High-ranking civil servants will be encouraged to subscribe to the ANC’s Progressive Citizens’ Forum (PCF) to help the party raise more funds.
According to the party’s financial report, tabled by former treasurer-general and now ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile, subscriptions to the PCF and the party’s Progressive Business Forum (PBF) have declined markedly in the past five years.
Subscriptions to the PBF, which also manages the PCF, dropped from more than R11m five years ago to R3.5m in the previous financial year. The PCF raised more than R17m in subscriptions in 2017/2018, but this fell to R4.7m in the 2021/2022 financial year.
The PBF is a subscriber-based organisation that “provides a platform for business to engage with ANC leaders and leaders in government to facilitate business and government partnerships that can contribute towards economic growth”, the report says.
It is, among other things, responsible for organising gala dinners ahead of important party events, as well as ministerial briefings and roundtables, but it has been criticised in the past for financially exploiting its power in government.
The PBF and PCF offer different levels of subscription, with the more expensive levels providing more access to government leaders than the lower ones.
For example, the PCF executive level “is a tailor-made package for senior managers in all spheres of government, organs of the state and senior executives in [the] private sector who wish to unlock a world of engagement opportunities and direct access to ANC leaders”.
The one area where the PBF did show some growth — albeit small in real terms — is its ANC merchandisers division, which is a registration service for those who sell merchandise with the ANC logo on it. In 2018 the service generated R376,910 for the ANC. From January to October 2022, it already netted R436,330 from its merchandisers.
But there are some challenges enforcing compliance as the PBF found there were merchandisers who were selling counterfeit ANC regalia, or selling ANC regalia without a permit.
Subscriptions to the PBF dropped from more than R11m five years ago to R3.5m in the previous financial year
The financial report lists a host of challenges which contributed to the fall in revenue of the subscription services.
In the case of the PBF, it says infighting has negatively affected the ANC brand and donations, while the July 2021 riots in KwaZulu-Natal affected a number of the party’s subscribers. Covid, a “decline in economic conditions” and donor reluctance because of requirements for greater transparency under the Political Party Funding Act, introduced last year, also contributed to declining revenue collection.
For the PCF, there were “operational irregularities with respect to subscription collections”, and some subscribers reversed their debit orders. There were also issues related to the new Protection of Personal Information Act.
The ANC wants the resolutions taken at its 2017 conference to be implemented, which include revenue-generation initiatives such as events management, properties, an ANC funeral scheme, rewards programmes, the manufacturing of ANC regalia, as well as access to a health medical scheme and other commercial opportunities.
ANC stores could also be set up in the party’s provincial offices where ANC regalia will be sold.
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