Durban - The SACP in KwaZulu-Natal has expressed its unhappiness about how it was being treated in the ANC-led alliance, saying there was a growing anti-communist attack on its leaders.
It has, however, vowed to remain within the alliance until the ruling party says it no longer needed them.
“It is only when the ANC says, ‘We no longer need you, please go’. We will go when the working class say, ‘Now we want you to stand independently as our representative in the state’,” provincial secretary Themba Mthembu told a media briefing in Durban on Tuesday.
Mthembu said the attack on its general secretary, Blade Nzimande, and anti-communist sentiments in KZN were intended to dislodge the SACP from the alliance and government.
He said the provincial general council had reaffirmed the SACP’s resolution on the debate over capturing state power and revisiting the participation of its leadership in government.
“This must be carried out through assessment and review, which must include intensive engagement with other alliance partners,” Mthembu said.
SACP treasurer Nomara-shiya Caluza said the reconsideration of the alliance did not mean the SACP should break away.
“There is nothing wrong with SACP engaging in a debate on state power, and a political party is about attaining state power.”
Asked if the SACP supported the newly-elected leadership, Mthembu said they supported only the ANC as an alliance partner.
“We have never, in actual sense, tried to align ourselves with a particular leadership,” he said.
Caluza said the organisation would like to see the ANC winning the upcoming municipal elections.
“We are to make sure that the ANC remains victorious in the upcoming local government elections. No other party will take us forward as the working class,” Caluza said.
Also at the media briefing, Mthembu claimed that some of their leaders were subjected to surveillance by state security and that state resources were used to fight factional battles.
He would not mention who was spied on or offer evidence, except to say they wanted the public to call on state security to stop spying on them.
Daily News
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