Johannesburg- The ANC has suffered another blow after affiliates of trade union federation Cosatu this week rejected the proposal of crowd-funding for the financially ailing governing party, which has been battling to pay salaries to its staff.
Ahead of local government elections, Sunday World can reveal that a heated debate over the electoral support for the ANC took place this week during Cosatu’s four-day central executive committee, a mid-term meeting to review its policies adopted at its last elective congress in 2018.
In a strongly worded statement, one of Cosatu’s biggest affiliates, the National Health, Education and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), told Sunday World it had rejected a suggestion, which the union described as seeking to “subject workers to contribute their monies to the employer who does not value and respect workers like the ANC” – in a clear reference to the ANC’s failure to pay salaries.
[membership level=”1″]
Cosatu affiliates who spoke out strongly against the proposal include the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union and the Communications Workers Union.
Nehawu general secretary Zola Saphetha confirmed that his union disagreed crowd-funding for the ruling party. “We cannot subject salaries of employees to fundraising. The employer, the ANC, must budget for the salaries of its employees, including their conditions of services. That’s why we rejected a decision in Cosatu that subjects workers to contribute their monies to the employer who does not value and respect workers. ANC must be exemplary and should respect the labour laws as a ruling party that fought for the dignity and rights of workers. So, it cannot be the one that reverses such hard-fought gains,” he said.
ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile last month said the party would resort to crowd-funding to raise funds that might assist to pay employees their salaries. The party posted its Nedbank banking details on social media, asking ordinary members of the public and ANC supporters to make contributions.
In March, Sunday World reported that Nehawu had decided not to give the ANC financial and human resources’ support, in a protest move.
In the 2019 general elections, Nehawu, with a membership of over 277 000 in the public sector, spent more than R14-million campaigning for the ANC.
Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla referred questions to the union’s general secretary, Bheki Ntshalintshali, who could not be reached for comment.
To read more political news and views from this week’s newspaper, click here.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here.
Sunday World
[/membership] [pmpro_signup submit_button=”Register” level=”1″ login=”1″ redirect=”referrer” short=”false” title=”Register to view Exclusive Content” short=”true” custom_fields=”true”]
