Pretoria - Members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) were up in arms yesterday after being barred from participating in the Standing Committee of Public Accounts’ (Scopa) visit to the Road Accident Fund (RAF) offices in Parktown.
In its statement, the union blamed RAF CEO Collins Letsoalo for refusing its members entry to the premises.
Numsa called Letsoalo “a bully and a dictator” for allegedly giving instructions to bar them from Scopa’s oversight visit at the RAF’s office.
Numsa said its officials and shop stewards, who are employees of the RAF, arrived at the premises but they were prevented by security from attending the meeting and engaging with Scopa.
The union stated that the head of security claimed that its members needed an invitation to attend.
“One of the security employees at RAF even had the audacity to manhandle the Numsa spokesperson in an attempt to physically remove her from the premises. This is outrageous and unlawful behaviour,” the union said.
A video was posted on social media of Numsa members trying to push the gate to the RAF premises while shouting “let us in”.
According to the union, the RAF justified their “outrageous and unlawful” behaviour by claiming that the CEO had instructed them not to allow the union and workers to be part of the engagement.
“We must correct the lies that Collins (Letsoalo) fed to security staff. Members of the public have the right to be observers when Scopa is conducting oversight, and no one has the right to prevent them from participating.”
The union further said that while they understand that security officers operate on instructions from management, they must not allow themselves to be misled on the law.
“Numsa had a good reason to be there. The CEO had issued communication the day before, instructing workers to ‘clean up their work stations’ ahead of the meeting. He did this because he wants to hide the piles of boxes with files, which our members are forced to work with every day,” the union said.
According to them, these files are kept in boxes because the RAF has no furniture. At some of its branches, desks, chairs, cabinets and other equipment has been attached by the sheriff because the fund owes money for accident claims, and it is failing to process and pay the claims.
“So workers are forced to sit on top of boxes and use them as chairs. At Menlyn branch, for example, workers bring their own camp chairs to the office because there are no chairs.
“They have no cabinets and files, so they store the claims files in boxes, and this is what Collins did not want Scopa to witness during the oversight visit. This is completely abnormal, and it speaks to the scale of mismanagement and chaos which continues to shroud the RAF,” the union said.
The union claimed that its members complained that Letsoalo was a dictator who would not tolerate any worker speaking out in meetings.
The union accused Letsoalo of being “a law unto himself” at the RAF.
While it is not clear what happened at Scopa’s later visit to the RAF’s Centurion office, the chairperson of Scopa, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, during the events at the Parktown office, came out to speak with Numsa officials in the parking lot.
The union said he explained to the “overzealous” head of security that they hadno right to block members of the public from being observers in the Scopa oversight visits. The Numsa sector co-ordinator, Robert Seroka, was finally allowed inside the premises. Hlengwa also gave his assurance that, as Scopa, they were willing to engage Numsa and workers at the RAF on the allegations of “rampant mismanagement which is still taking place in the organisation”.
“We will be meeting with Scopa, and we will give them a detailed presentation of the true state of affairs of the organisation and the chaotic mismanagement of the fund under the leadership of Collins Letsoalo,” the union said.
The union stressed that it is a public entity and the CEO has a duty to be accountable to all stakeholders, including labour.
The Pretoria News did ask the RAF for comment on Numsa’s allegations, but no response had been received by the time of publishing.
Pretoria News