Cape Town - Western Cape ANC staff members say they have been living off the kindness of their relatives and children over the past few months during which they have not received their salaries.
The party’s workers across the country staged a one-day national shutdown to pressurise ANC management into honouring its commitment to pay salaries, medical aid and provident fund contributions.
During a picket outside the ANC’s Constitution House offices, Western Cape ANC staff representative, chairperson Mvusi Mdala said: “The provident fund was last paid in November 2018.”
He said the party was behaving in a criminal manner as it had been deducting money from employees but not paying the provident fund.
He said besides the provident fund issue, the fact that the salaries had not been paid regularly for several months meant that staff credit ratings had been adversely affected and many were no longer creditworthy.
He said the party’s political leadership lacked the political will to pay staff, but found ways to raise money for conferences
ANC Women’s league provincial administrator, Sakina Hussain, who is also acting secretary for the veterans league, said most of the staffers had not been paid for two months and there were some whose salaries were three or four months in arrears.
Hussein, who is set to retire soon, said she was surviving with the help of relatives including her sons. “It’s not fair, they’ve also got their families.”
PA to the ANC Western Cape interim provincial co-ordinator Elma Geswinde said the situation was dire and aged 61 she feared that when she retires in four years she would have nothing to live on, if the provident fund payments were not updated.
ANC Western Cape convener Lerumo Kalako said: “We have no comment. It’s an old issue and it is well known. The provident fund issue is also an old one and there is really nothing we can say because the staff are paid by the national office.”
By the time of writing, ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe had not responded to our attempts to get him to comment on the issue.
In August the Financial Sector Conduct Authority said the ANC owed R86 million in provident fund contributions for at least 535 of its staff members.
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za