Divisions and defiant deployees have cost the Eastern Cape African National Congress (ANC) millions in legal fees, a senior Provincial Executive Committee member said.
ANC provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane said legal action from within had hit the organisation’s coffers to the tune of R5-million, the Dispatch Online reported on Wednesday.
Mabuyane was speaking at a commemoration ceremony held for one of the ANC’s fallen heroes, Jeff Wabena, in Mdantsane at the weekend. Wabena was assassinated while chairing an ANC meeting there 20 years ago.
He singled out the Amathole Region as the main culprits, citing councillors from Amahlathi, Buffalo City, Mbhashe and Mnquma municipalities, who have all taken the ANC to court in the past 16 months.
He said the organisation was in the process of instituting internal disciplinary action against these members.
Neglected areas
Mabuyane also accused ANC councillors within the Buffalo City Municipality of fighting among themselves instead of working to develop areas like Mdantsane — thought to be South Africa’s second biggest township after Soweto. The area is plagued with high levels of unemployment.
“The ANC can’t be proud of ANC Buffalo City councillors because they don’t listen and implement the organisation’s directions.
“They sit in (coffee shops) and discuss their own personal ambitions instead of what the organisation wants. These people should also have left the ANC.”
The ruling party’s woes date from September 2009, when the M&G reported that their treasure chest was fast depleting due to the effect of the recession as well as the influence of the Congress of the People (Cope), the official opposition in the province which competed with the ANC for fundraising.
In a confidential treasurer’s report at the time, then provincial treasurer Thokozile Xasa said: “The drying up of donor funding and changing trends in the economy left us only relying on councillor levies. The changing political landscape as well as the economic recession later had a negative impact.”
Money problems
The provincial leadership had to cash in investment policies to the tune of R1,6-million to fund their election campaign. Another investment policy was recalled, but the amount was not mentioned in the report.
Xasa said the funds — totalling R1,2-million — were supposed to go to branches, but the money was never transferred and impeded the capacity of branches to do their work.
ANC councillors are also compelled to pay 3% of their income to the ANC, but this was not done regularly, says Xasa.
The province aims to have 100 000 members by 2012, which will add R1,2-million to the provincial coffers. Each member pays R12 annually.
The Eastern Cape is the poorest province in terms of average on monthly expenditure, according to Statistics South Africa. According to one Human Sciences Research Council report, 72% of people in the province live in poverty. — Sapa and M&G