The SACP in Gauteng always purports itself as a political formation that upholds the highest pedigree of political correctness, revolutionary morality and leadership virtue. Regrettably, the party that claims to be vanguard of the working class and the poor has reduced itself into an apron string for sectarian and divisive interests within the African National Congress (ANC) headed Alliance. Despite its pious platitudes about “building working class unity”, “respect for independence of alliance components”, and “non-interference in ANC electoral contests”.
At its joint bilateral statement with Cosatu, threw a plethora of slanderous insinuations, tacitly directed towards MEC Lebogang Maile and Emfuleni Mayor Lehana Khawe. The two are former leaders of the ANC Youth League in the province, and they are both vying for key positions ahead of the scheduled ANC Gauteng Provincial Conference early next month July 2018.
The so-called two Left and socialist formations are allegedly “deeply concerned that (these) Gupta-type forces have hijacked, and therefore dressed themselves in a revolutionary costume known as “generational mix”, meaning a dialectical fusing of the experienced old and young leadership in our broad movement”. It is public knowledge by now that Maile and Khawe are enjoying groundswell support to be elected to the positions of Deputy Chairperson and Provincial Secretary, respectively. The two enjoy popular support from the league of the ANC, in line with their principled calls for “generational mix” in the leadership collective of the ANC.
In a cynical way, both SACP and Cosatu charge that their will “directly contest against any tendency towards a Guptarised generational mix”. This charge is problematic because it insinuates that both Maile and Khawe are “Gupta family” proxies in Gauteng, and they represent a “Guptarised generational mix”, hell-bent on milking the State coffers to benefit their cronies or allies. This absurd and self-created imaginary narrative by SACP and Cosatu is not only destructive but seeks to sow divisions within the ANC and Alliance as a whole.
In their joint statement there is not even a single mention of the conditions faced by the working class and the poor in Gauteng. There is no whiff of how these Left axis are going to attack employer’s big-headedness for wanting to give workers 0% wage increments, or fights against the escalating cost of food, struggles against ailing public transport system or crisis of youth unemployment and casualization of workers. We don’t see any efforts on their parts to build alliances with other Left-minded formations to make sure that the “New Dawn” puts the interests of workers and poor people first, as opposed to big business.
This week’s attacks are not new nor surprising, but reawakened old and painful memories. In 2012, the then Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane announced new Members of the Executive (MEC’s), and the late former SACP Provincial Chairperson Nkosiphendule Kolisile, was appointed MEC for Economic Development. The ANC Gauteng then had to contend with the wrath of the current SACP Gauteng leadership personnel bullying shots to remove the late Kolisile as a Member of the Provincial Legislature (MPL) and even reverse his appointment as an MEC.