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The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] welcomes the long overdue decision by the remaining Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa [NECSA] Board members to resign yesterday.

It was untenable that three remaining board members stubbornly purport themselves to be a board when the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy pronounced publicly on the 15th October 2019 that there is no board at Necsa and implored on the Minister to urgently deal with governance challenges currently facing Necsa.

As the majority union at Necsa we have long called for the entire board to go essentially because governance and the financial situation in the company has gone from bad to worse under their watch ever since they were appointed in December 2018. They chose to jump to escape responsibility and accountability for pushing the company into the brink of not being able to pay salaries and other financial obligations for the remaining months of this financial year.

As we speak, according to the Bargaining Forum briefing yesterday by the Acting Chief Executive Officer Mr Myoli and Chief Financial Officer, Necsa has a cash shortfall of R27m in order to be able to pay salaries on the 24th January 2020 and this excludes other financial obligations the company must honour.

Their continued stay would have inflicted a very grave and permanent damage to the very existence of Necsa, given that on the 9thJanuary 2020 they wrote a letter to the Minister recommending among others that Necsa be placed under “final liquidation” in violation of section 12 of the Nuclear Energy Act which states, “Despite the provisions of any other law, the Corporation may not be placed under judicial management or in liquidation except if authorised by an Act of Parliament adopted specially for that purpose.”

This misguided recommendation to liquidate Necsa is a continuation of their persistent ignorance and violation of the Nuclear Energy Act [NAE], which was displayed among others by how in the past they appointed three nonemployees of Necsa to act as CEOs in violation of the Act. Their departure therefore closes a sad chapter in the history of Necsa of unnecessary and unacceptable Executive interference in the operations of the corporation to further private interests.  

  We call on the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy to move with speed in restoring good corporate governance and stability at Necsa and its subsidiaries by putting a new board in place and finalize matters related to the litigation involving the previous CEO.

The governance crisis has set Necsa backward from realizing its growth opportunities to increase its market share in nuclear medicine, technology and flourochemical expansions. It has also slowed progress in realizing government objectives to build a New Multi-Purpose Research Reactor and other initiatives like Ketlaphela [State Owned Pharmaceutical Company] created to produce ARVs and other medicines locally. 

We stand ready to work with the new board and CEO to turn the organisation around in order to ensure that it plays its strategic role in nuclear energy, technology research and development both nationally and internationally. In the immediate, whilst sustainability and stability are pursued Necsa will need an urgent cash injection if efforts being done internally are not sufficient.

We reiterate our position that any non-payment of staff salaries will be a declaration of war. 

Issued by NEHAWU