African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma made a surprise guest appearance at the 85th anniversary fund-raising dinner of the South African Communist Party (SACP) in Durban on Saturday night.
Zuma, who is expected to attend the SACP’s 85th anniversary rally in Pietermaritzburg on Sunday, said: ”South Africa is an amazing country where communists and capitalists can sit [at] the same table.”
A jovial Zuma said the SACP still had an important role to play in South Africa.
”They [the communists] are genuine and honest fighters who fight for the rights and freedoms of people.”
Zuma did not speak about his upcoming corruption trial but apologised for not being able to donate to the SACP.
To much laughter, he said: ”If you have read the newspapers, you will know that I am unemployed”.
Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin later told guests that the state would continue to own parastatals and that they would not be sold.
”We cannot be certain that multinationals would have the same ideas about Eskom or our ports as we do,” he said.
He said the way the parastatals would contract out work for investments was being radically overhauled and where companies such as Eskom could break up contracts, it would do so to allow smaller South African companies to participate.
However, he said, the new way in which parastatals signed contracts would not be allowed to compromise safety and quality.
”We have to make sure the growth is shared by all.”
SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande repeated the party’s call for a once-off amnesty for all people who had been blacklisted by credit bureaux.
”We appreciate what the ANC has done, but we have concerns that the economy is not serving the people,” he said.
He paid tribute Erwin’s role in helping to organise the union movement during the 1973 strikes that wrecked Durban.
The top leadership of the SACP was present at the fundraiser as were leading local community leaders. — Sapa