By Zine George -
March 30, 2017
There is no SA Communist Party central committee decision to instruct their leaders such as Blade Nzimande and Jeremy Cronin to resign from President Jacob Zuma's cabinet should the latter fire Pravin Gordhan.
SOLLY MAPAILA
This is according to SACP deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila who also said that leaders affiliated to the communist party were ANC members in their own right.
"We have not taken that decision. We do not, per se, have party members on the list of ANC candidates. We have ANC members. So those members are ANC members in their own right. They are no step cousins or step sisters of ANC . They are absolute ANC members. They stand in their own rights as ANC leaders," said Mapaila.
He was addressing a press conference the party convened following a TMG report in today's Daily Dispatch which stated that the SACP, during a consultative meeting with President Jacob Zuma on Monday, at which the President informed them about an intelligence report which implicated Gordhan and his deputy Mcebisi Jonas.
The report claimed that Gordhan and Jonas held meetings with people who wanted to overthrow Zuma's government, a claim Mapaila said the SACP dismissed. And said they did not agree with the plan to remove the two.
Speculation has been rife since the recall of Jonas and Gordhan from their international trip on Monday that the SACP would recall "its deployees" in the cabinet and government.
Mapaila said the SACP's main concern was that the plan to act against Jonas and Gordhan was done in such a manner that the alliance was not taken into consideration.
"Our members necessarily have not taken a decision to withdraw from the cabinet or from government because this matter affects all ANC members, so it is not about SACP members." However, Mapaila explained, as alliance partners with the ANC, Cosatu and SANCO, "we are equally responsible for the failures and successes of government. We take full responsibility. That is why substantive engagement is required in the alliance."
SACP leaders who are currently serving in the cabinet include Higher Education Minister Nzimande, Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi as well as Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Senzeni Zokwana.
Cronin is deputy public works minister. SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande is higher education minister. Other SACP officials include Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies, and Agriculture Minister Senzeni Zokwana.