Sibusiso Nxumalo
ATTEMPTS by the Mail & Guardian to establish the credentials of an unknown union which emerged as a role player in this week’s protest by truck drivers have raised more questions than answers about the Turning Wheels International Workers’ Union.
A telephone number listed on membership application forms handed out to striking truck drivers blockading highways belonged neither to the union nor to the man believed to be behind it — one Richard Madime.
When the WM&G rang the Benoni phone number, it emerged that it belonged to the offices of attorney Tom Morotolo.
A staffer said that while Madime had been a client, they had not seen him “in a long time”. Madime had previously used the number to receive messages, but the firm knew nothing about the union and had first read about it in newspaper reports.
Transport and General Workers’ Union (T&GWU) assistant general secretary Khanyiso Matroos said yesterday that he had no idea who was behind Turning Wheels’ formation: “When we were negotiating for the resolution of this crisis in Mooi River, we could not find any official of this organisation.”
Matroos said after representatives of Turning Wheels had been handing out membership forms to truck drivers, T&GWU members had questioned Turning Wheels’ bona fides. “It seems some people are just trying to get political mileage,” he said.
Attempts by the WM&G to trace Madime through his employers, the Transvaal- based International Transport Corporation, also drew a blank. Madime is a driver with the company, but he was not at work.
It could not be ascertained whether Madime was behind this week’s truckers’ protest. Matroos said he believed that Turning Wheels had jumped on the bandwagon and that the protest had been spontaneous.