Johannesburg – The administrator of the embattled Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers Union (Ceppwawu) Thulisile Mashanda has come under fire for her intention to retrench 28 employees of the union and her alleged failure to do her job diligently.
Sunday World has seen a letter dated August 30 2021, from Morathi & Matanaka Inc to Mashanda, requesting her to furnish the union with audited financial statements in respect of the expenditure incurred on behalf of the union under her administration.
“You are further required to separately provide information regarding the monthly fees paid to you as the administrator in accordance section 103A[4[[a] of the LRA, including amounts paid to any person[s] you brought along with you to support you in discharging your duties as the administrator of Ceppwawu, from the date of your appointment up to 31 August 2021,” the letter reads in part.
Another demand made by the union was that she provide reasons why she is retrenching staff.
She was given until close of business on Friday to provide the required information and warned that the union will pursue other legal avenues to compel her to do so.
A high-ranking union member said Mashanda was paid monthly fees of up to R500 000, which did not go down well with employees who were facing the axe.
Mashanda told Sunday World that she was aware of the letter from the union.
“My lawyers are seized with the matter. I will be meeting them on Monday on the course of action,” she said.
She could also not confirm whether she was being paid half a million rand a month.
“Firstly, I did not set my own fees. I am a chartered accountant tasked with a difficult task of doing what the court expects of me,” said Mashanda.
The Labour Court in June last year appointed Mashanda as an administrator of Ceppwawu following years of contraventions of regulations governing the functioning of trade unions in the Labour Relations Act. At the heart of the court’s decision was the union’s failure to provide audited financial statements for the financials years ending 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Ceppwawu, which has 55 000 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). At stake is an investment fund with more than R4-billion in assets.
The union holds through its investment company stakes in Aspen, Sasol, Nampak and Transpaco.
A source privy to the tense relationship between the union and Mashanda said that the fight boils down to controlling the finances of the union’s investment arm.
“The administrator brought an application in June 2021 to have all CI directors removed and be replaced by her as the sole director to control CI and it’s funds. The court refused and said she is wrong to believe that CI is owned by Ceppwawu,” the tipster said.
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