African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma has again called for political tolerance and open debate in the ruling tripartite alliance, the Star newspaper reported on Monday.
Political intolerance and lack of debate had resulted in the disintegration of democracy and the destruction of nations, as witnessed elsewhere in the world, he said at the weekend.
Zuma was delivering the annual Chris Hani Memorial Lecture in honour of the South African Communist Party hero, who was assassinated in 1993.
The lecture, at the University of Limpopo, was organised by the Young Communist League (YCL), whose members are among Zuma’s staunchest supporters and back him as President Thabo Mbeki’s successor.
In an apparent reference to internal battles, including over succession, Zuma warned against political intolerance.
Quoting Hani, he said: ”We as the ANC-led liberation alliance have nothing to fear and everything to gain from a climate of political tolerance. We do not fear open context and free debate with other organisations.
”Open debate can only serve to uncover the bankruptcy of our political opponents.”
The alliance had found itself lurching from crisis to crisis in the run-up to the ANC’s national congress in December in the wake of Zuma’s axing as deputy president and amid allegations of corruption.
The SACP and the YCL, along with the other alliance partner, Cosatu, have become vocal critics of Mbeki and his government’s style.
Some in the SACP have also warned of the ”Zanufication” of the ANC, while at the weekend SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande warned of the ”governmentalisation of the national liberation struggle”.
Zuma said the ”nurturing of political tolerance” and ”open debate and discussion” were essential for the alliance to work.
”A climate in which we resist open engagement on issues of national interest due to political intolerance or fear will never allow the growth of political consciousness,” Zuma said.
”It is fatal to the democratic values and culture of debate on which our movement is built, and on which the SACP in particular thrives.
”We are witnessing in the world around us how the lack of political tolerance and debate lead to the disintegration of democratic values and the destruction of nations.
”That should not be allowed to happen in our country and in our broad movement.” – Sapa