Rift+in+Gauteng+SACP+over+Mbeki+award,+Monare,+The+Star

The Star, Johannesburg, October 12, 2006 //Edition 1//
=Rift in Gauteng SACP over Mbeki's award=


 * //Nzimande might refuse to present the president with honour//**


 * Moshoeshoe Monare**

The SA Communist Party in Gauteng wants its unwilling general secretary Blade Nzimande to present President Thabo Mbeki with an award for his contribution to the struggle amid tensions between the two men.

While Nzimande accused Mbeki of failing to provide leadership and centralising power, his party in Gauteng is recognising "Mbeki's excellent consolidation of democracy".

The provincial SACP is also conferring awards on the president's mother, Epainette Mbeki, and five other stalwarts at a fundraising gala dinner in Johannesburg on Saturday.

Presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga confirmed yesterday that Mbeki would attend the event. Nzimande is said to be against presenting the president with an award following Mbeki's bitter personal attack in which he called the SACP leader extraordinarily arrogant.

At the heart of the skirmish is the succession tug-of-war in the ANC in which Nzimande is seen as a central figure who is pulling strings in a plot to propel the ruling party's deputy president Jacob Zuma to replace Mbeki.

At the ANC national executive committee meeting, Mbeki quoted Nzimande's speeches to show he was acting contrary to the "spirit and intent" of the SACP's position.

In his speech to Cosatu and the SA Democratic Teachers Union's congresses, Nzimande implied that the ANC and the government under Mbeki's leadership had moved from the ruling party's historic socialist policies.

SACP's spokesperson Malesela Maleka confirmed that Nzimande would be attending the event but did not rule out "changes in his programme. His programme changes from time to time".

Shortly after speaking to Nzimande, Maleka indirectly questioned the motive of the award. "In terms of the SACP protocol, awards are issued by the central committee and not by provinces."

Gauteng SACP provincial secretary Vishwas Satgar said the "recognition" award was just a token of appreciation to Mbeki, and that Nzimande "is going to play a role in the award". He said other provinces also had their own awards "and we are following that practice". He refused to be drawn into Nzimande's reluctance.

The controversial award comes hardly a week after fierce acrimonious exchanges between Mbeki and Nzimande.

The president had attacked Nzimande at an ANC national executive committee meeting, and the SACP boss later questioned the president's leadership capacity.

This is what led Nzimande to refuse, according to an SACP central committee member, to bestow the award on Mbeki despite having agreed some months ago. But Maleka said the award "was never brought to our attention".

Gauteng is the first structure in the SACP to openly break rank and move closer to Mbeki amid tensions at national level. When six provinces issued statements in support of Nzimande and harshly criticised Mbeki this week, Gauteng was one of the three provinces that remained quiet.

Maleka said they expected the province to "engage" about the recent tiff between their general secretary and the president.


 * From: http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3481728**

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