Shop stewards ‘purged’ in Rea Vaya spat
A BITTER war is brewing in the City of Joburg’s transport division after three shop stewards linked to Rea Vaya buses were charged with various counts of misconduct by their senior managers.
However, sources told The Star the “controversial charges” against their leaders came after the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) stewards wanted the city to investigate the disappearance of funds apparently running into millions of rand.
Insiders claim their senior managers are now targeting them for questioning the “disappearance of about R11 million” from Rea Vaya coffers.
The insiders alleged this prompted the city to commission an auditing firm to conduct a forensic investigation, but the findings and recommendations had not been disclosed to the union leaders.
Adding to their misery, they said 87 of their members were charged by the senior managers, claiming to be acting on the recommendation of the forensic report.
“Our shop stewards are being purged for demanding the forensic report,” an insider said.
The city’s executive director for transport, Lisa Seftel, denied this and said the trio were not charged for asking questions, but confirmed a forensic investigation had not been concluded.
Insiders also said that in order to “protect” some senior management members who are allegedly involved in the disappearance of funds, 87 Rea Vaya employees were issued with pre-suspension letters and then redeployed.
Seftel said this was because they were being investigated for misconduct.
The employees include cashiers and supervisors.
One of the letters to one of the employees said: “Pending outcomes of investigations and/ or disciplinary action into allegations of misconduct against you, the city is deploying you into another department.”
The three shop stewards, whose names are known to The Star, were to appear for internal disciplinary hearings today. According to the charge sheet, they organised and participated in holding hostage members of the management team of the City of Joburg transport department (Rea Vaya).
The charge sheet states that the shop stewards were charged for acting in a disorderly and disruptive manner. They are also accused of organising an illegal gathering, alternatively an unauthorised gathering of about 175 station staff members.
Another insider said: “These are just trumped-up charges. Nobody was held hostage.”
The Star has also seen a number of letters written by Samwu to Seftel in which the union denies its members held council officials hostage.
In one of the letters, dated July 23, the union wrote to Seftel: “We are therefore alarmed by the investigation directed at Samwu leadership as it is aimed at deviating workers’ attention from the real issue.”