The South African Communist Party wants President Thabo Mbeki out of office before his term ends next year.
Its ally, Cosatu, is concerned about the crisis the country is in under Mbeki's leadership. In another blow to the embattled and increasingly isolated Mbeki, ANC president Jacob Zuma used the opening of the three-day tripartite alliance summit at Gallagher Estate on Friday to praise the alliance for unanimously condemning Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's regime for sabotaging democracy in Zimbabwe - a direct slap in the face for Mbeki's much vaunted "quiet diplomacy" process.
The SACP and Cosatu cited the following crisis to prove their point that the Mbeki presidency is in crisis and incompetent:
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This week's SABC fiasco;
| 'we spoke out in favour of the values we believe in' |
The bitter verbal battles at the Ginwala commission this week;
The investigations into the arms deal that, according to the SACP, could implicate Mbeki's government; and
The current electricity crisis.
An SACP central committee member said the party was becoming impatient with the ANC leadership for allowing Mbeki "to plunge this country into one crisis after the other". This was prompted by confidential letters between Zuma and Mbeki in which, according to the SACP, Mbeki shows his "defiance and disdain to the new ANC leadership".
While a special SACP central committee caucus before the summit resolved to get rid of Mbeki before the next general elections, it also agreed that their lack of confidence in him should be toned down in front of the media.
SACP secretary-general Blade Nzimande told delegates during an open session that the ANC's conference in Polokwane had been a rejection of a leadership that was beginning to show dictatorial features of Zimbabwe's ruling party.
Nzimande was supported by Cosatu leader Zwelinzima Vavi, who said there was "crisis of leadership and the problems of transition".
Independent Newspapers' calls to Mbeki's spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga were terminated on four occasions on Friday.
Zuma said after Polokwane, the alliance had returned to its old traditions of speaking with one voice on issues such as "food and fuel prices, the energy challenge and the crisis in Zimbabwe".
"Together we took the most difficult step of speaking out against practices of a government run by a fraternal movement in Zimbabwe in recent weeks.
"Guided by our fundamental revolutionary principles, we spoke out in favour of the values we believe in, and which we fought for."
However, Zuma cautioned that the current camaraderie in the alliance did not mean "that we will always agree on issues. This is not a sweetheart alliance. It is a living revolutionary alliance.
While we work together in practice, each component of the alliance is an autonomous entity. No alliance partner can dictate to, and seek to control others," he said, urging delegates "to close the chapter of tension and mistrust".
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