By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry (NBCRFLI/Council) is considering taking legal action against Innovative Staffing Solutions (ISS) Director, Arnoux Maré.
NBCRFLI has come under fire for seemingly mismanaging billions of rands in workers’ benefits.
It was established in 1946 to regulate employment conditions, wages, and labour standards in South Africa’s road freight and logistics sector.
An analysis of the council’s audited financial statements from 2018 to 2025 found that R2.59 billion in worker benefit assets had been treated as council property in 2025.
The NBCRFLI has thus been accused of placing the money it collected for workers’ benefits on its books as its own assets, raising concerns over transparency in the council’s financial reporting.
The analysis follows an application for disclosure of the council’s financial statements, brought before the High Court in March 2024 by Innovative Staffing Solutions (ISS).
ISS challenged the constitutionality of the NBCRFLI’s Main Collective Agreement after it stopped making its financial statements publicly available.
The High Court granted the application and ordered the NBCRFLI to produce the requested financial statements and to pay ISS’s legal costs.
The council is legally required by its own rules to make its financial information publicly available without the need for court action.
Earlier Fullview reported that, “The Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA) confirmed that statements issued by the NBCRFLI regarding an investigation finding no financial wrongdoing were inaccurate.”
Maré said the IRBA correction strikes at the heart of the Council’s attempt to dismiss the concerns raised.
“In a desperate attempt to dispute our analysis and questions, the Council resorted to invoking the authority of an independent regulator, telling workers, employers, the media, and the public that IRBA had investigated these matters and found no wrongdoing. This was blatantly false, and if the Bargaining Council can misrepresent something as fundamental as the findings of an independent regulator, then stakeholders should ask what else it may be misrepresenting.”
In its recent statement, NBCRFLI noted: “ISS failed to mention that it reported the same allegations to the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA), after IRBA investigations found no wrongdoing insofar as the Council’s financials are concerned.”
Musa Ndlovu, National Secretary of the NBCRFLI said, “The Councli refuses to be drawn into a public spat with ISS and will explore the legal options available to it against the defamatory statements.
“We will not allow ISS’s misleading media statements to divert our attention from the substantive legal issues before the court which relate to non-compliance with the Main Collective Agreement (MCA) and failure by Maré to comply with the court order,” said Ndlovu.
Ndlovu said, “The NBCRFLI’s audited financial statements, including those for the financial year ending 28 February 2026, are available on its website, on which Council has repeatedly received unqualified audit opinions.”
Council continues to enforce compliance with the MCA without fear or favour and disburses workers’ benefits without challenge, added Ndlovu.