A rental dispute between the ANC in the eThekwini region and its landlord has led to the party being locked out of its offices in Durban.
Recently, it emerged that ANC staff members had been unable to enter the offices in a building in the CBD because the party had failed to pay rent.
There were also allegations from sources with knowledge of the affairs of the party, who suggested that the ANC staff members in the office had either not been paid at all or had not been paid their full salaries.
However, the party dismissed the allegations yesterday.
The ANC did acknowledge the rental issue, saying that it had withheld payment to compel the landlord to negotiate the rent being charged.
The latest challenges facing the region comes after the party had held a “muted” national January 8 celebration in Cape Town this past weekend because of financial difficulties.
ANC spokesperson in the eThekwini region, Mlondi Mkhize, said, “Let me start on the issue of the workers; there are no workers who have not been paid, and if there are such, they must come forward.”
Regarding the financial situation, Mkhize highlighted two challenges: first, that the party did owe rent previously, and second, that it believed the rent was too high.
“We did fall behind on the rent, and an arrangement was made to settle that amount, and that has been settled. The main issue here is that for the longest time, we have felt that the rent was too high, and we have been trying to negotiate. But each time we pay, the discussion around the rent being too high would subside,” he said.
“The party took a decision deliberately not to pay the rent in order to force the discussion about the amount we were being charged back on the table. I believe that at the end of November, we did not pay, and that forced the matter back on the table. There were discussions later in December, and the matter has finally been settled.”
Mkhize confirmed that their staff would be back in the office today.
“There are many units that employ full-time staff members in this office. What has been happening is that there are a few volunteers who had been doing volunteer work remotely, and the staff will be back doing organisational work after the January 8 statement. I can confirm that the office is open and the full staff complement will be in today.”
Several attempts to reach the landlord were unsuccessful by the time of publication.