The South African Communist Party (SACP), just like its alliance partner, the African National Congress (ANC), has also struggled to pay staff salaries.

According to SACP spokesperson Alex Mashilo, the last salary run was at the end of March. In the months prior, there were significant salary problems.

"During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, we could not pay salaries in full. Amidst the situation, we had sessions with staff where we decided to pay medical aid and provident fund contributions. There were four months that we were affected, and it was not consecutive months. During those four months, the SACP only paid the provident fund and medical aid contributions," he said.

The SACP's other alliance partner, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), said it was troubled by reports that indicated the SACP owes its staff members.

"This is discreditable and disconcerting not only for the SACP but the entire tripartite alliance. The SACP must pay its employees what is due to them immediately. The SACP is the vanguard of the working class that is meant to champion working-class struggles, and this is undermining its credibility in the eyes of the workers. The party, like all other employers needs to abide by South Africa's labour laws, in particular the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, which requires the employer to pay their workers for services rendered," Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said.

Pamla said it is unacceptable that the leaders of the SACP sit in Parliament, collect exorbitant salaries, pass labour laws, and then disregard them. 

"The fact that the deputy chairperson of the SACP is the Minister for Employment and Labour and the custodian of our labour laws is scandalous. This tells employers across the economy that they don't need to bother with respecting workers' rights and abiding by our labour laws," he said.

Meanwhile, Democratic Alliance MP Michael Cardo said it was "most unfortunate" that the SACP seemed to be following in the ANC's footsteps.

"What makes this injustice even more egregious is that the Minister of Employment and Labour is the deputy chairperson of the SACP. He never fails to bash and bully businesses suspected of the slightest deviation from our labour laws, but now that his own party is accused of wrongdoing, the minister has become the nowhere man.

"I have asked the minister to get to the bottom of the SACP's reported exploitation of its workers, and to verify whether his party has been paying over its contributions to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and the Compensation Fund, as required by law," Cardo said.

For months, the ANC has been facing a backlash from employees over the delayed payment of salaries.

It has on several occasions placed the blame for its financial woes on the Political Funding Act, which came into effect in April. Responses by funders who deemed the declaration requirements of the Act to be harmful, may have had an impact on the ANC's pockets, the party's leaders said.