TThe Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA) has rejected the National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry’s (NBCRFLI) description of regulatory investigations linked to concerns over the Council’s financial reporting.
The development follows questions raised by Innovative Staffing Solutions (ISS) over the accounting and administration of approximately R2.59 billion linked to worker benefit funds held or administered by the NBCRFLI.
The Council strongly rejected those concerns in a response published earlier this week, saying there was no financial impropriety and that the funds belong to industry employees.
However, the NBCRFLI also said ISS had previously reported the same allegations to IRBA and claimed that “IRBA investigations found no wrongdoing insofar as the Council’s financials are concerned.”
IRBA has now directly disputed that description.
IRBA says NBCRFLI statement was inaccurate
In correspondence to ISS’s representatives, seen by SA Trucker, IRBA said two matters, identified as 4329A and 4329B, are at different stages of its investigative and disciplinary processes.
“Certain aspects of these matters remain under consideration and have not yet been finalised,” IRBA said.
The regulator specifically addressed the statement attributed to it by the NBCRFLI.
IRBA said the Council’s statement that its investigations had found no wrongdoing “insofar as the Council’s financials are concerned” was “inaccurate.”
It said the statement did not correctly reflect either the status of the relevant matters or the scope of IRBA’s investigative mandate.
Importantly, IRBA also clarified what it does and does not investigate.
“It is important to note that the IRBA does not investigate the financial statements of entities,” the regulator said.
IRBA explained that its mandate is to investigate and, where applicable, take disciplinary action regarding audit work performed by registered auditors, including whether that work complied with applicable auditing and ethical standards.
The regulator said it would correspond directly with the NBCRFLI regarding the issue and the statement contained in its media release.
What the IRBA response means
The correspondence does not mean that IRBA has found financial wrongdoing by the NBCRFLI.
It also does not amount to a finding that the Council improperly accounted for the R2.59 billion.
What it does establish is that IRBA says the NBCRFLI’s description of the regulator’s investigations was inaccurate, that the relevant matters have not all been finalised, and that IRBA’s mandate concerns the work of registered auditors rather than investigating an entity’s financial statements as such.
That distinction is important because the underlying dispute between ISS and NBCRFLI remains unresolved.
Read | ISS Director, Arnoux Maré, Faces Arrest After Labour Court Rejects Bid to Set Aside Writs
R2.59bn remains at the centre of the dispute
ISS’s original analysis of the NBCRFLI’s published financial statements raised questions about approximately R2.59 billion in investments that it says relate to workers’ benefit funds.
ISS questioned whether the published accounts make sufficiently clear the distinction between the assets and obligations of the various benefit funds and those of the Council.
The NBCRFLI strongly disputes that interpretation.
The Council says the R2.59 billion represents funds collected from industry employees for Sick Pay, Holiday Pay and Leave Pay benefits.
It says the money belongs to industry employees and is administered and paid to eligible workers when required.
The Council also says it is not legally required to prepare a separate set of audited financial statements for every individual benefit fund.
The numbers are real, but their interpretation is disputed
Some of the figures at the heart of the dispute are contained in the NBCRFLI’s own published financial statements.
For the 2024/25 financial year, the Council’s annual report records approximately R325 million in interest received and R148.1 million in levy income. It also records approximately R364.5 million in Wellness Fund contributions.
ISS has argued that the scale of investment income and the accounting treatment of the different funds raise questions about transparency and the way the Council’s financial position is presented.
The NBCRFLI says investment income is legitimately used to finance Council operations and that its Constitution provides for Council expenses to be met through levies and investment interest.
The Council also says it has not increased its levies for more than a decade because investment income has helped cover the difference between levy income and operational expenditure.
Dispute over benefit fund shortfalls
ISS also previously identified what it described as combined shortfalls in the Sick Pay, Holiday Pay and Leave Pay funds.
Its analysis put those alleged shortfalls at:
- R35.8 million in 2021
- R23.1 million in 2022
- R31.2 million in 2023
NBCRFLI rejects those figures.
The Council says the assets of the three funds exceeded the industry trust and unclaimed benefit liability by R118.9 million in 2023 and R4.57 million in 2022, while the 2021 assets were equal to the stated liability.
The two sides are therefore not simply disagreeing over whether money exists. They are presenting different interpretations of the financial statements and the liabilities against which the assets should be measured.
Wellness Fund also disputed
The Wellness Fund has become another point of contention.
ISS’s analysis questioned the accounting treatment of Wellness Fund investments, contributions and medical expenses.
NBCRFLI says the Wellness Fund has its own general ledger and separate accounting records and that its income, expenses, assets and liabilities are separately recorded.
The Council says the Wellness Fund’s 2024/25 income was approximately R371.35 million, against expenses of approximately R348.95 million, producing a reported surplus of about R22.39 million.
The Council’s published annual report separately records significant Wellness-related income and expenditure, including approximately R364.55 million in Wellness Fund contributions and R309.68 million in medical health insurance wellness expenditure.
NBCRFLI points to its audit history
The Council maintains that its financial reporting is properly audited.
NBCRFLI says it has received unqualified audit opinions for the past ten years, including for the financial year ending February 2026. It also says its benefit funds are audited as part of the Council’s financial reporting process.
That audit history remains relevant to the dispute, but the new IRBA correspondence makes clear that an audit regulator’s investigation into auditors’ work should not be described as an investigation into the Council’s financial statements themselves.
Maré calls for greater disclosure
ISS Managing Director Arnoux Maré said the IRBA response shows why the Council should provide more detailed information about the worker benefit funds.
“In a desperate attempt to dispute our analysis and questions, the Council resorted to invoking the authority of an independent regulator, telling workers, employers, the media, and the public that IRBA had investigated these matters and found no wrongdoing,” Maré said.
Maré said responsibility for the Council’s financial reporting remains with the Council, even where external auditors are involved.
“An external audit does not transfer responsibility for the accuracy of financial statements or disclosures from management to the auditor,” he said.
He called on the NBCRFLI to publish a clear, fund-by-fund account showing what each fund holds, what it owes, whether it is fully funded and whether it can meet its obligations to workers.
NBCRFLI threatens legal action
The NBCRFLI has now responded to Maré’s latest statement, saying it will not be drawn into what it describes as a public dispute with ISS.
In a media statement issued on 27 September 2026, the Council described Maré’s latest statement as another “defamatory media statement” and said it would explore the legal options available to it.
“We will not allow ISS’s misleading media statements to divert our attention from the substantive legal issues before the court which relate to non-compliance with the Main Collective Agreement (MCA) and failure by Mr Maré to comply with the court order,” said NBCRFLI National Secretary Musa Ndlovu.
The Council did not directly address IRBA’s specific statement that its earlier description of the regulator’s investigations was inaccurate.
Instead, the NBCRFLI pointed to its audited financial statements, including those for the financial year ending 28 February 2026, saying these are available on its website and that the Council has repeatedly received unqualified audit opinions.
The Council also maintained that it continues to enforce compliance with the MCA and disburse workers’ benefits.
The latest response therefore leaves two separate issues on the table.
The NBCRFLI continues to reject ISS’s broader allegations about its financial reporting and administration of worker benefit funds, while IRBA has specifically said that the Council’s previous description of its investigations did not accurately reflect either the status of the matters or IRBA’s investigative mandate.
What remains unresolved
The IRBA correspondence does not constitute a finding that the NBCRFLI committed financial misconduct, nor does it resolve ISS’s questions about the R2.59 billion in worker benefit funds.
At the same time, IRBA’s response means the NBCRFLI’s previous statement that its investigations found “no wrongdoing insofar as the Council’s financials are concerned” cannot accurately be presented as an IRBA clearance of the Council’s financial affairs.
The underlying questions about how the benefit funds are accounted for, administered and reported remain contested between ISS and the NBCRFLI.
For workers whose benefits are administered through the industry system, those questions are significant because the funds ultimately relate to benefits owed to employees.
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