Springbok and biltong roulade for ANC gala but no birthday cake for Ace

Tickets for the ANC gala dinner have been sold out — including those sold for a whopping R1.2m to nab a seat next to party president Cyril Ramaphosa.

The ANC will host the fundraising gala dinner at the Protea Hotel Polokwane Ranch Resort in Limpopo on Friday ahead of the January 8 statement.

This is in an effort to secure funds for the broke governing party, which is celebrating its 110th anniversary.

Sipho Mbele, convener of the Progressive Business Forum, which is facilitating the bash, said they had surpassed their own expectations. Mbele confirmed that all tickets have been sold.

“Yes, this includes the R1.2m tickets. We’re currently dealing with a situation where there is a lot of demand for the tickets but we must first deal with [Covid-19] compliance because we are limited to a certain number of people.

“We’ve surpassed our own expectations, and what this means is that business still wants to engage with leaders of the ANC.

“The dinner will not only be attracting business from leaders from Limpopo but outside the province as well. Some are flying in and others are driving from Gauteng,” Mbele said.

Aside from seats next to Ramaphosa, a seat next to party deputy president David Mabuza will cost R1m, while sitting next to the party’s national chair, Gwede Mantashe, and treasurer-general Paul Mashatile will set you back R95,000.

The cheapest ticket is R5,000.

While others might rejoice assuming money is coming into ANC coffers, the party’s head of organising, Nomvula Mokonyane, assured the media the ANC would be considerate of its spending and not splurge.

From the number of attendees to the spending, the ANC’s January 8 statement will be scaled down due to the party’s financial struggles.

The ANC is so broke it has struggled to pay salaries of its staff for several months.

While not divulging how much the party had spent in organising the event and where it had secured the funds given its current financial troubles, Mokonyane said the ANC had scrambled to make the event happen.

“Of course the ANC is going through serious challenges of the non-availability of resources but we are doing everything with the little that we have and izinto ziyahlangana [things are coming together]. We are mindful that we can’t go overboard when our own staff members have not been paid all their salaries,” she said.

Luthuli House staffers said while they understood the party's financial struggles, they could not “eat sympathy”.

One ANC volunteer who gets paid by Luthuli House said she had about two months in outstanding salaries.

“Seeing the preparations doesn’t make me feel good because we’re inundated by calls from companies that we owe money, our policies aren’t paid up and we’re doing things we’re not accustomed to in order to get by.”

Meanwhile, an ANC ward in Musina was to host Ace Magashule in what appears to be an attempt by him to join the party’s 110th anniversary celebrations on Saturday.

In a letter, the regional secretary‚ Rudzani Ludere‚ reminded Magashule that he is “not allowed to attend organisational activities or represent the ANC in any activities”.

Magashule was suspended after failing to step aside from the party as he is facing corruption charges.

In addition to the gala dinner, the ANC is hosting different activities in the province for its anniversary celebrations‚ culminating in an address by Ramaphosa at 1pm on Saturday at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium.

With Alex Patrick

SowetanLIVE/TimesLIVE