ANC bigwigs face spectre of arrest as state funds ‘diverted’

Several senior ANC members could be headed for trouble with the law after a trade union made serious allegations about the diversion of state funds for party political interests.

The tensions between the ANC and the very strong parliamentary branch of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) is one of the most visible signs of the stress the governing party is under as a direct result of its heavy losses in the general election held in May this year.

ANC: A loss in votes means a loss in parliamentary staff

The ANC lost 19 seats, falling from 249 to 230 seats in the National Assembly. Because everything in South African politics is calculated proportionally, there is a concomitant loss of ANC parliamentary employees subsidised by the taxpayer. Those state funds are forked out proportionally to political parties so that they can function effectively in Parliament, with the argument that it strengthens democracy.

The May election results mean parties which grew, like the EFF (19 seat growth from 25 to 44), Freedom Front Plus (6 seat growth from 4 to 10)), IFP (3 seat growth from 10 to 13) and Good (2 seat growth from a zero base) can all employ more parliamentary staff, courtesy of the taxpayer and the provisions of the law.

The DA, which shrunk by 5 seats from 89 to 84, has not fired staff, but has suspended appointments in some positions.

But the jobs bloodbath is real among ANC parliamentary staff, where almost a quarter (124 out of 460 ANC parliamentary staff) are facing the axe due to the voters’ verdict. In any relationship, such periods of high stress are when the gloves come off, true colours are shown an the dirty laundry is aired.

Enter Nehawu, the ANC’s supposed ally, whose parliamentary branch is its largest and most activist in the Western Cape, and who knows exactly where the bodies are buried as far as the governing party is concerned.

Funds ‘illegally diverted’

According to The Sunday Times, whose reporting on parliamentary trade union matters is always sound, Nehawu reacted strongly when its members’ jobs were threatened, telling new ANC Chief Whip Pemmy Majodina (who would have been unaware of these things as she had served in the Eastern Cape legislature until the May elections) that R32 million of the ANC parliamentary monies from the taxpayer had been diverted to illegally fund 99 ANC regional office positions countrywide paying about R25 000 a month each.

If true – and this is a detailed claim by a trade union usually fully in the know because of its membership and ANC contacts – such fraudulent behaviour could see all in the ANC – in Parliament, in ANC headquarters at Luthuli House – and in the provinces and regions which benefitted from such behaviour – in the dock.

The wheels of justice grind slowly – perhaps more so in South Africa than anywhere else – but South Africans will be watching this unfolding tiff with great interest to see whether any of the mighty fall.