Banks plan back-up as sector shutdown looms
Cosatu supports finance union Sasbo’s national strike against job losses and retrenchments
SA’s embattled economy is set to face collateral damage when finance union Sasbo embarks on a total shutdown of the banking sector later in September, but the industry says it has put plans in place to limit the damage.
The industrial action is set for September 27.
The protest comes as the industry is battling job losses and scrambling to digitise due to competition from tech-savvy newcomers such as Discovery, TymeBank and Bank Zero.
Standard Bank, the secondlargest bank in SA, has been forced to close 91 branches, affecting 1,200 employees, as it realigns its retail and business banking delivery model to be on par with the demands of the fourth industrial revolution.
Other banks could follow if trading conditions worsen.
Sasbo general secretary Joe Kokela said the union’s 73,000 members will embark on industrial action to “prove a point” and teach the embattled bosses “a costly lesson”.
He said they had no qualms about shutting down the economy, which declined 3.2% in the first quarter of 2019 while the unemployment rate jumped from 27.6% to 29% in the second quarter. The Reserve Bank expects the economy to grow just 0.6% in 2019, after the disappointing 0.8% of 2018.
Kokela said the union had exhausted all avenues in trying to engage with the employers to stop the jobs bloodbath in the crucial sector. “The banks are not co-operating, they don’t want to listen to what we have to say. By shutting down the economy, we want them to come back to their senses,” he said.
“We want to show that without these workers they are nothing. We are trying to call out their arrogance.”
He argued that retrenchments in the sector are not about the fourth industrial revolution but about corporate greed. “How do you justify someone taking home R258,000 a day just because he’s a bank executive,” said Kokela.
“We want to teach them a lesson to say ‘stop what you’re doing’ because, if you look at it, the fat cats are getting a lot fatter nowadays while the rest are struggling to make ends meet.”
On Thursday, Cosatu backed Sasbo’s industrial action and said the strike would act as a build-up to the labour federation’s national strike against job losses and retrenchments on October 7. It said all its unions would be mobilised to ensure Sasbo’s shutdown is a success.
In an e-mailed response to Business Day’s query on Friday, Absa said while it respects Sasbo’s intention to down tools, it has not yet received notification of the protest.
Kokela hit back, saying: “Nothing will force me to give them notice now. According to the law I have to give them a 48hour notice.”
Absa said it has business continuity and contingency plans that would be deployed as and when necessary.
It said it has been reorganising the business after introducing a new strategy and operating model in 2018.
“While there have been redundancies, the restructuring has also opened new opportunities, through new roles being created to advance our strategy,” Absa said, adding it has in place support mechanisms for affected employees.
“Sasbo is an important stakeholder to us,” the bank said.
“We are consulting with Sasbo throughout the process and we have in place support mechanisms for employees,” said Absa.
Standard Bank spokesperson Ross Linstrom said customers would be kept informed should there be any change or disruption to their banking activity.
“Standard Bank provides its clients with multiple channels through which they can conduct their banking activities. These include the mobile app, USSD [internet banking, unstructured supplementary services data], ATMs, branches as well as the ability to transact at retail chains like Spar, Checkers and Pick n Pay,” he said.
A Nedbank spokesperson said the bank had consulted with Sasbo on all the changes made to its business that affected staff. “Our changes are not motivated by the need to maximise profits. Instead, we are optimising our business to adapt to the changing behaviours and demands of our clients, influenced to a large degree by new technologies and digitisation,” the bank said. affected
Nedbank said it has been responsible in ensuring that job losses are kept to a minimum as it continues to optimise its processes, systems and structures.
“Year to date, fewer than 40 employees have been retrenched, as we always strive to assist affected employees to find alternative roles and avoid retrenchment.”
Banking Association SA MD Cas Coovadia told Business Day on Friday that labour, business and the government need to work together to manage changes in the banking sector.
“I think to strike against what is essentially the impact of changes affecting the economy within the context of low economic growth is not the way to go,” he said.
“If you are going to say people must not retrench now, in six months’ time there will be bigger problems. Trade-offs need to be made between labour, business and government.”
Former deputy national director of public prosecutions Silas Ramaite’s retirement at the weekend has opened up a key position in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and will afford President Cyril Ramaphosa another opportunity to appoint a trusted senior executive.
Shamila Batohi’s appointment as national director of public prosecutions was a big step in restoring the integrity of the NPA, which has been seen as politically abused.
While there has been a high turnover of national directors of public prosecutions in the NPA since the advent of majority rule, their four deputies have generally been stable. For example, the opening created by Ramaite’s retirement is the first in almost a decade.
While that stability was generally regarded as a positive thing, it also had its downside.
During interviews for the director’s post, which finally went to Batohi, it was mentioned that divisions in the NPA started at the level of the deputies and that merely appointing a new head would not automatically solve the NPA’s problems.
Ramaite was appointed as deputy national director in 2003. Willie Hofmeyr served longest in that position, having been appointed in 2001. The other two, Nomvula Mokhatla and Nomgcobo Jiba, were both appointed as deputies in December 2010.
While Ramaphosa fired former deputy national director Jiba in April 2019, her post has not yet been filled as the parliamentary process has not been completed. Jiba was fired by the president on the recommendation of retired judge Yvonne Mokgoro, who led a commission of inquiry into her fitness to hold office as well as that of her colleague, Lawrence Mrwebi.
In terms of the law, parliament will have to agree with the president and confirm the dismissals, or have the pair reinstated if it is not convinced of the
reasons for their dismissal. Jiba recently interdicted the parliamentary process and is taking the Mokgoro report used to fire her on review.
Ramaite’s retirement, announced earlier in August, kicked in on September 1.
The NPA is expected to announce an interim replacement on Monday. The permanent appointment will have to be made by the president after consultation with Batohi and the minister of justice and correctional services, Ronald Lamola.
Ramaite is not the only one of the four retiring.
Hofmeyr will retire at the end of November, opening up a second position later in 2019.
If parliament decides not to restore Jiba to her position after the court processes, the possibility exists of an almost entirely new top leadership being appointed under the deputies.
WE WANT TO SHOW THAT WITHOUT THESE WORKERS THEY ARE NOTHING.
WE ARE TRYING TO CALL OUT THEIR ARROGANCE
GIVEN THE DAMAGE TO THE PUBLIC’S CONFIDENCE IN THE NPA, THE APPOINTMENT OF FIT AND PROPER PEOPLE WILL BE CRITICAL
To become one of the deputies in the NPA, candidates would have to possess the legal qualifications to practice in all courts in SA.
They would also have to be fit and proper individuals with the necessary experience, conscientiousness and integrity, according to the NPA Act.
Such is the calibre of the people the president should appoint.
Given the damage to the public’s confidence in the NPA, the appointment of fit and proper people with integrity, who Batohi can trust, will be critical.
Lawson Naidoo, the executive secretary of the Council for the Advancement of the SA Constitution, said the deputies were “very powerful” as they could effectively step into the shoes of the national director of public prosecutions.
Only deputies can act in that position. He said for Batohi to be able to clean shop properly, she should be able to appoint people she can trust and have confidence in.
While Ramaphosa has the prerogative to appoint deputies, he would have to take Batohi’s opinion seriously.
“If he wants her to succeed, he has to give her the tools to be able to do so,” Naidoo said.
While Batohi and the new investigating directorate tasked to look into issues such as state capture have been given some breathing space by the public while they find their feet, the honeymoon period may be nearing its end as prosecutionhungry South Africans want people behind bars.
Politically, the pressure to see those who looted the state face prosecution also seems to be intensifying. The SA Communist Party in Gauteng on Friday picketed outside the NPA’s head office in Pretoria, where it submitted a memorandum to the NPA and to the elite Hawks investigating unit.
The memorandum called for the appointment of competent and ethical individuals to posts within the criminal justice system, including the Hawks and the NPA, and that those complicit in state capture or other forms of corruption and crime should be held to account and removed from the criminal justice system.
While Ramaphosa is a powerful man, he and Lamola cannot exert any political influence over prosecutorial decision-making by the NPA, even if South Africans bay for blood or if some want the NPA to wage a political war on their behalf.
That would collapse any semblance of integrity those appointed to restore the NPA have been working for over the past seven months.
But what Ramaphosa can do is to appoint the right people. Some clean sweeping by new brooms supporting Batohi can only help as the pressure on the authority mounts.