Factionalism ‘a demon in ANC’

PARTY POLICY: SCOURGE A GROSS DEVIATION – MINISTER Youth urged to speak up, use political education to point out wrongs of leaders.

ANC national executive committee member and Minister of Local Government and Traditional Affairs Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has warned against factionalism in the ANC, saying the scourge is a gross deviation from party policy.

Dlamini-Zuma urged the alliance youth to speak up and use the political education they received from the same ANC to tell the party leaders they were wrong. She was speaking at the Chris Hani Memorial Lecture organised by the Young Communist League’s Wits University branch at the weekend.

Dlamini-Zuma, who was the face of the Zuma faction at the ANC Nasrec elective conference in 2017, spoke as factionalism threatened to break the governing party following its implementation of the “step aside” policy.

Senior party leaders such as secretary-general Ace Magashule have been given 30 days to pack up and go or face summary suspension from the party.

Addressing the topic, Saving the soul of the ANC from the claws of factionalism and neoliberal policies, Dlamini-Zuma described factionalism as the “demon that had been slowly creeping into the ANC”.

“When you have deep factions, fighting among ourselves, tearing one another apart, we run the risk of losing the revolutionary discipline, our political consciousness and our leadership of society,” Dlamini-Zuma said.

The ANC, its alliance partners and the rest of the mass democratic movement were leaders of society but if fighting among themselves, they could not lead.

“So, we must not allow factionalism to entrench itself, to be so deep, to prevail and to almost run our revolution,” she said.

She said ANC members ought to pause and introspect and ask individually whether each did not contribute to the organisation tearing itself apart.

“Because we are factonalised, people should have confidence in what part [of the ANC]?” she asked.

“It is a gross deviation from the ANC policies – it is rooted in promotion of self-interests, careerism above the interests of the people.” –