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We will not abandon B-BBEE – Ramaphosa

Article from FIN 24

President Cyril Ramaphosa told Members of Parliament on Thursday that government would not scrap the broad-based black economic empowerment, although he acknowledged that the policy had been slow in achieving the economic transformation it was intended to.

Ramaphosa was replying to the National Assembly’s debate on his budget vote, which he tabled on Wednesday afternoon. B-BBEE has long been criticised as ineffective in reshaping the economic structure of South Africa.

Ramaphosa told members that while the pace of investment and economic transformation has been slow, it has not been insignificant, and the African National Congress-led government will not be abandoning B-BBEE.

“We are not going to scrap B-BBEE, because it has brought real benefits to blacks, women and persons living with disabilities. It has contributed to the significant growth of a black middle class, boosted employment equity and it has enabled black people and women to become owners and managers of businesses,” said Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa said the Presidency looked forward to working to mobilising all of society, business, labour, civil society, NGOs and political parties to grow the economy and to reduce poverty.

“Far from abolishing it (B-BBEE), now is actually the time to strengthen it, to make it more effective and make it more aligned with our goals of increasing investment and employment,” said Ramaphosa.

OPINION: New employment equity bill is progressive, must become law

Article from Business Report.

JOHANNESBURG – Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi has announced in his budget vote that the government is soon to table the long-awaited Employment Equity Amendment Bill in Parliament.

This is a crucial bill that seeks to strengthen the Employment Equity Act and support the nation’s efforts to eradicate the legacies of apartheid discrimination, and inequality in the workplace.

It is a powerful bill that employers, unions and workers should familiarise themselves with to ensure that when it becomes law, most likely in mid-2020, we all understand its rights and obligations.

Critics of the government’s efforts to achieve employment equity will complain that it is unnecessary 25 years into democracy, and that it would bully business.

However, the complaints are not based on fact.

In the public service, women constitute 45.3percent of employees, 39percent of senior management and 32.6percent of top management. The private sector fares far worse with women only making up 32.3percent of senior management and a mere 21.6percent of top management.

The statistics for persons with disabilities are a shocking indictment on employers. While they constitute at least 10percent of the nation, they make up less than 1percent of employees in the public and private sectors, despite the employment equity target of 2percent.

The EE Amendment Bill has six essential components:

Targets – It empowers the minister to set employment-equity targets for economic sectors, as well as regions. This is crucial as many sectors are significantly untransformed, eg they are still overwhelmingly white and/or male-dominated (such as the insurance, banks, and mining industries).

It allows the minister to set regional targets given that racial diversity in South Africa often has regional differences, such as the Western Cape and Northern Cape are provinces with coloured majorities or KwaZulu-Natal where 10percent is of Indian descent or Limpopo where minorities constitute less than 3percent of the population.

Plans – The bill requires employers with more than 50 employees to submit employment equity plans for their companies, spelling out how they will achieve these targets.

Employers are then required to submit annual reports to the department. Employers will complain about this, but the bill’s regulations have provided user-friendly forms to make it much easier to develop plans and submit annual reports. The point is to spur employment equity and not to bog companies down with paperwork.

Remuneration – The bill requires employers to pay workers equal pay for equal work. This is still a major problem facing millions of women as well as African, Coloured and Indian workers, 25 years into democracy.

The bill clarifies what is discrimination, as well as what workers can do to when facing such abuses such as lodging grievances with the CCMA or the Labour Courts.

This will empower the CCMA and the courts when making judgments on equal pay cases.

Testing – Increasingly job applicants are being subjected to very dubious psychological tests by employers. These are often irrelevant, unfair, unscientific, and unregulated.

Frequently, such tests have been used to discriminate against black or women applicants or to favour jobs for pals.

The bill now requires such tests to be fair and relevant to the job, not be discriminatory or biased and most importantly, that they must be approved by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).

An aggrieved employer can now refer dubious tests to the CCMA.

The employer will then be forced to provide proof why the tests are relevant and fair, and that they have been approved by the HPCSA.

Inspection – As part of ensuring the employment equity objectives become reality, the bill seeks to strengthen the hand of the labour inspectors.

The inspectors are compelled to inspect workplaces and empowered to issue employers with compliance orders.

Nxesi also announced that the number of labour inspectors are to be increased from 1400 to 1900, and that an additional 200 health and safety inspectors are to be employed. However, given a labour force of more than 12 million, this is still far too few.

The department will be establishing a toll-free hotline where workers can SMS the names and addresses of employers who are in violation of any labour laws.

This information will be given to the labour inspectors who will then raid, fine, and issue compliance orders to offending employers.

Tenders – Companies seeking to do business with the state will be compelled to submit a certificate from the department confirming that they are in compliance with the Employment Equity Act and its objectives, and that they do not pay their employees less than the national minimum wage. This will ensure that recalcitrant employers abide by the progressive labour laws.

Cosatu has engaged extensively on this bill with other stakeholders at the National Economic Department and Labour Council (Nedlac). While employers complain about filling in forms, these have been made simple and user-friendly.

Some will object to being made to comply but it is crucial that we do so, if we are serious about building a non-racial and non-sexist society.

To do nothing means that we are happy to see women, persons with disabilities and African, Coloured and Indian workers remaining in low-paying jobs.

If we want to be a humane, modern and productive economy, we must accept the responsibilities that come with it.

As trade unions, we have to ensure all our shop stewards, members and workers know their rights, and challenge and report employers who break the laws.

Cosatu looks forward to seeing this progressive bill become a reality, and will ensure its speedy passage through Parliament and its signing by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Expropriation without compensation?

Article from EWN

Minister Thoko Didiza on Tuesday tabled the department’s budget and one for the Department of Fisheries and Forestry, which is also under her leadership.

CAPE TOWN – Land expropriation without expropriation would happen whether those opposed to it like it or not.

That was the word from Agriculture and Land Reform Minister Thoko Didiza and her deputy Mcebisi Skwatsha.

Didiza on Tuesday tabled the department’s budget and one for the Department of Fisheries and Forestry, which is also under her leadership.

Skwatsha said the sky would not cave in when legislation to expropriate land without compensation was finally passed.

“To expropriate land without compensation sooner than later will be a reality. All this will happen in an orderly and constitutional fashion,” he said.

Skwatsha’s comments followed those of Didiza who said land expropriation was inevitable.

“For me this is, and it must be, a new conversation among South Africans. We don’t need to fear the inevitable but we can shape that future of an inclusive South Africa.”

Didiza said it would ultimately be up to the national legislature and how it crafted and worded the legislation to make land expropriation a reality.

Laws to criminalise racism and hate crimes a priority: Ronald Lamola

Article from the Sunday Times

Justice and constitutional development minister Ronald Lamola wants the new parliament to prioritise a proposed piece of legislation aimed at criminalising racism and other hate crimes.

Presenting his first budget vote in the National Assembly on Tuesday, Lamola detailed his legislative agenda for the 2019-2020 financial year, including the revival of the Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill which the fifth parliament failed to finalise before the expiry of its term before the elections in May.

The bill sparked controversy when it was first tabled in parliament in 2018, with its detractors describing it as a threat to freedom of speech.

But Lamola said he would soon be reviving the bill in parliament so that the justice portfolio committee could start processing it afresh.

He said the controversial Traditional Courts Bill would also be back on the agenda.

As part of its legislative programme, the department intends to promote the following bills this financial year:

• The Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill, which has already been introduced into parliament and was being considered by the justice and correctional services portfolio committee.

• The Traditional Courts Bill, which was passed by the National Assembly of the fifth parliament and is awaiting consideration by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).

• A bill providing for the establishment of a Land Court aimed at promoting land justice and the democratisation of land ownership. The bill would aim to address some of the challenges experienced with the current Land Claims Court dispensation.

• The Recognition of Customary Marriages Amendment Bill would be introduced to ensure compliance with court judgments.

Turning to the scourge of crime and corruption, Lamola said he would lobby the national Treasury to lift a freeze on the hiring of staff at the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) from 2015, which he said had resulted in almost 700 vacant prosecutor posts.

Lamola said he would also discuss with the Treasury the implications of accepting private-donor funding to bolster the capacity of the NPA.

“However, much more needs to be done to resource the NPA to enable it to meet the demands for its services. For example, the fiscally induced freeze on all hiring of staff since 2015, resulting in 685 vacant prosecutor posts as at the end of June, needs to be reconsidered so that the NPA can recruit much-needed middle-to-senior level positions as a matter of urgency, especially in the specialised units,” he said.

“While recognising the current fiscal constraints, the department will need to engage with the national Treasury regarding measures to enable the adequate capacitation of the NPA.”

Lamola said the department would discuss with the NPA and the Treasury the implications of private-donor funding “because as we leave no stone unturned to ensure all criminal cases are prosecuted, we will nonetheless endeavour to do nothing that will undermine the independence and integrity of the prosecution”.

10 massive medical aid changes you need to know about

DearSA - National Health Insurance

The Department of Health invites you to submit written comments on the proposed draft National Health Insurance Bill (NHI) and the Medical Schemes Amendment Bill.

Here are 10 points you should know.

[BusinessTech]

1. End of co-payments

The first major amendment includes the abolishment of co-payments – which effectively means that medical schemes will be required to pay for the full amount charged to a patient.

“Some people will scream that this amendment is callous and outrageous, and calculated to destroy the medical sector and leave beneficaries with nothing. We have heard about this before. I wish to assure you that this was well thought of, and the load of complaints received by the department of health as well as the council of medical schemes justifies this amendment,” he said.

“Furthermore the data at our disposal shows that medical schemes are holding in reserve close to R60 billion that is not being used.”

2. Abolishment of brokers

Motsoaledi said that the Medical Aid Scheme Amendment Bill will abolish the role of brokers, as almost two-thirds of medical schemes clients pay R2.2 billion to brokers without their knowledge.

He added that the number of people joining medical schemes has remained relatively static over the last 15 years, bringing into question what role brokers actually play in the system.

3. Abolishment of Prescribed Minimum Benefits

Motsoaledi said that the third amendment is the abolishment of Prescribed Minimum Benefits (PMBs) – which are set to be replaced with comprehensive service benefits.

He said that comprehensive service benefits would include services such as family planning, vaccinations and screening services which are not necessarily paid for by schemes under the current system.

4. Addresses unequal benefit options 

Motsoaledi said that this amendment prevents any medical scheme from implementing any benefit option, unless the option has been approved by the Registrar of the Council of Medical Schemes.

In doing this the Registrar will have to determine if the benefit is in the best interest of the member, rather than any other party, he said.

5. Offence for ‘fake’ medical schemes

The fifth amendment makes it an offence for a business to label itself as a medical scheme should it not meet the current prescribed requirements under the Act.

“This relates to various health and cash plans which are flashed all over our TV and radios which sell products similar to medical schemes but are not properly registered with the correct authorities,” he said.

6. Creation of a central beneficiary registry

This enables the Registrar of Medical Schemes to understand the trends and behaviors of consumers when they are selecting a medical scheme.

This will include the age, disease, and geographical profiles of members but excludes any of their personal information, Motsoaledi said, in an effort to gather more information for the incoming NHI.

He added that medical schemes currently do not surface any of this information.

7. Income cross-subsidisation model

In-line with the NHI, Motsoaledi said that medical schemes must now also ensure that the rich help subsidise the poor, the young must subsidise the old, and the healthy must subsidise the sick.

“At the present moment we want to argue very strongly that it is the other way round. The present contribution table charges lower and higher-income patients the same amount for benefits, which is not the way the world should be,” Motsoaledi said.

Motsoaledi did not provide any immediate details on exactly how the current system may change, however.

8. Medical Aids must ‘pass back’ savings

In-line with the fact that medical schemes should not be for profit, Motsoaledi said that any cost-savings should be passed on to patients.

“Presently medical aid schemes compel members to visit designated service providers in order to save money,” he said.

“However these savings are taken over by the scheme or administrator instead of being passed onto the members in the form of premium reductions.”

9. Cancellation of membership

After joining a scheme there is a time frame during which members have to pay before they are allowed to benefit. However Motsoaledi said this was problematic as some members were being forced to keep paying even after cancelling their membership.

In addition, there are also penalties for joining schemes later in life, which Motsoaledi said will now be abolished under this Act and under the incoming NHI

10. Governance of medical aid schemes

This amendment will mean that there are now minimum education requirements before someone is allowed to join a board of or become a CEO of a medical aid scheme, Motsoaledi said.

Motsoaledi said this was to prevent these persons from ‘just listening to whatever the principle officer is saying’, rather than the other way round.

Both bills will be made available for public comment, following which, further changes may be made.