ANC calls SACP's faction talk 'irresponsible'

Johannesburg - ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa has called the party's communist alliance partner "irresponsible" for claiming that the ANC has handed over power to a "faction".

Kodwa on Thursday told journalists in the ANC's Luthuli House headquarters that the ANC would be meeting with the SA Communist Party soon to talk about their differences.

SACP deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila has said that the party was tired of the rot in the ANC and "can't allow for factions to appropriate the name of the ANC".

This followed a decision by the ANC's national executive committee earlier in the week to drop an investigation into alleged state capture by the Gupta family after only one written complaint was received.

Kodwa said the SACP should take up their complaints with the ANC behind closed doors.

"If the Communist Party is confused about the leadership of the ANC, it is better to express it in a bilateral meeting with the ANC. We are not a faction, we are a national executive committee elected by branches of the African National Congress," he said, adding that it was "unfortunate that the [SACP's] statement is ventilated in public".

Kodwa said the ANC has tried to get the SACP to hold a bilateral meeting, but the party's leadership "is not always available".

He did not want to say whether SACP leaders who are also ANC NEC members tried to speak out at the weekend's meeting about the party's decisions. Kodwa said he could not divulge what was said behind closed doors.

This article first appeared on News24 – see here.