Those wishing to tee-off with President Cyril Ramaphosa at the ANC’s presidential golf day at the Mbombela Golf Club in Mpumalanga on Thursday will have to fork out half-a-million rand.
A poster advertising the event says the R500,000 will buy nine holes with Ramaphosa, use of a golf cart, a souvenir shirt and cap and three tickets for the ANC’s annual gala dinner the next day, among other things.
The golf day is one of several fundraising events this week associated with the party’s 112th birthday tomorrow.
Similar golf day packages are available with other ANC grandees, including treasurer-general Gwen Ramokgopa, who comes a lot cheaper than Ramaphosa at R250,000. Tickets to play with members of the national executive committee are R150,000 and the company of provincial executive committee members is a snip at R100,000.
General tickets cost R20,000 and companies can put their brands on individual holes for a fee. Prize money of R60,000 is up for grabs.
We are keeping [our cards] close to our chest for now until we have reached a significant milestone, but we are very confident and positive
— Gwen Ramokgopa, ANC treasurer-general
Ramokgopa told the Sunday Times the party was in better shape financially now than it had been in the recent past.
“We are still not yet out of the woods but we are able to meet our obligations, we are able to run programmes, service our members, and oversee the role of government in various areas. We have been able to stabilise our finances to the extent that we are able to execute our task of managing democracy, monitoring the effectiveness of government and respond to the needs to citizens,” she said.
Ramokgopa’s office will be leading four fundraising events in the buildup to the birthday celebrations, including the traditional golf day. “We are expecting 144 players. The response has been very positive.”
Details of how much the party is hoping to raise from the events — which include an auction of wines and ANC memorabilia — will be outlined at a briefing this week. “We are keeping [our cards] close to our chest for now until we have reached a significant milestone, but we are very confident and positive.”
Three events have been planned for Friday, including a colloquium at which captains of industry and civil society leaders will reflect on the 30 years of democracy and the skills revolution, among other issues. That evening Ramaphosa is expected to address the gala dinner.
The Sunday Times understands title sponsorship of an exhibition held in conjunction with the colloquium costs R5m, and the main sponsor of the colloquium and gala dinner must cough up R15m. One of the 60 tables at the dinner costs R500,000 and a single seat is R50,000.
“At 6pm [on Friday] we will have the presidential gala dinner where the president will give a preview of the January 8 statement and thank various stakeholders for supporting the ANC and our democracy,” Ramokgopa said.
About 600 guests are expected to attend the glitzy affair.
As for who gets to sit next to the president, Ramokgopa said seats were being sold to the highest bidder.
“We are doing things a little bit different this time, we are extending the president’s table by three to four times. We will have a long table and not just [the usual round] table.
“We will engage with individuals that are interested because we don’t want to make it exclusive. People phone and we engage, and we are really making it interesting and participatory,” she said. “We are encouraging people to dig as deep as possible.”
ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said this year marked a convergence of events — including the 30th year of democracy and the seventh general election — which gave the ANC’s anniversary added significance.
“It is quite a mission-critical January 8 statement of the ANC.”
Its tone would be strong. “We hope it will reflect on the strides made in the past 30 years … We are expecting the president to speak about the stuff that is coming out of … the 2022 census data, which paints a picture of the efforts made and the persisting challenges that need to be tackled.”
Boosting economic growth, social transformation, governance, the fight against corruption and service delivery will feature in Ramaphosa’s address.
“We want to communicate the promises made when we asked to be voted into office, and then we account for work done and reflect on what we have not succeeded in [doing] the way that we would have wanted to,” Bhengu-Motsiri said.
Other activities this week will include visits to faith-based communities, to the homes of veterans in the province, rallies, street carnivals and “conversations with young people”.
A media engagement breakfast is expected to take place on Sunday.
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