Johannesburg - The ANC is caught between a rock and a hard place as it struggles to defend itself in court over its failure to pay salaries.
The organisation's employees are taking it to court over its failure to meet its financial obligations, including the payment of salaries and other statutory benefits. However, the organisation claims it is too broke to fight the legal action.
In papers filed at the Labour Court in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, the ANC staff members complain about not being paid on time or at all.
ANC workers belonging to Cosatu's biggest affiliate, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu), including staff attached to some of the party's top leaders at its headquarters at Luthuli House in Joburg and provincial offices in Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape are unhappy with the non-payment of salaries and other statutory deductions.
In the ANC’s response to its workers’ challenge, treasurer-general Paul Mashatile told the Labour Court that the party was trying to find attorneys and counsel willing to assist on a pro-bono basis, as the governing party had no funding for this lawsuit.
"For many reasons, it is, unfortunately, the reality that the ANC has been struggling to maintain its operations at current levels.
“The reasons include the decreasing share of public funding that the ANC receives from the IEC (Electoral Commission of SA), declining electoral support (between 2009 and 2019 it lost 34 seats in Parliament and 37 across provincial legislatures) and changes in the formula of allocating public funding to political parties as introduced by the Represented Political Funding Act,” he explained.
According to Mashatile, the act imposes obligations to declare funding and its sources, places limits on the number of donations that can be received by political parties from donors. Certain categories of funding are prohibited.
"The effect has been that donors are no longer as willing as they once were to contribute to the funding of the ANC,” he added.
Despite Mashatile’s explanations to Nehawu's Labour Court application, ANC employees still have not been paid their September salaries and are threatening tougher action. The workers now want to apply for an interdict to prevent the ANC national conference in December from going ahead.
Branch general meetings held in preparation for the gathering at which President Cyril Ramaphosa will be seeking re-election have been delayed due to the non-payment of salaries and low staff morale.
The 19 employees, one of whom has since resigned, include Zanele Motha, the Luthuli House-based personal assistant of Deputy President David Mabuza and ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe’s office assistant and receptionist in the secretary-general’s office, Tiisetso Mohlomi and Kumarie Naransamy.
Palesa Mpamo, formerly the personal assistant of former ANC Women’s League president Bathabile Dlamini, has also quit.
Other staff members taking the ANC to court include the personal assistants of Mashatile, head of Ramaphosa's Luthuli House office, Sibongile Besani, ANC head of organising and campaigns and national executive committee member Nomvula Mokonyane and general manager Febe Potgieter-Gqubule.
Refilwe Lekgothoane, the ANC Youth League national task team’s communications officer, and Mvusi Mdala, who is also one of the staff representatives and political education co-ordinator in the Western Cape, are also among the applicants.
In addition, the workers want all their statutory deductions paid, including SA Revenue Service (Sars) contributions, the Unemployment Insurance Fund, the Medshield Medical Aid Scheme and the Sanlam Funeral and Benefit Funds.
They want the ANC’s failure to pay salaries declared unlawful and for the Labour Court to order the party to pay salaries within five days.
They are also demanding that the court force the ANC to pay Sars the monies deducted from the employees within seven days. Employees also want their outstanding salaries paid within two weeks, as well as their medical aid and pension contributions.
The ANC must pay its workers the money deducted from their salaries by Sanlam Funeral Benefit Fund to them within the same period.
In his response, Mashatile stated that there was no basis for Nehawu and its members to be granted the orders they sought from the Labour Court.
He admitted that the ANC owed the Sanlam Provident Fund over R222 000 at the time.
"The ANC is continuing its efforts to raise funding to meet the arrears and undertakes to settle all arrears within 12 months and keep up with current payments starting (from) April 2022,” Mashatile promised in his answering affidavit.
Additionally, he denied Nehawu had locus standi (standing) in the matter or that the ANC’s employees’ membership provided the union with a legal entitlement to seek relief in its name.
"Nehawu has no direct and substantial interest in the relief sought,” Mashatile added.
The union's spokesperson, Lwazi Nkolonzi, told the Sunday Independent that Nehawu and ANC staff were waiting for a set date when the matter will be heard by the Labour Court.
In August, the ANC as a participating employer in the ANC Staff Provident Fund was hit with an enforceable undertaking by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) over its failure to pay contributions by almost 535 members.
The ANC’s bill, reported to be close to R90 million, was due to be paid in R10m instalments from October 1. The party's spokesperson Pule Mabe did not respond to questions on whether the party had fulfilled its obligations as ordered by the FSCA. ANC staff provident fund principal officer Alan Arenson also did not respond.