SACP leaders free to choose whether to leave cabinet

THERE is no SA Communist Party central committee decision to instruct their leaders such as Blade Nzimande and Jeremy Cronin to resign from President Jacob Zuma’s cabinet should he fire Pravin Gordhan.

This is according to SACP deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila, who also said leaders affiliated to the communist party were ANC members in their own right.

“We have not taken that decision. We do not, per se, have party members on the list of ANC candidates. We have ANC members. So those members are ANC members in their own right,” said Mapaila.

He was addressing a press conference the party convened following a TMG report in yesterday’s Daily Dispatch which stated that the SACP, during a consultative meeting with President Jacob Zuma on Monday, had been informed about an intelligence report which implicated Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and his deputy, Mcebisi Jonas.

The report claimed that Gordhan and Jonas held meetings with people who wanted to overthrow Zuma’s government, a claim Mapaila said the SACP dismissed. He said they did not agree with the plan to remove the two.

Speculation has been rife since the recall of Jonas and Gordhan from their international trip on Monday that the SACP would recall “its deployees” in the cabinet and government.

SACP leaders who are currently serving in the cabinet include Higher Education Minister Nzimande, Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies as well as Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Senzeni Zokwana.

The Deputy Public Works Minister Jeremy Cronin also serves on the SACP’s central committee.

Mapaila said the SACP’s main concern was the alliance was not taken into consideration when the plan to act against Jonas and Gordhan was created.

However, Mapaila explained, as alliance partners with the ANC, Cosatu and Sanco, “we are equally responsible for the failures and successes of government.

“That is why substantive engagement is required in the alliance.”

The President had not announced any cabinet reshuffle by the time of writing. —