THE DA has asked Minister of Employment and Labour Thulas Nxesi to investigate reports that the SACP has failed to pay its support staff for the past six months.
DA spokesperson on employment and labour Dr Michael Cardo said his party was dismayed that the “self-styled champion of the working class”, the SACP, had not been paying its workers.
“The party allegedly owes them six months’ salary. If true, this constitutes a flagrant violation of labour legislation and a shocking violation of workers’ rights.
“I have written to the minister and asked him to investigate,” Cardo said.
According to the SACP’s tripartite alliance partner, Cosatu, it is “totally unacceptable” that the leaders of the SACP should sit in Parliament, “collect exorbitant salaries”, pass labour laws, and then “proceed to disregard them”.
The DA could not agree more. “What makes this injustice even more egregious is that Nxesi is the deputy chairperson of the SACP,” Cardo said.
He said Nxesi never failed to bash and bully businesses suspected of the slightest deviation from the labour laws, but now that his own party was accused of wrongdoing, the minister had become the “nowhere man”.
“I have asked the minister to get to the bottom of the SACP’s reported exploitation of its workers, and to verify whether his party has been paying over its contributions to the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Compensation Fund, as required by law.
“It is most unfortunate that the SACP seems to be following in the ruling party’s footsteps.
“Last year, it was revealed that the ANC had failed to remunerate its staff, neglected to pay over contributions to the UIF despite deducting them from employee’s salaries, and owed the South African Revenue Service more than R80 million in Pay As You Earn deductions. The DA laid criminal charges in connection with the matter,” Cardo said.
He said the ANC, the SACP and Minister Nxesi – who straddled both parties – liked to pose as the champion of the workers, saying but they were a “bunch of hypocrites fuelled by hot air”.
The SACP and Nxesi had yet to comment by late yesterday. By the time of publication, Nxesi’s chief of staff Khangala Madumela and ministerial spokesperson, Sabelo Mali, had not responded to a request for comment.
Pretoria News