Cape Town – The National Assembly committee on higher education has warned the National Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) not to undermine Parliament and use it as a bargaining chip in its relations with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
They warned the biggest public sector union that they risked being not taken seriously and their credibility was on the line for withdrawing from a meeting with the committee at the last minute.
The meeting was meant to receive responses from Nehawu and NSFAS on a string of allegations the union made against the student bursary body, including its head, Randall Carolissen.
Although the union sent its responses in a file containing annexures, its Western Cape provincial secretary, Eric Kweleta, wrote a letter to committee chairperson Philly Mapulane in the morning tendering an apology.
In his letter, Kweleta said their national leaders engaged with Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Blade Nzimande on NSFAS matters, resulting in suspended workers being reinstated, and agreement reached into resolving outstanding issues.
Kweleta said they would determine when to revert to the committee.
Mapulane said it was unfortunate that Nehawu pulled out at the last minute just like it did when it made very serious allegations about governance and administration at Durban University of Technology (DUT).
Mapulane said they wanted to send a strong message to Nehawu that its credibility was on the line.
"They bring issues to us and we deal with the issues. In the middle of the process there is something happening that we don't understand what it is,” he said.
"We must remind Nehawu that Nehawu has been raising issues at NSFAS.
“We have not been giving them the kind of attention until they made a strong statement to us," he said.
"We had felt the issues that they were raising are not that serious. They came to demonstrate that these issues are serious and deserve our attention.
“Now we give them attention, they are running away."
Mapulane warned Nehawu not to undermine the portfolio committee and that it should follow up on issues they brought to Parliament.
"We can’t be used as a bargaining chip which seems to be an issue here. Deals are made behind our back using us," he said.
"If you have a joint proposal between NSFAS and Nehawu, let it be brought to the committee in a transparent way, but what seems to be happening here is something else," Mapulane said.
Mapulane charged that they would not allow back-room dealings to happen when matters were brought to their attention.
"If there are engagements, let us understand the nature of the engagements, the intentions and how they impact on the work we do on the issues brought to our attention," he said.
Mapulane warned Nehawu never to repeat what they did at DUT where they too withdrew at the last minute.
“We are not to take them seriously anymore and it is to impact on their credibility.
“It cannot work like that," Mapulane said.
Political Bureau