WHO) has declared Covid-19, popularly known as the coronavirus, a pandemic. Around the world, more cases are confirmed each day and in South Africa, the toll has risen to 16 (at the time of publishing).

In South Africa, some people are working from home while others are away from work entirely.

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy to skip work. In South Africa,

BCEA) is in force. This Act focuses on fair labour practices.

Many employees appear to not know their rights and limitations pertaining to sick leave. The Act prescribes that it is a right due to employees for use only when they are ill.

Now that the coronavirus has many people panicking, what does it mean for the employer?

“As with any illness and the spread of such viruses, the employer should be aware and provide their staff with opportunities to prevent infection,” says Laura Potgieter, a recruitment and marketing specialist at HR Company Solutions.

If you don’t have the luxury of working from home and need to be in the office when you’re sick or fear infection, she says, we should all just be mindful of washing hands, keeping our immune systems up and eating healthily to keep our energy levels up too.

“Management needs to ensure that staff have access to hand sanitisers, water and soap, their own pen (so they don’t share pens and spread germs) and just generally implement and enforce their health and safety programmes. In high-risk environments too – ensure that your health and safety programmes are up to date and everyone is aware and following them,” she advises.

Potgieter points out that if you fall sick when you’ve exhausted your sick leave, the sick leave becomes unpaid leave in accordance with the BCEA.

The BCEA states that an employer is not required to pay an employee, in terms of Section 22 if the employee has been absent from work for more than two consecutive days or on more than two occasions during an eight-week period and, at the employer’s request, does not produce a medical certificate stating that the employee was unable to work for the duration of the employee’s absence on account of sickness or injury.

“When it comes to meetings, conferences and expos, try and limit your exposure to anyone who may be ill as much as possible,” she advises.

• Actively encourage sick employees to stay home.
• Emphasise staying home when sick, respiratory etiquette and hand hygiene by all employees.
• Perform routine environmental cleaning.
• Advise employees before travelling to take certain steps.
• Employees who are well but who have a sick family member at home with Covid-19 should notify their supervisors.
• If an employee is confirmed to have Covid-19, employers should inform fellow employees of their possible exposure to Covid-19 in the workplace but maintain confidentiality.

The number of coronavirus cases in the country is revised, South Africans in Wuhan are coming home; and panic sets in as markets head deeper into the red.The number of coronavirus cases in the country is revised, South Africans in Wuhan are coming home; and panic sets in as markets head deeper into the red.

Eastern Cape Transport MEC Weziwe Tikana Gxothiwe and the deputy speaker for the Eastern Cape legislature Mlibo Qhobishiyane are among the mourners.

The bus involved in the fatal crash was contracted by the provincial government to service rural routes and was travelling from the coastal village of Chebe carrying people, mostly pensioners, to Butterworth for shopping via Centane town.

According to one of the survivors last week, the bus lost control near a cliff in Qolweni after a mechanical failure.

Cape Town – Complaints against the police are on the increase, according to the Western Cape Police Ombudsman (WCPO).

WCPO spokesperson Deidré Foster said since its inception in 2013, the ombudsman’s office had handled over 2 000 complaints – growing from 83 in the first year to 433 in the last financial year.

Foster said the numbers had more than doubled from the last financial year, 2018/19, to this financial year, 2019/20.

“We believe there are a number of reasons for this, one being that through ongoing marketing and advertising efforts, along with outreach, more and more people are coming to know of the existence of the ombudsman’s office.

“We very often hear people saying that they do not trust the police. However, having said that, there is also huge responsibility placed on police officers, in that the public’s expectation of officers is sometimes exceeded by what the officials are able to do within the scope of their duties,” Foster said.

She, however, admitted that there were not enough awareness campaigns for communities, adding that the ombudsman was working on marketing and outreach efforts to educate communities about their rights when approaching police stations.

Delft Community Police Forum’s Charles George said over 80 complaints of police brutality had been reported to the forum in the area this year. “The increase in these complaints simply means there is no working relationship between the police and the communities.

“There is no trust in the police and their brand has been damaged by corruption and scandals,” he said.

Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union spokesperson Richard Mamabolo said the past financial year had not been “good” for the police in the Western Cape, with widespread gangsterism and infighting among management compromising their effectiveness.

Khayelitsha Cluster chairperson Francina Lukas said the 57 complaints recorded in the area in the 2018/19 financial year showed that more people were now informed about their rights and were taking the responsibility to ensure that they received the service they deserved from the police.

Safety and Security MEC Albert Fritz said: “I commend the Western Cape Police Ombudsman, Mr JJ Brand, and his team on the valuable work that they do.”

@Mtuzeli

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Cape Argus

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is no stranger to news headlines and this week she was in the news again.

On Tuesday, the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria set aside Mkhwebane’s report into President Cyril Ramaphosa and his ANC presidential (CR17) campaign in a scathing judgment which a full Bench handed down.

The court ruled that Mkhwebane did not have the jurisdiction to investigate the CR17 campaign.

Mkhwebane was said to have displayed a lack of basic understanding of the law and to have been reckless in reaching serious findings against Ramaphosa in her report.

In this episode of The Story, we speak to News24 investigative reporter Kyle Cowan who was at court when the judgment was handed down.