Blade Nzimande has called on members of the ANC-led alliance not to allow people to make statements that distort our history. (Oupa Nkosi/M&G)
South Africa Communist Party (SACP) general secretary Blade Nzimande on Tuesday criticised a statement by former president Jacob Zuma that state capture never existed.
Speaking at Cosatu’s 13th national congress, he called on the ANC-led alliance to isolate those who are resisting the fight against state capture, saying they should be stopped from making public statements that cause confusion.
During an engagement with students at the Walter Sisulu University of Technology in the Eastern Cape last week Zuma dismissed claims of state capture as a political conspiracy claiming no arm of the state has ever been corrupted.
“There is no state that is captured, the judiciary is not captured, Parliament is not captured. So where is the state capture?” Zuma said.
“There is no state capture in South Africa, there are people who did things to others, but there is no such thing called state capture. Let us not swallow everything that is given to us,” he added.
However, Nzimande called on members of the ANC-led alliance not to allow people to make statements that “distort our history”.
“The state is made up of institutions over and above Parliament, the judiciary and the executive. We can’t say if one arm or component of state has been corrupted then there is no state capture and we must wait until something [else] happens,” Nzimande said.
“As the communist party we cannot allow those things to be said and confuse the minds of young people,” he added.
Nzimande said he was not surprised by reports that some ANC members had been discussing an alleged plot to unseat president Cyril Ramaphosa, saying there was a clear attempt to wage a fight back against him.
Cosatu general Secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali said the federation was also concerned about the reports on that meeting and did not believe the explanation given by those involved.
The Sunday Times newspaper reported earlier this month that ANC secretary general Ace Magashule had met with Zuma and former North West premier Supra Mahumapelo in Durban, allegedly to discuss a plot to unseat Ramaphosa.
Magashule has said he was there to meet Zuma, but claims he had not expected to bump into Mahumapelo and did not discuss any plot against the president.
“We are concerned that some comrades are still in pre-Nasrec mode,” Ntshalintshali said. “Even that people met somewhere, but they [claim they] only met coincidentally. We really don’t believe that comrades,” he added.
Ntshalintshali said if it was the intention of some ANC members to use Ramaphosa’s face to win elections and thereafter dump him, Cosatu would call for Parliament to rather be dissolved than to have a new leader come in through the back door.