Remember I asked for your thoughts on the blogger’s question: Wonder if the minister fell asleep in his bath and had a dream to establish a 1st world idea in a 3rd world country? This was featured in an article about the Labour Minister’s enforcement of labour laws with a bite. I thought I should tell you I got a response from the Regional Manager, Modisaotsile Motlhabane, at the DoL!

This is what he had to say:

Hi Tracy
This is not a dream. The Minister did not fell asleep and dream of implementing 1st world ideas in a third world country. This is a reality. SA is a developing country and very fast for that matter. I am saying this from an informed point of view. The Department is at an advanced stage of creating legislations that will deal with those identified challenges in order to give inspectors more powers and tools. So watch for the space.

Regards,

Modisaotsile Patrick Motlhabane

It’s nice to know Government keeps tabs on what we have to say!

Yesterday, my colleague pointed out that I should read the latest article on Jimmy Manyi. So I Googled him and to my dismay I found not one, but two articles!

DoL spends R350k for a jol

The first article I read featured Manyi’s R350 000 party which he threw for senior managers. R120 000 was spent on the venue hire, R85 000 on flights, R59 842 on accommodation and R67 000 on food. The DA MP, Ian Ollis said Manyi should perhaps explain exactly how this horribly expensive party was meant to help the department carry out its duties. Ollis said it was difficult to understand what the department was celebrating when over one million people had lost their jobs.

I think you’ll agree with me that this money should’ve been allocated to projects to help the plight of the unemployed, and not for a political shindig!

Make a decision Manyi, you can’t have your cake and eat it

The second article I read was on the decision Manyi has to make. Mr. Mdladlana, the Labour Minister, told Manyi he needs to decide if he wants to serve as President for the BMF or as a Director General for the Labour of Department. Mdladlana told Business Report newspaper that both positions were not sustainable.

Step-by-step: What should you do when you catch your employee moonlighting?

Follow these four steps when you catch an employee moonlighting:

Step#1

Determine whether there is a potential conflict with her duties i.e. is this a supplier to the company? Did she use official working hours, stationary, equipment etc to comply with her external duties?

Step#2

If there is no conflict, issue a written warning to the employee and get her to declare her interests.
If the external work is in conflict with her duties, you need to quantify and calculate the losses to the company.

Step#3

Investigate the matter properly, i.e. mirroring of computers (downloading or copying of a person’s computer for forensic analysis), searching of offices, lifestyle audits (checking assets and lifestyle information you can find on public databases and comparing that to known income to determine whether a person appears to be living beyond their means) etc.

Step#4

Take the following actions:

• Institute disciplinary action
• Institute criminal charges under the Corruption Act (I would suggest this is only done when you can prove some conflict of interest and financial gain on the part of your employee – this is, however, not required by the Act)
• Recover any losses by instituting civil action or request a compensation order in terms of Section 300 of the Criminal Procedure Act, 51 of 1977

The provisions of the Corruption Act are the ideal tool to deal with instances where moonlighting might be affecting your business negatively.
 

Kind Regards

Tracy King
Managing Editor Labour Watch

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