Sundaytimes Online
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
The Gauteng leader of the SA Communist Party has accused its national general secretary, Blade Nzimande, of dishonesty and running the party with an iron fist.
In a heated exchange of e-mails, Vishwas Satgar accused Nzimande of the "re-Stalinisation of the SACP" and warned that he would destroy the party if he tried to create a cadre of unquestioning supporters.
According to SACP insiders, the two have been at odds for some time, but the row burst into the open after Nzimande read a political analysis prepared by Satgar for the Gauteng SACP executive committee ahead of the party's expanded central committee meeting last weekend.
Satgar said that under Nzimande's leadership the politburo and central committee had failed to give direction on a number of matters, including support for ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma and the attack by President Thabo Mbeki on Nzimande at the ANC's National Executive Committee meeting two months ago. Mbeki called Nzimande "extraordinarily arrogant" after he had questioned the President's leadership style.
"In the central committee over the past few months, whenever the [Zuma] issue was discussed, a clear way forward that could unify the SACP was never presented, reflecting a weakened and divided politburo on this matter," Satgar said in his document.
"Also, with the more recent spat between the president of the ANC and our secretary-general, the politburo was not convened as a first step to develop a response for the SACP. Instead, provinces were prompted into the fray."
Nzimande replied in an e-mail that there had been no "spat" but that Mbeki had attacked him.
He called Satgar's document conceited, factionalist and divisive in a manner inconsistent with the behaviour expected of an SACP leader. "Frankly, you are being dishonest and untruthful in this regard," he said.
Satgar, seen by colleagues to be in Mbeki's camp, replied: "I don't think comrades are stupid and neither do I have disdain for them. Actually, you are the one who thinks we are all dumb. Actually, you are presumptuous enough to think the entire country is dumb and can't see through the petty posturing that happens in our party under your leadership."
Satgar recalled that Nzimande had failed to convince the central committee that there was a conspiracy against Zuma, adding: "More importantly, you have not won over the [committee] to the idea of providing material support to Jacob Zuma."
He said an internal debate about the role of the SACP and the possibility of the party breaking with the tripartite alliance had been derailed by the Zuma issue and that SACP members were now being drawn into the ANC succession row.
"It would seem no matter what happens to Comrade JZ, whether he is recharged or not, the state power debate will be determined by how this issue unfolds. It is important that we separate and uncouple these issues.
"It is important that we do not squander the state power debate in emotional defeatism or embroil this question in opportunistic posturing," Satgar said.
Nzimande dismissed his criticism and warned Satgar not to destabilise the party.
"You make very serious allegations and observations about the party nationally. As I have said, you have a right to do this, but at least it must be based on facts and actual discussions and decisions of the central committee," he said.