Posts tagged with 'Africa'

 

Pravin Gordhan says cash-strapped SAA may have no money for salaries this month

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Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan has warned that, while two unions at SAA are demanding salary increases for members, the airline might not even be able to pay any salaries at the end of the month.

The minister was speaking at a Parliamentary briefing on Wednesday. The meeting was called for feedback on power utility Eskom, but Gordhan – who met with unions on Tuesday – also made some remarks about SA’s cash-strapped national airline.

The minister said the strike was worsening the airline’s financial crisis. “SAA doesn’t have enough cash to possibly even pay salaries at the end of the month,” he said. “Not only will people not get increases but they might not even get their salaries,” he added.

Members of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA and the SA Cabin Crew Association have been on strike since Friday over wages, proposed job cuts and the demand that more workers
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New white CEO of Eskom not welcomed with open arms – Numsa: ‘De Ruyter’s appointment as Eskom CEO an insult to Africans’

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The recent appointment of Andre de Ruyter to the position of Eskom CEO has been met with mixed emotions, particularly by trade unions and fervent supporters of the Radical Economic Transformation (RET) agenda.

Although the African National Congress (ANC) has welcomed the appointment of de Ruyter, at a time when Eskom is teetering on the brink of both operational and financial collapse, union allies have been less hospitable.

Andre de Ruyter tasked with turning Eskom around

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), which currently has its hands full with a particularly nasty South African Airways (SAA) strike, condemned the appointment of de Ruyter. The union’s general secretary, Irvin Jim, who has vehemently opposed Eskom’s unbundling strategy, alleging that government is in the process of privatising the power utility, said of de Ruyter’s appointment:

“This constitutes a setback when it comes to the transformati
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Lesufi stirring havoc! Gauteng Department of Education might place Afrikaans learners in township schools

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The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) will now introduce English and Afrikaans as the language of teaching and learning in township schools, in an effort to accommodate displaced learners in this province.

This is a statement by the GDE on Tuesday. According to this, the department will help schools that received few enrollments for 2020 to appoint qualified teachers who can teach in English and Afrikaans. These schools are mostly located in townships and some have received only 16 applications for gr. 1- or gr. 8 learners to attend school here next year.

The civil rights organization AfriForum will now demand in a letter written to the Gauteng Prime Minister and ask that the Education MEC in Gauteng, Panyaza Lesufi, resign. “We will also file criminal charges for corruption and malpractice within the GDE under the leadership of Lesufi,” said Carien Bloem, AfriForum’s education coordinator. In addition, several parents and schools
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WATCH: Women carry dead body into Old Mutual after ‘failure’ to pay out funeral claim

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Two women have left social media users in both shock and admiration after taking a family member’s dead body to an Old Mutual branch after the company allegedly refused to pay out the funeral claim.

Unconfirmed reports say the incident took place in KwaZulu-Natal.

In a video that has been doing the rounds, two women can be seen picking up the body, in a blue bag.

Click here to watch video

The women can be heard saying that they only took the body to the branch because the bank “refused” to pay out the funeral claim.

Social media users were left in shock and angry with the bank for leaving the family in a position to resort to such actions to be heard.

Responding to the incident, Old Mutual said it had paid out the funeral claim and could not go into much detail as to what led to the situation. The bank sa
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Joburg’s Park Station chaos – Total shut down after security workers vandalise property

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The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa on Tuesday was forced to close Park Station in Johannesburg after security staff allegedly damaged property because they had lost their jobs.

No trains were entering or leaving the station and platforms 10, 11 and 12 were damaged.

Prasa spokesperson Nana Zenani said: “Some of our shops were looted even though there was security stationed in the area. I suspect that if we did close the railway station, it would have been the worst situation. Security gates with glass were broken as well as a ticket office and the stoning of one of our trains, which was removed from the line for safety.”

Metrorail apologised to commuters for the inconvenience saying the circumstances were unforeseen.

It’s understood security workers vandalised Park Station because their contracts were terminated.

The contracts of the security companies that employ them were terminated last month, but the High Court
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What a load of bull! – According to Stats SA, whites earn three times more than black people! – What do our readers say about this?

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Times Live recently published an article that about Stats SA’s latest report saying that the country is still one of the most unequal in the world. Inequality Trends in South Africa, released on November 14, showed that white people earned three times more than black people on average, two decades after apartheid.

The report also found that the wage gap between SA’s groups increased between 2011 and 2015.

It said black households faced the highest level of unemployment and earned the lowest wages, while white people’s salaries were higher.

The earnings of white people were about three times more than those of black people. Whites also had the highest annual median expenditure.

The average monthly earnings among black people were R 6,009 in 2006 and R9,186 in 2015, while the figures for the white population were R77,308 in 2006 and R100,205 in 2015.

Statistician-general Risenga Maluleke said income earnings in SA remai
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BEE now a must for real estate – No BEE certificate no fidelity fund certificate!

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In terms of the Real Estate Practice Act, Black economic empowerment (BEE) participation will soon be an obligation in the real estate industry.

Piet Le Roux, CEO of the business organization Sakeliga, is not in favor of the new legislation. He explains that those who previously met the necessary requirements could act as real estate professionals but with the new developments they will now have to have a BEE certificate as a prerequisite.

Le Roux believes that disguising participation in BEE processes as a professional requirement is blatantly harmful, unconstitutional and unfair. He points out that this is unacceptable political interference with the freedom of the industry and the prosperity of the industry for clients as well as the economy.

The new legislation provides that the Real Estate Practices Regulatory Authority may not issue a Fidelity Fund Certificate to any person who does not have a valid BEE certificate. No person may, therefor
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Zuma branded as defaulter, owes R12,517 for unpaid school fees, maybe he must consider subsidy?

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It is not only the arrears of the Nkandla bond that make Zuma a defaulter, but also the fact that his children’s unpaid school fees earns him the title.

The liquidators of the bankrupt declared VBS Bank now hope to get their money by auctioning the Nkandla unit, but it is still a lengthy process before it is going to happen.

Political analysts say Zuma has the ability to postpone all actions and court cases against him with reasons that are sometimes somewhat laughable.

Whether the former ANC leader has no money and whether he is merely a defaulter remains an unanswered question, because to date one of his children’s school fees is also overdue.

A high school near Durban has now issued an order against Zuma and his fourth wife, one Nompumelelo Ntuli, 44, for unpaid school fees amounting to R12,517-00.

Reona Ramnarain, of the Bentley Attorneys, confirmed that the bill was unpaid, but the school’s name was not discl
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SAA strike costing R52 million a day and with a bankruptcy record it could mean the end of the entity

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More than 3000 workers affiliated with Numsa and Sacca downed tools at SAA on Friday over a wage dispute and plans to cut more than 900 jobs, costing the airline about R52 million a day.

The interim chief financial officer of SAA Deon Fredericks, said the strike was pushing the struggling airline to unsustainable levels. “If this strike continues, we are running the risk of putting SAA out of business,” Fredericks said.

Even though they are working with Mango Airlines to accommodate as many customers travelling on domestic services as possible and refunding passengers their flights or travel with other airlines.

SAA is facing a crippling onslaught by the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) and the South African Cabin Crew Association (Sacca). The national air-carrier is threatening the unions with legal action if they fail to retract comments that the safety of passengers cannot be guaranteed.

Over the weekend, Numsa said any
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Another waste of taxpayer’s money! – Millions down the drain as Tshwane houses will have to be demolished and rebuilt

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Greater Pretoria’s municipality is in trouble but denies that many homes will have to be demolished and rebuilt.

An abandoned multimillion-rand housing project in Ga-Rankuwa Unit 10 in the City of Tshwane will be demolished and rebuilt at an extra cost after contractual disputes with the contractor who abandoned the project in June this year.

However, according to informed sources, the multi-million Rand housing project in Ga-Rankuwa area is already being demolished to be rebuilt.

According to Gauteng Human Settlements MEC Lebogang Maile, who was responding to written questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, an amount of R34,170,591.36 has been spent so far in building these houses. which will go down as waste.

“This is a waste of taxpayers’ money and we can no longer tolerate such abuse,” said Kate Lorimer, the Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng shadow MEC for human settlements and COGTA.

She said the hous
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