Category Archives: At Your Service

Two Loeries Award entries submitted by Ireland/Davenport that went on to receive awards have been withdrawn by the Loeries.

Ireland Davenport’s Gold for its New Voice Non-English Radio entry, ABSA Funeral Plan, “Abashwe” as well as Bronze for its New Voice Non-English Radio entry, Fox International Channel’s “The Simpsons Crime Report” did not meetentry criteria.

The New Voice category for non-English radio was created by the Loeries to promote the use of South Africa’s non-English languages. Until this year, pro-active work that had not been flighted was eligible. However, from the beginning of 2014, this category was brought in line with all other categories of the Loeries: All work must be commercially published, launched or aired to a substantial audience for the first time between 1 June 2013 and 13 June 2014.

Rules changed, honest mistake

Unfortunately, Ireland/Davenport did not make themselves aware of the change to the rules and submitted work for this category that had not flighted. While the responsibility rests with the entrant to ensure that all entry criteria are met, the Loeries accepts that this was an honest mistake.

“It is important that all entries meet our entry criteria,” says Loeries CEO, Andrew Human. “From this year, all entries require a signature from the company head accepting all the terms and conditions of entry. We have a zero-tolerance policy and will continue to ensure that all the rules of entry are enforced.”

Winners table adjusted

As a result of these changes, a total of 254 awards were handed out in the main categories, with the winners being broken down as follows:

Two of Ireland/Davenport’s Loerie wins withdrawn, Source: Bizcommunity

The SA Post Office remained a place of mayhem this week as the strike continued and it emerged that some of its workers did not get paid this month’s salaries.

Post Office spokesperson Johan Kruger said there was a system error and payments were late by only 12 hours.

But a Post Office employee said this was not true and workers were struggling to get answers out of branch managers.

The current strike started two weeks ago after a dispute about the process of converting workers from casual to permanent employment. But Post Office employees have been participating in various unprotected strikes since January.

The Post Office’s flexible labour strategy to convert 7 945 casual workers into permanent employees was adopted last year.

Chief operating officer Mlu Mathonsi said: “The aim of the flexible labour strategy has always been to advance the part-time employees to more permanent positions with full benefits. However, a staggered approach had to be adopted, given the difficult financial position the company is in.”

The Post Office has adopted a phased system where casual workers were offered permanent part-time positions.

Mathonsi said the disputes with the unions were around agreements that casual workers would be employed in entry-level positions with limited benefits.

“This was the only way the Post Office could permanently employ the large number of casual workers,” he said.

Communications Workers’ Union spokesperson Mantankana Mothapo said the Post Office had pushed workers too far.

“There are employees who have been there for 10 to 15 years who are casual workers,” he said.

According to the Post Office, more than 2 000 casual employees have been given permanent contracts since last year.

It is no secret that the Post Office has been in dire financial straits. Management has described the situation as a crisis.

Internal emails circulated last week, addressed to Mike Faasen, the general manager for retirements, tax and treasury, accused the Post Office of withdrawing R401 million from the pension fund between April and August.

A recent report in The Star newspaper said a draft audit report by Deloitte alleged it had used the employees’ pension fund to pay off an overdraft of R250 million.

According to the emails, employees are concerned that surplus funds from the pension fund are being mismanaged. Surplus funds accumulate when there are unclaimed retirement benefits due to resignation or death.

A legislative change in 2001 required all pension funds to distribute surpluses to members.

Faasen, however, dismissed the allegations, saying the Post Office withdrew the money from its own resources.

The Deloitte report also said the Post Office had incurred a R361 million loss and racked up R1.2 billion in irregular expenditure, including the irregular award of tenders. The report said it spent R184 million on consultants and R114 million on travel.

In the previous financial year, strikes cost the Post Office R100 million, so more losses can be expected when financial results are announced.

Kruger said the Post Office’s audit committee would meet next week, after which the company’s annual report would be available. It has until tomorrow to release its results.

“All we want is competent management because the current management is collapsing the Post Office,” Mothapo said.

Source: City Press

The standing committee on public accounts on Friday heard that the auditor-general flagged the R518 million project for tender irregularities and had subsequently instructed the provincial department of finance to institute a probe.

The AG found that bid specifications had been altered – an indication perhaps that conditions of the original tender had been changed to favour the two successful bidders – Cloudseed and China’s Huawei Technologies.

“Contracts relating to the e-learning devices and the e-learning connectivity were awarded to bidders based on points given for criteria that differed from those stipulated in the original invitation for bidding, in contravention of Treasury Regulation 16A6.3 (a) and Preferential Procurement Regulations,” he said.

The AG also found that:

Procurement of IT-related goods and services went against regulations because they were not acquired through the State Information Technology Agency; and

Appropriate risk management was not applied to ensure regular assessment of IT risks.

According to the Public Finance Management Act, the accounting officer must ensure that bid documents and the general conditions of a contract are in accordance with the instructions of the National Treasury or the prescripts of the Construction Industry Development Board.

Source: TimesLive

As the globe commemorates World Food Day, many in South Africa simply cannot afford basic food stuffs.

A KwaZulu-Natal NGO has been monitoring food prices over the past eight years and says the price of an average basket of food has increased nearly nine percent, year-on-year.

It’s now worried that soaring food prices could lead to even more protests across the country.

Ruth Smith’s main source of income is a pensioners’ grant – just over R1,300.

“It’s quite difficult ‘cos what’s pension money? Pension money is nothing, you must pay your rent, you must pay your money and then my daughter too she helps me out to buy food and everything,” commented Smith.

With just R500 to spare for food every month, Smith struggles to make ends meet.

The 71-year-old supports her daughter and four camera-shy grandchildren.

If food prices continue to climb, she could be forced to cross off everyday items like bread and meat from her grocery list.

“We’ll have to buy less of the tinned stuff. Maybe we’ll have to buy one tin of fish, one tin of baked beans, and all that”. 

Smith’s daily struggle is one that more than half of all South Africans share.

“As food becomes more expensive, people opt for cheaper and cheaper foods. This trend we have seen for a number of years and we have come to the stage where even the cheaper choices of foods have now become unaffordable,” said Mervyn Abrahams of the Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action.

NGO Pacsa says the cost of an average basket of food products went up from just over R1,500 to R1,640 rand in September this year.

The price of starches, such as potatoes, maize meal and bread, increased the most.

“If we locate the problem as a problem of availability, then the solution lies within agriculture. If the problem is a problem of affordability, then solution lies in our economics and political choices,” added Julie Smith of the Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action.

Source: eNCA