‘Bogus union’ linked to Zuma gets deregistered

The department of labour (DoL) has reportedly cancelled the registration of a “bogus” labour union linked to President Jacob Zuma and covert agents of the country’s intelligence organisation, the State Security Agency (SSA).

News24 reported that in a notice published in the Government Gazette on Friday, the acting registrar of labour relations at the department, Malixole Ntelki, cancelled the registration of the Workers Association Union (WAU).

The union is alleged to have been established at the behest of Zuma during a strike in the North West platinum belt with the help of agents from the SSA to spy on and try to weaken the militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), a union that is not affiliated to the African National Congress.

The news website reported that a founding member of the WAU, Thebe Maswabi, is suing Zuma, State Security Minister David Mahlobo and several other Cabinet ministers over their role in the union’s establishment.

In court papers lodged at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, Maswabi alleges that Zuma personally instructed him to help form the WAU in 2013, according to the report.

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Maswabi also alleges that he initially received large amounts of cash from the SSA agents to pay the rent for the WAU’s offices, among other expenses for running the union, but the payments later stopped, leaving him to foot the bill.

A cellphone number on the WAU’s original registration document at the DoL was traced to a known SSA operative and husband to one of Zuma’s legal advisers.

This prompted the department to launch an internal investigation into the role Thembinkosi Mkalipi, the DoL’s chief director of labour relations, had in the registration of WAU with the department.

An acting spokesperson for the department told the news website the office of the registrar of labour relations was “in the process of deregistering several labour unions that do not comply with statutory requirements or which are deemed to be no longer operational”.

Mokgadi Pela said the intention to deregister WAU was published sometime in September 2016, and there was no challenge to the deregistration.

It remains unclear whether the DoL has finished its investigation into the WAU’s formation.