South Africa\u2019s ruling party is strapped for cash heading into municipal elections in October as new funding disclosure rules serve as a deterrent to donors.<\/p>\n
The African National Congress has been struggling to meet its salary bill on time, with employees being notified last month that uncertainty over when they\u2019d be paid could persist for as long as six months. The party, which also owes money to the South African Revenue Service, is now considering drastically cutting back on staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are struggling. We have a cash flow problem,\u201d Jessie Duarte, the ANC\u2019s deputy secretary-general, said at a media briefing in Johannesburg on Tuesday. \u201cThe funders that we have traditionally relied on have stepped back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The financial squeeze may undermine the ANC\u2019s efforts to reclaim control of several key towns that it lost to opposition coalitions five years ago. While the party backed a newly adopted law requiring all donations to political parties exceeding R100,000 ($7,000) to be publicly disclosed, it was now working to its disadvantage, according to Duarte.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany people who have funded the ANC may also have been funding other political parties,\u201d she said. \u201cSo they don\u2019t want it to be known that they funded the ANC, or they fund the ANC and believe that it might be bad for business or – let\u2019s put it bluntly – that it was good for business at a time and is no longer.\u201d<\/p>\n