1990: The World Health Organisation deletes homosexuality from its list of mental diseases.
For those who compulsively store utterly useless things, enjoy Pack Rat Day.

OVERSUBSCRIBED BOND SALE UNDERPINS INVESTOR CONFIDENCE

South Africa sold US$2 billion (about ZAR25 billion) of bonds maturing in 2030 and 2048 on international capital markets in a deal to finance the government's foreign-currency commitments, the finance ministry said yesterday. The National Treasury said the bond sale was more than 1.7 times oversubscribed and described it as an expression of investor confidence. South Africa's 2018 budget review envisaged US$9 billion of international borrowing. (Reuters)

NO CHANGE TO UNEMPLOYMENT STATISTICS

South Africa's unemployment rate was unchanged at 26.7 percent of the labour force in Q1 2018 compared with Q4 2017, the statistics office said. In its quarterly labour force survey which polls households, Statistics South Africa said there were 6.0 million people without jobs in the three months to the end of March, compared with 5.9 million people in the final three months of last year. The expanded definition of unemployment, which includes people who have stopped looking for work, rose to 36.7 percent in the first quarter from 36.3 percent in the previous quarter. (Reuters)

MINISTER PROMISES CONSUMERS BETTER MEDICAL AID

Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi is planning a major shake-up of the medical-scheme industry, with new rules on benefits, prices and governance, which he says will give consumers a better deal. The changes are contained in the Medical Schemes Amendment Bill. The most crucial aspect of the bill was a proposal to introduce uniform tariffs for services and prohibit co-payments, potentially heralding a sea of change for industry players and consumers alike. At present, each medical scheme negotiates its own rates with service providers such as hospitals and doctors, while members face varying degrees of co-payments for their healthcare bills, depending on which medical scheme options they belong to and the nature of their conditions. (BDLive)

RETAIL GROWTH WEIGHS ON GDP

As retail sales become the last piece in the GDP puzzle, industry analysts anticipate a weak outcome for Q1 2018. Value-added tax (VAT) absorption in retail sales seemed to have driven pre-emptive buying in April when retail trade sales recorded a 4.8% year-on-year increase. Investec chief economist Annabel Bishop said the sharp contractions in industrial production (manufacturing, mining and electricity) and retail sales in Q1 2018 on a quarter-on-quarter adjusted annualised basis (the headline GDP measurement) indicated a weak outcome for first-quarter GDP growth. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted annualised basis — the method of calculating quarterly headline GDP growth — retail trade sales had fallen 5.2% in Q1 2108, Bishop said. She calculated that industrial production fell 6.9% and these two contractions indicated there was likely to be a weak outcome for first-quarter GDP growth, possibly even a contraction. (BDLive)

HOME AFFAIRS BANKS ON E-SERVICES ROLL-OUT

The department of home affairs intends to finalise a public-private partnership with the banking sector and the Treasury to roll out its e-services across SA before the end of the current financial year. Home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba said during his budget vote speech in parliament yesterday that many of the department’s clients utilise the e-homeaffairs service, which started in 2016. This allowed citizens to pay online, schedule appointments and apply for smart ID cards and passports at 14 participating bank branches. Durban, Pietermaritzburg, East London, Nelspruit and Polokwane will be prioritised. Gigaba said the department had in the meantime agreed with its banking partners — Standard Bank, First National Bank, Nedbank and Absa — to extend e-homeaffairs to 20 additional branches immediately. (BDLive)

NO END TO SAA’S BLACK HOLE

South African Airways (SAA) continued its track record of losses in the 2017-18 financial year, notching up a worse than expected net loss of ZAR5.7 billion. The Treasury released SAA’s fourth-quarter and annual results after a fierce debate in parliament’s finance committee over whether they should be discussed behind closed doors or in public. The Treasury release showed that SAA’s net loss of ZAR5.7 billion for 2017-18 was significantly (ZAR2.9 billion) worse than budgeted as sales plunged on domestic routes 21%, international routes 11% and regional routes 6%. The loss was attributed to lower passenger numbers; a lower average fare due to increased competition and negative sentiment; higher operating costs driven by an increase in fuel costs; and higher maintenance costs. (BDLive)

… AS SA EXPRESS FLIES INTO ITS OWN STORM

The 2017/18 financial report for airline South African Express paints a grim picture, according to Parliament’s portfolio committee on public enterprises. SA Express executives presented the annual report before the committee yesterday. According to the airline’s presentation, banks are no longer committed to supporting it unless it can demonstrate a clear turnaround plan, supported by government funding. The airline needs recapitalisation from government. According to the airline’s submission, its fruitless and wasteful expenditure amounted to ZAR42 million, as a result of penalties for late payments and interest charged on invoices. Its irregular expenditure amounted to ZAR408 million, as a result of employees not adhering to procurement processes. A total of ZAR350 million is attributed to tenders which were not advertised, ZAR43.8 million was attributed to using expired contracts, and ZAR11.6 million was due to three quotations not being sourced.Investigations into irregular expenditure are under way. (Fin24)

LAND BANK TARGETS EMERGING FARMERS

The Land Bank intends tripling to ZAR15 billion the value of its lending to emerging farmers within the next three to four years, says Litha Magingxa, the state-owned institution’s head of agricultural economics. This will translate to 30% of its total lending of ZAR45 billion. Over the past two years, the bank has increased its lending to emerging farmers and agricultural development enterprises to about ZAR5 billion from ZAR2.5 billion. Despite agriculture’s relatively small share (2.4%) of total GDP, primary agriculture is an important sector in the economy and a substantial employer, contributing about 5% of jobs with associated multiplier effects, especially in rural areas. It is a major foreign currency earner, he said. (BDLive)

GROUP FIVE’S BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS

Group Five, which has experienced an exodus of executives amid awful results, has secured ZAR650 million in bridging loans and secured a creditors standstill agreement to give it a breather. This enables the JSE-listed infrastructure company to keep its head above water after reporting severe losses from the US$420 million (about ZAR5.3 billion) gas-and oil-fired Kpone power project in Ghana. Headline earnings per share plummeted 151% in the six months to December 2017 in dismal construction markets. The company remained ungeared in this time. (BDLive)

PSG SETS SIGHTS ON ADULT EDUCATION AND TRAINING

PSG Group, through its investment subsidiary PSG Alpha, has entered into the adult education and training market. FutureLearn, which is 93% owned by PSG Alpha, has this month acquired adult education and workplace training specialist Media Works. The acquisition will see it offer Amended Senior Certificate qualifications, a version of the National Senior Certificate or matric qualification targeted at adults aged 21 years and older, alongside its current offerings. Media Works’ offering, which includes adult education programmes from grades seven to twelve, is to complement FutureLearn’s offerings. PSG has enjoyed much success in the education sector through investments in private schools outfit Curro and the newly-listed higher education company Stadio, which is 45% owned by PSG Alpha. (Moneyweb)

SA VEHICLES PART OF GLOBAL BMW, VW SAFETY RECALL

German car makers BMW and Volkswagen (VW) are conducting global safety recalls on hundreds of thousands of vehicles, including many in SA. BMW originally began a recall in 2013 relating to a battery connection that could lead to a loss of power in its previous generation 1 Series, 3 Series, X1 and Z4 models. More than 750 000 models built between March 2007 and September 2011 were affected worldwide with the majority in the US, and more than 50 000 in SA. The company has now expanded the recall by an additional 400 000 worldwide bringing the total to 1 150 000 vehicles. A further 15 933 models are included in the wider recall in SA.So far, BMW SA says it has attended to 90% of the vehicles involved in the original recall and will be contacting owners affected by the recall expansion in the next few weeks. (BDLive)

JOHANNESBURG TO HOST 2018 BRICS SUMMIT

The Johannesburg Convention Centre will play host to the 20th BRICS Summit from July 25 27 as South Africa gears up to chair the grouping of nations - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It is understood new areas of cooperation will be incorporated into the event: a working group on peacekeeping, a vaccine research centre, a gender and women forum, a strategic partnership towards the progress of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and the establishment of the BRICS Tourism Track of co-operation. (IOL)

CHIPS ARE DOWN AS BRITAIN BATTLES GAMBLING ADDICTION

Britain will cut the maximum stake on fixed odds betting terminals to two pounds (about ZAR35) from the current 100 pounds (about ZAR1 600) in a bid to curb problem gambling. The decision follows complaints that the machines were highly addictive and had led to gamblers building up big losses. The terminals are a major source of income for high-street bookmakers which had argued that a cut to the lowest possible option would threaten thousands of jobs. (Reuters)

The failure of an employer to follow the provisions of its own disciplinary code and procedures

Employers have certain prerogatives relating to discipline, including the right to set rules and standards and to develop their own disciplinary procedures. These rules, standards and procedures are often set out in a disciplinary code. A disciplinary code usually comprises two parts. The first part is where disciplinary offences are described and a progressive series of disciplinary steps to be taken in the event of their contravention are set out. For example the disciplinary code may note late-coming as an offence and provide that a verbal warning will be issued for a first transgression, a written warning for a second, a final warning for a third and dismissal for a fourth transgression. The second part of the disciplinary code is where the employer’s disciplinary procedures are set out. For example, the code might provide that the employee will be given at least 48 hours’ notice of a disciplinary enquiry.

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Contact: Nicci Whitear – Labour Law Specialist - nicci@austensmith.co.za - 033 392 0500
191 Pietermaritz Street, Pietermaritzburg, www.austensmith.co.za