DAILY NEWS / 8 NOVEMBER 2017, 12:30PM / BALDWIN NDABA
President Jacob Zuma and SACP General Secretary Blade Nzimande at Cosatu's May Day rally in 2014. File picture: Matthews Baloyi/ANA
THE ANC and its tripartite alliance partners will hold another crisis meeting at the end of the month to try to save their relationship, which is teetering on the brink of collapse.
This after the two parties held a closed-door bilateral meeting on Monday, the first since October 2016.
Meetings between the partners had been postponed several times because of the SACP's decision to call for President Jacob Zuma to step down.
The recent cabinet reshuffle, which saw Zuma axe SACP boss Blade Nzimande as higher education minister, further deepened the rift between the two parties.
But it seems that after the recent alliance political council - where Cosatu and Sanco were also involved - there were renewed efforts from the SACP and ANC bosses to build consensus.
SACP spokesperson Alex Mashilo said their bilateral meeting with the ANC was the first between the two since October 2016. "Since then, a lot happened, including the reshuffling in March which saw former finance minister Pravin Gordhan and his then deputy, Mcebisi Jonas, removed from their positions.
"The situation was worsened by the latest reshuffling last month," Mashilo said.
Asked if Nzimande's matter was discussed, Mashilo said it had not been on the agenda.
Mashilo insisted that the meeting was to deal with an agreement reached previously by all, that all key appointments in government and state-owned entities should be discussed with the alliance partners before any appointments or decision to reshuffle.
"It was not an issue-based meeting. The matter of Comrade Blade was never discussed. All I can confirm is that the parties made the most important agreement to hold further meetings," he said.
But the deadlock between the ANC and SACP over Nzimande's dismissal was confirmed by SACP deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila when he addressed the central executive committee of Popcru at the weekend in Irene, Pretoria.
Mapaila said his party would call for the recall of Zuma as president of the country after the ANC's elective conference.
While the party has yet to pronounce ANC Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa as its preferred ANC presidential candidate, Mapaila urged Popcru members to support the call by Cosatu to nominate Ramaphosa for president.
"That's why, as workers, we must campaign that Zuma must step down. He can't be our leader. Not acting against him (shows) the lack of wisdom on the part of the ANC NEC.
"To avoid the consequences is absolute abdication of leadership responsibility. It is the same as keeping a rotten corpse in the house in the wisdom that the smell will disappear.
"Surely that's an absolute game of fools. While we can be fooled sometimes, we can't be fooled all the time," Mapaila had told Popcru members.
https://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/crisis-meeting-called-to-heal-anc-sacp-rift-11907065