Registrar must act on fraud in unions
The office of the country’s labour registrar should be taken to task over the appalling state of trade unions in the country. Corruption, fraud and other financial crimes are the order of the day in a number of unions.
While law enforcement agencies are equally to blame for not taking on these cases with vigour, the labour registrar is empowered to act against organisations in the interest of its members.
The Labour Relations Act confers powers on the registrar to put under administration or deregister organisations that are not compliant with the law, including those unable to account for the use of workers’ monies.
South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) members are still reeling from the looting of the union’s coffers by its former leaders. Former Satawu president Ezrom Mabyana was jailed for 10 years for buying a house for R3.6m and pocketing R1.8m from the workers’ trust fund.
The union’s former general secretary, Zenzo Mahlangu, is said to have emptied its bank accounts before he was deported to Zimbabwe in 2017 for not having the appropriate permits to reside in SA.
Satawu is struggling, and so are its members, who cannot be properly serviced by their union because financial weaknesses mean lawyers and other specialists cannot be hired to represent workers as needed.
Similar events unfolded at the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), where a revolt by members exposed that R136m had gone missing from its accounts. The Hawks raided Samwu’s offices in 2016 and financial consultant Samuel Phaswane was arrested for allegedly transferring millions to his personal account.
The extent of some of the crimes may never be known because union members only get a glance at their finances once every four to five years when congresses are held. The documents are often kept secret until minutes before they are presented by treasurers.
Unions demand transparency from public and private sector employers, yet it is the one thing they struggle to offer their members because the gold mines that are membership subscriptions and union investment companies are quietly being looted.
The dynamics that have weakened the labour registrar’s office over the years are complex. A 2015 court battle between Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant and former labour registrar Johan Crouse exposed political interference in the workings of that office.
Oliphant removed Crouse from his post and accused him of gross insubordination when he attempted to place the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers Union (Ceppwawu) under administration.
The union, which has been rent down the middle by fighting between its leaders over a R6bn investment fund, had not been submitting its audited financial statements to the registrar as required. However, it is common knowledge that labour federation Cosatu, which is in an alliance with the ANC, asked Oliphant to reverse Crouse’s decision. A court ordered the minister to reinstate him.
When Oliphant announced the appointment of advocate Lehlohonolo Molefe as labour registrar a month ago, the department said some of the functions of the office were to “promote strong unionism and employer organisations”.
Within his first few weeks in the job, Molefe sent out a notice of intention to deregister the South African Local Government Association for not complying with the Labour Relations Act. Yet Ceppwawu, Samwu and Satawu are yet to catch the attention of the new labour registrar.
Strong unionism cannot be built by protecting criminals masquerading as union leaders. If Molefe fails to act, he will be contributing to the decline of the labour movement.