Cosatu calls on SACP to pay outstanding staff salaries immediately

Cosatu says it’s troubled by media reports indicating that the South African Communist Party (SACP) has been struggling to pay staff salaries on time.

The trade union federation, which is in alliance with the ANC and the SACP, has called on the communist party to immediately pay its employees what is due to them.

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This followed reports that the SACP full-time staff members were going into their sixth month without being paid their salaries.

The SACP’s first deputy secretary-general, Solly Mapaila, confirmed on Monday the party was experiencing cash flow problems and that it was raising funds through crowdfunding.

‘Vanguard of the working class’

Cosatu national spokesperson Sizwe Pamla described the SACP’s failure to pay staff salaries as “discreditable and disconcerting not only for the SACP, but the entire tripartite alliance”.

“The SACP is the vanguard of the working class that is meant to champion working class struggles, and this is undermining its credibility in the eyes of the workers.

“The party like all other employers needs to abide by South Africa’s labour laws, in particular the Basic Conditions of Employment Act which requires the employer to pay their workers for services rendered,” Pamla said in a statement.

Scandalous

Cosatu said it was totally unacceptable that the leaders of the SACP sit in Parliament, collect exorbitant salaries, pass labour laws and then proceed to disregard them. 

“The fact that the deputy chairperson of the SACP [Thulas Nxesi] is the minister for employment and labour and the custodian of our labour laws is scandalous.

“This tells employers across the economy that they don’t need to bother with respecting workers’ rights and abiding by our labour laws.”

Cosatu said its alliance partner needed to account and explain what they have and have not paid, including taxes and contributions to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and Compensation Fund. 

“The Department of Employment and Labour, Sars, the UIF and Compensation Fund must act against the SACP, if they are not in good standing, as they would with any other delinquent employer,” Pamla said.

The union federation added that a leadership guided by socialist ideals and principles like the SACP, should always make sure that workers are not cheated out of their salaries, even if it means sacrificing their own ministerial salaries.

Compiled by Thapelo Lekabe

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