{"id":876402,"date":"2026-09-21T14:24:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T12:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=876402"},"modified":"2026-09-21T14:24:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T12:24:19","slug":"red-flags-over-r2-6-billion-owed-to-workers-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/876402\/red-flags-over-r2-6-billion-owed-to-workers-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Red flags over R2.6 billion owed to workers in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry (NBCRFLI) has listed R2.59 billion in worker benefit funds as its own property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was revealed in an analysis of the NBCRFLI’s audited financial statements, which raised concerns about the council\u2019s financial reporting and its reliance on investment earnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NBCRFLI represents sectors that transport goods by motor vehicle for a fee, including general freight, furniture removal, courier services, and cash-in-transit (CIT).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also oversees the storage of goods, which involves receiving, unpacking, packing, dispatching, clearing, and accounting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NBCRFLI does not cover all transport businesses; those that transport their own goods, like Shoprite Group, Woolworths, and Pick n Pay, are exempt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The analysis follows a case from 2024, when Innovative Staffing Solutions (ISS) took the NBCRFLI to court after the council stopped making its financial statements public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The High Court ruled against the council and ordered it to publish its financial statements for 2018 to 2025 and to pay ISS\u2019s legal fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the published financial records were analysed, R2.59 billion that was intended for worker benefits was listed on the council\u2019s financial records as if it were the council\u2019s own property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The council did not produce separate audited financial statements for each fund, which violates legal requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not having separate audited statements for each fund makes it very difficult for workers to assess whether their funds are securely protected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The worker benefits include Sick Pay, Holiday Pay, Leave Pay, and Wellness benefits for workers such as truck drivers, forklift operators, and warehouse staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another concern was that the three key worker benefit funds did not have sufficient assets to cover workers’ owed amounts at year-end for three consecutive years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The combined shortfalls were R35.8 million in 2021, R23.1 million in 2022, and R31.2 million in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another R364.5 million in Wellness Fund contributions, as well as R309.7 million in medical expenses, were mixed into the Council\u2019s income and expenses, which severely blur financial boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ISS calls on the Department of Employment and Labour to intervene<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
ISS Managing Director Arnoux Mar\u00e9 <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

ISS Managing Director Arnoux Mar\u00e9 said that the council\u2019s own rules require its financial information to be made available, and court action should not have been necessary to obtain it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow that its financial statements have been made public, the council must address the concerns these statements have brought to light,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWorkers 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\u2019 benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NBCRFLI funds a large portion of its daily operations through interest earned on worker benefit funds, rather than relying on administrative levies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the year ending February 2025, the NBCRFLI earned R325 million on interest, which is more than double the R148.1 million it collected in levies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings indicated that the levies contributed less than 18% of the total revenue of R837.7 million, while interest income has exceeded levy income every year since 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also found that benefit fund investments accounted for R2.59 billion of the R3.42 billion investment portfolio, which represents 76% of the total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings revealed that the organisation’s financial sustainability heavily depends on interest and investment returns, which makes it vulnerable to changes in market conditions and interest rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the Council\u2019s only recorded deficit in eight years occurred in 2022, when interest income fell to R131.4 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ISS is now urging the Department of Employment and Labour and the Registrar to intervene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ISS is calling on the Registrar and Department of Employment and Labour to verify compliance and require publication of the separate benefit fund accounts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also urging the Council\u2019s employer and union parties to review how investment earnings and accumulated surpluses are used.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The financial statements of the National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry (NBCRFLI) have raised serious concerns over worker benefit assets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":876452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2102011223814390135","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2212055212948211","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18442933321192818","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[17130,26591,26590],"class_list":["post-876402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-department-of-employment-and-labour","tag-innovative-staffing-solutions-iss","tag-national-bargaining-council-for-the-road-freight-and-logistics-industry-nbcrfli"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876402"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":876467,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876402\/revisions\/876467"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/876452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}