SACP backs dissolved committee
‘This takes our focus away from reclaiming power in the Western Cape’
THE Communist Party in the Western Cape has come out in support of the dissolved regional executive committee of the ANC’s Dullah Omar region (Cape Town).
At the weekend the communists in the Western Cape held their first provincial council following the recent election of its provincial executive.
The ANC provincial executive dissolved the Dullah Omar regional executive last week, citing factionalism, gate-keeping, its inability to grow branches and the poor performance of the ANC in the Cape Town metro during last year’s local government elections.
In its stead, a regional task team led by ANC MP Leonard Ramatlakane has been appointed.
SACP Western Cape secretary Benson Ngqentsu said the ANC was on a decline in the province that would ultimately “destroy” the movement.
In its statement following its provincial council the SACP said: “Recent developments in the ANC PEC in the Western Cape represent symptoms of a deeper crisis.
“First, the divisive tendencies displayed at the aborted provincial policy conference were unfortunate.
“Second, meetings that are held in the dark of night to the exclusion of other PEC members are a major concern. Worse still, the fact that leading PEC members, regional leaders and the leagues have distanced themselves from those PEC decisions exposes the depth of divisions.”
Ngqentsu said the ANC in the Western Cape was riven with factionalism, where one clique that was “well-funded” fought another that sought to protect “corrupt activities”.
“This takes our focus away from consolidating and reclaiming power in the Western Cape, while the DA is governing unhindered,” said Ngqentsu.
The split in the Western Cape ANC was highlighted before the start of the party’s policy conference in Joburg when delegates, instead of leaving together, made their own travel arrangements.
Ngqentsu called on the ANC’s national executive committee to intervene “decisively” in the Western Cape.
“These factions are institutional,” said Ngqentsu.
He said the warring factions were not driven by ideological differences, but by patronage and cronyism.
The communists, who had previously called for President Jacob Zuma to step down, said removing him would not “solve our problems”.
“But keeping him there is exacerbating our problems, hence his removal would serve as a strong step towards self-correction,” read the SACP statement.
Zuma’s removal is not on the agenda of the ANC’s policy conference, but in a closed session on the weekend Police Minister Fikile Mbalula is reported to have told ANC MPs that they won’t be able to vote with their consciences in an upcoming motion of no confidence to be tabled in the National Assembly.