THE South African Communist Party (SACP) and ANC in KwaZulu-Natal have made peace following the formation of the latter’s interim structures.

The truce, which was announced at the SACP’s media briefing in Durban on Wednesday, came after the ANC appointed some of the SACP leaders to its interim structures.

The SACP provincial executive committee (PEC) had last year expressed dissatisfaction with its ANC provincial counterpart, which was led by its now demoted chairperson, Siboniso Duma, for allegedly sidelining Tripartite Alliance partners in making key decisions. 

The sour relationship between the two alliance members at the national level caused the SACP to announce that it would contest future elections, including next year’s local government elections, on its own. 

SACP provincial secretary Themba Mthembu told this reporter after the media briefing that the relationships had improved.

The SACP celebrated the appointment of 12 members into various ANC Regional Task Teams (RTTs) and the Provincial Task Team.

“For now, the relationships are acceptable, and we hope they are going to be maintained,” said Mthembu.    

The party pledged support for ANC PTT and RTTs. 

“This affirmation by the party is centred on the overall appreciation of the reality that a strong left infusion in the ANC structures remains critical, without which the ANC would be pro-capital without a countervailing class thinking,” said Mthembu.

However, despite the improved relationships, Mthembu said the resolution of the SACP to contest future elections alone would not change. 

“The resolution of the party’s congress is binding, and it has to be implemented.”

He said the party would hold a provincial council in the middle of August to discuss the possible impact of its election contestation resolution. 

“We will discuss what would be the practical impact of the resolution in the alliance relationship on the ground,” said Mthembu.

The SACP expressed concern about ongoing allegations of malfeasance and corruption within provincial government departments and municipalities, describing them as “a daily occurrence and a significant embarrassment to our government and leading parties”. 

When asked to list municipalities that were affected by corruption, Mthembu mentioned almost all of them. 

“There are a few that do not have reports of corruption,” he said. 

When asked to name the departments that the SACP accused of corruption, he said “all of them”. 

“The level of allegations of corruption has reached a point of being declared endemic and has a certain potential to collapse our government and municipalities. 

“The PEC resolved that this matter must be immediately taken up with the alliance for action with a proposal of holding an alliance summit on acts of corruption in government with impunity,” he said in a statement prepared for the media briefing.

The SACP also expressed support for the appointment of Judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga to lead a commission that was appointed to probe allegations of interference in the fight against crime.

KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lt. General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi accused certain officials, including the now-suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, of meddling with police investigations into serious crimes. 

Following the allegations that some police were involved in the assassination of former ANC Youth League secretary Sindiso Magaqa, which led to the recent arrest of Umzimkhulu Municipality’s former municipal manager, the SACP called on Madlanga to also probe the killings of  ANC eThekwini regional secretary Sbu Sibiya and other politicians whose murders have not been resolved. 

“The PEC hopes that the suspicions of possible politicians and police involvement in assassinations and failure to solve the killings of Sbu Sibiya (who was killed in 2011) and Wandile Mkhize (ANC activist who was killed in 2012) will now be dealt with by the commission, including the mysterious killings by police of the suspects of both Magaqa and Sibiya’s murder.

“There is a belief that very high political leaders may assist in bringing light and closure to these killings. The PEC calls upon the Madlanga Commission to use the Moerane Commission Report as one of their base and source documents,” said Mthembu.

Meanwhile, the SACP is preparing to commemorate its 104th founding anniversary at Kwa-Dlangezwa Community Hall in Empangeni, the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal, on Sunday.

The party was officially launched in a three-day conference held in Cape Town from July 30, 1921. 

bongani.hans@inl.co.za 

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