South African Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande, his deputy Jeremy Cronin and SACP treasurer Phillip Dexter are being targeted as ”ultra-leftists” to be blocked from nomination to the African National Congress’s national executive committee (NEC).
The NEC will be elected at the party’s national conference next month.
ANC members said the drive to keep out the SACP office-bearers was part of an anti-left campaign in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
Party activists in the Western Cape said an ”ultra-leftists list” had been circulating in the province over the past three weeks. ”Branches are not paying any attention to it,” said an ANC member.
ANC Western Cape provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha said he had heard rumours about the list, but did not know if it existed. He insisted there was no attempt to block any nomination.
Insiders said the ANC Youth League had put Nzimande, Cronin and Dexter’s names ”on ice” during discussions last weekend on nominations, when objections to their inclusion were raised.
The youth league’s national secretary general, Fikile Mbalula, said he was unaware of the development. The youth league will announce its final list this weekend.
The league is believed to be keen to nominate its president, Malusi Gigaba, former youth league office-bearer Rapu Molekane and Mpumalanga’s MEC for Safety and Security Thabang Makwetla.
The league is also believed to have swung in favour of Mosiuoa Lekota as national chairperson after he bashed the left at the youth league’s 58th birthday banquet last weekend.
Lekota lauded the league for not being dazzled by the ”glimmer of red caps” and earned resounding cheers. Lekota was elected national chairperson in 1997 largely because of trade union and communist support.
The Eastern Cape, which will send the largest contingent of voting delegates to the national conference — 655 of 3 400 — is a critical province for the ANC. Premier Makhenkesi Stofile’s re-election as provincial chair is important for the left, because he is seen as well-disposed to the SACP and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).
Left-leaning ANC members in the province say certain NEC members opposed to the SACP and Cosatu have been trying to influence the election. The Eastern Cape is expected to push leftist candidates such as National Union of Mineworkers general secretary Gwede Mantashe and Cosatu president Willie Madisha for NEC membership.
Dogfights have begun in KwaZulu-Natal, with certain ANC members seeking to block the inclusion of Nzimande, Cronin and SACP stalwart Eric Mtshali on nomination lists. In a counter-move, the left is campaigning against Makhaye, Minister of Public Enterprises Jeff Radebe and Minister of Public Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi’s inclusion on the list.
Free State ANC chair Ace Magashule said there was no ”purge of the left” in his province. He has called on ANC members nationally ”not to sacrifice quality leadership” for petty reasons.
Magashule said his province was promoting Lekota for the national chair. The province was also likely to nominate Minister of Housing Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele as the ANC’s deputy secretary general.
Mpumalanga and Limpopo are not considering changes among the top six office-bearers. But ANC sources in Mpumalanga said a tussle had emerged in the province over the nomination of Premier Ndaweni Mahlangu to the NEC.
Mahlangu now attends NEC meetings by virtue of his position as premier, but he will have to stop in 2004, when his term of office expires, and would then have to wait until next ANC conference in 2007.
Provinces will complete their nominations lists in general councils this weekend. The provincial lists will be submitted to the last NEC meeting of the year, which begins on Thursday.