By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry (NBCRFLI) has refuted claims of financial mismanagement involving R2.59 billion in employee benefit funds.
NBCRFLI accuses Innovative Staffing Solutions (ISS) Director, Arnoux Maré, peddling the misinformation in the name of raising an alarm about Council’s financial management.
The matter stems from a 2024 case in which ISS took the NBCRFLI to court after the Council stopped making its financial statements public.
The High Court ruled against the Council and ordered it to publish its financial statements for 2018 to 2025 and to pay ISS’s legal fees.
Maré told Fullview that the Council’s own rules require its financial information to be made available, and court action should not have been necessary to obtain it. “Now that its financial statements have been made public, the Council must address the concerns these statements have brought to light.”
“Every rand in its benefit funds belongs to a truck driver, a forklift operator, or a warehouse worker. Workers should be able to see whether those funds remain properly ring-fenced, whether each fund can meet what it owes to workers, how income earned on that money is being used, and whether it is being used for workers’ benefit.”
Troublingly, the analysis also found that the Sick Pay, Holiday Pay and Leave Pay funds did not have enough assets to cover what they owed at each year-end from 2021 to 2023. Their combined shortfall stood at R35.8 million in 2021, R23.1 million in 2022, and R31.2 million in 2023, added Mare.
When the published financial records were analysed, R2.59 billion that was intended for worker benefits was listed on the Council’s financial records as if it were the Council’s own property.
The Council did not produce separate audited financial statements for each fund, which violates legal requirements.
The ISS called on the Registrar and the Department of Employment and Labour to verify compliance and to require the publication of the separate benefit fund accounts.
However, the NBCRFLI in a statement to Fullview said, that the ISS’s statements were retaliatory and that the ISS was spreading misinformation about the Council.
“This false alarm is a familiar tactic to tarnish Council’s image for standing its ground against ISS’s non-compliance,” said the NBCRFLI.
The Council said that the statements from the ISS follow the Council’s refusal to withdraw an industry circular regarding pending writs of arrest against the ISS CEO for failing to comply with the Main Collective Agreement.
It said that the R2.59 billion belongs solely to industry employees and that this amount represents funds collected to manage Sick Pay, Holiday Pay, and Leave Pay Funds, which are distributed to eligible workers as needed and are not considered Council property.
The Council highlighted that ISS had previously reported similar allegations to the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA), whose investigation found no wrongdoing regarding the Council’s financial records.
The NBCRFLI said that under the Labour Relations Act, the IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standards, the Main Collective Agreement, and its Constitution, it is not required to produce separate financial statements for each individual fund.
Instead, it is legally required to prepare a single consolidated annual financial statement that covers both the Main Council and its benefit funds.
The Council said that external auditors reviewed both the Council and its benefit funds and that it received unqualified audit opinions for 10 consecutive years, up to the financial year ending February 2026.
It also said that the claims that the funds operated at a deficit are inaccurate. The Council said that in 2023, the Sick Pay, Holiday Pay, and Leave Pay funds had asset surpluses exceeding liabilities, amounting to R118,925,865.
In 2022, this figure was R4,572,969, while in 2021, assets equalled liabilities. For the 2024/25 financial year, the Council said the Wellness Fund generated an income of R371,346,468 against expenses of R348,951,695, resulting in a net surplus of R22,394,773.
Wellness Fund contributions are not treated as Council revenue and medical expenses are not treated as Council expenses. Therefore, Mr Maré’s claims are baseless and unfounded, said the NBCRFLI.
Total benefit payments to industry workers reached R3,405,306,928 in the 2025/26 financial year, compared to R3,285,077,573 in 2024/25, according to the Council.
Additionally, the NBCRFLI claimed it had processed 14,048 unclaimed benefit payments, valued at R14,783,388.16, for the financial year ending in February 2026.