Three of the four SACP leaders who opposed the winning slate at the recent 15th national congress have not made it into the party’s central committee.
The triumphant slate, which had newly elected national chairperson Blade Nzimande at the top, defeated one led by his fierce rival Gwebs Qonde of the SACP in the Western Cape.
Qonde, the SACP Eastern Cape’s Xolile Nqatha and Nomalungelo Gina contested top six positions against Nzimande’s faction but failed to make the cut in the 44-member top structure.
Reneva Fourie, who also contested under their slate, was the only survivor who made it to the central committee by a close call as the last one on the list with 111 votes.
All leaders who lost the contested four positions in the top six were automatically nominated for the central committee, as per conference rules.
Another prominent name that did not make it to the central committee was that of deputy minister of public enterprises Phumulo Masualle, a close ally of Qonde.
Elements of generational mix and tripartite alliance components are reflected in the makeup of the central committee.
Former Young Communist League (YCL) boss and deputy minister to Nzimande in government Buti Manamela was the most popular with 247 votes, followed by another Nzimande ally, Alex Mashilo, eights votes shy.
Party seniors Rob Davies and Yunus Carrim came in third and fourth respectively, with unionists such as former and current Cosatu presidents Sdumo Dlamini and Zingiswa Losi also in the top 10.
YCL national secretary Tinyiko Ntini was the seventh most popular central committee member while ANC national chair Gwede Mantashe came in 18th, with ANC Limpopo provincial chairperson Stan Mathabatha voted in at 27th place.
The SACP, in its conference declaration, vowed it was determined to fight the “neoliberal and austerity offensive” by the incumbent ANC-led government.
“Emerging from the 15th national congress of our party, we will intensify this struggle for a change in policy content and direction, most especially challenging neoliberalism,” reads the congress declaration.
The time has come to intensify the financial sector campaign.
— Tinyiko Ntini, YCL national secretary
“The SACP rejects the dogmatic and widely discredited neoliberal macroeconomic framework and other policy measures which undermine our efforts to drive democratic transformation and developmental programmes of benefit to the workers and poor.
“We reject the agenda of neoliberal austerity pushed by the National Treasury, which has meant massive budget cuts on public services and goods, resulting in a social crisis in working-class communities and affecting working-class women and youth, mostly black.”
The party also decried what it calls the “financilisation of our economy”, which it believes undermines efforts for industrialisation and is thus an enemy of the workers and the poor.
“The time has come to intensify the financial sector campaign. But this time, while mobilising based on financial consumer issues [such as] debt relief, against repossessions and against the high transactional costs charged by the banking oligopolies, we will more militantly address the larger structural issues.”
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