`We were not suspended'
2005-04-14
THE Paarl company Boland Towing has not renewed its membership of the SA Towing & Recovery Association (SATRA) for the year of 2005.
“We were not members of SATRA at the time of being `suspended’ by them last week, as alleged by Satra in Paarl Post last week,” says owner Jacques Terblanche.
“We have also not attended any “disciplinary hearing” as was mentioned and honestly don’t see how any body can hold hearings and suspend businesses that are not affiliated with them.
“It is indeed a case of sour grapes for having lost yet another one of their most prominent and longstanding members.
“When Satra was established, it was supposed to be an industry association of all breakdown services in the country with the purpose of gaining collective bargaining for all towers in the market.
“Sadly, since then Satra has adopted an autocratic style of management and established a commercial arm that set out to make as much money as possible by means of exploiting their members’ revenues.
“In the process they have estranged themselves from most of their initial members and are currently losing support from the breakdown industry at an alarming rate, so much so that it probably comes down to deliberate disinformation when they are presenting themselves as representing the towing industry or the major part thereof.
“A point of note is that the vast majority of other towing companies in Paarl and the Boland area in general have left Satra over the past two years and we were in fact one of the last to reject this organisation by not renewing our membership this year.
“The reason we did not renew our membership of SATRA was that they had in fact become a commercial, profit seeking venture which competes directly with its members for the towing business of the corporate and insurance sectors.
“We are now free to negotiate prices directly with our various clients such as insurers, the corporate sector and motor trade as well as the public."
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