Category Archives: Business Report

IOL: Aurora workers vow not to vote

http://www.iol.co.za/business/business-news/aurora-workers-vow-not-to-vote-1.1051437

Aurora workers vow not to vote

April 4 2011 at 07:23am

Independent Newspapers

Employees of Aurora Empowerment Systems who have not been paid for months are threatening not to vote in the coming elections in protest at their dire circumstances.

On Friday the workers called on Cosatu to find work for them at neighbouring mines after losing hope that investors would ever fund the embattled company.

The politically connected gold producer Aurora, owned by Nelson Mandela’s grandson Zondwa Mandela, President Jacob Zuma’s nephew Khulubuse Zuma, and President Zuma’s former legal adviser Michael Hulley, has failed to pay the salaries of workers at Orkney and Grootvlei mines.

Following a compliance order issued by the Department of Labour, Aurora last December paid an initial amount of R2.5 million to the department for the workers.

Solidarity is pursuing legal action to get Aurora to pay R4.6m to 100 employees. Aurora was the preferred bidder for liquidated Pamodzi’s Orkney and Grootvlei mines in 2009.

On Friday, the North West provincial secretary of Cosatu, Solly Phetoe, blamed management and liquidators for stripping Pamodzi of its assets.

“No one has the right to sell the rights of the company. Aurora has continuously taken out assets at the mines even though a liquidation application is under way.”

Phetoe argued that the assets of the mines belonged to Pamodzi and that Aurora had no right to strip mines and sell them as scrap metal.

“They (Aurora) will never get money because they are now stripping the assets, they do not have experience to run a mine.” Phetoe said political interference was evident and he called on the government to intervene.

“We have asked the workers if they want to give us permission to get them jobs in neighbouring mines. These people have skills in mining. How long are they going to rely on food parcels?” he asked.

Life has been tough for the workers, who have accusing management of exploitation. They said it was therefore not worthwhile to vote in next month’s municipal elections.

Former supervisor at Orkney Caiphus Zulu said he was struggling. He lives with his family at the Gwede family unit at the Orkney mine.

“I am struggling, my children are getting social grants. I can’t afford to pay learner transport anymore. We are not happy about the liquidation process, it has been almost two years now. Pamodzi was liquidated in 2009, it is now 2011,” he said.

Former team leader at Orkney Mava Mguga said the government was quiet.

“Even comrade Zuma is quiet. Our people say they are not going to vote because the government has not intervened while Aurora exploits us.”

Pamodzi liquidator Enver Motala has denied the claims of the stripping of assets at the mines. “We are not aware of stripping of mines. It is irregular, and we would never allow it. Those are our assets and they need to be protected.”

Thulani Ngubane denied claims that the company was stripping the mine.

He said the workers are retaliating against the company after eight shop stewards were arrested. “They (employees) are retaliating against the company because they were arrested for vandalism.

“There is no stripping of Aurora, in mining there is a process of reclamation which is currently under way at our Orkney plant. They are doing this because Aurora is a black-owned company. They would never do this if it was Anglo American.”

Trade union Solidarity is in the process of applying for the liquidation of Aurora.

After numerous negotiations failed to get the company to agree to pay outstanding salaries, it sees liquidation as a last resort to get something for workers. – Dineo Matomela

Business Report: Provinces push ahead in major service provision

http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4542582&fSectionId=552&fSetId=662

Provinces push ahead in major service provision
August 5, 2008

By Donwald Pressly

Cape Town – Electricity provision has reached 81 percent of the country’ households, up from 76 percent a few years ago, according to the Local Government Research Centre. The centre cites this figure as proof that the provinces are making progress in providing households with major services.

The centre, headed by Clive Keegan, monitored the latest general household survey released by Statistics SA. It noted that the only unfavourable indicator was the growth in the number of informal settlements in just about all provinces.

While the survey showed clear progress, especially in the provision of water and sanitation, Keegan said the speed of urbanisation accounted for the growing figures for shacks.

In Gauteng, about 26 percent of households now live in shacks, compared with 18.7 percent in 2002. In the Western Cape, slightly more than 21 percent live in shacks, compared with 15 percent in 2002.

However, the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo have bucked the trend. In 2002 in the Eastern Cape, about 9.4 percent lived in shacks, dropping to 8.3 percent last year. The figure dropped from 11.4 percent to 8.4 percent in KwaZulu-Natal and from 5 percent to 4.4 percent in Limpopo.

The national average rose from 12.7 percent to 15.4 percent.

The survey, conducted last year, indicates that Eastern Cape is the province with the lowest electrification level – 70 percent of households. However, this is an improvement from 54.6 percent in 2002.

The increase in power connections has translated into a decline in the use of paraffin and wood for cooking, from about 38 percent of households to less than 30 percent.

However, rapid urbanisation to Gauteng – and mushrooming shack settlement – set the province against the national trend: households using paraffin and wood for cooking rose from 13.6 percent to 18.5 percent.

On the positive side, only 1.8 percent of households nationally still use the bucket system, down from 2.3 percent in 2002. The provinces furthest behind in providing sanitation facilities are the Free State, with 12.4 percent using the bucket system, the Eastern Cape with 4.7 percent and the Northern Cape with 3.7 percent.

In eight provinces the percentage of households with no toilet facility – using the bucket system instead – had declined.

In Gauteng this proportion dropped from 1.8 percent to 1.3 percent; in the Western Cape from 5.7 percent to 4.1 percent. Only in the North West did the figure increase, from 7 percent to 7.5 percent.

Keegan noted that although the percentage of households that used safe offsite water sources – a neighbour’s tap, a communal tap or an offsite borehole – had increased from 17.9 percent to 22 percent, this shift reflected a drop in the use of unsafe sources.

In spite of this improvement, there were still big differences between population groups, he said: nearly 28 percent of black Africans had to use offsite safe water sources, compared with only 2.2 percent of other population groups.

More repressive legislation coming…(PIE Amendment Bill)

http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4337583

Law cracks down on squatter lords
April 6, 2008

By Donwald Pressly

Cape Town – Legislation has been tabled in parliament that prohibits the act of arranging the unlawful occupation of land or buildings, but also prevents evictions of unlawful occupiers before appropriate consultation has taken place and alternative accommodation has been provided.

The Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land (PIE) Amendment Bill, tabled by housing minister Lindiwe Sisulu, notes that many buildings – particularly high-rise buildings – have been occupied unlawfully at the insistence of people who are not the owners of the buildings and who then collect rent from the illegal occupants.

Clive Keegan, the director of the Local Government Research Centre, notes that while the PIE Act already prohibits the receipt or solicitation of money for arranging for a person to occupy a property without the consent of the owner, the act of arranging an unlawful occupation is not an offence.

The amendment bill also deals with eviction processes involving people who have already occupied a property.

The bill, first tabled in 2005, has been altered to take into account public input, and grants a court the right to evict squatters if it is of the opinion that is just and equitable to do so.

However, it must consider the rights and needs of the unlawful occupiers, especially if they are children, disabled or elderly, or women who are heads of households.

The amended legislation follows recent court action best captured in the case of 51 Olivia Road, Berea Township, and Another versus City of Johannesburg and Others.

The constitutional court recently handed down judgment in this matter in which the City of Johannesburg originally applied to the high court for the eviction of more than 400 illegal occupants in the inner city on the basis that the buildings were unsafe and unhealthy.

The high court refused to evict the occupiers, instead ordering the city to remedy its housing programme. However, the supreme court of appeal upheld the city’s appeal and granted eviction on condition that the city would provide alternative accommodation.

The constitutional court overruled the eviction order, citing the state’s obligation to strive to realise the right to adequate housing. It said the parties should engage meaningfully with each other with a view to taking short-term steps to improve current living conditions and finding alternative accommodation for those who would be rendered homeless.

The bill’s memorandum says there is confusion over whether the PIE Act applies to proceedings for the eviction of tenants whose leases have been cancelled or mortgagors whose bonds have been foreclosed and who refuse to vacate the site.

The bill thus amends the act to state specifically that it does not apply to a person who once occupied land as the owner, as the tenant, or in terms of any other agreement, and who continues to stay there despite the fact that the person no longer owns the land, or the tenancy or agreement has been validly terminated.