Defaulting affiliates owe BFTU P500,000

EPHRAIM KEORENG
Staff Writer | Friday February 19, 2010 00:00

 

Speaking at a press conference, BFTU secretary general Gadzani Mhotsha said that about 12 affiliates have failed to pay the arrears with some having defaulted for 12 months. The BFTU has 30 affiliates.

The BFTU constitution's clause 4.2.3 stipulates that a member be expelled from the organisation (BFTU) if it fails to pay subscriptions for three months.

But Mhotsha has revealed that at a General Council meeting held over the weekend, it was resolved that the defaulting affiliates should be spared.

'This waiver means that affiliates will have their arrears lifted save for the last three months where affiliates are under suspension...it was in the spirit of solidarity and the desire to resuscitate the labour movement that the General Council resolved to give all the affiliates in arrears a chance to redeem themselves and once more participate actively in the affairs of the federation. We, therefore, encourage all suspended members to take opportunity of this gesture,' he said.

He told reporters that expelling the affiliates would be like telling the defaulters to go and form their own federation, and this would undermine the BFTU's spirit of uniting the labour movement.

When asked what could have led affiliates to default, Mhotsha said most of the reasons were administrative as there were some negligent leaders who feel they were not obliged to pay.

'In most cases members are not even aware that their unions don't pay and hence can't put pressure on their leadership to pay up,' he said.

The secretary general refused to name the defaulters but explained that each union pays 10 percent of what it gets in contributions from its membership.

'Like in the church, where members pay 10 percent of their earnings, BFTU members have to tithe and this money belongs to the BFTU,' he said.