The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa condemns the CEO of the road Accident Fund (RAF), Mr. Collins Letsoalo for being a bully and a dictator. Recently the Standing Committee of Public Accounts (SCOPA) conducted an oversight visit at the Road Accident Fund offices in Parktown, and at later stage they will be at RAF offices in Centurion.
NUMSA officials and Shopstewards, who are employees of RAF arrived on the premises, they were prevented by security from attending the meeting and engaging SCOPA. The head of security claimed that we 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 behavior! They justified their outrageous and unlawful behavior 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 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. While we understand that security officers operate on instructions from management, they must not allow themselves to be misled on the law.
NUMSA had a very 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. These files are kept in boxes because 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. Workers are forced to use boxes as makeshift desks in some cases. 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.
Our members complain that Collins is dictator who will not tolerate any worker speaking out in meetings. We experienced his authoritarian tendencies today when he had the audacity to try and block union representatives from participating as observers in SCOPA’s oversight visit. Collins is a union basher who has no respect for organized labour, and he does not respect centralized bargaining. He is a law unto himself at RAF and unfortunately, as long as he is in charge, the RAF will continue to be mismanaged and it will continue to be in a crisis. NUMSA is calling for the removal of the CEO because RAF can never improve under his leadership. He clearly has something to hide which is why he issued the instruction to block NUMSA Shopstewards from being part of the oversight visit.
We are thankful that the chairperson of SCOPA Mr. Mkhuleko Hlengwa who came out to engage NUMSA officials in the parking lot, and he patiently explained to the overzealous head of security, that they have no right to block members of the public from being observers in the SCOPA oversight visits. As a result of this, the NUMSA sector coordinator, comrade Robert Seroka was finally allowed inside the premises. Mr. Hlengwa also gave his assurance that as SCOPA they are willing to engage NUMSA and workers at RAF on the rampant mismanagement which is still taking place in the organization. We will be meeting with SCOPA and we will give them a detailed presentation of the true state of affairs of the organization, and the chaotic mismanagement of the Fund under the leadership of Collins Letsoalo. Collins must remember that RAF is not his personal spaza shop where he can do as he pleases. It is a public entity and he has a duty to be accountable to all stakeholders, including labour.
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