by Dev_SACCAWU | Labour Market News
Cosatu expresses grave concern over the alarming rise in employers defaulting on pension fund contributions, revealing a staggering R8.33 billion owed to 590,000 workers. This growing crisis threatens the financial security of South African workers and their families.
Image: Morgan Morgan / DALL-E / DFA / Illustration
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has been deeply alarmed by the growing number of employers defaulting upon workers’ pension fund contributions.
The latest reports from the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) tasked with overseeing good governance in our pensions funds, shine a powerful spotlight in what can best be described as a national crime scene.
16 566 employers are in arrears to 75 pension funds for an estimated R8.33 billion affecting 590 000 workers. This is a tripling of the number of employers involved since 2023 and a 14% increase in monies outstanding since 2025.
Sectors where this theft of workers’ hard-earned monies is most prevalent are in the security, cleaning and transport sectors as well as local government.
In some instances, this can be seen as an indicator of cash strapped employers struggling to stay afloat and this may be the case with some essentially broke municipalities.
No matter what the cause may be, it is a criminal offence. It is the theft of workers’ monies. It is fraud when employers state on their salary slips that the monies have been paid to the pension funds. It is a criminal activity to report monies deducted for pension funds to the South African Revenue Service (SARS) when that has not been done.
It is estimated that less than 10% of South Africans are able to save enough money to ensure that they can retire in comfort. This mass theft of workers’ pension funds by some employers compounds an already dire savings crisis. It not only affects these workers but also their many dependents, a challenge worsened by a staggering 43.7% unemployment rate.
In most instances it is not only pension fund contributions that these employers are defaulting on but also other third-party payments, e.g. medical aids, disability and life insurance, unemployment and occupational injury and disease insurance, and income tax payments. Again, workers pay the price when their medical aid or insurance policies lapse, or their taxes are not paid.
The FSCA has played an important role in shining the spotlight on this national crisis. What is needed is a decisive set of interventions to tackle this ticking time bomb. If it is not dealt with, then we should not be surprised one day when angry workers decide to take the law into their own hands.
One of the unintended benefits of the Two Pot Pension Reforms initiated and driven by Cosatu has been that workers now regularly check their pension fund statements. This will be a critical turning point for workers to be aware of what’s in their funds and whether their employers are transferring their payments.
In short, the reforms have incentivised workers to begin policing employer compliance.
Cosatu has raised this matter at Nedlac and received countless less than inspiring reports from the South African Local Government Association, the Security and Transport Bargaining Councils amongst others. It is clear that they couldn’t be bothered by the rampant looting taking place by their members under their watch.
Cosatu was able to secure a progressive agreement at Nedlac with the Department of Employment and Labour to empower labour inspectors to include checking pension fund compliance during workplace inspections from 2026.
In one of the most important interventions in defence of workers’ rights by the African National Congress led administrations has been to substantially increase the number of labour inspectors from 1 200 in 2020 to 2 000 today. 20 000 contract labour inspectors are being employed as part of the Presidential Employment Stimulus.
In the 2026 State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa, announced plans to employ a further 10 000 permanent labour inspectors over the next three years bringing the total number of permanent inspectors to 12 000 with the support of 20 000 contract inspectors. We have already begun to see the fruits of these investments with a significant increase in the number of workplace inspections.
As many of these delinquent employers are located in sectors with bargaining councils, e.g. security, cleaning and local government; it is critical that these councils crack the whip and act to ensure their members abide by their collective agreements and our pension laws.
Employers who do not honour their legal obligations should be deregistered by the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission as well as the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority in the case of the security industry.
Treasury should blacklist them from doing business with the state at all levels, e.g. national, provincial and local government as well as entities and state-owned enterprises.
Whilst we are deeply concerned by Treasury’s withholding the Equitable Share payments to 69 defaulting municipalities, we are hopeful that it will help ensure that local government will get its house in order and pay municipal workers’ pension funds timeously as well as settling outstanding contributions.
Cosatu will be publicising the list of delinquent employers cited by the FSCA’s public reports. Workers need to know which employers are stealing from their pension funds. We will be making sure shop stewards challenge these employers at their workplaces to pay their monies.
Discussions are needed on how to further empower the FSCA to take action against defaulting employers.
Similar engagements are needed on what role SARS can play in tackling this national calamity, e.g. withholding tax compliance certificates for employers until pension fund contributions are paid in full as well as issuing garnishing orders to recover outstanding payments owed to pension funds.
The most powerful action to stop this theft is for workers to report pension payments theft by employers to the police. It is long overdue that such employers are charged, arrested and their assets attached. This is precisely what Cosatu will be mobilising workers to do.
Government and Organised Business have time and again stated their determination to see crime and corruption defeated. Now is the time for them to work with Cosatu and workers to deal with this cancer of crime taking place at our workplaces.
Solly Phetoe is the general secretary of Cosatu.
by Dev_SACCAWU | Labour Market News
JOHANNESBURG – A retail workers’ union is asking Pick n Pay to shop for a better deal.
It’s taking the company to court over its planned restructuring.
The South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU) is asking the Labour Court to urgently halt the grocery giant’s proposed retrenchments.
READ | Pick n Pay retrenchments on hold as minister steps in
SACCAWU said that 22 thousand workers could be retrenched, even though Pick n Pay says it’s trying to prevent job losses while bringing pay and working conditions in line with the industry.
The union says reducing employee benefits and changing working conditions is an attempt to weaken long-standing collective agreements.
Labour union federation Cosatu is backing this action.
It is concerned about deepening South Africa’s unemployment crisis.
Source: https://www.enca.com/business/pick-n-pay-told-shop-better-deal-amid-planned-restructuring
by Dev_SACCAWU | Labour Market News
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) joins its militant affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), as it condemns the decision of De Beers to halt production for two years at Venetia Mine in Limpopo, and issue a Section 189A notice threatening the livelihoods of 1214 workers.
NUM is fuming at De Beers’ portrayal of the decision to pause production as a sudden and unavoidable crisis, when the company has long been aware of the challenges facing the diamond industry including depressed prices and rising demand for synthetic diamonds.
De Beers claims the move to pause production is part of a wider effort to cut costs and reassess capital expenditure amid a global slump in the diamond industry. But NUM is adamant that workers cannot be treated as expandable and discarded whenever companies face economic pressures.
Section 189A of the Labour Relations Act compels employers to genuinely engage in consultations to find alternatives to job losses and not merely resort to retrenchment.
COSATU reiterates the alternatives NUM has put forward for consideration including retraining and upskilling workers, decreasing non-essential expenses along with a comprehensive review of executive and management costs.
South Africa’s unemployment rate is already dangerously high at 43.7%, we therefore cannot afford to lose a single job. Moreover, the unemployment rate in Limpopo is even higher than the national rate at 47%. Worryingly, the impact of the halted production will extend beyond workers and their families and will also harm the economy of Musina and surrounding areas.
COSATU amplifies NUM’s call for all stakeholders including including the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Department of Employment and Labour, De Beers, other sector trade unions to engage with NUM to devise means to save jobs and mitigate the economic damage that will be caused by this decision.
Issued by COSATU
Zanele Sabela (COSATU Spokesperson)
Mobile: 079 287 5788 / 077 600 6639
Email: zaneles@cosatu.org.za
Source: https://cosatu.org.za/cosatu-calls-for-venetia-mine-jobs/
by Dev_SACCAWU | Labour Market News
Programme Director
Leadership of the Institute for Economic Justice
National Office Bearers and leaders of our affiliates
Comrades representing the workers of South Africa
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Good morning, comrades.
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you on behalf of the Central Executive Committee of the Congress of South African Trade Unions to this Joint COSATU/IEJ National Advocacy Strategy Workshop on Just Transition, Decent Work and Localisation.
We gather here today not because the challenges before us are small, but because Organised Labour has never been afraid of confronting difficult moments in history. Every generation of workers has been called upon to respond to the defining questions of its time. Ours is no different.
Today we face an economy that is struggling to create decent work, communities burdened by deepening poverty and inequality, and a climate crisis that is no longer a distant threat but a lived reality for workers and the poor. Yet, within these challenges lie opportunities to fundamentally reshape our economy in favour of workers, communities and future generations. It is also becoming clear that the global rush for Africa’s critical minerals, and raw materials has the potential of integrating Africa in the global economy as an exporter of raw materials and an importer of value-added goods, meaning that Africa is exporting jobs, maintaining premature deindustrialization, low growth, high levels of unemployment, poverty and social inequality.
That is why this workshop matters.
This is not simply another policy discussion or stakeholder engagement. It is an opportunity for the Federation to sharpen its collective voice, strengthen its advocacy and build a worker led agenda that ensures the Just Transition becomes a pathway towards industrialisation, localisation, decent work and social justice.
As COSATU, we have consistently argued that workers must not merely participate in the transition, they must help design it, influence it and ultimately benefit from it. The transition cannot be something that happens to workers, it must be shaped with workers, by workers and for workers.
Over the next two days, we are called upon to move beyond identifying problems and begin refining practical solutions. Our task is to strengthen COSATU’s advocacy so that our policy positions continue to influence national planning, industrial policy and investment decisions. We must ensure that every climate policy, every industrial strategy and every investment programme contributes towards creating decent work, rebuilding productive industries, strengthening local manufacturing and reducing inequality.
You are gathered here Comrades, guide the federation as it approaches its National Congress, to develop alternatives to neoliberalism, austerity, deindustrialisation, unemployment and social inequality. Making that the Federation develops clear evidence based positions on just energy transition, decent work, localization and finally develop an advocacy strategy.
Allow me also to express COSATU’s sincere appreciation to the Institute for Economic Justice. This partnership has demonstrated the value of combining rigorous research with worker experience and practical organising. It has strengthened our ability to engage government, social partners and international processes from a position that is informed, credible and firmly rooted in the interests of the working class.
Comrades, we should approach this workshop with confidence. The future of South Africa’s economy is still being written. Organised labour has both the responsibility and the capacity to ensure that workers are not spectators in that future, but active architects of it.
I wish you successful engagements and deliberations in this workshop and look forward to the outcomes that will craft our strategic engagements in the National Congress in September.
Thank you very much.
Source: https://cosatu.org.za/general-secretary-solly-phetoe-opening-remarks-joint-cosatu-iej-national-advocacy-strategy-workshop-on-just-transition-decent-work-and-localisation/
by Dev_SACCAWU | Labour Market News
Court rejects reinstatement of employee dismissed for racist behaviour.
Image: Ai-Generated
The Labour Court in Cape Town has reviewed and set aside a Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) award that ordered the reinstatement of an employee dismissed for racist conduct.
Acting Judge Cecily-Ann Daniels ruled that the CCMA commissioner had misconstrued the inquiry by sanitising admitted workplace racism as mere “insensitivity,” leading to an entirely unreasonable outcome.
The legal battle involved Full Circle Contact Centre Services (Pty) Ltd, trading as Capita South Africa, and its former team leader, Shaun Williamson. Williamson was dismissed in April 2023 following a series of serious complaints from his team members regarding racially discriminatory remarks and unprofessional behavior.
During his employment as a team leader overseeing roughly fifteen call center agents, several team members raised explicit grievances regarding Williamson’s conduct. The formal disciplinary charges revealed deeply problematic actions.
Among the details brought to light, Williamson openly discussed possible team-building activities but stated his team could not meet at his house because his dog, named “Hitler,” was specifically trained to bark at and bite black people. He further recounted finding it amusing when the same dog chased a black child in the street.
In addition to the remarks about his dog, Williamson was found to have compared the multitasking capabilities of Black and Coloured employees in explicitly racial terms, stating he was sure a “black lady” would say no to multitasking while a “coloured girl” would say yes.
He also vocalised his discomfort at previously having reported to an African female manager due to both her race and gender and frequently dismissed black team members’ behavior as a “black thing”.
Following an internal disciplinary hearing, Williamson was found guilty of discrimination based on race and gender, as well as conduct unbecoming of a manager, resulting in his summary dismissal. He subsequently challenged his termination at the CCMA, arguing that dismissal was too harsh for a first offense.
At the CCMA arbitration, the commissioner declared that while Williamson had been “insensitive to the feelings of black people in his team,” the conduct did not warrant dismissal.
The commissioner emphasised that Williamson had shown remorse by apologising during the arbitration and noted that two team members testified they would have accepted an apology.
Consequently, the CCMA ordered Capita South Africa to retrospectively reinstate Williamson and award him over R57,000 in back pay.
Capita South Africa immediately launched an application in the Labour Court to review and set aside the award.
In evaluating the arbitration award, Judge Daniels delivered a stern rebuke of the CCMA commissioner’s reasoning, noting that racism requires a firm and unapologetic response from the judiciary.
The court stressed that whether conduct is racist must be evaluated objectively based on whether a reasonable, informed person would perceive it as derogatory.
The judge pointed out that the commissioner completely ignored critical concessions made by Williamson himself during cross-examination at the arbitration, where the employee explicitly admitted that his comments regarding his dog were not merely “insensitive,” but were “offensive” and constituted overt racism.
By treating admitted racism as minor insensitivity, the commissioner failed to grasp the nature of the inquiry and sanitised behavior that directly assaulted the dignity of the black workforce.
Given South Africa’s history, including the historical use of dogs against black people and the horrific connotations of the name “Hitler,” the court ruled that no reasonable decision-maker could have concluded that dismissal was an inappropriate sanction.
Furthermore, the court clarified that a face-saving apology offered months down the line at an arbitration hearing does not constitute genuine remorse capable of overturning a fair dismissal, particularly when the company’s disciplinary code prescribes dismissal for first-time discrimination offenses.
sinenhlanhla.masilela@iol.co.za
IOL News
Source: https://iol.co.za/news/crime-and-courts/2026-07-15-employee-who-trained-dog-to-bite-black-people-loses-labour-court-battle-after-dismissal-for-racism/
