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Lets Come Clean on Political Party Tithing

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ll political parties levy a tithe on their elected officials monthly salaries, along with a ‘candidate fee’ on the first months salary.

In most cases a portion of the tithe is retained locally with the bulk going to the National Offices.

Most elected officials remain tight lipped about the tithe and the amount thereof.

Some reports state that the DA Elected Officials tithe 3% with ‘something to the local branch’ whilst the AND Elected Officials tithe 5%.

Strictly speaking the word ‘tithe’ is incorrect and should be referred to as a ‘franchise fee’ as most elected official rely on the ‘party machine’ to seep them into office – THIS make it increasingly difficult for an independent candidate to be seen and heard when up against the marketing machine of the more established players.

Of course the giving by elected officials also include a ‘candidate fee’ – this fee is paid by successful candidates who are elected and is normally around half of the fist salary payment. in the case of the DA this amount is 50% of the first gross monthly salary.

CONSIDER THIS, THOUGH:

Local elected officials in Nelson Mandela Bay are largely paid by ratepayers contributions and, in effect, this ‘tithe’ to a National Party represents local money leaving the City to support a National Political Party.

In some strange way I need to say Kudos to the DA for being relatively open and honest about the tithe and candidate fees as from time to time they do make the decision to axe non-paying DA members public:

In August 2012 The DA said that it was in the process of axing 20 councillors for failing to pay their “candidate’s fees”, which is half of a month’s income, and “tithes” – about 3% of monthly income – to the party.

The Nelson Mandela Bay DA fired Ward 1 Councillor Rashied Adams after he skipped payments on a compulsory tithe to the party in December 2017.

In December 2019 the EFF’s Cosmos Mabona from the Western Cape was sacked after failing to pay party levies 14 times.

On the other side of the coin we should commend the DA for collecting the money owed as they do not seem to be in the same boat as the ANC which is widely reported as struggling to pay National Head Office staff, suppliers and SARS. One can only surmise that as part of a ‘caring party’ they do not chase their elected officials for their slice of the pie!

BUT

At the end of the day the ultimate AIM is to make sure that any amount paid to any political party as a ‘candidate fee’ or as a ‘tithe’ should stay in Nelson Mandela Bay – after all it is the locals who pay the elected officials salaries!

As a purely local based ‘non-political’ political party AIM is ahead of the game here.

Ward 7 Independent Councillor

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.