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public servants associationlatest news & developments
Cosatu members march in Johannesburg. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
ADAM TOOZE

SA’s economic system chews up, spits out workers

When macroeconomic policy has so clearly failed workers, and us all, why is a complete overhaul still out of the question?

  • Sarah Smit
5 min read
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana. (David Harrison/M&G)
BASIC INCOME GRANT

Controversial government spending cuts ‘paid off’

Fiscal consolidation is drawing to a close as the public purse was boosted by commodities, but the treasury will probably continue exercising restraint

  • Sarah Smit
7 min read
According to the medium-term budget policy statement, tabled by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana on Wednesday, if the wage agreement exceeds the available budget, “it would pose a significant risk to the in-year and medium-term fiscal projections”.
COSATU

Mini-budget flags public sector wage bill — again

This is as a strike looms in the public sector after some unions have rejected the government’s offer of a 3% wage hike

  • Sarah Smit
2 min read
South Africa is braced for a public sector strike, which, if all goes to plan, would be the largest in more than a decade. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy
ANC

Public sector strike will come at a cost

Commentators have weighed in on the Transnet strike’s economic hit, but strike season isn’t over yet

  • Sarah Smit
6 min read
Dondo Mogajane, director general of the South African National Treasury, Enoch Godongwana, South Africa’s finance minister, David Masondo, South Africa’s deputy finance minister, and Edward Kieswetter, commissioner of the South African Revenue Service (SARS), (left to right), make their way to the budget presentation in Cape Town, South Africa, on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022. South Africa cut corporate taxes and set more ambitious targets for reducing debt, after a surge in commodity prices led to higher-than-expected tax income. (Dwayne Senior/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
COSATU

Government stares down public wage conundrum

Workers are in the throes of a cost of living crisis, which could force the government to fold on its hard line against more spending

  • Sarah Smit
8 min read
Teacher: Cornelius Sebothoma says being able to access funds from his pension would be a great help. (Lucas Ledwaba/Mukurukuru Media)
CORNELIUS SEBOTHOMA

Teacher begs treasury to rethink excluding public servants from pension withdrawals

Cosatu pushes back against ‘treasury bureaucracy’ for not allowing civil servants emergency access to their retirement funds as a form of Covid-19 relief

  • Chris Gilili
  • Sarah Smit
5 min read
Walking the tightrope: Finance Minister Tito Mboweni makes tough budgetary decisions. (Dwayne Senior/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
COSATU

State’s wage freeze sparks apoplexy

Public sector unions have cried foul over the government’s plan to freeze wages for three years and have vowed to fight back.

  • Thando Maeko
  • Tshegofatso Mathe
5 min read
Former public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane. (Oupa Nkosi)
BUSISIWE MKHWEBANE

Mkhwebane suspends another senior official

This brings to five the number of senior officials currently suspended — suspensions that have put her on a collision course with the Public Servants Association

  • Franny Rabkin
2 min read
Freedom to express fundamental rights versus administrative action by the South African Revenue Service exposes a fundamental link to communal interests and justice in a constitutional democracy. (Oupa Nkosi)
AGENCY

PSA accepts Sars offer to end strike

The second union on strike at the agency, Nehawu, is yet to say whether it will end the strike

  • Agency
2 min read
Freedom to express fundamental rights versus administrative action by the South African Revenue Service exposes a fundamental link to communal interests and justice in a constitutional democracy. (Oupa Nkosi)
NATASHA MARRIAN

Sars staff to down tools amidst imminent appointment of new commissioner

The Public Service Association confirmed on Tuesday night that lengthy talks between the tax agency and unions had collapsed

  • Natasha Marrian
2 min read
Unions want a seat at the table when the minister of finance appoints a new board at the PIC, to give workers a say in how their pensions are invested. (Madelene Cronjé)
DAN MATJILA

Workers want say in PIC board

Unionists want greater transparency after revelations and allegations about impropriety

  • Tebogo Tshwane
5 min read
Two fires last week at the Civitas building in Pretoria, which houses the health department, are suspected cases of arson. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
AARON MOTSOALEDI

Flaming row over health dept dangers

As deadly fires tear through unsafe buildings in Gauteng, civil servants tell state: ‘We warned you’

  • Sarah Smit
5 min read
Misstep: Although matric pupils who did not get the results they wanted can write supplementary exams, there is concern that pupils will be lost to the system after the dates for the exams were changed from March to June. Photo: Madelene Cronjé
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

#JoburgFire: ‘This is what we warned would happen’ – unions

The fire comes after the unions were told just last Friday that the department would not be moving offices despite their complaints about safety

  • Sarah Smit
4 min read
Aerofarms in Newark, New Jersey, is the world’s largest high-tech vertical ‘farm’. It’s in a 9?144m2 warehouse, which has no sun or soil and uses less water
CIVIL SERVANTS

Bombshell plan to lay off 30 000 public servants

The move is in line with a reconfiguration process to drastically cut the state’s wage bill

  • Dineo Bendile
  • Paddy Harper
  • Govan Whittles
4 min read
A member of the EFF party with a copy of the Constitution. (Kim Ludbrook/EPA)
PSA

PSA claims victory over Sassa

The PSA and the agency have not been able to reach an agreement on wage increases for workers since the union tabled its demands in February

  • Sarah Smit
3 min read
The government is taking the Public Servants Association to the labour court.
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Striking PSA workers taken to labour court

The PSA received court papers on Monday to say that the department of social development would apply for an interdict to stop the strike

  • Jenni Evans
2 min read
Right2Know campaigners picketed outside the Social Development head office over the social grants debacle on Monday.
PSA

Sassa strike will ‘cripple’ operations – PSA

The PSA has been engaged in prolonged and conflict-ridden wage negotiations

  • Sarah Smit
3 min read
The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) denies that there was anything exceptional about January’s payment run. But many people have complained to #PayTheGrants and Black Sash.
GOVAN WHITTLES

Sassa strike won’t disrupt grants payouts, says public servants union

The strike is planned from June 11 and will take place on days when there are no pay outs

  • Govan Whittles
3 min read
The government is taking the Public Servants Association to the labour court.
DER MERWE

PSA plans for ‘Day of Rage’, indefinite strike

The PSA says it will begin a fresh round of strike action on Monday June 11, starting with protests it is calling a "Day of Rage".

  • Marelise Van Der Merwe
2 min read
The teachers’ union have called the PSA’s threats to embark on strike action ‘disingenuous’
PSA

Sadtu accuses PSA of being ‘all bark and no bite’

Calling the PSA a puppy, the teachers’ union has accused the organisation of having no political clarity.

  • Sarah Smit
4 min read