Fredville – While the South African Communist Party (SACP) leadership attempted to downplay divisions within the African National Congress, SACP members in Fredville in Durban on Wednesday urged party general secretary Blade Nzimande to address the “gatekeeping” that was taking place in the ruling party.
Members of a group of about 150 SACP members told Nzimande, who was visiting the family of slain communist party member Philip Dlamini (69) in Inchanga, that they were concerned about the ruling party preventing local Fredville SACP members from joining the party.
Pressed by journalists to answer claims of the divisions within the tripartite alliance, which consist of the ANC, the SACP and the Congress of SA Trade Unions, Nzimande said he did not want to go into details of the politics prior to Dlamini’s death.
He did however express his concern over the shooting.
Dlamini was gunned down at the Kandokweni sports field on Sunday during a SACP meeting.
The party said it suspected the murder was as a result of a foiled hit that was meant for eThekwini mayor James Nxumalo, who is also the SACP chairman in KwaZulu-Natal and lives near to where the shooting occurred.
About three kilometres from the SACP gathering, an ANC meeting was taking place to nominate candidates for ward four.
Current ward four councillor Dennis Shozi said after the shooting that he had no idea an incident had taken place at the sports field until the ANC meeting was finished.
“We are worried. There has been a shooting. That is why I am here,” said Nzimande.
“We are worried because of where we have come from in this province.”
Nzimande urged SACP members not to be angry or take the law into their own hands.
“There must be no reprisals,” he said.
Tensions within the ruling alliance have been high following the ousting of KwaZulu-Natal premier Senzo Mchunu as provincial chairman of the ANC and Nxumalo’s ousting as eThekwini regional chairman.
Both are members of the SACP and their supporters have raised questions over the process within the ANC that led to their ousting.
Questioned about this, Nzimande said: “I don’t want to go into details of what happened in the ANC conference. They, the leaders (in the ANC) know where the problems are.”
He said he had called for a provincial summit of the alliance, but this had not taken place.
Nxumalo also dismissed his ousting as a reason for Sunday’s incident.
“I have accepted the result (of the ANC’s eThekwini regional elective conference). That has come and gone. I have spoken to them (his supporters) about this.”
But while neither man was prepared to comment, one SACP member in Fredville who did not want to be named said that his membership in the ANC had not been renewed.
“They don’t want to renew it. If they don’t think you are going to vote for their people, then they don’t renew it,” he said, before moving along.
Skhumbuzo, Dlamini’s son was adamant that his father was not politically active and did not want to discuss whether his father had in fact been a member of the SACP, or the ANC, or both.
Two people were taken into custody following Sunday’s shooting and police initially said that the case had been postponed for the purposes of an identity parade.
However, on Wednesday, National Prosecuting Authority spokeswoman Natasha Ramkisson said: “The case was enrolled, however the court decided to strike the matter off due to there being no prima facie case/insufficient evidence to enrol the matter. The matter is under investigation.”
Apart from Dlamini, another as yet unidentified man was also killed during the shoot-out. Several people were injured, cars were vandalised and tyres slashed.
An Inchanga resident, who witnessed the incident, alleges three men arrived at the meeting in a Mercedes Benz but would not leave their car.
“They were just watching”, said the resident, “and looked very suspicious”.
He said that because of the “tense” political atmosphere in the province and ward four in particular, a group of SACP members confronted the men in the car and asked them to step out and identify themselves.
The men refused and opened fire on the group. The group retaliated with gunshots.
“The men tried to flee in their Mercedes but it wouldn’t start. Then a back-up car - they even had a back-up car - came from nowhere and started shooting into the crowd and killed Philip Dlamini,” said the eyewitness.
A senior SACP member told ANA on Tuesday that he believed the incident was meant to be a hit on Nxumalo.
“There is no doubt this was supposed to be a hit on Nxumalo. It is the culmination of many provocations taking place there. Remember that about three weeks ago (newly elected eThekwini region chairman, Zanele) Gumede had to be escorted from Inchanga,” said the source.
Nzimande said that Dlamini’s funeral would be held this coming Sunday at the very sports ground where he was killed.
On Wednesday the sports ground was deserted with a few cows grazing on what little grass there was.
African News Agency
* Use IOL’s Facebook and Twitter pages to comment on our stories. See links below.