The protest is believed to be over salary increases and other demands which the ANC has allegedly failed to honour since the start of the negotiations over eight months ago.
The protesters, dressed in ANC regalia, paraded placards stating “Pay the agreed salary increase now” and sang and danced on Pixley Ka Seme Street outside the ANC offices in demand of 8% increases that were allegedly promised by the governing party.
Last year, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) filed papers in the Labour Court to force the ANC to pay its staff their outstanding salaries.
Speaking to The Star during the picket on Monday Nehawu secretary general Thabo Medupe said that following a general meeting with the affected workers, they had decided to embark on a series of demonstrations to draw the ANC’s attention to some of the outstanding issues that had affected ANC employees since the start of the negotiations.
“Last week we had a meeting which resolved on the need to picket continuously. There are a number of demands that the ANC leadership has not met. They have turned our struggle to be the struggle of salaries, and yet there are bigger issues. We are now showing South Africa the kind of leadership that we are dealing with here,” Medupi said.
According to Nehawu, the ANC has failed to respond to at least 10 letters. Medupi said if they had any other option they would not be protesting.
“We did not plan for things to go this far. We sent at least 10 letters to the leadership of the party, and these were not answered. This clearly tells you the kind of people we are dealing with here,” he said.
Last year, the ANC was embroiled in non-payment of salaries for months on end. It is reported that there is still a backlog on 2022 and 2023 salaries that affected regional office bearers in Gauteng and other parts of the country.
Some of the employees were forced to negotiate with their landlords and banks as they could no longer keep up with their monthly bills.
According to Nehawu , there were still myriad issues arising from this crisis that had contributed to the pickets.
Marvellous Ndlovu of Nehawu did not rule out the possibility of more pickets and the involvement of other regions in the ongoing protests.
“We feel that it is unfair that workers can be subjected to these kinds of treatment and situation. We want to appeal to the organisation to start treating workers like a normal governing party should. If workers at the headquarters of the party cannot trust the leadership of the ANC, what about the ordinary South Africans?” he asked.
ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri told The Star that the governing party is aware of the current protests and said it is still negotiating with the unions on the way forward.
“Wage negotiations have taken place since July, between ANC management and Nehawu as the majority union with whom we have a recognition agreement, covering all ANC offices.
“We remain committed to collective bargaining and will continue to work for a mutually satisfactory wage agreement in the national bargaining forum. The relationship with workers and organised labour is an important one for the ANC. Our employees are the lifeblood of our organisation,“ she said.