The SACP in Gauteng has nominated its provincial secretary, Zico Tamela, to challenge Blade Nzimande for the general secretary’s post in a move calculated to embarrass Nzimande.
The SACP will elect new leaders at its national conference that takes place at the Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth from next Wednesday to Saturday.
Tamela is the leader of a vocal province that has challenged Nzimande’s support for Jacob Zuma, reluctance to see the SACP go it alone in elections, and what some say are authoritarian clamps on dissent in the party.
But insiders say that Nzimande enjoyed support from the majority of the provinces and will steamroll any challenge.
Besides leadership, the party will debate whether to contest elections independently of the ANC and the SACP’s medium-term vision to ensure a working-class hold over all key levers of society.
M&G interviews indicate that Nzimande and deputy general secretary Jeremy Cronin enjoy wide popularity and are likely to keep their posts. But Gauteng, Limpopo and some regions feel they need a new general secretary bold enough to take the party on a new path independent of the ANC.
Party chairperson Charles Nqakula could lose his seat if provinces decide to nominate former National Union of Mineworkers secretary Gwede Mantashe for chairperson. Provincial leaders say Mantashe is a hardworking communist and contrast him with Provincial and Local Government Affairs Minister Sydney Mufamadi, who looks set to lose his party leadership position.
Sources in the party say Mufamadi had attended fewer than half of the party’s central committee meetings. It appears Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils will keep his position in the central committee. Kasrils is critical of Zuma, who is popular in the party’s structures.
SACP North West secretary Madoda Sambatha says provinces would consult one another on whom to nominate for the positions of chairperson, treasurer and deputy chairperson. The post of national treasurer is vacant after Phillip Dexter was suspended for a year for publicly criticising the party.
Party members say his position is likely to be contested by Eastern Cape chairperson Phumulo Masualle and former party spokesperson Mazibuko Jara. Masualle last year lost to Siphato Handi in a battle for the position of ANC provincial secretary.
Dipuo Mvelase is the current deputy chairperson.
Provincial leaders have said that their criteria in electing the leadership would be to find people who are prepared to set aside time to work on party activities.
”In the past we have elected people simply because they were ‘senior’ comrades. But their seniority has not been matched by actual commitment to the party,” says one leader.
The biggest debate at the congress will be on proposals for the party to contest elections on its own. While there appears to be grass roots consensus that the party stand, the detail will provoke sharp debate.
While provinces such as Gauteng and the Eastern Cape are likely to push for the party to take a decision now and start contesting for the 2009 general election, the M&G has learnt that some provinces will propose that the congress take a decision in principle to contest and then mandate the newly elected central committee to investigate the means of doing so and report back to a special congress next year.
This, however, is a ploy in anticipation of the outcome of the ANC national conference in December and take a decision on the future direction based on the kind of leadership that emerges from the Polokwane Âgathering.