Senior leaders of the South African Communist Party in Limpopo believe that their national office is planning to disband the provincial executive committee (PEC) in the next few weeks to purge those who have fallen out of favour with general secretary Blade Nzimande and his circle.
The Mail & Guardian has established through highly placed sources in the party that the plan to tackle the provincial structure was first discussed at the SACP’s politburo meeting last Friday.
It is expected to feature on the agenda of the party’s central committee meeting later this month, but insiders say it was almost a foregone conclusion that the provincial structure would be disbanded.
According to party insiders, SACP leaders close to Nzimande are holding discussions with the party’s former Limpopo secretary, Justice Pitso, to put together an interim structure to run the party’s affairs once a decision to dissolve the current PEC is implemented. The M&G could not contact Pitso, who was in Cuba this week.
”The rationale is that it has failed to organise district conferences and that the majority of district structures are not properly constituted months before the party’s provincial conference in June,” a senior SACP leader told the M&G this week.
Drifting leadership
However, leaders in Limpopo believe that the intention is to remove those seen as hostile to Nzimande and his allies. Limpopo, which has recorded an increase in membership in recent years, is seen as playing a crucial role in deciding the SACP’s national leadership at its conference next year. The fear is that the current leadership, which has drifted closer to ANC provincial chairperson Cassel Mathale and ANC Youth League president Julius Malema, is unlikely to support Nzimande or his favoured candidates.
The current provincial leadership wants former Young Communist League (YCL) chairperson and SACP politburo member David Masondo to replace Nzimande as the party’s general secretary. Mathale recently appointed Masondo provincial finance minister. Masondo, who topped the central committee list at the party’s 12th national congress in 2007, is also being lobbied to take over as SACP secretary in Limpopo.
He fell out of favour with Nzimande after questioning the party’s stance on nationalisation and the government’s new growth path. He was also critical of Nzimande serving as both a Cabinet minister and SACP general secretary.
Party sources say Masondo recently wrote a paper criticising the party’s deputy general secretary, Jeremy Cronin, for endorsing the new growth path. Tension between Masondo and Nzimande was more pronounced during the recent YCL conference, where he supported Khaye Nkwanyana to replace Nzimande’s ally, Buti Manamela, as national secretary.
Supporters of Nzimande, who has been under pressure from Cosatu to return to his SACP position full-time, are now said to be considering him for a less strenuous position such as chairperson, a position held by ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe.
They believe this would give him the space to perform his Cabinet role. If Nzimande is nominated for the chairperson position, SACP insiders say he would prefer that the head of the SACP’s secretariat and politburo member, Solly Mapaila, takes over as general secretary. SA
