Hecklers hauled away from SACP party

SACP members who booed general secretary Blade Nzimande, Young Communist League leader Buti Manamela and South African National Civic Organisation president Ruth Bhengu were removed from Durban's Sugar Ray Xulu stadium by police.

The SACP's 90th anniversary celebration was disrupted by defiant members, who sang songs during the speeches of the three leaders.

They heckled Manamela, calling him a capitalist, then sang a struggle song that, translated, "We do not want a parliament agenda."

They sang other songs voicing their unhappiness with Manamela and Nzimande's positions in parliament.

SACP chairman and ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe tried unsuccessfully to stop the heckling.

However, Manamela said he did not believe the defiant group was against him, but were singing to draw attention to audio problems in the stadium.

"There was a need for the ANC alliance, which the SACP is part of, to close ranks against people who saw divisions.

"Let's close ranks against people who cause divisions. Let's close ranks against people who do not want Mantashe or Zuma," he said.

Manamela said there were people who thought they owned the "movement because they had shouted most" in the run-up to the conference in Polokwane at which Zuma was elected.

The defiant members stopped singing when Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi took the microphone to deliver his message of support to the SACP.

But during Bhengu's speech, the group got bigger when it moved to the central field of the stadium and resumed singing.

Nzimande ignored the songs and heckling as he delivered the keynote address, but police stepped in to disperse the group.

They moved them out of the stadium, while Vavi and President Jacob Zuma, who had left their seats during the disruptions, returned to the stage.

Zuma applauded the SACP for changing lives and commended it for its role in the alliance.

The SACP was the first organisation that had introduced non-racialism, he said.

"The SACP and its alliance partners had played a huge role in the attainment of freedom in South Africa.

"Now, the task is to ensure that we achieve economic freedom for our people. If you go to rural areas and squatter camps, the lives of our people have not been changed," said Zuma.