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SACP: No ANC favourite, but...
02/12/2007 16:17 - (SA)
Johannesburg - The South African Communist Party (SACP) would not support any one candidate for the presidency of the African National Congress (ANC), Secretary General Blade Nzimande said on Sunday.
"The electoral contest within the ANC is an internal matter," he said.
However, the situation within the ANC and its relationship with its alliance partners could not continue as it was.
"Either there must be a change in the ANC's collective leadership or a change of heart in that leadership," said Nzimande.
The ANC's leadership style had changed a lot since 1996, he said.
This was largely because of the imposition of the Growth, Employment and Redistribution policy (Gear) on the party, the alliance and the country.
Gear was premised on the "erroneous assumption" that government's mission is to facilitate capitalist growth, regardless of its quality, to ensure the top-down delivery of poverty alleviation. Buying votes
Nzimande called on ANC delegates to use their leadership conference in Polokwane this month to elect leaders willing and able to rebuild the party and reconfigure the alliance as a dynamic political centre.
He said the SACP had been told of the payment of large sums to lure ANC delegates to vote for a particular candidate or list.
"We condemn this practice and call on comrades to expose it without fear of favour. We call for an end to corrosive politics of money and patronage."
ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma has been nominated for the presidency by five of the party's provincial structures, the ANC Youth League and the ANC Women's Leagues.
President Thabo Mbeki has been nominated to serve a third term by four of the ANC's provincial structures.
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