Former Numsa leader accuses Irvin Jim of perjury and abuse of power

A former senior official of theNational Union of Metalworkers of South Africaand current president of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union, Ruth Mamolaba Ntlokotse, has accused Numsa general secretaryIrvin Jimof perjury and unconstitutional abuse of power. The allegations that Jim misled the courts to protect a union-linked insurer and silenced members who questioned his decisions are contained in a 16-page letter dated 6 February, addressed to Jim and circulated among union structures. The document was leaked to theMail & Guardian.

Ntlokotse’s letter responds to a public statement issued by Jim on 18 January after the collapse of his long-standing alliance with Numsa Investment Company chief executive Khandani Msibi. Although Ntlokotse is not named in the statement, she says the claims mirror narratives previously used to justify disciplinary action against her and other leaders who raised concerns about the union’s investment arm. Ntlokotse, who was expelled from Numsa in 2023, challenged the disciplinary decision in court but her urgent bid was dismissed.

She raised her allegations publicly after the resignation of Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola, who cited death threats against her. The allegations come as the union prepares for its leadership conference later this year. At the centre of the dispute is an affidavit deposed by Jim on 3 February 2022 in high court proceedings that resulted in the provisional curatorship of 3Sixty Life, a Numsa-linked insurance company.

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In the affidavit, Jim stated under oath that Numsa was not aware of complaints from members regarding delayed or unpaid funeral claims since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. But Ntlokotse argues that there was correspondence from union locals, internal meeting records and regulatory documents that demonstrate the union’s leadership was aware of complaints well before the affidavit was filed. According to the letter, the Port Elizabeth branch raised formal concerns about non-payment and delayed payment of funeral benefits in January 2021, followed by further correspondence later that year indicating that the problems persisted.

She states that the issue was also discussed at national executive committee meetings as early as December 2018 and again in May 2021. The letter cites reports from the Office of the Ombudsman for Long-term Insurance, which recorded unusually high complaint ratios against 3Sixty Life, as well as a replying affidavit filed by the Prudential Authority during the curatorship proceedings. The affidavit stated that claims worth R1.2 million remained unpaid, including claims predating curatorship and attributed that to incompetence at the insurer.

“These documented complaints were known to union leadership at the time the affidavit was deposed,” Ntlokotse writes, arguing that Jim’s sworn statement amounted to a deliberate denial of known facts. A February 2022 letter from the Port Elizabeth branch, cited in the document, described the affidavit as “full of distortions and untruths” and accused Jim of perjury.

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