The South African Communist Party (SACP) stood by its general secretary Blade Nzimande on Monday in his criticism of the African National Congress (ANC), but called for an end to public spats within the tripartite alliance.
”The extended politburo reaffirmed its belief that much as robust debate is necessary in our intra-alliance engagements, nevertheless these must not be personalised or seek to question the integrity of any partner and its leadership,” said the SACP politburo in a statement issued by spokesperson Malesela Maleka after the politburo met in Johannesburg.
The party was responding to recent criticism of Nzimande by the ANC’s national executive committee, after Nzimande publicly criticised President Thabo Mbeki’s management style.
The politburo was ”unanimous in expressing its full confidence in the ability and capacity of the general secretary to continue articulating the positions of our party”.
The party remained committed to the tripartite alliance between the ANC, SACP and Congress of South African Trade Unions, and called for an urgent 10-a-side meeting of the alliance to discuss unspecified ”pertinent matters affecting the movement”.
It criticised the media, saying some were ”acting like factions inside our movement”.
The politburo said it was committed to resolving differences through debate, and emphasised the use of internal alliance structures for this.
It repeated its earlier criticism of the development of a wealthy elite.
It said that at the heart of the challenges facing democracy was the fact that ”our democracy has disproportionately benefited the bourgeoisie and the middle classes, despite the many welcome and significant government resource transfers to the poor during this period”.
The politburo reaffirmed the SACP’s decision to register as a political party ”as purely based on financial considerations, and not because the SACP has already decided to contest elections in its own right”. — Sapa