Unpaid ANC staff protest outside Nasrec gala dinner where seat next to president cost R1m

Some African National Congress (ANC) staff members are protesting over the non-payment of salaries as the ruling party’s gala dinner kicks off at Nasrec in Johannesburg.

The ANC is hosting a gala dinner – with one seat costing as much as R1 million – to raise funds ahead of its 6th national policy conference, which is set to take place from 29 to 31 July.

The dinner, which is hosted by the Progressive Business Forum (PBF), allows businesspeople to socialise with the ANC’s leaders and discuss its economic and social policies.

However, some of the party’s staff have expressed their disapproval over the dinner as they have not been paid two months salary.

Speaking to SABC, ANC staff member Mandla Qwane said the workers “were left with no choice” but to picket instead of assisting with the gala dinner.

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“The picket is intended to raise awareness especially those who will be coming in to dine and enjoy the wines and the food here.

“As they enjoy in that venue, there are families that are going to sleep without food and those families are families of members of staff who serve the ANC on a daily basis, who sacrifice their time, who sacrifice their energies, their skills and everything that they know to make sure that the ANC functions, to make sure that the ANC succeeds in all programmes, all activities and all organisational activities that the ANC engages in on a daily basis,” he said.

Qwane also said the ANC failed on their promise to at least pay the staff 50% of what they are owed.

“Early this morning there was a commitment that at least pay 50% of the salaries were going to be paid and we have not seen any payment. None of our staff members have confirmed to have received their salaries,” he said.

Meanwhile, ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe told the media at the gala dinner that the party will be issuing payment to the aggrieved staff members from Thursday.

“Funds started [coming in] today. The reason why we couldn’t have done payments earlier on is that we waiting for he funds to be cleared. Once the funds are cleared we will start releasing the initial batches tomorrow,” he said.

This is not the first time party employees have been angered by the non-payment of salaries and other benefits. They embarked on similar protests last year and earlier this year.

READ MORE: ‘Stop bribing starving workers’, say ANC staffers

The ANC staff members even threatened the party with legal action.

The staff had accused the ANC’s leadership of making UIF and medical aid deductions from their salaries, but not paying them over to the relevant entities.

The Citizen previously reported that the ANC owes R17 million to the South African Revenue Service (Sars) for unpaid taxes and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax.

ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile blamed the new Political Party Funding Act for the ANC’s financial struggles.