South African Communist Party General Secretary Blade Nzimande. He recently delivered a major address at a conference on participatory democracy.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
JACQUES KEET
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA
Oct 19 2008 11:32
South African Communist Party general secretary and ANC national executive committee (NEC) member Blade Nzimande lashed out at ANC dissidents on Sunday, branding them "liars".
He said they were using the issue of former president Thabo Mbeki's recall as the reason for their split with the ruling party.
South Africa's former defence minister has said a breakaway party will be formed which will challenge the ANC, a radio station reported on Sunday.
"Former defence minister and former national chairperson of the ANC Mosiuoa Lekota has announced that a new party will be formed during a national convention," said SAfm, referring to a convention that Lekota has called for November 2
The ANC suspended Lekota on October 13.
Nzimande, speaking at an ANC regional general council meeting in Cape Town, said Lekota and his supporters had already agreed they would not serve under ANC president Jacob Zuma before the conference in Polokwane last December.
Nzimande said their motto was "either we control the ANC or we destroy it".
He said this was not the attitude of a genuine cadre of the ANC in that leadership positions were earned, and were not an entitlement.
Trying to stop the ANC to continue to govern, "because we've got the best policies, is a serious act of counter-revolution".
He said the dissidents wanted to control the ANC for "the resources".
Some of them had entered the ANC "as poor as church mice" and now they were millionaires.
They wanted to "demobilise" the ANC to become only an "electoral machine” and would be "a narrow party to serve the interests of a small coterie of elite".
However, this notion had been rejected at Polokwane. Nzimande accused the dissidents of never raising their concerns in party structures.
He also accused the media of picking the side of the dissidents. He said the South African Broadcasting Corporation's "senior news team" had consistently taken sides, and a new board should be appointed to the restore the broadcaster's credibility.
On Mbeki's recall, Nzimande said "the skies have not fallen”.
"These things happen in any democracy. And, the former president, to his credit, said 'because the NEC said I must resign I will resign'." - Sapa
Source: Mail & Guardian Online
Web Address: http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-10-19-nzimande-lashes-anc-dissidents
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