Satawu demands immediate payment for unpaid NTI workers

The cash-strapped Northwest Transport Investments (NTI) is set to receive a subsidy payment from the Gauteng provincial government and the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) wants the entity to immediately pay workers. 

The union said some workers have not been paid their salaries for close to a year now. 

Satawu said it was concerned that these workers remained unpaid despite the court ruling against the former business rescue practitioner (BRP), Thomas Samons. 

The union said NTI must prioritise the workers as soon as it receives the money from the Gauteng provincial government. 

“We also want to state that NTI must be extra cautious with the funds. We want to emphasise that we do not trust Thomas at all, he can manoeuvre to get through the money,” Satuwu said. 

NTI is a public and state-owned enterprise under the North West provincial government. It operates as a public transport entity, particularly focused on public transport within and outside the province. 

Samons was appointed in July 2022, after NTI experienced financial challenges. His responsibility was to turn the entity around to make it more sustainable and generate income to pay creditors, primarily of whom are the employees. 

The Pretoria High Court removed Samons as the business rescue practitioner following a legal battle that laid bare his alleged trail of destruction, including causing financial woes for workers by failing to pay them in November last year. 

This follows applications by Satawu and the North West Department of Community Safety and Transport Management. 

The court ruled that he was not fit to hold the position as he failed to rescue the entity. 

Satawu said it has also learned that Samons approached the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein. The union believes this is another tactic of Samons to say he is still at the NTI as the matter is at the SCA despite the Pretoria High Court ruling. 

The high court also rejected his appeal in March.

Asked to comment, Samons said this is fake, adding that he is the enemy of those who perpetrated fraud, corruption and theft. 

“Stopping the criminals will never make me popular. I am a professional and I will not back off. Bad media and fake stories do not defeat the truth. So, please, whoever put you up to publish yet another bull***t story, tell them what I said,” he said, adding that he also wants to send a hard-hitting story to expose them.

Meanwhile, Satawu spokesperson Amanda Tshemese said the union believes the entity would prioritise workers’ salaries and backpay them every cent that is due to them. She added that the entity should also service NTI buses. 

“The reality is, most of the buses are not roadworthy and they are exposing our members and commuters at risk and that is unacceptable. Our members and workers should always be safe while on duty,” she said. 

Gauteng Department of Road and Transport spokesperson, Lesiba Mpya, said the department’s monitoring service provider was in the process of finalising claims to confirm the actual amount to be paid after penalties have been imposed.

“Therefore we are, however, not able at this stage to confirm the total amount,” he said

North West Community Safety and Transport Management spokesperson, Charles Matlou, said the money would be used to pay workers and creditors, adding that indeed some workers were not paid for some months while others received half of their salaries.

Matlou added that the reason for this is that Samons was using the money selectively and not paying other workers. 

“Hence when the department noticed this anomaly, acted swiftly and went to court to challenge his presence at the entity and the court ruled in the department's favour that he failed to rescue the entity. 

"Unfortunately, he appealed the Gauteng North High Court ruling (at SCA), so we still await the court date for the appeal,” said Matlou.

A former employee at NTI said employees have been struggling under Samons and could not survive under his arm as the BRP anymore. 

“It's not fake that Samons did not pay salaries for 11 months. I'm pleading on behalf of the employees with President Ramaphosa to intervene because Thomas Samons thinks that he is the law by himself,” said the employee.

manyane.manyane@inl.co.za