Be vigilant of one enemy in many colours

The South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Eastern Cape Province has noted the opportunistic visit of the ex-mineworkers in the Eastern Cape by the failed tenderpreneur and SA Revenue Services convicted fugitive Mr Julius Malema. He is reported to have promised ex-mineworkers and families that they will receive monies due to them as soon as possible.

This should be viewed as nothing else but sheer opportunism and blatant abuse of the plight of our people whose better explanation is his difficult to leave without the wealth and the power he enjoyed as the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) President. A position he never used for the workers and poor but for himself. 

As the SACP we met with the Deputy Minister of Minerals, Cde Godfrey Oliphant earlier this year. The Minister confirmed that they were busy with the identification and verification of the beneficiaries and were planning to pay them between December 2013 and March 2014.

Julius Malema's visit to the Province represent an attempt to hijack the process, he knows that it is only those in the ANC alliance led government that have the capacity to deliver on the genuine demands of the ex-miners. He is incapable of meeting those demands even if he were to draw from the Ratanang Family Trust given that his empire collapsed as exemplified by an incomplete multimillion rand house that went under the hammer recently for SARS to recover the monies that belong to the public.

We know many people who attended the gathering at King Williams Town, where Malema went to meet with the ex-miners. Many went there to get an ordinary briefing from one Mr Kula who has been working with them. The ex-miners have been speaking well about Mr Kula but it is becoming clear now that he has decided to abuse their trust for electioneering purposes for Malema's club.

As the SACP we are calling on our people to be more vigilant of the one enemy in many colours. We must always identify, expose and reject a wolf in a sheep skin, no matter how many times it may attempt to convince us that it is a sheep. The wolf must never be allowed to be in our flock, for it has no other intention but to taste blood.

We commit ourselves to continue working with the Ministry of Minerals to ensure that they deliver on what they have long been working on.

Statement issued by Siyabonga Mdodi, SACP Eastern Cape Provincial Spokesperson, December 19 2013

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