One of the many casualties of a spat with South African Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande wrote this parting shot: “You have won the party. Your victory is complete. I am not planning to settle scores or planning a guerrilla war. You and all those around you have won.
You’re the most politically savvy, intellectually advanced and, of course, powerful in the SACP. In my defeat, I accept all of this and this war is over for me. But I would like you to know that you and all those loyal to you are not the SACP. For what it’s worth, we are all the SACP.”
These deeply felt and bitter words were written by former SACP Gauteng secretary Vishwas Satgar in 2006 as he was leaving the party after clashing with Nzimande. He had sent copies to Nzimande’s chief allies — national organiser Solly Maphaila and Young Communist League national secretary Buti Manamela.
Satgar and others, including Mazibuko Jara, deputy national Âsecretary of the Young Communist League at the time, were among the activists who were questioning the strategic political wisdom of supporting Jacob Zuma, then ANC deputy president, after he was fired from the government and while he was fighting rape and corruption charges.
I recall these events because, as the party celebrates its 90th anniversary on July 30, the intolerance and unnecessary crackdowns continue to blight what has been a great 20 years since its unbanning in 1989.
One of the few growing communist parties in the world, the SACP has much to be proud of. One of its recent victories include returning to the table the issue of willing buyer, willing seller, at the land summit. Its financial campaigns also led to the Mzansi bank account for poorer people and it can take credit for the debates that led to the creation of the National Credit Act. I have a personal recollection of how the party helped the ruling party when it “infiltrated” the people of Khutsong’s struggle against the ANC and essentially put their votes into “an SACP trust account” until the demarcation issues were sorted out.
So why must I be a spoilsport at celebration time by harping on the negative? Because this week I discovered that of the top five officials elected by the SACP’s Gauteng congress about four years ago only one still occupies his position. The others have either been suspended or removed from their positions, and one has resigned. This is disturbing, considering the province is one of the few that has perpetually challenged the party’s national office. The provincial conference is long overdue and the suspicion is that a “clean-up” is taking place in advance of it.
Gauteng provincial secretary Zico Tamela, who has been banned from holding any leadership position, is remembered as the man who meekly tried to challenge Nzimande at the 2007 conference and failed. Provincial chairman Nkosiphendule Kolisile, a long-time critic of Nzimande, was recently suspended in what resembled the use of a hammer to kill ants.
Deputy chairwoman Meisie Sekaledi resigned because of her unhappiness with organisational issues. Treasurer Alfred Nkabinde was removed by the provincial executive committee. Only deputy secretary Jacob Mamabolo who remains in his post — the rest of the posts are filled by acting incumbents.
Is this a mere coincidence? And how do we explain a similar situation in Limpopo, where the party’s provincial leadership was getting closer to the Julius Malema-Cassel Mathale grouping and subsequently “disbanded”?
The SACP has not spared its youth either, suspending about seven members who were part of a group that tried to oust Manamela at their conference late last year. Apart from the beleaguered Inkatha Freedom Party no other political party has suspended or expelled leaders this often.
I respect Nzimande for his razor-sharp intellect, fearlessness and streetwise combativeness. I respect his commitment to shaking things up and jolting people from their comfort zones to fight for the poor. We owe him a debt of gratitude for breaking rank and challenging former president Thabo Mbeki, who was presiding over an increasingly sycophantic ANC leadership. But Nzimande can do with a bit more openness, tolerance and an accommodative attitude to intellectual rivals. He should be open to taking criticism on the chin.
A popular mantra among progressive forces all over the world is former Chinese Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong’s “Let a thousand flowers bloom, a hundred schools of thought contend” — and so it should be.
Nzimande risks being remembered as the man who brooked no dissent and who crushed opponents in a desperate bid to remain in power. And he should remember that when the bell tolls for such leaders, the result it will not be pretty.