National 1.3.2016 08:00 am
Warren Mabona
SACP General Secretary, Blade Nzimande (L), COSATU president Sdumo Dlamini (C) and ANC General Secretary, Gwede Mantashe at University of Johannesburg, Soweto Campus, Gauteng Province, 8 July 2015, before the official opening of the 3rd Special SACP National Congress which will be running from the 7 - 11 July 2015. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
Communist Party claims responses to squabbles are ‘toothless, annoying`.
The South African Communist Party (SACP) has accused the ANC national executive committee (NEC) of being unable to function properly or to curb factional dissent. The SACP said the ANC`s national leaders` failure to act against their "thugs", who allegedly attacked SACP members in the past, had fuelled the factional feud between the two organisations.
It described the ruling party`s national intervention in the squabbles between the two organisations as "toothless and annoying".
"This is despite the fact that it is one of the most active NECs that is able to go to many provinces constantly and engage with members," said the SACP.
"Yet the rot is spreading unabated from one region and one province to another, making national interventions toothless."
The accusations are contained in a confidential SACP organisational report seen by The Citizen.
It was presented at the SACP`s central committee meeting held in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, at the weekend.
ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said: "We cannot comment because we don`t have that confidential report."
Members of the two alliances had been embroiled in violent fights during meetings in parts of Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal in recent months.
"How do we explain to a community that a group of ‘ANC thugs` attack a community meeting organised by the SACP in broad daylight with guns in Inchanga [a village in KwaZulu-Natal]?" the SACP asked.
"The ANC cannot even visit the community or the family of the deceased [an unnamed man who was killed in the attack], and yet wants votes from the very same community."
SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande, also an ANC NEC member, was reported to be one of the key figures at the central committee gathering.
According to SACP spokesperson Alex Mashilo: "All I can say is that the word ‘thugs` was used in reference to non-ANC people who attacked SACP members at a rally in KZN."
The SACP said: "The factions blatantly do wrong things, knowing that such will either be condoned or ignored. The challenges are as a result of the failure of the [ANC] leadership.
"Unfortunately, the leak comes from the inability of the NEC to function appropriately."
The SACP`s tirade comes at the time when the ANC was pinning its hopes on receiving voter support from its ally for the upcoming local government elections.
Political analyst Steven Friedman said: "SACP members in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal are hostile toward the ANC, but I don`t think this will affect the ANC in the elections."
According to Friedman, the ANC`s national leadership was also divided in various ways.