The Congress of SA Trade Unions has demanded transparency and accountability from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) regarding a controversial R807 million bailout to Siyanda-Bakgatla Platinum Mine (SBM), despite the company being deemed solvent. 

This follows Employment and Labour Makhosazana Meth ordering an investigation into the SBM scheme in March after the company allegedly received the first payment of R67 million in February. 

“But now it appears that while the public was awaiting the outcome of the investigation, the company was paid a further R61 million in May,” Cosatu said on Tuesday.

“The slight drop in the payment was attributed to some of the workers having been retrenched. Two other payments of R61 million were then effected in June and July.”

The federation wants to know the outcome of the investigation, calling on Meth to share the report with the public and table it at the National Economic Development and Labour Council.

SBM was initially rejected for financial relief from the UIF’s Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) in early 2024. 

However, the acting director-general of the Department of Employment and Labour, Viwe Mlenzana, later approved the scheme and he has since left the department. 

Cosatu spokeswoman Zanele Sabela said that an independent auditor’s report revealed that SBM was not in financial distress when it applied for relief.

“In fact, its current ratio and debt to equity ratio showed that SBM’s finances were in a healthy state so much so it declared a dividend to shareholders,” she said.

Despite this, the company received payments totaling R189 million in February, May, June and July.

Cosatu is demanding confirmation from the board if the investigation was conducted and called for the Special Investigating Unit to probe the UIF and the SBM scheme.

It has reiterated its demand that the UIF be placed under administration.

It also wants the Standing Committee on Public Accounts to summon Meth, the UIF, labour and business to account for the UIF’s failures to deliver. 

“We further call on all employers, workers, trade unions and officials within the ministry and UIF to report all wrongdoing in the UIF and other related funds to law enforcement agencies,” Sabela said.

Cosatu said there was a need for stricter oversight and management of the UIF to prevent abuse and ensure that the fund served its purpose of supporting workers in need. 

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In an effort to uplift the youth and vulnerable community members in Limpopo, contracts worth over R446 million have been handed to eight Labour Activation Programme (LAP) partners by Employment and Labour Minister Nomakhosazana Meth.

The partners are tasked with providing training and job opportunities to over 13,600 beneficiaries in the province.

The department, in partnership with the Matsila Foundation, launched the programme in Matsila Village on Thursday.

The LAP focuses on high-impact sectors such as agriculture, mining-related trades, tourism and hospitality.

Meth said the LAP was designed to build long-term resilience and provide income-generating opportunities for young people in rural areas. 

The partners include Edu-House South Africa, Green Development Foundation, K Boneng Consulting Services, Kaylord (Pty) Ltd, Mahube Training & Development, Ponontle Consulting, Regen Technical Institute and Tsogo-Tlhago Trading Enterprise.

“Each company has been mandated to recruit at least 70% of beneficiaries from the Employment Services of South Africa (ESSA) system — a government job-matching platform,” the minister said during the launch. 

She said that the government had been registering job seekers this week to ensure equitable access.

“We are not merely providing short-term relief; we are building long-term resilience,” Meth said. 

The department chose Limpopo for the launch due to the province’s high unemployment rate and potential for economic growth.

“Rural South Africa is not a periphery to development – it is central to it.

“We are declaring that the Labour Activation Programme is not just a technical intervention; it is a moral commitment to reinvest, reindustrialise and revitalise rural communities,” the minister said.

She encouraged young people to use this opportunity wisely. 

Limpopo premier Phophi Ramathuba emphasised the importance of skills development in addressing unemployment and economic growth.

“Skills development is not a side programme of economic growth; it is the foundation,” she told the launch.

“It is the bridge between poverty and prosperity, between hopelessness and opportunity, between surviving and thriving.”

The premier said the collaboration between the government, private sector and civil society aimed to address the structural barriers to employment and economic inclusion in Limpopo. 

With its focus on practical skills training and job placement, Ramathuba said the programme has the potential to make a meaningful impact on the lives of young people in the province.

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The Democratic Alliance has launched a constitutional challenge against a section of the Employment Equity Amendment Act, arguing that it violates South African workers’ rights.

The matter will be heard in North Gauteng High Court on 6 May.

DA MP and spokesperson on labour and employment Michael Bagraim said in a statement that the party was taking Employment and Labour Minister Makhosazana Meth to court to challenge Section 15A of the Act.

The section empowers the minister to set sector-specific numerical targets for employment equity. 

Government argues that this aims to ensure equitable representation of previously disadvantaged groups including black people, women, the youth and persons living with disabilities.  

However, the DA argues that the quotas will destroy jobs, undermine the economy and violate the constitutional rights of all South Africans.

“We are taking the Minister of Employment and Labour to court because Section 15A represents a radical and harmful departure from previous employment equity law.” said Bagraim.

“Where companies once set their own equity goals based on context and the available labour force, they are now compelled to meet government-imposed demographic targets, regardless of skills, local realities or business viability.”

The party says it wants to test the constitutional validity of the section, as it violates Section 9 of the Constitution which prohibits unfair discrimination as well as well as challenge ministerial powers, which it describes as “vague, unchecked and dangerously broad”.

The DA points out that if the quotas are applied as proposed, without consideration for local conditions, they will severely disadvantage any minority group that has a large concentration in the area such as coloured people in the Western Cape or Indian people in KwaZulu-Natal.

“The DA’s position is clear,” said Bagraim. “Every law must be judged on whether it grows the economy and creates jobs. These quotas fail that test spectacularly.”

Employment equity has always been a vexed issue for the DA. In 2013, when an earlier version of the legislation was first introduced and the DA voted in its favour, the then DA leader Helen Zille said the party had “dropped the ball” and made a mistake by voting for it after criticism by figures including former party leader Tony Leon.

The minister and department of labour could not be reached for comment

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