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‘Under Blade Nzimande we have been reduced to a stepchild of the ANC’
A fierce rebellion is brewing inside the SA Communist Party (SACP) as a fast-growing “change brigade” plots to topple party boss Blade Nzimande and members of the “old guard”, who are accused of throttling much-needed reform that would result in the party finally contesting elections.
Until now their view has been that the party has been zigzagging on its own long-standing resolution.
There are already murmurs that Nzimande – who, with other leaders, was dropped from the ANC national executive committee but now enjoy a seat in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s “new dawn” government, would frustrate and even put on ice the implementation of the congress decision about the contestation of state power.
“All those in government have reduced the SACP to a beneficiary organisation to those in the highest echelons of power.
“That is the perception on the ground.
“What we are now faced with as a party is a tactic by the leadership to completely suffocate a resolution. The reality is that there is unhappiness,” said a party insider, adding that Ramaphosa’s power play has dimmed the light on the SACP possibly contesting the 2019 elections under its own banner.
“Blade no longer has any sense of respect across the provinces and even in districts there is uproar, but people will not come out and embarrass the party,” said the insider.
The decision to contest elections independently was taken as alliance relations were at their lowest and gained momentum after Nzimande was unceremoniously fired from his position as higher education minister by former president Jacob Zuma three months later.
The party came out with guns blazing against Zuma’s “factional” removal of the party’s general secretary, considered a deliberate isolation of critics, and demanded he be returned to his post.
So angry was the party leadership that it even considered a proposal for all communists serving in government to resign en masse and lose their perks, but this was rejected at a subsequent meeting of the central committee, the highest decision-making body in between congresses.
Nzimande’s new appointment as transport minister and that of his close ally Thulas Nxesi – who was demoted by Zuma but is now back to his previous portfolio in the public works ministry – has reignited divisions inside the party.
“We are still trailing behind the ANC.
“Under Nzimande we have been reduced to a stepchild of the ANC. For power play Ramaphosa will keep Nzimande in Cabinet but the unfortunate thing is that this insatiable ambition for positions has become a central committee issue.”
But spokesperson Alex Mashilo denied there were disagreements or a deviation from the resolution or its implementation.
He defended Nzimande, who extended his 19-year tenure, saying that he is on record about a need to rejuvenate the party.
“There is complete agreement both on resolution and approach to implement it.
“No person or member has brought forward any dispute ... if anyone has concerns, our constitution guides them on how to raise them.
“From where I stand, implementation of our resolution is deepening,” Mashilo said. “We dismiss these claims with the contempt that they deserve as propaganda.”
Mashilo said engagements must be at all levels, even with alliance partners, as they can’t be undermined.
He insisted this was an ongoing process and that a paper on the reconfiguration of the alliance had been drafted.
The alliance partners would be part of this and their considerations included.
Union federation Cosatu had already accepted this proposal, he said.
Mashilo said the congress resolution never said the party would contest it alone.
Talk of replacing Nzimande and those considered the old guard is not new but is coming back to haunt the party barely six months after a political compromise that he would remain party leader.
It’s only the special congresses that can strip Nzimande of his post but this would need at least 75% agreement to elect new leaders, which would be a first for the SACP.
The idea is to elect his deputy Solly Mapaila to serve permanently at the headquarters to advance the party resolution, but even that has been postponed indefinitely.
After waiting to see which faction won the ANC’s elective conference in December, City Press can reveal that the parties will wait for the ANC to convene an alliance summit before it convenes this special
congress.
Mashilo said the date would be announced once finalised.
A meeting of the politburo, the highest decision-making body when the central committee is not in session, will sit next Friday for its monthly meeting and will reflect on political developments.
“The central committee returned the date of the congress to the politburo but it never said there would be no congress”.
The fact that Cosatu was also not prepared to buy into the party’s electoral prospects was also giving it headaches because it cannot forge ahead without workers, even in building a left front.
Concerns were raised at the party’s central committee that most SACP members reduced one part of the resolution to contesting the elections but ignored the rest, pointing to stark differences in how the party should proceed.
City Press has learnt of a campaign to block Mapaila’s rise to power by a grouping of the old guard inside the SACP, who accuse him of “juniorising” the party with his “militant approach”.
His criticism of government is said to have brought a lot of discomfort to his colleagues serving in government.
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