Blade to steer SACP but quit education?

HIGHER Education Minister Blade Nzimande is likely to stay on as general secretary of the SACP, and may soon be forced to relinquish his government job as members of the party push for him to focus on party affairs.

The SACP will from tomorrow hold its electoral national congress; however, there is not likely to be any major contest for positions.

Most of the party structures support the view that the top leadership should remain largely unchanged. “Our view is that it is not broken so why fix it? We want to emerge with an even more united SACP and therefore we feel there is no need to tamper with the current leadership,” said Themba Mthembu, the secretary of the party’s Moses Mabhida Region (KwaZulu-Natal province).

Other provinces in favour of preserving the status quo are Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Gauteng.

The other provinces have argued that Solly Mapaila, the current second deputy general secretary, should ascend to the position of general secretary and that Nzimande should replace Senzeni Zokwana as national chairman.

Insiders said only Zokwana is likely to lose his position as many within the party have lost faith in him.

Nzimande has been the general secretary of the SACP since 1999. However, those provinces pushing for him to stay on also want the position to be converted to a full-time position, which means he may have to relinquish his job as Minister of Higher Education.

Nzimande’s home province is said to have met with him and told him that if he wants to stay on as party leader, he should be prepared to part with his government salary.

Some SACP members say Nzimande may have to resign from his government job soon after the conference, but Mthembu said he might still serve the remainder of his term until 2019.

“We do not want to upset government,” he said.

Isaac Luthuli, the deputy secretary of the Young Communist League, said the SACP approached the issue of leadership differently to other parties.

He refused to divulge details, saying issues of SACP leadership were not discussed in the media.

The position of general secretary was once a full-time position in the SACP but this was changed in 2009 when the party’s constitution was amended to allow Nzimande and Buti Manamela, the then secretary of the Young Communist League, to take up government jobs.

“There is a realisation that we might have faltered there because the general secretary is the engine of the party,” Mthembu said.

While the position of second deputy secretary had been created to ensure the smooth running of party affairs, some felt this was not enough.

The strengthening of the party’s top leadership structure is part of the preparations to ensure the party may be strong enough to contest elections independently.

Mthembu said KZN wanted a reconfigured Tripartite Alliance which would see the ANC lose its “big brother attitude”.