SACP warns Zuma against reshuffling Cabinet again

The South African Communist Party (SACP) has reportedly warned President Jacob Zuma against reshuffling Cabinet “willy-nilly”.

Addressing speculation that the president was about to make more changes to his Cabinet, the SACP’s first deputy general-secretary, Solly Mapaila, told City Press it would be “foolish” for him to do so, saying the reshuffle was a tool of patronage used by the president to intimidate SACP Cabinet members.

“It’s not for him to do willy-nilly as he pleases. His Cabinet reshuffles have been doing too much damage to our organisation. He has proved his incapacity to cohere our movement. It’s not a decision that he should use as a tool of patronage because he wants to consolidate political power in the run-up to the elective conference in December,” he was quoted as saying.

Leaders of the two parties will meet on Monday for the first time since the SACP publicly called for the president to step down. The SACP is expected to formally inform the ruling party of its intention to contest elections independently.

Mapaila told the publication the meeting was part of the communist party’s mandate to engage alliance partners on its chosen path.

“We have to discuss with the ANC the outcome of our congress; this is what we normally do, but in this case the question of a road map is far more important, and that’s why we will be tabling that as a key issue – and of course some of the issues that confront our movement,” Mapaila was quoted as saying.

He said the party would also discuss the issue of dual membership for its members.

“There will be consequences for the option of dual membership. We want to elaborate our understanding of this and what it means, and we will also discuss that with the ANC on Monday,” he said.

He said there was no way the SACP could retreat from its position on Zuma.