The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) is not surprised that the Road Accident Fund’s assets are to be auctioned off next month. According to an article in the Citizen the auction is set to take place on the 5th of December. The RAF spokesperson confirmed in an article in the Citizen the sheriff of the court will auction items to the value of R18 million. This is deeply concerning because these assets belong to the state and seemingly nothing is being done to prevent this.
NUMSA is on record for having routinely exposed the fact that the seizure of assets will continue because of maladministration at the highest levels of the Fund. We have noted that even under this Government of National Unity, no effort has been made to intervene in the mismanagement that continues unabated at RAF.
RAF was restructured and workers were affected. It is clear that the restructuring was more about hiding the mismanagement of the board, than it was about improving operational efficiency. Furthermore, in September 2023 NUMSA made detailed submissions to parliaments Standing Committee On Public Accounts (SCOPA) about the mismanagement of RAF and to date nothing has been done. We once again call on SCOPA to resume oversight management of the entity.
The continued mismanagement of the agency has a direct impact on workers because they are exposed to poor working conditions as a result of poor decision making. Our members must bring their own camp chairs to work, because in some cases chairs and desks and other office equipment has been seized by the sheriff. Workers sit on boxes or on the floor when doing their work, because there are no desks or chairs.
A few months ago a sheriff of the court attached the server of the RAF which contains all the personal information of the claimants including their names, addresses and ID numbers, as well as other personal information. Chairs and desks were also taken. The personal information of individuals is now in the hands of a third party, which is a gross violation of the POPI Act section 19(1) (a). RAF is unable to secure the integrity and confidentiality of all the personal information in its possession and if information is sold to unscrupulous people for fraudulent purposes, RAF must take full responsibility.
It seems the prevailing attitude of RAF management is that they have normalized the abnormal. There is a lack of political will to deal decisively with this crisis. They simply expect workers to adjust themselves to these abnormal conditions, and this we reject with contempt.
NUMSA is the only union at RAF that has consistently raised these issues and that has called for corrective action. Unfortunately, as a result of our vigilance, RAF unilaterally cancelled our recognition agreement. They do not want to be accountable to anyone, hence this decision. We are trying to resolve this legally through the courts.
Until direct intervention by the minister is taken against management and the board, nothing will change at RAF. The state has done very little to protect its assets by ensuring that the entity is well run.
NUMSA is calling on the Transport minister, Barbara Creecy to intervene in the board which has failed to provide strategic management and direction to the entity and this is why RAF is in a chaotic state. It is in our interest as a union to see RAF operating optimally, because we want to preserve jobs and ensure its long term sustainability.
ENDS
For more information, please contact:
Phakamile Hlubi-Majola
NUMSA National Spokesperson
0833767725
NUMSA Head Office number: 0116891700
NUMSA Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NumsaSocial
NUMSA Twitter account: @Numsa_Media
NUMSA Website: https://numsa.org.za/
PDF DOWNLOAD: NUMSA calls on Transport minister Barbara Creecy to intervene at RAF