News / Africa
SA Communist Party supports Malema on nationalisation
04 Jul 2011 at 07:53hrs | Views
SA Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande says the party supports the ANC Youth League's nationalisation calls - but some of them are not "genuine" and must be discussed.
Nzimande lashed out at "professional conference campaigners", whose only interests were to cause "havoc" in the ruling party and its partners.
Nzimande was referring to the league's call for Fikile Mbalula to be elected to replace ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe at the party's national conference next year.
Nzimande added his voice to that of Zwelinzima Vavi, general secretary of trade union federation Cosatu, who told e.tv yesterday that he supported the calls for the nationalisation of the country's mineral wealth.
Speaking at the SACP's 90th anniversary celebrations in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, yesterday, Nzimande said the Communist Party will soon make submissions to the ANC on the nationalisation debate.
"We support the ANC Youth League's call for achieving economic freedom in our lifetime," said Nzimande. "[Though nationalisation] is something that we have always supported, we do not believe that some of the calls are genuine.
"We need continuous engagement on this matter and we will make our submissions to the ANC on this issue," he said.
Nzimande said people had always hurled insults at communists.
"They always complain that we communists only come in to take a piece of meat from their mouths. But our main objective is to ensure that there is a piece of meat in the mouths of all South Africans, instead of a few groups of elites.
"All they do is try to cause havoc within the [ANC-led tripartite] alliance," he said.
Political analyst Adam Habib said that though the nationalisation campaign seemed to be gaining momentum, with calls to nationalise the mines, banks and other sectors, it was still uncertain if the tide of support was shifting towards youth league president Julius Malema's views because, though the unions broadly supported the call, this was with conditions. "It looks like people are talking about it, and even though the unions are coming out in support of nationalisation, they are asking how," Habib said.
He said that the government needed to be careful when dealing with nationalisation calls because it could not only scare away investors but also expose the mining and banking industries to tender corruption.
A Cosatu affiliate, the National Union of Metalworkers, has come out in support of the calls for nationalisation, and for land take-overs without compensation.
Irvin Jim, Numsa's general secretary, yesterday said the resolutions adopted by the youth league were in line with the views of Cosatu and its affiliates.
Nzimande lashed out at "professional conference campaigners", whose only interests were to cause "havoc" in the ruling party and its partners.
Nzimande was referring to the league's call for Fikile Mbalula to be elected to replace ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe at the party's national conference next year.
Nzimande added his voice to that of Zwelinzima Vavi, general secretary of trade union federation Cosatu, who told e.tv yesterday that he supported the calls for the nationalisation of the country's mineral wealth.
Speaking at the SACP's 90th anniversary celebrations in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, yesterday, Nzimande said the Communist Party will soon make submissions to the ANC on the nationalisation debate.
"We support the ANC Youth League's call for achieving economic freedom in our lifetime," said Nzimande. "[Though nationalisation] is something that we have always supported, we do not believe that some of the calls are genuine.
"We need continuous engagement on this matter and we will make our submissions to the ANC on this issue," he said.
"They always complain that we communists only come in to take a piece of meat from their mouths. But our main objective is to ensure that there is a piece of meat in the mouths of all South Africans, instead of a few groups of elites.
"All they do is try to cause havoc within the [ANC-led tripartite] alliance," he said.
Political analyst Adam Habib said that though the nationalisation campaign seemed to be gaining momentum, with calls to nationalise the mines, banks and other sectors, it was still uncertain if the tide of support was shifting towards youth league president Julius Malema's views because, though the unions broadly supported the call, this was with conditions. "It looks like people are talking about it, and even though the unions are coming out in support of nationalisation, they are asking how," Habib said.
He said that the government needed to be careful when dealing with nationalisation calls because it could not only scare away investors but also expose the mining and banking industries to tender corruption.
A Cosatu affiliate, the National Union of Metalworkers, has come out in support of the calls for nationalisation, and for land take-overs without compensation.
Irvin Jim, Numsa's general secretary, yesterday said the resolutions adopted by the youth league were in line with the views of Cosatu and its affiliates.
Source - times
