ANC Ramaphosa leaks

ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe. Image via Twitter: @pulemabe

Mabe: ANC ‘exploring options’ to mobilise more funds amid cash crisis

ANC staffers downed tools on Thursday, after not receiving their July and August salaries, due to its financial woes

ANC Ramaphosa leaks

ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe. Image via Twitter: @pulemabe

The African National Congress (ANC) has a number of options on the table to address the party’s ongoing financial woes, including increasing membership fees.

ANC staffers have downed tools on Thursday, 26 August 2021, over two months of unpaid salaries.

The ruling party sent out a letter to all its staffers across the country informing them that they would not yet receive their outstanding July and August salaries due to cash flow issues.

Briefing the media, ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe stressed that the party has a number of fiduciary responsibilities it constantly has to see to.

“We’ve got an array of activities that we are expected to undertake as an organisation and we are able to perform all of those tasks from time to time because of the commitment and dedication displayed by our own staff. So we understand the situation we find ourselves in and we are doing everything else in our power to make sure that we deal with it,” he said.

ANC addressing its money woes

The ANC has been experiencing somewhat of a cash crunch, particularly after it emerged that they have an unsettled R80 million SARS tax bill. Mabe says the party’s financial crisis is not necessarily because of its reliance on people making contributions, but other factors including the Political Party Funding Act and the current economic situation.

He says ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile is looking at different ways to aid the party financially, including crowdfunding.

“Under these conditions we ought to change means and ways of how we do our own things and we are confident that the kind of fundraising approach that is being mounted, looking at various ways through which monies could be mobilised, will ultimately take the ANC out of the current quagmire that we find ourselves in”

ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe

This isn’t the first time the ruling party has been unable to pay staff and meet its financial responsibilities.

In June 2020, the ANC’s general manager Febe Potgieter-Gqubule informed employees they would only be able to receive their salaries after a week. At the time, the party blamed the cash shortage on the COVID-19 lockdown.