Pretoria - The SACP in Limpopo has warned its members to desist from involving themselves in ANC factional battles ahead of the party’s elective conference expected to be held in June.
It said those who were actively involved in factional battles would be held to account.
The party has also spoken out against corruption and the looting of the now collapsed VBS mutual bank.
The warning comes after the SACP, the ANC’s alliance partner, learnt that its new deputy chairperson and Health MEC in the province, Dr Phophi Ramathuba, had attended a factional meeting in Vhembe before the Easter holidays.
The ANC is alleged to have two slates within the party ahead of the congress – the so-called Third Term/VBS faction, led by Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha and VBS accused and treasurer Danny Msiza, and Unity and Renewal, under Public Works MEC Dickson Masemola and provincial secretary Soviet Lekganyane.
The two slates are alleged to have held two separate meetings in the past weeks, one in Vhembe while the other was held in Lebowakgomo in the Capricorn District.
The VBS faction has announced that it was intending to elect three members who were implicated in the VBS scandal. The trio are Msiza, who has since stepped aside after being charged for his alleged role in the saga. He will be contesting for the powerful secretary position.
Former Vhembe mayor Florence Radzilani, whose municipality, at the time, illegally invested R300 million, will be contesting the deputy chairperson position, while Nakedi Sibanda-Kekana, when she was Lepelle Nkumpi mayor, also illegally invested R150 million.
Speaking to the Pretoria News yesterday, SAPC spokesperson Charles Nkadimeng warned those who took part in the meetings to desist from getting involved or face party disciplinary proceedings.
Nkadimeng asserted that members who wanted to attend factional meetings should not attend under the banner of the SACP. He further said that Ramathuba had attended the meeting as an ANC member and not in her capacity of being deputy chairperson of the party.
“As far as the SACP is concerned, the deputy chair (Ramathuba) has clarified the matter of the capacity in terms of which she attended the said meeting. Ramathuba had yet to respond.
Pretoria News