Key SACP leaders ‘show their ANC loyalty’

Luthuli House has interpreted a decision by four of its senior leaders who have dual SACP membership to snub the Conference of the Left as showing they have chosen the ANC over campaigning for the SACP in the local government elections.

The Sunday Times has learnt that Buti Manamela and Blade Nzimande, the ministers of higher education & training and science & technology respectively, along with David Masondo, a deputy minister of finance, and Jacob Mamabolo, the Gauteng MEC for co-operative governance & traditional affairs, have indicated their first allegiance is to the ANC.

Mamabolo said he did not wish to comment while the others had not responded to requests for comment at the time of going to print.

According to ANC sources, the four men showed their hand by failing to attend the Conference of the Left, which the SACP convened last week.

The Sunday Times has also established that Manamela, who serves on the SACP’s central committee, its highest decision-making body, recently resigned as the SACP’s head of elections. The move has been interpreted by the ANC as a sign of where he believes his loyalties lie.

The ANC national executive committee decided in April that those with dual membership must pick a side and state whether they will campaign for the ANC or the SACP ahead of the elections in November. This followed the ANC’s failure to persuade the SACP, led by general secretary Solly Mapaila, to reverse its decision to contest the elections in its own right.

SACP spokesperson Mbulelo Mandlana confirmed that Manamela was no longer their head of elections.

But Mandlana added that as far as the SACP was concerned, the absence of Manamela, Masondo, Nzimande and Mamabolo at the Conference of the Left should not be viewed as an indication that they had decided to stick with the ANC.

The central committee members you are alleging have made a ‘choice’ to ‘side’ with the ANC as opposed to the SACP have not done so

—  Mbulelo Mandlana, SACP spokesperson

“The central committee members you are alleging have made a ‘choice’ to ‘side’ with the ANC as opposed to the SACP have not done so. The status of these comrades in as far as it relates to their status as leadership of the SACP has not changed,” said Mandlana.

“The roles that these comrades have in the SACP also remain unchanged. Their absence at the Conference of the Left has nothing to do with making a ‘choice’ against the SACP. The delegation of the SACP to the conference is an SACP internal decision.”

The Sunday Times has learnt that the four leaders have been campaigning for the ANC in recent weeks.

On Monday, Masondo posted on X: “Yesterday, we participated in the ANC branch meeting to elect the ANC councillor candidate for ward 1 in Makhado, Vhembe district, Limpopo. The meeting formed part of the ANC’s process to select councillor candidates ahead of the November 4 local government elections.”

A high-ranking ANC leader said Masondo was in Giyani on the weekend of the Conference of the Left. “Even Buti [Manamela] didn’t go. For us that’s an indication. That’s why we said we are not going to go on a witch hunt. There was a campaign to demonise Buti. Buti was the head of elections of the SACP and he resigned.”

Two senior ANC leaders indicated that Masondo and Mamabolo had informed the party that they will campaign on its behalf.

Another ANC insider said that Masondo had long made it clear that he disagreed with the SACP decision to fight the election independently. Gwede Mantashe, the minister of mineral resources & petroleum, had also come down on the ANC’s side.

“Gwede has chosen a side, David has chosen a side, and those are people very important to the Communist Party. They have been clear that this decision will not benefit the working class and the poor. It will divide. I’m not sure who else, but I’ve been told almost everyone has chosen the ANC,” this source said.

Limpopo premier Phophi Ramathuba has chosen the ANC over the SACP, while the deputy ministers of police and of land reform, Polly Boshielo and Stan Mathabatha, are yet to make a public declaration.