The ANC, which has been unable to pay staff salaries for several months, will be selling off its properties as a means of trying to resolve its financials.
ANC treasurer-general and acting secretary-general Paul Mashatile said the party had developed a comprehensive strategy to deal with its board property portfolio which he said the party would be leveraging to try and get a grip on its financials.
Mashatile said the ANC, which was in exile between 1960 and the mid-1990s, has a number of assets abroad which it was looking at selling off. He said the party had resolved to create a property company to consolidate all its assets.
“We’ve taken a decision that we’ll put all our properties in one company so that it’s easy to manage them. However, there are properties in other countries we feel we will not need to use anymore and those will be sold off.
“There are other assets we’ll still keep in foreign countries. There are assets that are of historic and political value to the ANC like our headquarters in Lusaka, which we are preserving, and our head office in London and others we’ll dispose of. We’re creating a
consolidated property company that will manage all our assets,” he said.
Mashatile said the party had battled financially due to the Political Party Funding Act that capped donations to political parties to R15m a year.
“We’ve been battling with funding because we know since the Political Party Funding Act requires disclosure, many companies are a bit reluctant, but also, there’s a limit to how much people can donate in a year. It’s limited to R15m a year... that has created a lot of constraint on our fundraising efforts.
“We’ve since asked the minister to look at amending that Act and we’ve presented our proposal. As the minister of home affairs is busy with the Electoral Amendment Act, he will also look into this matter as well, however, our efforts on fundraising have not died completely.
“It is difficult, but we’re surviving. We’ve paid all our staff to date and we’ll pay them this month and next month and the other month. And we’ll also be able to hold a successful conference, we’re not rich but surviving,” he said.
In August, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) ordered the ANC to pay R10m a month to its staff's Provident Fund, which was about R86m in arrears.
At the time, the regulator said it had intervened on behalf of 535 contributors to the fund.
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