, “Indian” or “White”. Since there is no longer a law to define South Africans’ racial identity -- the Population Registration Act was scrapped in June 1991 -- “self-classification” was being put in place to fill this gap.

Solidarity’s deputy general secretary Dirk Hermann said that affirmative action should rather focus on socio-economic position, rather than race. “This will result in a dispensation in which people who had actually been disadvantaged will benefit, instead of the process being based on skin colour,” he argued.

According to the SA labour department’s website, the purpose of form EEA1 was to “get information from workers on a voluntary basis, to assist employers with analysing their workplace profile”.
“If they (employees) refuse, the employer can fill in the race,” said Hermann.

Labour ministry spokesman Mokgadi Pela said companies were obliged, under the Employment Equity Act, to provide the racial profile of their staff.

“The law forces them to, it’s an act of Parliament. If they don’t they can be taken to court.”
Contravening the Act could result in a fine, if an employer was found guilty, of between R500 000 and R900 000.

According to the Act, an employer had to conduct an “analysis” of their places of work. This was to “determine the degree of under-representation of people from designated groups in various occupational categories and levels...”. According to the Act, “designated groups” referred to blacks, women and people with disabilities.

Pela said as far as he knew the responsibility for filling in EEA1 lay with companies’ human resources departments, since they should already have the racial profile of the company’s staff.
“It doesn’t make any difference (who fills the form in)... at the end of the day we need those figures.”

He said the slow transformation of workplaces had required the labour department to seek information on race. The number of black people in top management had increased by 2.1 percent over the past five years, said Pela.

“If we continue at this pace we will only achieve equity in 50 years.

“The problem, if you look at the race profile of the workplace, particularly in the private sector, the majority are white males, followed by white females. The top positions are where power lies, and that’s what we're interested in.”

In a Solidarity memorandum, the trade union encouraged employees to classify themselves as “African”, alternatively as “South African”, on EEA1.

Former law professor at Unisa, Professor Marinus Wiechers, said criteria such as training, education and income should rather be used, instead of race.

“These kinds of things can certainly be identified. One of the worst characteristics of the previous system was race classification. Now we're back (to that) again.”

No jobs for students

2006-09-26T23:51:00.000-07:00

After the Education minister's admission that half of all students drop out before graduating, here comes more bad nows. Of those who do make it, one third remain unemployed. No fear, the regime is working on a very big important document that will provide a solution.

Up to 30 percent of university students are unable to find jobs after they graduate, researchers have found.

This shock statistic is among the findings of a study undertaken by a marketing company on behalf of the higher education organisation, Unitech, and will be investigated further by the University of Cape Town's Development Policy Research Unit.

The finding corresponds with that of the South African Graduate Development Association.

It found that graduates were the fastest growing group swelling the numbers of the unemployed.

One of the main thrusts of the UCT unit's investigation will be to determine the fields of study of unemployed graduates.

"It is important to know which fields make up the 30 percent figure of the unemployed graduates," said Unitech chief executive and general manager Caleb Maqubela.

The official unemployment figure was 26,7 percent but unofficial figures were as high as 40 percent.

Many students did not get appropriate career advice from their respective institutions, Maqubela said.

The alarmingly high drop-out rate, the lack of career advice, and inappropriate study choices were some of the major reasons for the growing unemployment rate among graduates.

To boost graduate employment, universities and colleges needed to become more involved in marketing their graduates for employment and creating opportunities for graduates and employers, Maqubela said.

He said it was also vital for higher education to provide work-place experience before graduates were sent out to the job market.

Another tool which could be used to rectify the situation was the recently launch-ed Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa), under the leadership of Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

This was set up to specify which skills were most needed in the country.

"We also have students who took up courses that were very convenient for them but that did not yield jobs. We are very fortunate now with Jipsa," said Maqubela.

It was hoped that Jipsa would sharpen the focus of both students and tertiary education bodies, as it outlined areas where there were skill shortages such as manufacturing and technical occupations such as artisans, engineers and scientists.

A shortage of senior management was also a problem in all sectors. This was likely to impact on growth and the government's plan to halve poverty and unemployment by 2014.

The association suggested that reforms had to start at primary and secondary school level, with properly educated, good quality teachers, especially in the areas of mathematics and science.

The report further suggested that incentives be provided for students to choose courses that were relevant to the needs of the country.

The Department of Labour said it was very concerned about the issue of unemployment.

"The minister, Membathisi Mdladlana, said recently unemployment was a ticking time bomb," said spokesperson Mokgadi Pela.

Brace for even more strikes

2006-09-23T13:36:00.000-07:00

The number of strikes in South African industry had reached a 10-year high and analysts warned still more strikes were imminent, the Reserve Bank said.

South Africa's largest labour federation, The Congress of South African Trade Unions, has held its annual convention this week and is looking for ways to exert more influence on the nation's economic policy.

The bank said in its report Thursday that the number of working days lost from strikes rose from about 700 000 in the first half of 2005 to 1.6 million in the first half of 2006, the highest figure in 10 years.

"Unions are flexing their muscle and we can expect it to last," said Steven Friedman, a senior researcher with the Centre for Policy Studies in Johannesburg.

"It is a sign of economic growth. Although there is labour surplus, the labour market has tightened; profit margins are up and workers think they can get a better deal," he said.

Cosatu, a federation with 1.8 million members, has been a key supporter of former Deputy President Jacob Zuma's campaign to become the next president when President Thabo Mbeki's term expires in 2009.

Zuma said he supports the government's current economic policy, but the union believes he would give workers - instead of business - more influence on policy.

According to a report, compiled by a labour research body before the federation meeting, there were 102 strikes last year, mostly over wages. "We have entered a phase of intense and prolonged strikes," the report said.

South Africa has one of the most progressive sets of labour laws on the continent, but it suffers from massive unemployment some analysts put as high as 40%. Labour continues to be strong opposition to the government's conservative economic policy which has tightened social spending.

Economist Mike Schussler agreed that the strike activity was linked to growth in the economy. "South Africans were getting richer quicker but many people feel left behind," he said.

An increase in the number of strikes could be expected as political tensions play themselves out. Cosatu thinks they can not just have political muscle but economic muscle as well.

Shaming only themselves

2006-09-21T08:16:00.000-07:00

An increasingly acrimonious stand-off between government and business seems likely after Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana's "name and shame" blunder this week.

At least 10 JSE-listed companies, criticised by the minister for failing to adhere to employment equity legislation, have lodged sharp denials. The government's response has been to issue a warning that submitting incomplete reports could be seen as fraudulent. This is despite originally criticising companies for not submitting reports at all, rather than submitting unsatisfactory ones.

The companies say they have receipts to prove their reports were received by the department, and some even produced letters from senior labour officials praising their employment equity progress.

Mdladlana said companies "should desist from using the old and tired excuse of lack of skills among blacks as a barrier and instead use their own resources to develop skills".

Meanwhile, the South African Chamber of Business said it regretted the department's use of "name and shame" tactics, which could lead to defamation claims, and has called for public apologies to be issued where errors were made.

Jimmy Manyi, head of the Employment Equity Commission, was unrepentant. "As the committee that advises the minister on employment equity matters, we do not apologise for the advice we gave him and we stand by it. In fact, there are tougher measures to come. We have discovered that many companies were flouting the law by reporting in a manner that tries to circumvent the law," he said in a statement on Wednesday.

He said that companies tried to circumvent employment equity requirements by submitting incomplete reports and hiding the number of employees they had. He said it was difficult to differentiate between companies making honest mistakes and those deliberately trying to get around the law.

He added that companies have been required to submit reports since 2000 and that they should be aware of the procedure by now. In addition, said Manyi, the department had sent letters to companies informing them if their reports had not been received and asking them to rectify the situation. At least one company said that it has not received such letters, but Manyi says he has proof that these letters were sent.

It seems the department's own filing systems could have contributed to the problem. Reports are filed according to company name, rather than tax code, and if a company has different names or subsidiaries, this could result in incomplete or inaccurate records.

The Tongaat-Hulett Group had reported under the name Tongaat-Hulett Sugar, explained Manyi. Ironically, Tongaat-Hulett is ranked sixth overall for employment equity in the Financial Mail Top Empowerment Companies Survey.

African Bank submitted its report under the name African Bank Investments Limited (its holding company) one year, and African Bank Limited another. But African Bank spokesperson Dawn Marole challenged this, saying the company had reported as African Bank Investments Limited (Abil) for the past three years, with reports on all of the subsidiaries included and submitted timeously, and she was able to prove it. She said the company had never received any letter notifying it of a problem with the reports.

At least one large company, Ceramic Industries, had filed a report under its previous name, National Ceramic Industries, and had neglected to inform government of its name change so that the employment equity register could be updated, says Manyi.

The fiasco has raised concerns in business circles about the department's record keeping and ability to effectively monitor employment equity progress.

Big spender

2006-09-21T07:35:00.000-07:00

The Department of Labour has emerged as a big spender in government with millions going towards food, travel and accommodation.

In the 2004/5 year alone, the Labour Department forked out close to R100m for hotel accommodation, restaurant expenses and travel costs. This was revealed by Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana in a written reply to questions in parliament.

Mdladlana said that in 2004/5 the department's costs for local hotel accommodation which included meals, as well as foreign hotel accommodation amounted to R6 615 896,99.

Restaurant expenses added up to R693 908,52 and travel costs came to R73 760 211,14.

In the 2005/6 financial year hotel accommodation increased to R11 389 984,15, restaurant expenses totalled R673 230,30 and travel costs decreased to R54 898 923.84.

Mdladlana revealed from April 1 to August 31 this year the department's hotel accommodation already stood at R3 760 777,22, restaurant expenses at R240 792,95 and travel costs at R21 549 237,27.

We will not apologise for our stupidity

2006-09-19T02:56:00.000-07:00

The Labour Ministry on Wednesday remained adamant it would name and shame companies accused of not submitting its Employment Equity (EE) reports and warned of tougher action.

"We are standing by our story, we will not apologise," said the department's spokesperson Mokgadi Pela.

The chairperson of the Employment Equity Commission Jimmy Manyi said in a statement: "As the committee that advises the minister on employment equity matters, we do not apologise for the advice we gave him and we stand by it. In fact, there are tougher measures to come. We have discovered that many companies were flouting the law by reporting in a manner that tries to circumvent the law.''

Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana named and shamed six top JSE-listed companies for not complying with the EE Act. He subsequently released a list of 1 296 companies, including 13 listed companies which had allegedly failed to hand in their EE reports last year.

The outraged companies hit back at the minister, saying they had been embarrassed despite complying with the law, that they had proof of their submissions and that the minister had to get his house in order. However, the ministry maintained its position, putting the blame on the companies and saying some of them had changed their names without notification.

"For instance, from reporting as Ceramic Industries for 2004 and in 2005, they suddenly reported as the National Ceramic Industries without informing the employment equity registry. This makes it difficult for us to update the EE database accordingly," said Manyi.

Ceramic Industries, a tile manufacturer, has shown a letter which it received from the department of labour. The letter is signed by the director-general and thanks the company for its 2005 EE report.

Both Manyi and Pela said letters had been sent to companies advising them to update their details but this went unheeded. Pela said some of those who changed their names might have complied, but the department would not have any records if they had not updated their company information with the department. Manyi said this meant that some employers reported on some of their operations and not on others.

"This kind of behaviour by employers borders on the lines of fraudulent reporting if Section 61 of the Act is read carefully. The clause states that no employer may knowingly give false information in any document provided to the director-general,'' he said.

Manyi said the department would continue to identify employers who are listed as a group at the Johannesburg Securities Exchange and "break down their operations with an intention to evade the employment equity requirements".

The DA's labour spokesperson Mark Lowe said Mdladlana owed more than just an apology to the companies he erroneously named and whose reputations he had tarnished. He said the minister owed an apology and an explanation to the people of South Africa for the employment crisis that had mounted under his watch and an explanation of how he was going to address it.

The Freedom Front Plus party's labour spokesperson Willie Spies said: "We cannot accept the fact that a government minister is putting investors' confidence in some of South Africa's leading business players at risk for the sake of populist point-scoring and racial mobilisation."

Spies said the FF Plus was investigating steps against certain government departments which, according to the Public Service Commission, were not in compliance with the provisions of the Employment Equity Act.

Companies hit back at Mdladlana

2006-09-17T03:08:00.000-07:00

LABOUR Minister Membathisi Mdladlana’s dramatic decision to name and shame companies he said were not conforming with employment equity legislation backfired on him, causing a major embarrassment for the South African regime.

Several large companies named by the department as having failed to submit equity reports for last year were able yesterday to produce proof not only that they had in fact made such submissions, but had even been thanked and congratulated by senior department officials for their progress on equity.

Yesterday JSE-listed companies African Bank, Ceramic Industries, Netcare, Tongaat-Hulett, Ellerine Holdings and Gold Fields took issue with the department and produced proof that the department had in fact acknowledged receipt of their reports.

Red-faced officials yesterday could not explain how companies that had complied with the legislation ended up on the labour department’s list of “shame”.

On Monday, after the release of the Employment Equity Commission’s sixth annual report in Pretoria, reporters were e-mailed the names of more than 1000 companies, including 13 listed on the JSE, accused of not submitting reports to the department for 2005 as required by law.

Mdladlana told reporters the department had decided to name the employers in an effort to make them start complying with the law.

Some of the listed companies that were also named in the report are African Oxygen, All Joy Foods, Crookes Brothers, ERP.Com Holdings, Lonmin, The House of Busby and WG Wearne. These firms have not yet taken issue with the department’s list.

Ceramic Industries CEO Nick Booth said: “This is wholly inaccurate since the report was submitted timeously and Ceramic is in possession of a letter from the DOL (department) clearly stating their appreciation of our efforts at transformation.”

Gold Fields spokesman Andrew Donaldson said: “Gold Fields has completed all regulatory filings required by the department of labour and takes pride in its full and ongoing compliance with the department’s requirements.

“Gold Fields has letters from the department of labour confirming receipt of all of its employment equity reports.”

Tongaat-Hulett CEO Peter Staude said his company was “embarrassed and taken aback”.

“We have made significant progress in transforming Tongaat-Hulett, with 48,9% of management and 81% of skilled and supervisory staff being black. In the latest Financial Mail Top Empowerment Companies Survey, Tongaat-Hulett is ranked sixth overall for employment equity out of SA’s top 200 JSE-listed companies.”

Carolyn Blunden, human resources director at Netcare, said she was concerned by the reports.

“Netcare submitted its EE report in October 2005. Netcare is proud that we exceeded our employment equity targets and implemented many noteworthy transformation initiatives. Our submission last year was further expanded by a meeting with the department of labour to review the submission,” she said.

African Bank received an acknowledgement of its submission document from the department, the report with an official stamp from the department, and a letter from its human resources department to the director-general of labour.

Employers to be charged with fraud

2006-09-14T02:56:00.000-07:00

The regime is about to make it illegal to employ people. Company directors who employ too many white people will soon become criminals. As if there are not enough criminals already.

The Department of Labour says that it will slap companies with fraud changes for flouting the Employment Equity Act by using questionable tactics.

Jimmy Manyi, chairperson of the employment equity commission at the Department of Labour, was reacting to the denial by some companies that they failed to submit equity reports to the department.

It all started on Monday when Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana launched the sixth annual report of the employment equity commission. The minister named and shamed companies he said were not conforming to employment equity legislation. Companies including African Bank, Ceramic Industries, Netcare, Tongaat-Hulett, Ellerines and Gold Fields fired back with proof of their submissions.

Manyi stood by his story. “We do not apologise for the advice we gave him and we stand by it. In fact, there are tougher measures to come. We have discovered that many companies were flouting the law by reporting in a manner that tries to circumvent the law,” he said.

“This kind of behaviour by employers borders along the lines of fraudulent reporting if section 61 of the act is read carefully. The clause states that no employer may knowingly give false information in any document provided to the director-general.”

More productivity must mean more jobs

2006-09-12T11:06:00.000-07:00

Increased productivity means the same number of people are doing more than before. What does it have to do with more jobs? And how can we have three institues promoting productivity?

South Africa has to translate its productivity gains into more jobs to improve the standard of living of its entire people, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said at a conference being hosted by the National Productivity Institute, Pan African Productivity Association (PAPA) and the Asian Productivity Organisation (APO).

Quoting the recent Competitiveness Report, the minister said South African multifactor productivity had increased by a “healthy” 3,5%. “I am not suggesting that we remain complacent. We still have a challenge to translate these productivity gains into more jobs and improved standard of living for our people,” said Mdladlana.

However, he added that high levels of poverty in the country were not challenges that were only echoed in Southern African communities, they affected communities throughout Africa and other developing countries. He said they reflected a social system, which for many years perpetuated gross injustices to fundamental human rights - the right to work, and the right to dignity. Mdladlana explained government's interventions, saying youth development had become an integral part of addressing the challenges of post apartheid South Africa. He said he was worried at the huge number of unemployed youth in the country - something he described as a time bomb.

Nevertheless, as part of youth development, young people needed to be placed within companies for experience. By doing this in the broader context of reconstruction and development would encourage common developmental goals and a spirit of co-operation and co-ordination.

It is also expected that by building the productive capacity of the youth, whether through mentoring or formal training, entrepreneurship would flame a vibrant SMME sector, he said.

“We have introduced new interventions and approaches in our learnerships, apprenticeship, internship and bursary programmes for our young people and I still believe we can do more. We have done all this because at the core of our concerns is the challenge of creating a solid foundation for a productive nation,” he said.

No more cream on top, we want black coffee

2006-09-11T12:47:00.000-07:00

With affirmative action slowly grinding the South African economy down, the regime wants more of it. According to them it will take fifty years. No worries there, the economy will collapse before then, and nobody will be rich anymore.

The Labour Department is to investigate six companies with "unacceptable" employment equity representation and over 1,000 large companies who failed to submit equity reports, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said.

Releasing the sixth report of the Commission for Employment Equity in Pretoria, Mdladlana said there had been little progress. Whites still dominated top and senior management positions within the economy. Mdladlana said his department was going to act.

"Progress thus far has been very slow... It is of concern to me, and I am sure the majority of the population as well," he said.

The review would determine new employment equity plans and actions recommended by the department. If these were not implemented court action could be taken.

The department would also look into 1296 large companies who had not submitted employment equity reports to the commission in 2005.

"What I find very disturbing in the report is the declining trend in reporting by employers... they are in breach of the law," Mdladlana said.

Chairman of the commission, Jimmy Manyi, said what was further of concern was that recruitment for top, senior and professionally qualified levels still showed whites being targeted.

Lower down among skilled technical and academically qualified workers, and in junior management equity was improving Manyi said, but added that the total picture reminded him of an Irish Coffee.

"You have a large black mass at the bottom with a thin white cream on top lightly sprinkled with some black," he said.

Until the "white crust was broken" equity in the workplace would not improve.

"The DG must really now start biting," he said referring to the DG's powers for review of companies.

Mdladlana said he was concerned that in too many cases where companies wanted to improve employment equity the case was taken to court.

"It looks like the courts are going to run this country... if we continue at this pace we would most probably reach equitable work places only in 40 to 50 years from now," he said.

Hospitals are dangerous for your health

2006-09-09T12:40:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when BEE enterprises gets to play with explosives. The The Billion Group
is listed as Black Economic Empowerment here.
Their home page is under construction, very appropriate for their line of business. You can view the results of their web page construction efforts here. It seems to match their real world construction abilities.

Blasting at a building site near Mdantsane, East London, has been stopped after a hospital patient was killed by a flying rock, the Department of Labour said on Friday. "The Department of Labour in the Eastern Cape has ordered an immediate halt to operations of a blasting company in East London," said spokesperson Mokgadi Pela.

The woman was fatally wounded on Wednesday when a stone fell through the roof of the Nkqubela Tuberculosis hospital ward and hit her on the head. She was moved to the Cecilia Makiwane hospital, where she died. The impact of the rock was so great, said Captain Mluleki Mbi, of the Eastern Cape police, that part of the roof collapsed.

A report by the department's occupational health and safety inspectors shows that Blast East Cape, a company contracted to The Billion Group, was blasting rock not far from the hospital on the day of the accident.

"On Thursday, inspectors visited the area where they issued a notice prohibiting any further blasting," said Pela. Blast East Cape has been ordered to supply the department with a plan demonstrating how it will continue construction without endangering the lives of its workers and the public.

The company has also been asked to produce written permission to use explosives on the site, obtainable from the chief inspector of explosives. According to explosives regulations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, said Pela, "the employer is supposed to inform the provincial director of the department, not less than 24 hours before commencing with the use of explosives".

It ain't my fault

2006-09-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana on Thursday blasted a report by the Public Service Commission (PSC), saying it was "misleading the public" by not disclosing that he had demanded performance assessments from his top management.

A damning report on performance management by the PSC had implicated Mdladlana, Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour.

"If we look at the report, what we are saying is that performance management is inadequate in these departments," PSC director general Odette Ramsingh told Parliament's standing committee on public accounts.

"If performance management is not happening at this level, there are alarm bells in terms of what is happening beyond these levels," he added.

Addressing the South African Democratic Teachers' Union national congress, Mdladlana, however, said he did demand performance assessments from then-director general Rams Ramashia.

"When I raised this matter, I was told that my leadership style was wrong and that the reason I insisted on performance assessments was because of the fact that I am Xhosa and Ramashia is Sotho," he told delegates.

Read more

Report card for minister

2006-09-05T14:18:00.000-07:00

AWOL
Membathisi Mdladlana
Minister of Labour
It has not been a particularly good year for Mdladlana, who has either been invisible or mired in controversy.

He is a rather bumptious person, given to shooting his mouth off. His most visible intervention was as head of South Africa's observer mission to Zimbabwe, when he declared the election free and fair before it took place. Questioned on this pronouncement by journalists, he responded: "I was born in a small town. There we only know the customs of the Dlaminis and cannot speak about the customs of the Radebes."

The Labour Department came under criticism in April for spending more than R44-million on a skills development conference when, critics insisted, R1-million would have been excessive. Instead of taking responsibility, the minister suspended his deputy director general, Adrian Bird, for misusing government funds.

Through skills development, Mdladlana's department is pivotal to the government's target of halving poverty by 2014.

Mdladlana boasts that the target of 80 000 people in learnerships over the past five years has been exceeded, but statistics shows that only a tiny proportion have successfully completed the programme. The sector education and training authorities (Setas) failed to spend more than R2-billion earmarked for skills development last year.

Mdladlana has also not filled long-standing vacancies in his own department. According to the 2004 auditor general's report, vacancies in excess of 20% persist in many areas, particularly statistics and programme management.

The high vacancy rate is underscored by the department's extensive reliance on outside experts - the minister recently lambasted his officials for spending millions on consultants.

Source