SACP slates EFF

Taking about disruption to President Jacob Zuma's state-of-the-nation address on February 12, SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande said it was important "to counter proto-fascist anarchy".

 

The EFF were escorted out of the House after insisting that Zuma answer questions regarding security upgrades to his private home in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal.

 

Nzimande said: "[This] cheap populism isn't taking us anywhere".

 

"In Parliament, rules must be applied firmly."

 

He was speaking at a media briefing in Johannesburg following the SACP central committee meeting.

 

"Here in South Africa... we are not confronting any remotely serious regime-changing agenda.

 

"But let's keep also keep a careful watch over any early signs of such an agenda through corrective and self-corrective measures."

 

Nzimande accused the Democratic Alliance and some media of tacitly supporting the EFF, and said that the institution of Parliament needed to be protected against anarchy.

 

"Parliament and our other legislatures need to be defended as important spaces in which the executive can be held to account, but also in which democratic majorities can carry forward their electoral mandates in making legislation and developing policy."

 

The central committee also called for unity within the Congress of SA Trade Unions, but Nzimande would not venture an opinion on whether the federation's general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi should face disciplinary measures.

 

 

On Thursday, Cosatu said Vavi had been implicated in a forensic report into alleged impropriety in the sale of Cosatu's old head office and purchase of a new one.

 

Vavi boycotted last week's Cosatu central executive committee, after some affiliates announced they would stay away until the National Union of Metalworkers of SA was reinstated as a Cosatu member.

 

Nzimande said the SACP respected the independence of Cosatu.

 

"It's a matter that has to be dealt with by Cosatu."

 

(File photo: Gallo Images)