Hundreds of aggrieved workers of the Northwest Transport Investment (NTI) bus company marched peacefully to the headquarters of the National Department of Transport in Tshwane yesterday.
This in demand for the department to intervene in their plight.
Marching under the banner and leadership of South African Workers Union-Ya Bashumi, their memorandum was received on behalf of the department by Chief Director Lesiba Manamela.
They were supported by different organisation notinmyname, TUT EFF students, Batsanahare commuters, Bohlaba committe forum, EFF PR councilor Odwa Notununu, including commuters.
Manamela admitted that the department was aware of the challenges facing NTI workers and that the Minister of Transport would engage with the Gauteng Provincial Government, which is the contractor in this matter, as well as the North West Provincial Government, which is the owner of NTI.
“We will respond to your demands after seven days as stipulated in your memorandum,” said Manamela to the NTI workers.
The plight of the NTI workers started last year and is still ongoing at the moment.
The main demand of the NTI workers is for the employer to pay them their outstanding salaries in full with immediate effect.
The company has failed to pay their salaries for up to five months now and it is reported that some of the workers have as a result committed suicide as their houses and cars have been repossessed by banks and their insurance and funeral policies have been cancelled due to lack of payment.
Some NTI workers told Tshwane Talks that their children have been suspended from school while others pointed out that their wives were divorcing them due to their failure to provide for household needs.
Reading from the memorandum submitted by the unpaid workers to the Transport Department, South African Workers Union-Ya Bashumi Secretary General Lebusa Mamoragane, said the following:
“SAWU-Ya Bashumi together with NTI workers to the North West Government in October 2023 to demand the payment of 5 months salaries owed to workers by NTI and the MEC of Finance in that province subsequently promised in his budget adjustment speech of 2023/2024 that he would pay R389 million to NTI as a way of addressing the payment issue,” said Mamoragane.
“But only R97 million was actually paid towards the outstanding salaries, covering only 4 of the 5 months salaries owed to workers,” he said.
“It is alleged that the balance of R92 million was then actually returned to the National Treasury without legitimate reasons, thus leaving workers without pay in December 2023,” explained Mamoragane.
He said NTI has in the past been subjected to mismanagement and corruption which has left the company almost bankrupt.
“The South African Workers Union-Ya Bashumi has observed that NTI has failed to implement the Basic Conditions of Employment requirements by consistently failing to pay workers their salaries,” he said.
” NTI has therefore failed to sustain livelihoods of its workers and we call for immediate and definitive intervention from the government to ensure that the company continues to serve commuters and also pay workers their salaries every month,” said Lebusa.
“The NTI is a company that is subsided by the Gauteng Provincial government, and it is meant to provide bus transport services to historically disadvantaged commuters of Gauteng,” emphasised Lebusa.
He pointed out that the Business Rescue Practitioner (BRP) has taken decisive action in an attempt to address the challenges facing NTI but was hampered by maladministration, corruption and unavailability of resources to enable him to conduct audits, investigations and interventions.
He then outlined the following points of intervention that his union think would save NTI from total collapse:
1.Capital injection from the shareholder
2. Negotiating a compromise.
3. Move to a full-maintenance lease model
4.Cease unprofitable routes and services.
5. A sell off of the company.
Member of the Hammanskraal Commuters Forum Podumo Makgaye pointed out that many workers who are not employed by NTI lost their jobs due to NTI’s failure to provide them with transport to go to work.
“We support NTI workers and SAWU-Ya Bashumi wholeheartedly in their demand for salaries because their plight is our plight as commuters,” he said.
Member of the Batswanahare Commuters Forum Elizabeth Chauke pointed out that many people that she knows have lost their jobs due unavailability of transport which should be provided by NTI drivers.
She also blamed members of her organisation for taking bribes instead of holding NTI to account and make sure it provides the much-required transport.