ANC members in Nelson Mandela Bay are soliciting donations for personal gain, with the money never reaching the party’s bank account.
This is according to a leaked copy of the party’s treasurer’s report by Luvuyo Mini.
According to the party’s annual statement for the year ending on February 28, the region had a R9,863 bank balance.
Its fixed assets were valued at R71,110.
The party received R2.3m in donations and fundraising for the financial year.
Of this R2.3m, R1m was spent on catering and R911,918 on transport.
The party had a surplus at the end of the year of R69,073.
The ANC in the region is holding its elective conference at Nelson Mandela University’s Gold Fields Auditorium.
It is due to end on Sunday.
Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Babalwa Lobishe secured a second term as the ANC’s regional chair in the city early on Saturday morning.
Mini said the party had endured a difficult financial period, burdened by debt and the need to secure funding to repair the dilapidated Florence Matamela House — a task made harder as businesspeople increasingly shied away from assisting the ANC.
He said the organisation also faced challenges with tenants who were not paying rent at the building.
It was also grappling with two derelict structures in ward 59.
“When we lost leadership of the local government [in 2022], many of our donors withdrew their support; however, we continued to work tirelessly with local businesses friendly to the ANC on different programmes of the movement,” he said.
“However, the congress must note that there were malicious individuals across all structures who continued to source money for personal gain at the expense of the movement.
" Some donations never reached our bank account, and this tendency is counter-revolutionary and does not assist the struggle for national liberation,” he added.
Mini said cadres must be deployed to strategic entities — including the Coega Development Corporation, Transnet and Portnet — to oversee the 2021 mandate to fast-track approvals and implementation of private embedded power generation for industrial parks, municipal facilities and Coega IDZ tenants, as well as partnerships with independent power producers.
“[We must] strategically utilise our critical entities to also focus on buying shares from the private sector for the economic growth of the region, which would help address the high unemployment rate.
“We also need to create an enabling environment for big businesses, including VW, to avoid disinvestment.
“A classical example is Goodyear — how does national government assist in such challenges?” he said.
Speaking on Saturday at the venue, Mini said no one in the ANC had been found guilty of keeping funds, adding he was raising complaints he had received from businesspeople.
“It’s a very sensitive matter that we are still going to deal with.
He said this was one of the reasons why donors had dwilned.
“But we have never proven the allegations. It’s them who are telling us.”
The Herald
