Divisions+over+Zuma+at+SACP+meeting,+Msomi,+City+Press

City Press, Johannesburg, 12/08/2006 21:12 - (SA)
=Divisions over Zuma issue re-surface at SACP meeting=


 * S'THEMBISO MSOMI**

SERIOUS divisions among members of the South African Communist Party's Central Committee re-emerged on Friday as the leadership spent hours in a heated debate over the party's support for troubled ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma. As a result of the divisions, sources say the Central Committee decided to "close" the Zuma issue.

But the party's general secretary Blade Nzimande yesterday denied that there had been divisions on Friday and said the Zuma matter had only been raised as part of the discussions on the recent ANC-SACP bilateral meeting.

According to party insiders, the party's position on the Zuma issue came up for discussion following Nzimande's political report to the meeting which had been highly critical of the National Prosecuting Authority's (NPA) attempts to have Zuma's corruption case postponed to next year.

Nzimande, and other committee members who back Zuma, believe the postponement is aimed at preventing Msholozi from standing as a candidate in the ANC's conference next year.

But Zuma opponents in the committee, who include a number of high-ranking cabinet ministers, were critical of the SACP's role in the Zuma saga.

One insider described the meeting as "highly emotional" and said the "women comrades were particularly scathing" in their criticism of the party's support for Zuma. Some even questioned how they, as communists, can support Zuma who had made "sexist" remarks during his rape trial.

A Central Committee member is said to have told the meeting that the fact that Zuma was acquitted by the court "did not mean that he was innocent". But Nzimande played down the divisions and said the meeting had re-affirmed the party's current position on the matter.

"Of course people would raise whatever they like to raise about the issue. . . But it was all in the context of discussing the bilateral meeting, our discussion document and the NPA's request for the trial's postponement.

"As far as our stance on who becomes the ANC president is concerned, our stance remains the same. It is an ANC matter." Nzimande said.

He said, despite the Zuma matter, the Central Committee had also discussed the recently launched Progressive Women's Movement. While welcoming the move, the SACP says the process of forming the new organisation has been "rather bureaucratic" and said efforts must be made to link it with the struggles of ordinary women.

The party is to hold a press conference today where it is likely to outline a number of electoral options available for it in the future. These are likely to include continuing with supporting the ANC in elections; putting up its own candidates but still remaining part of the ANC alliance and campaigning on the ANC ticket but retaining an independent voice once in the legislatures.


 * From: http://www.news24.com/City_Press/News/0,,186-187_1981823,00.html**

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