Analysts warn that unpaid salaries signal a deeper organisational decline within the ruling party.
While the ANC denies it is on the brink of complete bankruptcy, its financial woes run deeper than its public pronouncement, a party source says.
The party’s secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, blames the ANC’s precarious fiscal position on funders that have retreated due to the Political Funding Act’s strict requirement for public disclosure of donors’ names and the amount donated.
Donor retreat fuels widening financial gap
The party also claimed that its traditional donors and the middle class it has uplifted were not coming forward because they were reticent to be associated with the party.
In a media briefing yesterday, Mbalula confirmed the ANC’s wage bill was around R20 million but did not say where it got the funding from.
He stressed that staff retrenchments were out of the question, despite the party’s financial difficulties. He said his own salary was also delayed as the party’s chief executive officer at Luthuli House.
But political analysts have a different view. They cite the ANC itself as responsible for the situation it is in.
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Independent political analyst Doctor Tshwale said the ANC’s failure to pay staff salaries is recurring and becoming an Achilles’ heel in the organisation’s functioning.
The ANC has breadwinners on its payroll and “non-payment is a huge inconvenience to many families.
Warning signs of organisational decline
“The inability to pay salaries is a greater sign of the party’s decline, meaning erstwhile funders are deserting it.
“We know that funders want to be associated with a party or activity that is popular and legitimate, with promising future prospects.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that the ANC is gradually losing its former mantle as a leader. That’s why funders are seeming reluctant to fund it,” Tshwale said.
“The ANC is declining and losing influence in the political landscape of the country. It has become more an ordinary organisation than a prestigious and world-respected player in global politics,” he said.
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Questions of credibility and governance
The inability to pay staff salaries diminishes its credibility and integrity as an organisation that can prudently lead the affairs of the state, the economy and the national fiscus.
“It says it lacks future planning and budgetary proficiency, even to determine the costs of its operational activities and organisational sustainability.
“It means it continues to be managed in an archaic manner, operating from month to month, activity to activity, and with no systematic operational line to ensure cohesive operational machinery.
“These are signs of an organisation whittling away and removing itself from voters and the general populace,” he said.
Political analyst Prof Lesiba Teffo said the ANC’s and state wage bills were too high.
He said he was embarrassed to be asked by European politicians about the high salaries earned by SA politicians and top officials.
