Johannesburg - Cosatu is baying for the blood of Eskom’s former acting CEO Collin Matjila, who is alleged to have been involved in financial maladministration involving millions of rand.
The federation’s president S’dumo Dlamini did not mince his words this week when he told reporters: “You can run, but you can never hide.”
Matjila headed up Cosatu’s investment wing, Kopano Ke Matla, for a number of years. Under his watch, Kopano which concluded property deals for Cosatu, lost R16-million.
This was after the Financial Services Board (FSB) started investigating Kopano Financial Services, a subsidiary of Kopano, for failing to meet the requirements it needed to have its own administration system in 2010. Eventually investigations showed that millions of rand were plundered from the employee provident fund through various entities.
The FSB opened a criminal case against Matjila, who became Eskom’s acting CEO after leaving Cosatu last year. But nothing has come from it.
Dlamini, who was speaking following a three-day meeting of Cosatu’s central executive committee (CEC) in Johannesburg, said the federation had continuously tried to get Matjila to answer questions on the findings of the forensic investigation.
“We have had to run around. He runs, we follow. He runs, we follow,” Dlamini said.
Cosatu is a facing serious cash crunch, with a budget shortfall of more than R14-million for this year. This does not include R7-million it will need for a national congress this year.
The dodgy sale and purchase of its old and new headquarters have added to this financial pressure.
The CEC heard this week that Cosatu’s financial committee had proposed that a number of posts be frozen and the operational budget be cut.
Cosatu deputy general secretary Bheki Ntshalinshali said the CEC, which is made up of 17 unions, had instructed the federation’s secretariat come up with a long-tem funding plan for the body.
This would include the role that union investment companies could play in helping affiliates and Cosatu financially.
“When investment companies are set up, their mandate is to fund us (but this is) put aside in favour of profits.
“We need to debate the sustainability of the federation,” he said.
Ntshaltshali played down Cosatu’s deficit, saying it was not the job of the federation to make money, but rather to break even.
He said the cuts, which ranged from Cosatu’s policy unit to its telephone usage, were necessary.
“You cannot spend what you don’t have.”
Cosatu’s financial woes stem from a number of issues. The labour federation, the largest on the African continent, is wracked with internal fighting, which resulted in its largest affiliate, Numsa, being expelled. Numsa’s contribution in affiliation fees was R900,000 a month, amounting to just under R11-million per annum.
Dlamini also alleges that some affiliates who are aligned to Numsa have been withholding their affiliation fees. Others are paying less because of a drop in membership numbers.
The forensic report detailing Matjila’s alleged dodgy dealings was tabled at a Cosatu CEC meeting last year. The auditors advised Cosatu to investigate Kopano’s alleged misappropriation of funds as was suggested earlier by the FSB.
Matjila could not be reached on his cellphone for comment.
Group Labour Editor