TimesLive reports that ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe’s explanation for why the governing party cannot guarantee that its staff will be paid on time has been met with mixed reaction, with some calling it irresponsible.

Speaking at the ANC’s gala dinner on Wednesday before the party’s national policy conference this weekend, Mabe said the ANC was not a bank robbery syndicate that could predict when it would get money. “If the ANC was running a cash-in-transit heist, then it would say: ‘No, we know the robberies we’re going to be conducting in the next two months will give us enough’,” said Mabe. He went on to indicate: “The ANC depends on the people. It is the trust of those people and once the people renew their love, trust and confidence in the ANC and start to reinvest their resources, we will be able to sustain this organisation of Nelson Mandela.” Unpaid staff picketed at the party’s provincial offices across the country, threatening to interdict the national policy conference. Finance committee member and social development minister Lindiwe Zulu assured staff that they would get their money soon: “The treasurer’s office, and Paul Mashatile himself, is doing everything to ensure we get the money. Even the policy conference, we are paying for going there. We must appreciate and realise that the ANC doesn't have a factory where it goes and gets money. The money must come from us as members.” Zulu said another reason for ANC’s money woes was its membership fees had been “too low for too long”. The fee is R12 annually.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Unathi Nkanjeni at BusinessLive

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