Blade rebukes Zuma over alliance battles
SACP leader launches his most direct attack yet on president
SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande launched a thinly veiled attack on President Jacob Zuma yesterday, telling party faithful he was not afraid of being sacked from the cabinet.
Nzimande, once Zuma’s righthand man, told a Young Communist League gathering in Soweto that a leader who could be “bought” was not fit to be at the helm of the ruling ANC and government.
The speech marked the first time Nzimande has criticised Zuma in public, albeit in veiled terms. Previously, SACP criticism of the president has been delivered by its second deputy general secretary, Solly Mapaila.
Nzimande, minister of higher education, said “the president of the ANC can’t be seen to be siding with a faction”, which could be understood as a reference to Zuma’s links with the so-called premier league — a grouping of ANC leaders who are campaigning for the outgoing AU Commission chairwoman, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, to succeed Zuma as president.
Nzimande’s remarks came as the pro-Zuma faction within the ANC lobbies the president to purge cabinet ministers who called on him to step down at the ANC national executive committee meeting last month. The SACP leader is likely to find himself on the list of those targeted for removal.
The ANC Youth League, which is a mouthpiece of the premier league, has previously blamed Nzimande for the chaos that accompanied the Fees Must Fall protests at universities across the country this year.
But yesterday, Nzimande said his detractors within the ANC should not use universities as incubators to breed opposition to his leadership as higher education minister.
“They must go to the relevant people that make those relevant decisions . . . they must not destroy universities if they are unhappy with Blade Nzimande,” he said.
“I am not looking for a job by being in government.”
Nzimande’s remarks were a clear indication that although the ANC had not declared the succession campaign officially opened, the debate over who should replace Zuma is already raging in party structures.
By speaking out against Zuma, Nzimande effectively confirmed speculation that the SACP supports Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa. The Cosatu labour federation also backs Ramaphosa.
Nzimande said that if the ANC did not stop tearing itself apart it could suffer a major setback in the 2019 general elections.
Nzimande warned that the party leadership contest next year was likely to cause divisions similar to those witnessed in 2007 which resulted in the formation of a splinter party, COPE.
“Whoever wins in a slate [in the 2017 elective conference] will walk with the shell of an organisation,” he told the crowd, to applause.
Nzimande said the ANC could not deny that breakaway parties were having an effect on its electoral support.
“Factionalism eats up organisations slowly . . . I don’t think the ANC can afford another breakaway,” he said.
After the 2007 elective conference, Mosiuoa Lekota and Mbhazima Shilowa broke away to form COPE. Next it was the turn of former youth league leader Julius Malema, who formed the EFF in 2013.
Nzimande said that in retrospect, the arguments at the ANC Polokwane conference dealt only with the symptoms and not the fundamental problems in the ANC.
Nzimande said succession fights in the party were completely unacceptable.
“The ANC must learn how to
The president of the ANC can’t be seen to be siding with a faction Factionalism eats up organisations . . . the ANC can’t afford another breakaway
manage transition of leadership. If it can’t, it must come for help in the alliance,” he said.
Nzimande complained about the “abusive” way SACP and Cosatu leaders were being treated by their ANC counterparts in the tripartite alliance.
SACP and Cosatu leaders, he said, were being left out of key policy and deployment decisions even though they assisted the ANC during elections.
In previous meetings between alliance partners, the communists have raised concerns about how Zuma was abusing his prerogative to appoint and fire ministers, saying that right was one that belonged to the alliance as a whole. Comment on this: write to tellus@sundaytimes.co.za or SMS us at 33971 www.sundaytimes.co.za