Farouk Chothia
`WATCH out! My hit squads will come and get you!” an affable Harry Gwala joked with an aide this week. The Natal Midlands firebrand was unconcerned about his six-month suspension by the South African Communist Party but his manner belied the maelstrom in SACP and ANC ranks following allegations that he was running hit squads in the region _ charges he categorically denies.
Underlying moves to oust him from the party are deep divisions between SACP and ANC members on the ground and even deeper rifts in the upper echelons of the two organisations.
Reasons for the tensions are complex: differences on strategies and tactics, leadership styles and the future direction of the SACP and ANC _ interwoven with power struggles, personality clashes, mutual suspicion and a strong dose of mistrust. All combine to form a toxic political brew that has poisoned bonds between comrades.
Gwala believes he is the victim of a “witch-hunt”, similar to previous party purges. Since he criticised Joe Slovo’s paper, Has Socialism Failed? in 1989, he has had “sharp political differences with some of the comrades in the central committee”.
“They think in the stage of compromise, reconciliation and a government of national unity, the class struggle disappears and they’ve got to be very good to other classes.”
He insists the SACP acted “unconstitutionally” by suspending him, saying he should have first come before a tribunal at a regional level, while the party’s central committee would act as “the body of appeal”.
He said he would not co-operate with the commission of inquiry set up by head office, even though he risked indefinite suspension or expulsion from the party if he did so.
While some sources say the view of some SACP leaders is that Gwala is no longer a communist, he insists he is “even more of a communist than some of the people who took the decision to suspend me”.
He said next week he would meet the SACP regional executive committee, where the allegations against him would have to be tabled and those making them identified.
Gwala’s critics say because he refused to hammer out problems at regional level, they were forced to turn to the central committee. Before it decided to suspend him, the committee heard evidence from about 10 regional leaders and activists.
Gwala twice refused to appear before the central committee. Asked to set a venue and date suitable to him, he did so, but 15 minutes before the meeting said he was unavailable.
Sources said he was suspended because he was hampering the growth of the party in kwaZulu/Natal and not because of allegations that he ran hit squads and had targeted ANC Natal leader Jacob Zuma and party leaders Blade Nzimande and Ben Martins for assassination.
They said while SACP leaders were convinced that information they had on the hit squad claims was correct, a lack of conclusive evidence made it difficult to act against Gwala. Gwala’s response was to point out that none of the three ANC leaders had even been attacked, while several attempts had been made on his life.
He said he still respected the SACP, but added: “If the party is now built on rumour, then it is not my party.”
He said he discussed the allegations with President Nelson Mandela and members of the ANC national working committee several months ago. “Mandela didn’t charge me … It was found the whole thing was without substance.”
But his critics say the ANC head office supports the SACP’s decision and plans to act against him. The ANC’s Natal caucus, however, this week described the hit squad allegations as “venomous propaganda” and said Gwala would continue as Natal Midlands chairman and chief whip of the provincial legislature.
Relations between the SACP and ANC in the Midlands are clearly at a low ebb. Sources claimed ANC branch leaders, taking their cue from Gwala, were seeing the SACP as a threat and refusing party activists the right to launch branches and join the ANC, and had harassed them.
“Like Gwala, the ANC chairmen do not want to be challenged in the decision-making process and are opposed to party members who have more political education,” said one source.
Gwala denied he was a stumbling-block. He said ANC/SACP tensions were a result of “political immaturity and (a) wrong understanding of what a party member is. I say so because when some young people join the party, (they think) that’s an elevation above the ANC and when some people holding positions in the ANC don’t get elected, they look for other organisations _ civics or the party _ and that’s a seed of discontent.”