Forces keen to capture alliance
THE tripartite alliance has become a contested terrain due to attempts to capture its partners, South African Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande said on Sunday.
THE Tripartite Alliance has become a contested terrain due to attempts to capture its partners, South African Communist Party (SACP) general secretary Blade Nzimande said on Sunday.
Tensions have emerged within the alliance, with the SACP breaking ranks with both the ANC and Cosatu on the issue of state capture involving the politically connected Gupta family.
In a recent interview, Nzimande said President Jacob Zuma’s relationship with the Gupta family risked tarnishing the reputation of the ANC and denting the government’s image.
Nzimande told a Young Communist League rally in Johannesburg on Sunday that the alliance partners were “contested terrain”, and the first choice by “forces that want to control this country” was to capture the alliance.
The rally was originally scheduled for early June in Soshanguve, Tshwane, but was postponed and moved due to violent protests that followed the announcement of Thoko Didiza as ANC mayoral candidate in the metro. The SACP suspended some of its members allegedly linked to the unrest.
“There are forces from outside this country, possibly working with forces inside this country, who have no interest in seeing a successful and revolutionary alliance.”
Demands from students was evidence of this, Nzimande said. “Students should not be demanding free education from the state, they should be demanding it from the capitalist classes.”
In April, SA’s major banks cut their services with Gupta-owned Oakbay after allegations that the politically connected Gupta family was interfering in the running of the government and influencing Cabinet appointments.
Attempts by government officials to establish reasons for the termination of contracts also generated controversy, with the banks citing client confidentiality.
The Gupta family has denied exerting improper influence.
Nzimande said on Sunday that the broader problem was simply that money was being used to capture individuals more broadly, something reinforced by increasing “depoliticisation of (members)” and “anti-intellectualism”.
“The ANC is not a vehicle for self-enrichment, it is a people’s movement,” he said.
“If we fail to defeat the influence of money you have no future,” Nzimande told league members.
Both the SACP and Cosatu will continue to support the ANC in the forthcoming polls.
Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini on Sunday appealed for support for the ANC despite unhappiness over candidate selection. “Vote for the ANC ward councillor whether you are happy with him or not, because this is not about him, it is about the ANC,” Dlamini said.
The ANC was the only party capable of improving the lives of people, said Dlamini, hitting out at the DA for wanting to win metros “in order to privatise as many services as possible”.
“When the ANC says it wants to in-source, the DA says it wants to outsource,” Dlamini said.