- ANC employees protested outside of the Birchwood Hotel on the first day the party’s NGC gathering.
- They said that some of them were still owed salaries dating back to August and 2023.
- On Sunday, ANC’s secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, claimed that all salaries had been paid except his.
ANC employees say that some party employees still have outstanding salary payments dating back to 2023.
On Monday morning, staff protested outside Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni, on the first day of the 5th National General Council (NGC) of the ANC.
The protest, which was held in front of one of the gates where cars of delegates and senior ANC officials entered, blocked traffic.
The staff members insisted that they would continue with their “peaceful protest” after police asked that they move elsewhere.
When a presidential motorcade drove past, protesters raised their placards higher. It was not clear whether Cyril Ramaphosa or his deputy Paul Mashatile were in the motorcade.
As several luxurious cars drove past the protest on their way to the NGC venue, some employees commented: “Nanga ama millions (Here are the millions).”
ANC national executive members Supra Mahumapelo and Dina Pule, who is also the deputy secretary of the ANC Women’s League, came out briefly to offer support to the workers.
Mahumapelo went around shaking their hands and remarked that what they were going through was “painful”.
He added:
I wish I had powers. This thing is painful.
Mahumapelo also spoke to the police, who were insisting that the protesters move elsewhere, as they were blocking traffic and preventing cars from entering the NGC venue.
He told the police that the employees were not a “threat” and that they should be allowed to proceed with their “peaceful protest”.
One staff member also reacted, saying: “This event was organised by us, we will not sabotage it.”
Speaking to News24, Nehawu secretary of the Walter Sisulu branch in Johannesburg, Nombuso Mbatha, said the issue of unpaid salaries was an ongoing one. She added that as things stood, staff were not even sure they would be paid their December salaries, as they still had August, October, and November salaries outstanding.
“We have not even been given a date on when our December salaries will be paid. We normally get paid on the week of the 16th, just before the 20th,” Mbatha said.
“People need to buy food for their kids for December, we need to pay school fees, and we need to pay registration fees for our kids to go to school.
“Today is the 8th of December, and there are still outstanding salaries from November and other previous months.”
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She said the protest was to send a message to the ANC leadership to start taking employees “seriously”.
“As you can see, we are not on strike; we are still continuing to do ANC work. We are just highlighting a fact that, even through hard times that the staff is going through, we are still coming to work. We are not disrupting the NGC process; the NGC is still ongoing.
“We have been here throughout the week, and we prepared for the NGC to make sure that everything goes okay. So, where we are, we are not stopping the NGC. We are just asking that we be taken seriously.”
Mbatha added: “We are not on an industrial strike; we are just picketing to highlight that we are frustrated. We also have families to feed.”
She said employees had been “patient long enough” and would no longer be intimidated into not airing their frustrations.
Speaking to the media on Sunday, on the eve of the NGC, secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said all salaries had been paid, except for his.
However, deputy secretary of Nehawu’s Walter Sisulu branch, Dan Semenya, told News24 that the picket was not only about salaries, but also about issues related to the provident fund, medical aid contributions of staff, and other related matters.
“The employer is not paying,” said Semenya.
He added that the employees decided to protest outside the NGC to amplify the message to a broader component of the ANC leadership.
“We are saying it cannot be right that the character of the ANC, being a caring movement, is still confronted with issues of workers having to picket outside the venue on the basis of not having joy in the issues that relate to their rights as workers,” Semenya said.
“So we believe that the messages went across… We started early, and almost everybody who passed here will be lying to say that they did not see the staff of the ANC being engaged in this protest action.”
He added that their frustrations were exacerbated by a lack of communication from management regarding the delays.
He said that in the last meeting staff had held with management, they had requested that they be given letters of commitment on when the salaries would be paid, so they could tell their debtors when they would be able to pay their debts.
He said the issue of non-payment of salaries and worker contributions had a negative impact not only on the staff, but also on their families.
“Like for instance, it’s not nice for a person to go to a doctor and only to be told when they arrive that their medical aid has been suspended,” he said.
Semenya told News24 that the employees would not be protesting for the duration of the NGC, and that they believed they had sent the message.
Before ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his political overview, the protest had ended, and staff were back at work.
