ANC CONTEMPTUOUS IN NON-PAYMENT OF SALARIES

THE Bill of Rights in the Constitution provides everyone with the right to fair labour practices.

This cannot be said of employees of the ANC, who have not been paid their salaries for at least two consecutive months. The workers have had to endure not being paid their salaries and other benefits such as medical aid and pension fund contributions for the months of July and August.

The non-payment is not just affecting ordinary workers in the party’s offices, but also officials in the headquarters, Luthuli House, such as Deputy Secretary-General Jessie Duarte and Treasurer-General Paul Mashatile, as well as the secretaries in the nine provinces and dozens of regions.

That some elected officials have not been paid does not make it better in any way, and it should be concerning that the party entrusted to govern the country cannot look after its own employees.

This disdainful treatment of the workers has been going on for quite some time. The governing party has failed for far too long to meet its obligations to the employees who have been working hard, only to go home empty-handed at the end of the month.

It was reported few months ago that the South African Revenue Service has had to garnish the party’s Electoral Commission of SA allocation fund by taking away an estimated R17 million in part payment of its tax bill.

In fact, there have been reports of problems in the payment of provident funds as far back as 2018, an indication that the financial woes are not something new.

It is shameful that workers have to go for months without pay at a time when the country is facing its own economic crisis in which unemployment is the order of the day.

It is indeed astounding and horrible for the oldest political party on the continent to treat its workers in this manner.

The non-payment of salaries flies in the face of the spirit and letter of their constitutionally enshrined rights.

The industrial action by the workers and the threats of litigation by the Cosatu-aligned union Nehawu should be enough to get the party’s house in order.