News24 reports that infighting within the SA Municipal Workers' Union (Samwu) has led the Western Cape High Court to rule that the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) must place the Samwumed board under provisional curatorship.  

While Samwu president Pule Molalenyane on Thursday denied that the union was in a "state of paralysis" and described such a claim as a myth, the CMS concluded otherwise.  "The CMS “submitted that the strife between the warring factions has resulted in material irregularities which have paralysed Samwu's management, including its ability to hold scheme meetings," reads a statement issued by the council on 9 May 2018.  On 1 May, Acting Judge P Andrews placed the scheme under provisional curatorship and ordered that Duduza Khosana be appointed as provisional curator.  The two key issues before the court revolved around whether the board of trustees of the scheme had been properly constituted, and whether the CMS had established that there was cause to warrant the appointment of a curator.  The council submitted that the medical aid scheme was closely associated with the trade union and that it had been affected by the internal strife that arose within Samwu in 2016.  The CMS further submitted that the strife between the warring factions resulted in material irregularities which had paralysed Samwu's management, including its ability to hold meetings.  Furthermore it was claimed that “Samwumed was unlawfully managed for approximately 20 months."  The case will return to court on 30 July and, if the curatorship is confirmed as final, it will continue until such time as all the issues at the scheme have been sorted out.

• Read this report by Amanda Khoza in full at News24

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