The ANC staff representative committee says it will apply for an interdict to halt the party’s national elective conference in December if the issue of unpaid workers’ salaries is not resolved.
The party has also not paid provident funds and made medical aid contributions and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority said it had an agreement with the ANC staff provident fund that the party had to pay R10 million a month to the fund.
The matter has dragged on for two years and at the July conference, staff protested outside the venue, with the party managing to make payment so the conference could continue.
Staff were also incensed at the news that ministers and their deputies had their perks improved in April.
Mvusi Mdala, the ANC staff representative, said party workers were in financial and family distress, did not know if they were going to be paid and were uncertain on which date payment would be made.
“The matter is now before the CCMA (Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration) and we are prepared to take it to the Labour Court.”
Mdala said staff finally received their August salaries but have not been paid for September.
“If we get to December and the issue of salaries has not been addressed we are willing to go to court to get an interdict to prevent the conference,” he said.
The non-payment of staff is one of the issues that has prevented branches across the country from holding vital meetings that will determine the new leadership of the ANC national executive committee.
Mdala said ANC workers who had not been paid were frustrated at the news that ministers and their deputies had received upgrades to their perks in April, while they have been struggling to make a living.
“These are not ANC salaries but these are ANC leaders in government. This is how the ANC treats its workers and ordinary workers in government.”
Mdala said this was the attitude of a self-serving leadership.
National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) spokesperson Lwazi Nkolonzi confirmed that staff had not been paid their September salaries.
“This is not the treatment a union expects from an employer, especially the ANC,” he said.
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa, speaking in Soweto earlier this month, made a commitment that ANC staff who had last received salaries in August would be paid.
EThekwini regional executive spokesperson Mondli Mkhize said they were hopeful that branch general meetings would conclude by the October 25 deadline despite the challenges.
“The ANC must pay its employees because the responsibility of remuneration resides with the employer. I don’t think we should be caught wanting. Like everyone else, ANC employees have families and financial commitments.”
Mkhize said it did not make sense that the ANC was holding a conference that would cost in excess of R10m and it was not paying the staff, who were crucial for the running of the conference.
Thandeka Ngidi-Mkhize, spokesperson for the General Gizenga Mpanza region in northern KZN, said non-payment of salaries and issues with scanning devices had led to delays in holding meetings in the region.
