‘No one is hogging positions in the SACP,’ says Blade Nzimande

The general secretary of the South African Communist Party (SACP), Blade Nzimande, on Monday said in response to a question of choosing between leading the party and being in Cabinet that no one within the organisation’s leadership was “hogging positions”.

The Sunday Times reported that there were fresh calls within the SACP that Nzimande’s position should be a full-time one.

The publication reported five provinces would make the calls during the SACP’s special national congress starting on Monday.

These calls, it was reported, were viewed as an attempt by Nzimande’s rivals to have him removed as the general secretary and replaced by his deputy Solly Mapaila.

Mapaila said a previous congress resolution indicated that one or all members of the party’s secretariat should be full time, which is now in the SACP’s constitution.

The deputy general secretary said a province, which does not have a seconder as yet, has proposed that all members of the secretariat should serve on a full-time basis, including members of the provincial secretariat “and all other layers”, adding that the subject would be discussed by the congress.

He added that even if a resolution is taken that the position of the general secretary should be full-time, it would not be implemented immediately.

Nzimande said no one in the leadership of the party was “serving by force” or serving “on their own”.

“We are serving here by the pleasure of the [SACP], including myself,” Nzimande, adding that no one in the leadership of the party was “hogging positions”

Mapaila also told journalists that there was no possibility of the special national congress turning into an elective one, as this would be against the party’s rules and regulations.

Issues expected to be dealt with during the congress include the “situation with state-owned enterprises (SOEs)”, Nzimande said, including South African Airways (SAA) – which was last week placed under business rescue – and Eskom.

“As we are talking right now we are on load shedding,” Nzimande said, adding that there had not been much improvement in other SOEs such as Denel and Transnet.

The congress will also discuss the progress made “in our fight against state capture”, Nzimande said.

However, he cautioned that the fight against corruption and state capture should not be used “to take the country back to neoliberalism”, which he said could never be a solution for South Africa.

He added that the fight should be allowed to create room for “new neoliberal looting networks to emerge”.

The congress will also review the party’s various campaigns, including on those on the fight against gender-based violence and the campaign on transforming the country’s financial sector, he said.

“We will also be assessing the state of the alliance,” Nzimande said.

Nzimande said the SACP had not retreated from its resolution to contest elections, adding that the party would contest the 2021 local government elections, however, it would do so in a list led by the governing African National Congress (ANC).

He said the SACP did not intend to break away from its alliance with the ANC and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) but intended to use the unity with the communist party to contribute towards strengthing the alliance and solidarity with its respective partners.

“We still believe that the alliance is relevant,” Nzimande said.

ANC deputy president David Mabuza is expected to address the congress on Tuesday.

Nzimande said the governing party’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, could not address the congress because he was out of the country.

Nzimande sent condolences to Ben Turok’s family, friends and “comrades within the ANC” following his passing in the early hours of Monday.

“We shall sorely miss him because he was among those stalwarts who dedicated his entire life to the movement.”

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.