SACP leaders’ lives ‘in constant danger’
New communist party leader feels threats will escalate
Newly elected SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila says he expects threats to his life to intensify as he assumes the party’s most powerful position.
In a wide-ranging interview with Sunday World, Mapaila said the lives of communist leaders have always been subjected to threats because of the ideas they hold. Mapaila has served in the party secretariat for more than a decade alongside former secretary Blade Nzimande,
He revealed that his house had been attacked more than once in the past few years. The homes of Nzimande, former spokesperson of the party Alex Mashilo and Joyce Moloi-moropa, the organisation’s treasurer, have also been attacked in the past, he said.
He has identified as a serious threat “rogue elements … coming from inside the state” who collaborate with criminal elements. “Our families have suffered the consequences of that. There is no doubt about that, they [threats] will escalate.”
Mapaila was speaking on the sidelines of the historic 15th national congress of the SACP, which ended yesterday in Ekurhuleni. It saw Nzimande’s leadership come to an end after more than 20 years.
“Dominant international spy agencies don’t like communists. They regard communists as strategic enemies. No communist leader in the world is safe unless they are in a communist country. Those are the risks that come with accepting leadership positions, which is quite unfair in a so-called democracy.”
Mapaila, a former member of the ANC military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe, was elected second deputy general secretary from 2012 to 2017, after which he ascended to the position of first deputy secretary.
One of the priorities that the party is going to pursue under Mapaila is to assert itself both inside and outside its alliance with the ANC and Cosatu. He says the party must exercise its independence in building and consolidating working-class power.
The communist party will vigorously pursue the reconfiguration of the tripartite alliance to ensure that it is not treated with disrespect by the ANC, he said.
For years, both the SACP and Cosatu have complained that the ANC was reneging on agreements reached among the allies.
“The expression is that in practice the ANC has behaved like a senior partner, and juniorised other alliance components by disrespecting alliance agreements,” he said.
Addressing the congress on Friday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the discussion on the reconfiguration of the alliance needed to happen soon before the ANC goes to its policy conference scheduled for later this month.
Mapaila said he expected SACP leaders who are deployed to positions of power in the government to do better for the working class, even though they operate under the policies of the ANC.
However, he said communists in the government face the challenge of being deprived of resources when they want to implement policies, such as was the case with former trade and industry minister Rob Davis, who was not given the resources to implement the Industrial Policy Action Plan.