Johannesburg - An attempted power grab by a faction of paper and chemicals union Ceppwawu failed in the high court in Pretoria this week, leaving the beleaguered union in an even deeper constitutional and financial hole.
Instead, Ceppwawu general secretary Simon Mofokeng and president Thamsanqa Mhlongo will have to rely on messy and protracted disciplinary hearings in the coming weeks to rid themselves of their rivals. The two have suspended 11 senior members and fired one more.
The Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers Union's Mofokeng and Mhlongo approached the high court to set aside an interim order interdicting them from holding national executive committee (NEC) meetings and implementing decisions from those meetings.
They argued that there had been material changes in the circumstances that occurred subsequent to the granting of the order in April.
However, in a hard-hitting rebuke of Mofokeng and Mhlongo, Judge AC Basson said in her judgment she was not persuaded by the arguments put forward by the Ceppwawu bosses and raised concerns that the opposing faction would be prejudiced if she set aside the order.
Ceppwawu, a Cosatu affiliate, has been rent down the middle for years, in a fight fuelled by Mofokeng and his allies’ attempts to grab direct control of the union’s R6-billion investment fund.
Although the Mofokeng faction has openly flouted the constitutions of both Ceppwawu and Cosatu, as well as basic Labour Relations Act requirements, the faction survives because of the backing it has from Cosatu bosses and Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant.
According to court papers, in January Mofokeng and Mhlongo attempted to seize power following an NEC meeting by fraudulently creating a number of fictitious resolutions. These resolutions purportedly approved the draft audit statements of the union for 2010-13, which the Labour Department had been demanding and which are required under the Act. They also suspended some members from attending NEC meetings, instituted disciplinary action against them, and allowed Mofokeng to “take over complete control of unspecified regions of the union”.
The suspended members then approached the court to stop the resolutions from being implemented and stop NEC meetings from taking place, arguing that if they were not allowed to attend the meetings the members they represented in the union would be prejudiced. The court agreed.
In the latest court bid, Mofokeng’s group attempted to overturn that judgment. They argued that because the NEC gatherings have been halted - the committee is meant to meet three times a year and so far this year there have been no legal meetings - the union’s day-to-day running was being impaired.
They also claimed because these meetings were not being held, they were unable to access their Nedbank internet banking facilities, and that the union was unable to provide the Labour Department with audited financial statements as directed by the Labour Court in yet another verdict against the Mofokeng faction. Incredibly, they also argued that they were not able to call a national congress, although this was meant to have happened in 2014 already.
But the respondents in the case, who include the union’s former general secretary Samuel Seatholo and former treasurer Thulasizwe Sibande, told the court that the reasons forwarded were bogus, and Judge Basson agreed.
She said the union could operate its bank account albeit by giving instructions to Nedbank, and that it had been aware since April that internet banking would be an issue. The respondents said it was not necessary for an NEC meeting to sit to nominate new internet banking administrators, and while two of the employees authorised to make electronic transfers had been suspended, they remained willing to render their services. Mofokeng told the court he no longer trusted these employees.
The judge also said that she did not believe the NEC had to urgently sit to agree to a national congress because “in light of the union’s history of inaction in calling a national congress there is no pressing need for an NEC meeting”.
She also concluded that the prima facie evidence of widespread fraud remained extant.
“In conclusion, the fact that all the respondents (except for one) have since the order of Modiba J either been dismissed or expelled, has in my view only served to aggravate the potential prejudice to the respondents and especially those who represent certain regions,” Basson said.
“Unions are by their very nature democratic institutions and should therefore be seen to act democratically and in the interest of their members and not only in the interest of a select few. Excluding the respondents from participation in the NEC meetings, especially against the background of resolutions that have been found to have (prima facie) been taken fraudulently, is not in the broader interest of the union and its members.”
Sunday Independent