Johannesburg - The ANC’s failure to pay its employees’ salaries, the decline in the quality of its leadership and loss of moral integrity are among the reasons its voters stayed away during last year’s local government elections.
This is the view of Cosatu affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which is holding its three-day national congress at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre in Ekurhuleni.
In the secretariat report presented by acting general secretary William Mabapa, the NUM details its analysis of the woes currently bedevilling the ANC and warned that the party could face another electoral defeat in the 2024 national and provincial elections.
”As the NUM, we take this opportunity to express our disappointment at the ANC’s inability to pay salaries of its own staff. If the ANC cannot run its own finances appropriately, how can it run the finances of the country? This is very important because it means we are expecting a miracle from a party that cannot run its own financial affairs,” the union stated.
The NUM called on the ANC leadership to find and implement sustainable solutions to deal with the persistent non-payment of salaries.
”This may also have contributed to voter stay away in the November 2021 local government elections by those who sympathise with the affected workers,” explained the union.
According to the report, the ANC’s inability to pay its workers simply does not make sense when there is the Chancellor House Trust, which donated R15 million to the governing party ahead of the 2021 municipal polls.
”It (the Chancellor House Trust) should be able to assist the organisation prevent a fallout on salaries in 2022 and beyond,” the NUM said.
The union also expressed its concern about the ANC’s poor performance in last year’s local government elections and blamed the decline in the quality of its leadership, which it believes manifests itself in selfishness that leads to corruption in government.
”This destroys the faith the general poor masses of our country had in the ANC. As a result, they are losing all hope in both the government and the ruling party. The ANC must address this in the forthcoming provincial and national elections of its leaders,” the NUM added.
It warned the ANC that if it failed to change the quality of its leadership it could kiss political power goodbye after the 2024 national and provincial elections.
”It is sad to say this, but if we love the ANC and want it to continue to rule properly, we must say these hard realities before its opponents celebrate its fall,” the NUM cautioned.
Last month, the SA Communist Party also issued a stern warning that the ANC faced a real threat of losing the 2024 national and provincial elections as it was flat-footed, structurally weak, poorly resourced and highly disorganised.
The NUM further identified the loss of moral integrity where a caring system of government and selfless leadership in the ANC had disappeared.
”The ANC is marching fast from one great 2021 electoral defeat to another unless there is an aggressive and dedicated turnaround … If the ANC leadership does not learn from this, a rude awakening is awaiting the organisation in 2024,” the union added.
Political Bureau