The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) on Monday accused African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema of fostering anti-communism in the ANC after he was booed at the South African Communist Party’s (SACP) conference last week.
”The structures of the ANCYL have been unleashing missives to the SACP as part of reinforcing the resurgence of anti-SACP posturing within our revolutionary alliance as led by the African National Congress [ANC],” said spokesperson Castro Ngobese in a statement.
Malema and ANC national executive committee member Billy Masetlha were booed at the SACP’s conference last week.
Malema reportedly asked ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe, who is also SACP chairperson, for a chance to address delegates at an open session where the media was allowed, but this was refused and Malema left.
Malema and SACP deputy secretary general Jeremy Cronin recently disagreed on how the nationalisation debate and policy should evolve.
Malema is credited with starting a debate on whether the Freedom Charter’s clause on sharing mineral wealth should be interpreted as nationalising the country’s mines.
Numsa, a 260 000-member affiliate of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), with which the ANC and SACP form a political alliance, believed the attacks should be ”located and understood within the context of the re-alignment of different class forces and fractions (sic) within the ANC who see the SACP as a threat to their narrow and self-centred accumulation interests.”
”The ANCYL particularly with particular reference to its president Malema must be cautious not be knowingly or unknowingly co-opted and used by this fraction (sic).”
Ngobese said it supported the nationalisation of mines, but not as a means of using government money to bail out failing business to benefit the owners, which it regarded as ”vulgarisation” of the ideal.
It could see the league’s role in agitating for the implementation of the Freedom Charter, but wanted Cosatu to ”seek an audience” with the league ”as part of rescuing this progressive formation of young people from being co-opted because of the new economic interests entrenched amongst our leaders”.
Meanwhile, the league issued a statement on Monday, saying its national working committee was convinced that the main reason why the SACP leadership ”supports the booing of the ANCYL president” was because the ANCYL did not support SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande’s bid to become deputy president of the ANC in 2012.
The ANCYL said the SACP believed the league would not support Mantashe, also chairman of the SACP, for a second term as ANC secretary general. — Sapa