[imagesource: AFP  Photo/Rodger Bosch]

When you don’t perform at the polls, despite your two biggest opposition parties having spent virtually the entire election cycle engulfed in scandal, heads will start to roll.

Perhaps just as damaging to the DA are claims that donors are now holding back funding, with news that staff layoffs are just around the corner.

There will also be no 2019 bonuses paid out, reports BusinessLIVE:

“Following a very difficult election period, the party is regrettably not in a position to pay bonuses this year. We will, however, have an extended ex gratia period in lieu of this,” DA CEO Paul Boughey wrote to party staff last Tuesday.

Party sources claimed the DA is running out of money as it has built up an enormous staff component over the years but has been struggling to raise funds since the May elections.

“Our donor base votes with its chequebook, and they have not been happy with the party’s performances,” said a federal executive member, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In a separate letter, Boughey informed staff that an organisational review is under way to look at streamlining processes and to develop the most efficient structure to ensure the party maximises its votes in the 2021 local government elections.

As we wrote in a story two weeks ago, the DA is suffering from a bit of an identity crisis, with some saying that the party “does not know what it stands for”.

The party may well fare better in the local government elections, but the damage done by the subpar national election performance could have a knock-on effect there, too.

The DA’s share of the national vote slipped to 20,8% in the May 8 elections, down from 22,2% five years earlier.

Party national spokesperson Solly Malatsi has denied the party is suffering from funding problems, and said the layoffs and restructuring are par for the course:

“This is the process currently under way. We also constantly evolve our systems to make them as efficient as possible. In this context, and in the face of a weakening economy, we are in the process of restructuring our operations in line with the relevant legislative and other requirements,” Malatsi said.

Gallo Images / Beeld / Liza van Deventer

The party is doing so to be in a strong and sustainable position going into the 2021 elections, he said.

Malatsi denied claims that the party’s donors are tightfisted in funding the party, saying they remain fully committed to the party and its cause.

One united, honest, and hardworking opposition party – that’s all we ask.

[source:businesslive]