Johannesburg - SACP deputy chairman Thulas Nxesi, pictured, has launched a scathing attack on former Cosatu leader Zwelinzima Vavi, labelling him a personality cult who wanted to maintain a stranglehold on union leadership.
Nxesi, in a speech delivered to workers in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro on Monday, also accused the former Cosatu general secretary of climbing into bed with the ANC’s enemies - including the EFF, DA, Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) and Solidarity - in a bid to tighten his grip on the unions.
Nxesi warned against EFF leader Julius Malema’s threats as hallmarks of fascist movements around the world in the last century.
Nxesi, who is also the minister of public works, called for the ANC and its alliance partners to close ranks against the onslaught of the opposition.
Nxesi said ANC unity and that of the alliance was paramount, and that a united ANC would weather the storm.
He said the government had achieved many things in the past 22 years of democracy, and that could not be wished away.
He added Vavi was not bigger than any union in the country.
“The SACP, as a steadfast ally of Cosatu, fully supported Cosatu in the challenging task of rebuilding collective leadership in the face of personality cults and swollen egos,” he said.
“No individual is bigger than the organisation. No individual owns the federation, that includes Mr Vavi,” he said.
Nxesi said Vavi had developed a personality cult.
He was now getting into bed with the ANC’s enemies and those of the working class.
Nxesi also waded into Malema, who has of late threatened to topple the state.
He warned that this was not an empty threat and the state must be careful to guard against it.
Malema had accused the ANC government of failing to deliver, yet he was now threatening to violently overthrow it, he said.
“But I don’t think Malema knows one end of a gun barrel from the other.”
Political Bureau
* Use IOL’s Facebook and Twitter pages to comment on our stories. See links below.