The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has alleged that the state agency, the Road Accident Fund (RAF), is chaotic and keeps getting exposed.
This comes after the union appeared before the Labour Court on Thursday to defend the right for RAF employees to strike.
Interim order to block strike
The union was responding to the interim order granted to the RAF on March 13 to block the strike. The order also prevented the planned march to the offices of the Department of Transport.
Phakamile Hlubi-Majola, Numsa national spokesperson, said that RAF claims in its papers that it falls under the social security sector and not transportation. This after the union defended RAF staff’s right to strike in a Thursday appearance before the Labour Court.
“Numsa rejects this with contempt, because it is blatantly false. RAF falls under the responsibility of the Minister of Transport. The RAF board is appointed by the Minister of Transport. The RAF management must be a bunch of lunatics if they believe that this kind of propaganda can be sustained,” said Hlubi-Majola.
Abuse of court process
She went on to say that the RAF conducted itself in a calculated manner to abuse the court process. This in order to get the court to sanction Numsa as a union that has members at the RAF.
“Numsa is the only union with the majority membership at RAF. The only reason they raised the issue of the scope was a desperate attempt to block the strike and the march.
“This is based on the false assertions they submitted to the court. The RAF unilaterally and unlawfully terminated Numsa’s recognition agreement. This has stripped our members of the rights and the protections they had secured as members of Numsa.”
She said Numsa wants the court to issue a declaratory order to the effect that Numsa’s registered scope does not prevent it from organising within the agency. This because the Numsa constitution covers the RAF.
Propaganda to discredit Numsa
“It doesn’t matter how much nonsensical propaganda the RAF churns out in a desperate attempt to discredit Numsa. It is unable to run away from the fact that the entity is being grossly mismanaged. And the chaotic state of the agency keeps being exposed,” Hlubi-Majola added.
“We call on our members to have faith in Numsa. We are fighting back, and we will prevail.”
