Johannesburg - The SA Communist Party (SACP) is expected to emerge from its central committee meeting this weekend in fighting mode as it seeks to survive a potentially stormy succession race in the ANC.
The party’s structures, including its central committee and more than 130 delegates from across the provinces and districts, are meeting amid what party insiders are describing as an anti-communist drive, characterised by efforts to weaken the party’s influence in the run-up to the 2017 elective conference of the ANC.
It also takes place a day before the start of the Cosatu national congress, where the weakened trade union federation will be looking to pick up the pieces after a stormy year in which both its long-time general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi and largest union Numsa were expelled.
SACP spokesman Alex Mashilo said delegates at the meeting had received a secretariat political report, which was “analysing the political situation facing the SACP, the tripartite alliance and the working class as a whole”.
Party leader Blade Nzimande, who is also the higher education minister, has already faced calls for his removal by an increasingly vocal ANC Youth League, which is in a tug-of-war over the succession issue with the Young Communist League. Calls for Nzimande to go come amid concerns raised by some party leaders that he could be targeted in a potential cabinet reshuffle, though some have cautioned the fallout from such a move would be too big and clearly draw the battle lines ahead of 2017.
Sources close to the cabinet have indicated the push for Nzimande’s axing following the #FeesMustFall protests and changing political dynamics in the succession race has become a strong consideration, particularly after the change of ANC leadership in KwaZulu-Natal.
There has also been strong speculation this week that Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene could also face the axe. The slow movement and apparent indecisiveness on the country’s nuclear build programme and Treasury’s SABC probe, which is said to be a threat to chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng, are cited by sources as being among the irritations with the finance minister.
But some senior communists in the alliance believe Nzimande’s potential sacking or redeployment would be an affront to the Left in the alliance. “By removing Blade, who is the party leader, you would have weakened the Left in the cabinet… those left would be lame ducks,” said a senior SACP leader.
Changes are also mooted in the economic cluster, where a string of communist ministers are in charge of key portfolios. There is a lot at stake for the SACP as the succession race for the new ANC leadership starts to take shape.
The party is expected to back ANC Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to succeed Jacob Zuma as president, pitting it against an increasingly determined bloc that has defiantly opened the succession race with a call for a woman president, AU chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, for the ANC in 2017. This includes the ANC Women’s League, the Youth League, a faction of the ANC’s biggest province KwaZulu-Natal and the heads of Mpumalanga, Free State and North West.
While the SACP and Cosatu’s support were decisive in delivering two terms for Zuma, they look set to support Ramaphosa along with the likes of Gauteng and Limpopo.
“The SACP and Cosatu are likely to back Ramaphosa with an understanding that people like Gwede Mantashe are on that ticket.
“All the Cosatu leaders are also key members of the SACP’s central committee, so the party and Cosatu are more likely to sing together,” a source said.
Political Bureau
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