LIMPOPO – Alliance partners, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) have come out guns blazing, pointing accusing fingers at the ANC Provincial Executive Committee for the fall out.
The blame game is now widening the chasm between the three former political bedfellows.
The SACP say they were not consulted and were never part of the process of choosing mayors ahead of the elections on 3 August in which the ruling party experienced an unprecedented decline since the establishment of transitional councils.
Even though the ANC managed to retain control of 535 out of 566 wards in the province, the SACP has accused the ANC’s Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) of “self-service and arrogance.”
The SACP’s Provincial Spokesperson, Machike Thobejane reckons the ANC-led alliance could have performed better at the polls, had it not been for, what the SACP dubbed “a posture of political amnesia, money peddling, internal weaknesses, process manipulation and inward looking practices that display arrogance of the leadership and membership to the motive forces of the revolution – the working class and the entire electorate.”
According to Thobejane, “The present situation in the province, particularly in government, is similar to the last days of the Cassel Mathale era in relation to capture by the local parasitic-bourgeoisie that loots the government at all levels without fear or shame.”
The labour federation has also joined the fray, saying they too were not consulted.
Cosatu’s Provincial Chairperson, Essop Mokgonyana echoed Thobejane’ sentiments, saying they are not pleased with the manner in which the ANC’s PEC conducts itself.
Like the SACP, Cosatu say they were not consulted ahead of the municipal elections.
“We only heard about this announcement of mayoral candidates on radio current affair programmes. This does not put us at ease at all because we had an Alliance Summit in which we agreed as the Tripartite Alliance that the ANC as the mother body should consult us when they make such key decisions.
“We all agreed that we should all have a say on matters affecting the alliance,” said Mokgonyana, adding that: “It is because the ANC did not consult us that the electoral support dwindled in the recent elections. This is a clear indication that the electorate is not pleased with a leadership that does not listen. Furthermore, there is a widening gap between the ANC’s National Executive Council NEC and the leadership of the alliance.”
Spokesperson for the ANC PEC, Khumbuzo Ntshavheni dismissed both the SACP and Cosatu’s claims as “untrue”.
Ntshavheni said, “We have consulted our alliance partners. It is for this reason that we have some of their members in our newly-elected councils.”
