The communist leader also lashed out at former ANC leader Jacob Zuma for revealing certain comrades were spies during Apartheid as well as those seeking to “displace” Ramaphosa.
SACP national leader Blade Nzimande has downplayed EFF leader Julius Malema’s support for Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane saying it is not a genuine cause.
Nzimande said Malema was supporting anybody who would help him attack enterprise minister Pravin Gordhan because of the role he played previously as SARS boss to discover the tax non-compliant of Malema’s Ratanang Family Trust.
The communist leader said Gordhan was also able to track down the illicit cigarette smugglers, one of them Adriano Mazzotti – a closer friend of Malema and a financial helper to his Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
Nzimande spoke at the Wesselton Primary School hall in Ermelo, Mpumalanga on Sunday 4 August 2019 where the SACP celebrated 98 years of existence.
He said Malema’s Ratanang trust account “had not been paying tax”.
“Comrade Pravin managed to nail those people selling illicit cigarettes and not paying their taxes,” said Nzimande.
“When we say we are defending comrade Pravin, we are not defending him as an individual but we are defending a principle,” Nzimande said.
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Nzimande said they support Ramaphosa’s clean up campaign and were concerned at the EFF’s attacks on Gordhan, “people who used to hate the communists while they were in the ANCYL but today they call themselves Marxists and wear red like the communists they used to hate”.
“Our people should not be misled,” said Nzimande who is also higher education minister in Ramaphosa’s cabinet.
“Our people know that an overall is for work and not this thing that these fake Marxists are doing. Our people know an overall is a painful experience, that’s why they remove it after work but these ones even wear Louis Vuitton overall, very expensive and for casual wear, not hard labour,” he said.
He added his party will support any action that puts an end to “parasitic” state capture and corruption.
“All South Africans who hate state capture and corruption: let’s come together and say enough is enough. Billions of rand have been stolen and that’s where our problems begin,” said Nzimande.
“We are going all out to organise all South Africans who want peace to come together and defend this democracy against theft and corruption,” he said.
The general secretary said that the ANC was currently hard-hit by factionalism and the efforts to “displace” President Cyril Ramaphosa because he is pursuing the wrong things that “have been done”.
“The ANC is under distress, divided and as communists we cannot celebrate an ANC that is in distress,” said Nzimande.
“If the ANC is in distress, it means our revolution is in danger. Let’s go out and swell the ranks of the ANC to ensure that we save our organisation. If it means saving the ANC from itself, let’s go and do that as we care about the ANC.”
Both Nzimande and young communist leader Tinyiko Ntini lashed out at former President Jacob Zuma for revealing that certain comrades were spies during Apartheid, saying he was doing this in order to divert attention from the “wrong things” he did.
While Nzimande was saying that they had a long time said that the revelation will tear the party into pieces, the YCL has called on a Commission of Inquiry into the assassination of communist leader Chris Hani outside his Boksburg home in 1993.
This follows a revelation by Zuma last month that the Apartheid cops almost killed Hani in Lesotho but when they were told he was with children inside the house they postponed.
The YCL said Zuma had been quiet all along and was only “taking a popular stance” now because he wanted “to be a victim of circumstance”.
“The most painful issue about this thing is that we have a comrade who was trusted by the movement and who was deployed to government for 2 terms and the YCL has been in the forefront calling for the inquest into the murder of Chris Hani, when he was President and what did he do to respond to the call of the party.
“Today you are telling us you know who killed Chris Hani. In a sense you are the most dangerous person because how do you sit with such information,” Ntini said, adding Zuma would have saved many comrades had he not kept quiet.
Msholozi served as the ANC intelligence officer in exile until its unbanning as a political party in 1990, where soon afterwards he became deputy secretary.
(edited by ZK)
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