ANC staff suspend strike to focus on local government elections

17 September 2021 - 15:41
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ANC staff at Luthuli House have decided to suspend their strike in order to focus on the local government elections. File photo.
ANC staff at Luthuli House have decided to suspend their strike in order to focus on the local government elections. File photo.
Image: Phillip Nothnagel

Disgruntled staff employed at the ANC’s Luthuli House HQ have suspended their strike with immediate effect to focus on winning the local government elections.

The staff have not been paid their salaries and are in the middle of a tense dispute with their employer.

“As much as our problems and challenges are noble, we have decided that we can suspend the strike for the ANC to confront the challenges confronting our people and the country,” said a staff representative, Mvusi Mdala.

An internal communication dated September 16 reads: “The ANC staff, after a national general meeting, has informed the general manager that they have suspended their strike with immediate effect.”

This decision was taken “to work for a decisive victory for the ANC in the local government elections on November 1.

“The staff and management remain committed to constructive engagement towards the resolution of their grievances.”

TimesLIVE reported previously that the party has had problems paying salaries since May, when Sars garnisheed its allowances from the IEC, which the ANC receives as a party represented in parliament. It has also failed to pay provident and pension funds for more than two years.

This week, former employee Carl Niehaus, who was fired from the party last week, opened a fraud and corruption case against the ANC leadership for their alleged failure to pay over Unemployment Insurance Fund contributions despite deducting from their staff salaries.

Mdala said while he was aware that some of his colleagues have not been able to meet their financial obligations,

“We subscribe to one of the values of the ANC of selflessness and therefore for the ANC to be able to address the problems of this country, it must have state power and we can only get that state power by campaigning for the elections and win them.

“When you look at the bigger picture, at the end of the day we do not want to think about ourselves only. We must think about others. When you think about others, you consider your situation and say that you are better off than those who are not even employed.”

TimesLIVE


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