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The South African Medical Association Trade Union and COSATU strongly reiterate their condemnation of the decision to dissolve SAMATU, a union arm of SAMA by the association’s board. Since this decision was taken, we have met to discuss its implications on the workers and also to map a way forward.  We want to make sure that interests of the workers are not compromised by this illegal decision.

Firstly, SAMA is a registered trade union with department of labour since 1996, and its constitution gives the decision making powers to the Congress and the NEC. The administrative decisions are left to the NOB and PECs.  Further, section 13 of the Constitution gives direction on the dissolution of the trade union.  It must be noted that such a resolution was never raised by the PECs or the NEC.  No congress adopted such a resolution, therefore the people who purported to have the powers to run the affairs of the Trade union are primarily not members of the trade union but the non-profit company. 

The trade union constitution does not provide for de-establishment of its structures.  Where the membership is not happy about the functionality of the operational structures, the membership is empowered to call for a special congress to resolve or to elect new leaders.

In February 2016, the SAMA Board took a decision to dissolve the trade union arm of the association, SAMATU.  The decisions of the board are not binding to the trade union because the trade union is founded on Labour Relations Act provisions and not Company laws.  This attempt by the board to subjugate the trade union has been vigorously rejected by the trade union leadership and membership.

SAMA NPC pronouncement relating to de-establishment of the trade union is therefore unlawful and unenforceable as far as the trade union constitution is concerned. That pronouncement is also unlawful and irregular according to their own memorandum of incorporation. The trade union is not a subcommittee to the NPC structures and it will never become such.

The seizure of trade union machinery and its subscriptions by the board against the interests of its paying membership, leaving them vulnerable is seen in a serious light by the workers. The legal processes are underway to hold the past and present directors of SAMA NPC to account for their careless decisions.

The board has for years failed to comply with the financial accountability that the LRA demands. The board refuses to comply with the demands from the registrar of labour to submit a balance sheet of assets, or a portion of assets owned by the trade union. The board acted beyond its mandate by taking this resolution; it is the National Council that has the powers to ratify such decisions. Numerous calls to the board to convene an urgent National Council or Extra-Ordinary General meeting were flatly ignored by SAMA.

The warning from the registrar of labour that this decision is against the LRA was met with a threat by the board to take the registrar to court. The board is hell-bent to wasting membership fees on protracted legal battles than listening to its own members. The millions that the board is willing to waste fighting this destructive resolution could be best utilized to fight for doctors’ rights. This is the same way the board has been wasting millions of membership fees through endless bailouts of some subsidiaries that the board runs.

Today, we are here to launch and strengthen the struggle to defend the needs and aspirations of the doctors. We demand the reversal of the decision to dissolve the trade union because it is illegal. This unilateral decision may lead to the cancelation or deregistration of SAMA as a trade union, resulting in a loss of organizational rights. This will expose doctors to serious labour relations consequences such as dismissals and continuous abuse by repressive medical aid schemes. SAMA should to stop fronting as a trade union.
We also call for the dissolution of the SAMA Board because the board does not reflect the demographic makeup of the members and the profession. The board should make sure that SAMATU resources are used in the interest of its members. SAMATU demands that membership fees and all assets accumulated through its membership should be best utilized to serve doctors who are the rightful owners of those asserts.

A national consultative drive will be undertaken in collaboration with COSATU, NEHAWU and  DENOSA to get the mandate from our members on the way forward regarding the restoration of our affairs and the restructuring our investment vehicles. We will be preparing workers for a battle ahead because we plan to heighten the campaign to demand our trade union rights and the transformation of the health sector. We call on all workers, progressive civil society and South Africans in general to join us in our campaign. 
As doctors, we see ourselves first and foremost as workers who must fight for their rights through a trade union. We also have a professional responsibility to be advocates for our patients and have a moral and ethical duty to make sure that patients get access to quality healthcare services always.

We shall ensure that SAMATU represents all doctors in South African with transparency, honesty, participatory democracy, and accountability. But we have also committed ourselves to dealing decisively with problems hindering delivery of health services in the public sector by actively participating and lobbying for progressive decisions and actions. We are fully behind the National Health Insurance that is a single payer system. We will equally champion the interests of doctors in the private sector by demanding immediate abolishment of medical aids, undue control over general practitioners and specialists, demand fair financial or economic participation in the health value chain. We want and demand cheaper indemnity cover for doctors and are unwavering in our commitment in uniting the doctors towards their professional and financial liberation.

Issued by COSATU