Full-time staff members of the SACP say their working conditions are getting unbearable due to non-payment of salaries while they are told to stay the course by their senior officials who draw fat salaries and government perks.
Some of the workers claim they are going into their sixth month without being paid, and their houses and cars are being repossessed, and their credit record sullied.
“The party finds itself in a dire situation of lack of resources. There is a huge problem related to this. How do you convince full-time functionaries to stay the course when they the deployed cadres as ministers and deputy ministers don’t have to worry about that?
“The functionaries have to ensure the organ that sustains them [deployed cadres] politically is active but are not paid as per the contracts they have with the organisation,” a staff member said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
The member said those who pay monthly debits to the party were expected to comply even when they are not paid.
The SACP has several of its leaders – officials and members of its central committee – who have been deployed in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet as ministers and deputy ministers. Some are members of the national executive committee of the ANC.
They include SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande, who is minister of Higher Education and his deputy Buti Manamela; deputy chairperson of the party, Thulas Nxesi, who is the minister of Employment and Labour; Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe; Deputy Public Enterprise Minister Phumulo Masualle; Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Fikile Majola and Sdumo Dlamini, deputy Minister of Small Business development.
The communist party also has some of its senior leaders deployed in provincial governments, including Limpopo premier Stan Mathabatha and several MECs in North West, Northern Cape, Mpumalanga and Gauteng, among others.
The issue of salaries resurfaced as the party was holding its central committee meeting, which ends today. The organisation was also preparing for its elective congress in July, at which the party’s first deputy secretary, Solly Mapaila is tipped to succeed Nzimande.
A debate is expected to expand on the party’s medium-term vision, which speaks about the deployment of party leaders to the state and other key sites of power in society.
SACP treasurer Joyce Moloi-Moropa said the only workers who have not been paid were heads of departments and full-time central committee members.
“During the tight lockdown period, there were indeed some months during which salaries could not be paid, resulting in a cumulative gap of a four-month period that we could not pay in full. We paid in full medical aid and pension fund without fail during the affected months, however,” she said.
“The SACP was affected by retrenchments in the economy and rising unemployment during the height of Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns, and by some members passing away.
“This resulted in a decline in our membership levies and our membership database reflecting… an increased number of members currently being unemployed.”
Moloi-Moropa said as the leadership they continued to try their best to raise funds, adding that “conditions in the fund-raising atmosphere are extremely difficult for us as a communist party”.
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