In a statement released on Monday, the Democratic Alliance (DA) confirmed that it will be approaching the police to file criminal charges against the African National Congress (ANC) over ongoing spats at Luthuli House related to unpaid unemployment insurance fund (UIF) contributions.
DA to press charges against ANC: Here’s what we know
In a statement, the official opposition confirmed that on Tuesday, its leadership will gather at the Cape Town Central police station from 11:00, where formal criminal charges will be laid against the ruling party’s Top Six over “alleged failure to pay UIF contributions to the State.”
“According to news reports, disgruntled Luthuli House staffers claimed that since 2018 the ANC has been deducting UIF contributions from their workers, but not paying it to government,” the DA noted.
ANC workers have been on a picket since June 2021 when a financial report published by the Sunday Times revealed the true extent of the party’s woes.
It was discovered that the South African Revenue Services (Sars) has been intercepting annual emergency funds received by the ANC from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
This allocation, it’s believed, is meant to settle the ruling party’s ballooning pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) debt to ‘Uncle Tom’ which, at the time, stood at an estimated R80 million.
Moreover, ANC staffers have claimed that not only have salaries not been paid on time on a monthly basis, but that bigwigs at Luthuli House have not been able to locate the whereabouts of R140 million in UIF contributions allegedly collected by the party on a monthly basis for the past 31 months.
“The ANC cannot be allowed to put their employees’ rightful benefits at risk because of the organisation’s inability to manage its own finances. The DA therefore has no other option than to intervene and press charges with SAPS,” the official opposition added.
The DA leadership is expected to address the media once it’s filed the criminal charges on Tuesday.
