Durban - In a scathing analysis, Durban-based political analyst, Xolani Dube of the Xubera Institute for Research, says the revelations by EFF’s Julius Malema that Derek Hanekom and Solly Mapaila worked with the opposition to oust former president Jacob Zuma was a betrayal of the worst kind.
Dube said these revelations shows three things; the South African Communist Party (SACP) is not an honest partner of the ANC, there is no difference between proponents of “new dawn” and “radical economic transformation” and that all faction in the ANC don’t like the party unless it is serving their personal interests.
“They were not only plotting against the sitting president, they were also plotting for an alternative… It means they are not there for the issues or the principles but they are there for something else. You can’t say they are there for the ANC,” he said.
Dube added that it was worrying that Hanekom and Mapalia were not doing that for themselves but were doing it under the umbrella of Cyril Ramaphosa team.
“These guys were not working in silos, they were working under the leadership of Cyril Ramaphosa. And if Cyril Ramaphosa was aware of this it means that Cyril has got no interest in the ANC,” he said.
He stressed that since the ANC national executive committee was going to meet this weekend, it should discuss the matter because there is already a commission which was established to probe allegations of party members who helped to form smaller parties ahead of the elections.
Meanwhile, the SACP has come out in defence of Mapalia saying his participation in the rally to oust Zuma was after he was assigned to lead the implementation on a full-time basis, openly campaigned, calling on all South Africans from all walks of life to unite.
The party’s spokesperson, Alex Mashilo, said Mapaila did that by participating in supporting campaigns organised by other civil society formations and publicly available media archives are filled with indisputable evidence.
He said the motion of no confidence that the ANC announced it was going to vote in favour of if Zuma did not resign in February 2018 was not moved by the ANC but first by the EFF.
“The SACP fully supported the decisive ultimate move by the ANC, and does not regret doing so openly in line with our human and political rights as enshrined in our country's Constitution. This open public campaign was a principled programme, and the SACP strongly condemns any suggestion that it was either a conspiracy or a hidden conspiracy. The SACP strongly condemns any distortion or insinuation suggesting or seeking to suggest otherwise,” he said.