Weekly Mail Reporter
THE ANC’s Johannesburg headquarters, Shell House, is pervaded by disillusionment and insecurity as hundreds of staff members wait for cutbacks in the organisation’s operations.
This is despite assurances from their leadership that the organisation will look after its employees.
The scaling down of the ANC’s headquarters after its election victory has been a messy affair. Reportedly heavily weighed down by debts incurred during the election and seemingly unable to secure jobs in the civil service for many of its employees, the ANC seemed unable to avoid putting many people on the street.
Employees, who had been warned that many of the ANC’s departments would be closed by August, are turning up at work to do little more than wait for clarity about their future.
Some have complained that there is no clear idea of the role of the ANC outside of government and with many departments without heads, there is nobody to direct work.
Since the election, much of the ANC’s senior leadership has been sent to parliament or drawn into the cabinet. The party has not yet been able to replace them.
Two months after the election, the ANC’s national office still does not have an official spokesman. And besides losing its president, the legal department, international desk, department of economic policy, research desk and department of intelligence and security, are among those which do not have political heads.
While the ANC can get along without many of its policy research departments — now that ANC policy is well on its way to becoming government white papers — there is concern about the future of departments vital to the future welfare of the party.
The organising department – responsible for strengthening the ANC’s structures — was collapsed into the elections commission and is now effectively without its head, Sport and Recreation Minister Steve Tshwete.
Without an active department of information and publicity, the ANC cannot sell itself and high profile representatives, like Pallo Jordaan, Carl Niehaus and Gill Marcus, are now members of the government.
While the leadership has moved into government, much of their personnel have remained in Shell House.
According to ANC government sources, the major problem is ministers still have to make jobs available in their ministries for their own people.
Besides being saddled with the old staff — because of job guarantees to the civil service in the interim constitution — all appointments have to be approved by the Ministry of Public Service and Administration.
However, at a meeting in Shell House last week, President Nelson Mandela and Minister of Public Service and Administration Zola Skweyiya assured staff they would not be jobless as positions were being sought for them in government.
A letter assured those who wanted to leave the ANC that retrenchment packages were available.