Durban - The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday preached unity and peace as tensions between it and its alliance partner, the SACP, continued to simmer in the province.
ANC provincial secretary, Super Zuma, said the party’s provincial executive committee two-day lekgotla, which ended on Monday, called on the tripartite alliance to close ranks and resolve their differences behind closed doors.
“The relationship between the ANC and SACP has stood the test of time, and we know as a matter of fact that whatever challenges (are) thrown up by the current processes, they will be resolved amicably and comradely. As the leader of the alliance, the ANC refuses to be drawn into a public spat, which can only serve to harm the image and integrity of the revolutionary alliance,” he said.
Zuma said that a meeting between the ANC and the SACP had been called for Thursday.
This comes in the wake of public tensions between the two parties which continued this week when ANC leaders addressing mourners at a funeral in Inchanga for two SACP members gunned down recently, were booed off the stage.
The SACP also revealed that it would suspend its participation in the nomination of ANC candidate councillors in the province.
This prompted the ANCYL to on Monday call on the SACP’s KZN secretary, Themba Mthembu, to quit his position as a member of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature.
The ANCYL’s KZN spokesman, Mkhuseli Sondzaba, said it expected Mthembu to quit as it believed that he led the SACP moves in the province to pull out of the nomination process for candidates in the local government elections, expected to be held later this year.
“If Comrade Mthembu and his cronies believe that the SACP must take no further part in the process, then he must lead from the front and resign from the legislature,” said Sondzaba, pointing out that Mthembu’s role in the legislature was to represent the ANC.
Zuma was, however, quick to quell tensions on Tuesday, saying the youth league should have dealt with the matter concerning the alliance on the “correct platform”, and not through the media.
He refused to say what matter would be discussed this week with the SACP, but hinted that it would be a while before the two parties made amends.
“Unity of the alliance is important. You can’t say that we will build unity after just one meeting,” he said.
Daily News