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JULIUS Malema, the ANC Youth Leagues extrovert leader was given short shrift by the South African Communist Party today.
Malema demanded the right to address the delegates, apparently because he deems himself worthy of airtime and more than a mere delegate.
He was turned down by the party’s Gwede Mantashe who doubles as the ANC’s secretary general.
It was too much to bear and Malema, his fellow delegates Tony Yengeni and Billy Masethla, walked out of the conference, setting the scene for a worsening of relations between the party and the ANC.
Like a school-yard tattle-tale, Malema said he was going to tell President Jacob Zuma what the SACP had done to him.
But will the ANC go along with Malema or will it value its relationship with the SACP enough to avoid a full-blown stand-off?
The question is intriguing because it goes to the heart of the growing stand-off between “nationalists” and “socialists” within the ANC.
This is the fissure that has expressed itself in government’s indecision about how to proceed on economic policy.
The result has been stagnation which has effectively allowed the status quo — a statist liberalism — to survive although without any supporters willing to stick their necks out.
At some point this state of uneasy inertia is likely to give way to movement in one or another direction.
The irony is that Malema wants nationalisation while the SACP’s Jeremy Cronin has argued it is not always the way to transform an economy.
Mantashe and Malema have just pushed the SACP and the ANC into their biggest public confrontation. Which way will Jacob Zuma bend? Or will he continue to abdicate the leadership role to those with the loudest voices?

Related posts:

  1. Malema and Nzimande are volcanoes. Beneath, the tectonic plates are shifting
  2. Malema’s unwise decision to open up a new front against Zuma
  3. Zuma, Mantashe tell Malema to shut up
  4. Julius Malema has bolted. Shut the stable door!
  5. And so the January knives came out and it was politics as usual

 

Comments

 

Eli Jikelele

December 10, 2009 at 4:59 pm

Can’t wait for these thieves to fall out. The sooner the tripartite alliance dissolves, the better for all South Africans. Let Cosatu and SACP contest the elections under their own banners so that they can implement whatever policies they believe will make SA a better place for all.

 

Eli Jikelele

December 10, 2009 at 5:02 pm

It is good to note that Jelly Tsotsi Malema walked out of the conference. Is it too much to hope that he continues walking in a northerly direction and keeps going until he hits the Mediterranean Sea.

 

Jorene

December 10, 2009 at 6:53 pm

I fully agree with Eli Jikelele. The ANC should go it alone. They should get rid of their alliances.

 

Larry Goodfella

December 10, 2009 at 8:06 pm

The ANC will hug the SACP rat and the COSATU cockroach to its bosem because it does not see itself worthy of good works on its own merit.

They have these large voting blocks in the SACP (wel not really) and COSATU who serve the ANC leadership as their shock troops of the revolution and to keep all in power.

Why a country of over 40 million toiling and suffering citizens are held to ransom by 50 000 communists and a 800 000 strong labour union; – I will never understand.

 

Jon

December 11, 2009 at 5:21 am

Blade won’t lead the communists out because he might have to give back his BMW 750i.

 

DOGG

December 11, 2009 at 11:58 am

SACP cannot contest elections under their own banner simple because they too know that its impossible for five people to win elections.

COSATU, has enough membership but those carry ANC membership cards too so in a case of division it will be interesting which side of the net the majority falls on.

i personally, dont think this alliance is healthy anymore. Its now iffected with a lot of selfishness, corruption and other political deseases.

 

Larry Goodfella

December 11, 2009 at 7:47 pm

This has since turned into an entertaining slugfest.

The laughable tripartite alliance can be likened to a three headed dog. Neither head has anything better to do than to chase its own tail, and in this competitive clowning scenario, each is managing only to severely bite itself on its own a.rse.

LOL

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