ancSunday Times reports that the ANC’s poor showing in the May elections will cost more than 120 of its employees their jobs, because fewer MPs means sharply lower parliamentary allowances.

ANC sources in parliament told the Sunday Times that the decision to retrench up to 44 party staff in Cape Town and 80 more at its parliamentary constituency offices across the country was communicated by chief whip Pemmy Majodina at a tense four-hour staff meeting on Wednesday.

Sources said Majodina told the meeting the ANC parliamentary caucus could not afford to retain all its estimated 460 workers.

She said the party was millions of rands poorer in terms of its parliamentary administrative and constituency allowances because of the 23 seats it lost in the May elections, when its support dropped to 57.5% from 62.15% in 2014.

Insiders said Majodina and her team told workers that though the ANC did not retrench in 2014 despite losing 15 seats in that election, the cuts were unavoidable this time round.

But the disgruntled employees are not taking the matter lying down, and challenged Majodina and her deputy Dorris Dlakude and NCOP chief whip Seiso Mohai to do away with luxuries such as phone allowances for senior managers, rented photocopiers in every office in parliament and a leased car for the chief whip.

Majodina also receives a vehicle allowance from parliament as part of her pay package.  She declined to comment, saying consultations were still under way.

Parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo has indicated that for the current financial year, the legislature has dished out R121m in allowances to all parties on a proportional basis.

These allowances are used to finance party parliamentary operations, including salaries.

This means the ANC would expect R68m a year, down from the R75m a year it has been getting since 2014.

The party’s constituency allowance, which it used to set up 240 public consultation offices across the country, was due to shrink by R17m to R193m this year.

Sources said Majodina told the meeting the party planned to shut at least 38 constituency offices — the number of seats it had lost in the past two elections — meaning at least 80 jobs lost.

The insiders said Dlakude tried to start the meeting on Wednesday by getting staff to sing struggle songs, but the unhappy workers snubbed her.

Staff members who spoke on condition of anonymity said Majodina had told them that all positions would be advertised internally this week and all of them were free to apply, with the process due to be concluded by September 6.

Khaya Xaba, spokesperson for the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union, which represents the majority of ANC employees, said: “As much as we understand the fact that we have lost seats in the last election, our view is that the employer has not canvassed various avenues to avoid these job losses.”

While the ANC parliamentary office is retrenching, the party’s headquarters is beefing up staff. Former ministers from Jacob Zuma’s tenure have been appointed to posts at Luthuli House, party sources said, allegedly at ministerial salaries.

The sources said that Nomvula Mokonyane, who lost her environmental affairs portfolio in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet reshuffle after the May elections, has been named head of campaigns, replacing Senzo Mchunu, the minister of public service & administration.

They said Malusi Gigaba, who held several cabinet portfolios before resigning in November last year, has a post in the policy department, and former co-operative governance deputy minister Andries Nel has joined the party’s legal department.

But while the governing party is going through a jobs bloodbath among parliamentary staff, some of its rivals are hiring after a good showing at the polls.

FF Plus leader Pieter Groenewald said the party would take on more staff after increasing its seats in the National Assembly from four in 2014 to 10 this year.

Groenewald said the party was also opening up new constituency offices in areas where it had not had representation before.

The UDM’s Nqabayomzi Kwankwa said the party had been forced to retrench five support staff members after losing three of its five seats in both houses of parliament in May. Kwankwa said the IFP had agreed to absorb two of the laid-off employees.

IFP chief whip Narend Singh, whose party has increased its seats in parliament from 10 to 14, said the party was hiring more staff, including researchers, and was setting up three more constituency offices.

The original of the above report by Andisiwe Makinana appeared on page 4 of The Sunday Times of 12 August 2019


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