THE SA Communist Party (SACP) general secretary Dr Blade Nzimande said the looting and burning of infrastructure in July after the arrest of former president Jacob Zuma was an insurrection instigated by factions within the ANC itself.
Nzimande was addressing the SACP rally in celebration of its centenary.
“The dangerous, insurrectionary conspiracy emerged from its nesting place within the ANC itself,” said Nzimande.
Nzimande further alleged the insurrection plotters wanted to halt economic activity in order to bring the country to its knees.
“The insurrection violence and turmoil of early July was both planned and funded, sometimes brazenly by those behind it. It was at once well-funded, relatively professional and hopelessly inept strategy. The plotters deliberately triggered and then lost control over a wave of mass looting, mostly by the most marginalised strata in our society. But shopping malls were not the prime target of the conspiracy itself,” said Nzimande.
“The real target was to cripple major transport arteries, and particularly the key South and Southern African N3 corridor, to block Durban harbour, to strangle Gauteng, and to take out electricity, oil pipelines, communications infrastructure and the burning of food depots.”
Nzimande said the so-called Radical Economic Transformation (RET) anc CR factions were response for the degeneration of the ANC as a liberation movement.
He added that the present problems within the ANC go back beyond the so-called “nine wasted years” of the Zuma presidency.
“Much of the media present the conspirators as one ANC faction (the “JZ faction”), up against another (the “CR” faction). This plays directly into the hands of the conspirators, because that is how they seek to present their struggle,” said Nzimande.
“We reject this utterly simplistic characterisation. The so-called “JZ” or self-styled “RET” grouping is really and largely networks of corrupt and opportunist elements, themselves facing the prospect of jail time, and relying on war-chests accumulated through the looting of public resources.
“There is no serious political programme uniting them, beyond the threadbare, ritualised incantation of unprocessed, empty and demagogic slogans. They are what one left-leaning British politician described as “resolutionaries”, those who wage factional battles over decorative slogans rammed demagogically through conferences, in preference to having a serious debate on policy options, strategy and tactics.”
He said the SACP was not part of any ANC faction but support the sitting administration under President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“As for the SACP we are certainly not part of an “RET faction”, but nor are we in some alleged CR faction,” said Nzimande.
“We support the Ramaphosa-led leadership of the ANC in its defence of the rule of law, of our constitution, and in the effort to re-build the ANC on a principled basis.”
The SACP has also called on government to introduce basic income grant to fight the high rate of unemployment especially young people.
It has also welcomed the reintroduction of the R350 COVID-19 social relief grant until early next year.
This comes amid concerns about the impact of the recent looting and violence on the poor – described by president Ramaphosa and Nzimande as a failed insurrection.
Both KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng have suffered billions in losses from the unrest which rocked the both provinces three weeks ago.
The SACP said the party has been campaigning for the continuation of the social relief grant.
“There are millions of unemployed South Africans but who are willing and able to work and there are vast areas of socially needed work in our country, in our society, in our communities. Our way out of poverty, inequality and unemployment is for our government to lead a huge public employment programme,” said Nzimande.
- Inside Politics
