Fire sprinklers hadn’t been serviced in four years
ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile has elaborated on why the ruling party was out of pocket and had been unable to pay its employees for months.
He said: “The ANC gets its funding from the private sector – 70% of our income comes from the private sector.
“So, since the implementation of the law that requires disclosure of financial funding to parties, many private businesses are reluctant to donate to us, and that’s why we are struggling.
“In the past, it would have been easy to raise money from the private sector but people have become reluctant and so it has become a challenge.
“We still get money from the private sector, but it doesn’t flow as it used to, and that’s why we have asked government to increase party funding.”
He was speaking during the presidential golf day at Euphoria Hotel in Waterberg, Limpopo, as part of the party’s preparations for its 110th anniversary, scheduled for Polokwane today.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, flanked by Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha and his Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba, teed off at an event which was meant to raise funds for the party.
Despite scores of business people clad in ANC regalia and politicians who had to pay at least R350 000 to play golf with the president, Mashatile bemoaned the fact that the private sector was reluctant to fund the ruling party.
Activities in the province include the golf day; former ANC stalwarts’ commemorations; a gala dinner where people who will share a meal at Ramaphosa’s table will pay more than R1 million; as well as party officials meeting with various traditional leaders across the province.
Mashatile said: “Normally when we have the January 8 Statement activities, we, like the golf day people, have to pay to use certain facilities.
“It’s the same with the dinner: we sell tables and those resources take care of the costs of the dinner and the costs of other activities. If we raise more than we need in terms of the activities, the rest will go to the coffers of the ANC for operational costs.”
He said the Limpopo province had carried some of the costs for the celebrations, while the national ANC office had taken on the bulk of the costs.
Rasheed Gutta, a businessman in the retail and manufacturing industry, paid the R350 000 needed to play golf with the president.
He said: “I have since 2018 been trying to reach him (Ramaphosa) because I’ve always had proposals to do business with the president. So this is a good opportunity to meet him.”
Meanwhile, the Limpopo Tourism Agency was part of the presidential golf day.
When asked why a government entity was part of a political party’s celebration, board chairperson
Andew Dipela said: “We are not supporting a certain political party, but support a major event that happens to be in our province that provides a livelihood to many of our tourism attractions.
“Whether it’s the DA or the EFF; they can come to the province and as long as it’s a major event, we will support them.”
THE City of Cape Town’s fire department has made damning findings against Parliament’s fire and security personnel as it revealed that fire sprinklers in the building were last serviced four years ago.
In a report made public yesterday, the firefighters said they found the sprinkler valve on the southern facade of the Old Assembly Building hadn’t activated when a fire broke out on Sunday morning.
Their observation flies in the face of assertions by Public Works and Infrastructure Department officials that their systems were working perfectly and had been tested in late December.
Briefing the MPS this week, the department’s project manager for facility management, Thembeka Kolele, said: “The sprinkler system in the precinct was fully functional by October.”
Mayor Geordin Hill-lewis said the City released the report without “additional comment” in the interest of transparency.
The report said it was not “an official” fire report on the blaze that left extensive damage to the Old Assembly and the National Assembly.
Divisional commander Wayne Visser said he did a “brief check” of fire suppression equipment and related fire safety matters at the Old Assembly.
“The external fire hydrants were well marked and maintained; adequate access provided. The sprinkler control valve set on the southern façade of the Old Assembly building had not activated. Sprinklers did not activate,” Visser said. “The sprinklers were last serviced in 2017, with service scheduled for (February) 2020.” | Political Bureau
of arrangements around critical court facilities and its important assets.”
The office said it was necessary to mention that the incident did not in any way hamper the justices and court staff from performing their functions.
“However, due to such an incident, the security of the judiciary, the supporting staff and the general court users remains compromised and requires urgent attention,” the office said.