Former National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) second deputy president, Ruth Ntlokotse, says she feels vindicated by Tuesday’s Labour Appeals Court (LAC) finding on the clear separation of powers of Numsa’s central committee and other structures.
On Tuesday, the LAC, sitting in Johannesburg, ruled that the suspension of Ntlokotse last year was invalid.
The court also ruled that the accreditation of delegates who attended the union’s national congress in July last year was invalid.
“The suspension of Ruth Ntlokotse is unconstitutional, invalid and unenforceable,” the court ruled.
Acting Judge John Smith, in the ruling handed down this week, said the union’s central committee had wrongly placed Ntlokotse on suspension and had “on a whim” arrogated powers to itself that it was not entitled to in terms of the union’s constitution.
“As an affected person by the ruthless and brazen suspension and subsequent expulsion imposed by the Numsa central command (CC), I am vindicated by the LAC judgment as the LAC declared that Numsa did not follow and honour its own constitution in that the CC unconstitutionally suspended me as an office bearer. The power to suspend rests with the national executive committee,” Ntlokotse said.
However, in their own statement, Numsa said it welcomes the clarification and separation of powers indicated by the court of the duties of its Central Committee (CC), the Regional Executive Committee (REC) and the National Executive Committee (NEC) structures.
The union, which is affiliated to the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu), applied to the LAC in order to correct the misinterpretation of the powers of these structures, following the judgment of Justice Moshoana in the LAC, who, in July 2022, ordered that the 11th Numsa National Congress must be interdicted.
Spokesperson for the union, Phakamile Hlubi-Majola, said the confusion has resulted in many problems that have arisen since last year’s LAC interdict against the union’s elective conference.
The conference was almost cancelled following a court challenge led by Ntlokotse and other suspended Numsa members who wanted the conference to be interdicted until such time Numsa was able to abide by its own constitution.
Hlubi-Majola said the powers of its structures have been a source of confusion for some people within and outside Numsa.
“We have noted that certain people celebrated the judgment prematurely and misinterpreted it to advance their factional agenda. We are setting the record straight because we have noticed that our detractors, who permanently tiptoe in the shadows, infiltrating Numsa and Saftu in various ways in their political clumsy desperation, cannot even read and interpret a judgment,” Hlubi-Majola said.
The union revealed that the confusion was due to lack of understanding of Numsa structures.
Ntlokotse said this is a victory for justice and for workers. “The judgement shows that my suspension and the suspension of other officials and shop stewards was politically motivated -- a political witch-hunt meant to eliminate those who dared to challenge the way the union is run. It was also meant to consolidate power for the leaders who felt threatened by growing dissent and the possibility of losing power,” she said.
The Star