Union boss scores big in shady Sasol deal

UNION boss Simon Mofokeng and his wife, Maureen, are raking in at least R320 000 a month from a shady empowerment deal with petrochemical giant Sasol that is worth up to R60-million a year.

Mofokeng is the general secretary of the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers' Union (Ceppwawu), a Cosatu affiliate with a major presence at Sasol.

He is also an employee and silent partner of Khotso-Batho Mining Services, which receives millions from a coal-handling contract with Sasol.

According to a senior source at Sasol, Mofokeng was instrumental in pressuring the company to comply with the government's BEE policy in appointing black-owned contractors. Khotso-Batho is one of the beneficiaries.

His wife, the company's sole director and CEO, owns a 90% stake. The remaining 10% belongs to the ANC spokesman in North West, Obakeng Malao.

The Mail & Guardian reported in 2010 that Mofokeng was under investigation for using his union position to negotiate the deal for his wife's company. At the time, Sasol said she had become a director only in 2002. The contract was awarded in 2000.

The Sunday Times has established that Mofokeng signed a secret agreement in 2000 to hold an initial 25% stake in the company through a proxy , according to two independent sources who witnessed the deal.

Mofokeng also allegedly uses his influence to receive favourable treatment for his family business from Sasol.

According to the company's website, the Sasol deal is its sole breadwinner. In the past six months, Khotso-Batho invoiced Sasol for between R2.7-million and R5.2-million a month.

Payslips show that in 2010 Mofokeng earned a salary of R130 000 a month and his wife brought in R190 000, compared with the company's average salary of R17 800. The lowest-paid workers got R3 600.

Mofokeng's earnings from the Sasol deal are in addition to his union salary of R21 400, plus a R20 000 car allowance for an Audi A5, according to union sources.

Ceppwawu, however, does not allow a general secretary to hold full-time positions outside the union.

Deeds records show that, since the company clinched the deal, the couple have bought properties worth R5.7-million. These include a house in Faerie Glen, Pretoria, in 2003 for R1.2-million, one in Harrismith in the Free State in 2006 for R2.1-million, one in Douglasdale, Johannesburg, in 2008 for R1-million and another in Morningside, Johannesburg, in 2012 for R1.1-million.

Several sources close to the couple provided the Sunday Times with details of their extravagant lifestyle, but they could not be confirmed independently.

They allegedly go on regular overseas holidays, including one to the pope's inaugural Easter mass.

By contrast, Khotso-Batho's non-unionised workers live in squalor.

Elias Selemela lives in a shack in Embalenhle township in Secunda. He worked for the company for four years without an increase, earning R13.60 an hour. In March he was laid off.

"We were paid peanuts, whereas Maureen and Simon are living large, driving expensive cars and going overseas on holidays," he said. "Workers there are not even allowed to join any union, yet Simon is a union leader."

Internal documents also reveal that Mofokeng's role went far deeper than exercising improper influence to secure sweetheart deals.

Minutes show that he presided over board meetings at which discussions included plans to retrench workers, slashing the pay of those kept on and keeping their contracts as short as possible.

Several well-placed sources at Ceppwawu and Sasol have told the Sunday Times that Mofokeng regularly uses his leadership position at the union to further Khotso-Batho's interests.

Former Ceppwawu president Jacob Mabena claimed that in 2007, when all sectors of the union agreed to go on strike, Mofokeng privately told him he would make sure that workers at Sasol's Secunda plant, where Khotso-Batho operates, would not go on strike.

Mabena said he received regular complaints from workers at Sasol mines that settlements were imposed on them.

"He's conflicted. His position at Ceppwawu benefits his company. He's doing Sasol's bidding in return for having his company's contract renewed," he said.

Founding Ceppwawu member and former Eastern Cape leader Sakhiwo Zako agrees. "It's absolutely wrong. Our union is very weak at Sasol," he said. "It's a direct conflict of interest. He's a labour broker. When we drafted the [Ceppwawu] constitution, we never dreamed we would get this calibre of cadre."

A former Sasol manager, who did not want to be named, said Mofokeng would regularly issue strike threats to further Khotso-Batho's interests. "Management ended up giving him continuous work and extended his contracts, even though their performance was poor," he said. "Everyone knew that if you keep Simon happy, there won't be a strike."

Sasol claims the allegations against Mofokeng are being peddled by "factions within this union [who] seek to legitimise their internal struggles by making unfounded claims against Sasol", said spokesman Jacqui O'Sullivan.

She denied Mofokeng used his clout as a mine boss to extort favourable terms for his company. Union negotiations "happen centrally, not with individuals", she said.

The deal with Khotso-Batho was based solely on "technical and commercial considerations", she added. "These were applied prior to awarding the contract to Khotso-Batho Mining Services and continue to guide Sasol Mining's relationship with this service provider."

Mofokeng did not answer specific questions sent to him and his wife. Instead, his lawyer, David Feinberg, threatened legal action and a press ombudsman complaint if the Sunday Times "publishes any information which is untrue and/or defamatory of our client".

The questions were "improperly directed" at Mofokeng because he was "neither a director nor a shareholder" of Khotso-Batho, said Feinberg.

The allegations against Mofokeng were part of "a general campaign to smear his and his family's good name and reputation", orchestrated by his enemies in an ongoing dispute with Ceppwawu's investment arm. These included Mabena, who is in a legal dispute with Mofokeng. "Any suggestions made by Jacob Mabena should be treated by you with a great degree of circumspection," Feinberg said.