Pretoria - Following its failure to comply with the basic requirements of operating as a union, the South African Security Forces Union (SASFU) has been deregistered as a union operating in the Department of Defence.
Attempts by SASFU to stop the deregistration of the union failed on Friday as the Pretoria High Court agreed with the Registrar of trade union, an independent office located in the Department of Labour, to deregister SASFU.
According to the Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans, the Registrar of trade union wrote to both SASFU and the South African National Defence Union (SANDU), which are the main unions operating in the Department of Defence to provide his office with financial statements and other documents that they are required to submit, but have not been submitting.
"SASFU was unable to provide any of the information and was automatically deregistered as a union in the Department. SANDU submitted some information and requested an extension of the deadline," said the department.
SANDU currently does not meet the threshold to be in the Military Bargaining Council as it has a membership of 11 000 instead of the 15 000 required to operate in the Bargaining Chamber.
"The Department of Defence has no formal relationship with any union, as they both do not meet the threshold. As it stands SASFU is no longer a registered union in the Department of Defence. The department has stopped all the membership deductions from the payroll and any other recognition in the department.
"If SANDU misses the deadline of submitting the information or do not submit the required information by the registrar, the department will support the Registrar in deregistering SANDU."
