SACP in bid to reinstate MEC

THE SACP in North West wants the ANC to reverse the decision to fire its provincial secretary Madoda Sambatha as an MEC, the party said yesterday.

“We will be engaging the ANC to ensure that they reverse the decision on the dismissal of comrade Sambatha from exco (executive council). We will also engage the rest of the alliance structures regarding our position,” said provincial spokesperson Smuts Matshe.

The North West premier fired Sambatha as Public Works and Roads MEC on June 1 on charges relating to the illegal sale of state land.

Matshe said politics in North West had been defined by a personality cult and manipulation of processes aimed at self-serving interests.

“The province has reached the highest possible level of factionalism where the democratic movement appears to have been replaced by a very powerful faction. Nominations to public office are being done along factional lines and in return public representatives are compelled to always serve the agenda of a faction…”

Matshe said the dismissal of the outspoken secretary was planned immediately after his appointment in 2014.

“It is public knowledge that the process to get rid of comrade Sambatha at some stage involved a planned investigation by the former Hawks head General Berning Ntlemeza.

“The initiative was part of a national plan to discredit and deal with communists, with Sambatha being the first target. It is interesting that comrade Sambatha was dismissed shortly after the court had ruled on General Ntlemeza’s appointment, hence this route of false accusation.”

In May last year, there were reports that the Hawks were targeting SACP members, with Sambatha the first target.

Matshe dismissed the reasons given to fire Sambatha as dishonest and misleading.

“The fact is that Comrade Sambatha never sold any land as suggested by the ANC and the premier. Instead, the issue is more around the rezoning of a property that was bought while comrade Sambatha (at that time) was working for NUM (National Union of Mineworkers). It would, therefore, not be possible for comrade Sambatha to sell land while he is outside government organising mineworkers.

“Comrade Sambatha signed for a transaction to stop the Department of Public Works from paying property rates for a property that is owned by a private individual.”

He added that the SACP supported a principle that an ANC deputy president should be the next president – in this case, Cyril Ramaphosa.

A section in the ANC wants former AU chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma to succeed Jacob Zuma as the president of the ANC, while Cosatu and SACP want Ramaphosa.

The ANC Women’s League in North West on Sunday endorsed Dlamini Zuma as their preferred candidate.

ANCWL deputy president Sesi Ntombela told a conference in Broederstroom near Brits that it was the turn for a woman to lead the ANC.

The ANCWL North West branch dismissed claims that Sambatha was axed after the SACP pronouncement on its preferred ANC leader. – ANA