Major regulatory body accused of mismanaging R2.59 billion in workers’ benefits

The National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry (NBCRFLI) has come under fire for seemingly mismanaging billions of rands in workers’ benefits.

The NBCRFLI 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 reportedly 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.

ISS managing director Arnoux Maré said the NBCRFLI must urgently address the concerns raised by the publication of these financial statements.

“Every rand in its benefit belongs to a truck driver, a forklift operator, or a warehouse worker,” Maré said. “Workers should be able to see whether those funds remain properly ring-fenced.”

“They should know 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’ benefit.”

ISS explained that as benefit funds are folded into the council’s own accounts, it becomes more difficult to determine whether enough has been set aside to pay workers’ claims.

The council allegedly did not prepare separate statements or audits for its Sick Pay, Holiday Pay, Leave Pay, and Wellness funds, which it is legally required to do.

During 2025, the NBCRFLI recorded R78.5 million in Wellness Fund investments as council assets without showing a clear matching obligation to the fund.

Additionally, it recorded R364.5 million in Wellness Fund contributions as council revenue, while R309.7 million in medical expenses was treated as council expenses.

Through its analysis, ISS also found the Sick Pay, Holiday Pay, and Leave Pay funds had accrued combined shortfalls of R35.8 million in 2021, R23.1 million in 2022, and R31.2 million in 2023.

“The concern is not simply whether the funds are solvent today,” Maré said. “Workers are entitled to understand why these deficits persisted and what has since been done to prevent them from recurring.”

Maré called on the Registrar and Department of Employment and Labour to verify compliance and require the NBCRFLI to publish its separate benefit fund accounts.

The National Bargaining Council’s response

Daily Investor reached out to the NBCRFLI for comment on the ISS claims, and received the following response from Council Spokesperson Amos Tshabalala: