Ceppwawu members want Sono axed
Disgruntled members of Ceppwawu have approached the Johannesburg high court in an attempt to get rid of the union’s interim administrator, Sipho Sono, accusing him of mismanaging the affairs of the union.
Sono, who is also troubled airliner Mango’s business rescue practitioner, was appointed as the union’s interim administrator, replacing Thulisile Mashanda.
Ceppwawu, which has about 48 000 members, has endured a dark period for more than a decade due to internal fights for the control of the union and its investment company, Ceppwawu Investments (CI) – which has more than R2-billion in assets.
The union, led by president Thamsanqa Mhlongo, asked the court to urgently remove Sono and replace him with
Afzul Ebrahim Soobedaar. Ceppwawu said it also understands that Sono’s tenure ends in the next three weeks and that it should not be renewed.
Mhlongo also said Soobedaar must be allowed to investigate the tenures of Mashanda and Sono as previous administrators. Ceppwawu also asks the court to authorise Soobedaar to probe the “justification for and financial impact on the union of the R107-million loan application (or any other loan applications) Sono had made or intends to make with Ceppwawu Investment…”
The union goes further to say Soobedaar must also investigate “the justification for and financial impact on the union of all payments from union funds and/or loans from CI, made to Mashanda and/or entities in which Mashanda has direct or indirect interests in, and/or to entities and/or persons ostensibly appointed by Mashanda...”
Mhlongo then asked the court for an interim relief, in which he asks that Soobedaar be appointed as an interim co-administrator of the union.
“For the sake of clarity, Soobedaar shall be the senior interim co-administrator and, despite the terms … Sono shall only have the power to take action in his capacity as junior interim co-administrator if so authorised by Soobedaar.”
Ceppwawu is hoping that the court will again rule in its favour as it did when it removed Mashanda and replaced her with Sono. In that matter, the union also asked for Soobedaar to be appointed, but the court decided on Sono.
A source close to the never-ending disputes at the union said there will be no end in sights to the internal battles as long as CI exists in its current form. “We all know that litigation costs a lot of money and it is surprising the union leaders seem to have infinite resources to launch court action after another. At the end, this does not benefit the workers but the people who pull the purse strings at CI,” the source said.
Sunday World reported in January that Mashanda had released a damning report into the affairs of not only Ceppwawu, but its investment arm as well.
Tragically, Mashanda found that 20 years after the establishment of Ceppwawu Development Trust, which wholly owns CI, it has not met its objectives of benefiting the union’s members despite CI having earned close to over half a billion rand over the years.