Too many comrades: Phosa

18 December 2012 - 02:00 By OLEBOGENG MOLATLHWA and THANDO MGAGA
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TRIMMING THE FAT: ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa has made several cost-cutting recommendations in an as yet undelivered report to delegates at Mangaung. In the report, he laments the party's soaring costs
TRIMMING THE FAT: ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa has made several cost-cutting recommendations in an as yet undelivered report to delegates at Mangaung. In the report, he laments the party's soaring costs

THE ANC's tainted image among business leaders is hampering its fundraising.

The party will not only have to come up with creative ways of bringing in cash, it will also have to revise its spending habits.

These observations and cost-cutting measures are contained in ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa's financial report delivered to delegates at the Mangaung conference.

In the report, Phosa lays bare the party's largesses and its increasing operating costs.

But the organisation's bloated finances could be brought under control, states Phosa, if the number of full-time staff were reduced - the report reveals that the party's salaries bill had risen from R58.1-million in 2008 to R130.7-million by March.

Employee numbers went up from 234 to 352 in the same period.

Phosa's cost-cutting measures, however, contradict a resolution taken at the ANC's Polokwane conference, at which delegates agreed that the number of staff in the office of the secretary-general should be increased .

But the treasurer-general said "the salary bill and structure of the ANC [have] grown considerably since the Polokwane conference and it is not sustainable".

His office has raised R1.4-billion in the five years since he took up his position and the Independent Electoral Commission grant contributed R218-million, but the party's financial performance has been characterised by sharp increases in costs, Phosa said.

Membership fees boosted the party's bank account by R55-million in the past five years - Phosa has proposed that they be upped.

The cost of running the ANC's programmes has been a challenge, though the party's bank balance swelled by R193-million from R147-million in 2007-2008 to R340-million in 2011-2012. Costs have, however, skyrocketed by R275-million, from R162-million in 2007-2008 to R437-million in 2011-2012.

"These high increases in costs are alarming and unsustainable. For the movement to sustain itself, it has to reduce operational costs drastically. The ANC should make maximum use of some of its cadres deployed in government and legislature positions that allow them to contribute to various areas of organisational work," Phosa said.

Phosa said the ANC must ensure that the proposed Political Party Funding Bill is passed because it will increase funding.

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