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ANC’s absence at Slovo’s commemoration is odd: Analyst

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Political analyst Steven Friedman has described as odd the absence of African National Congress leadership at the 25th commemoration of the death of South African Communist Party national chairperson Joe Slovo.

He was democratic South Africa’s first Housing Minister after his appointment in 1994. The SACP held the commemorative event at the Avalon Cemetery in Soweto on Monday.

However, not a single member of the ANC’s National Executive Committee attended. This has angered Congress of South African Trade Union General-Secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali who says this will affect unity in the tripartite alliance.

Friedman says this should worry the ANC.

“It’s a very odd thing to happen, this is very unprecedented and one Slovo was not only a senior SACP member but also ANC cabinet minister – so it’s very odd that it happened. My guess is that the speculation would be it happened because the invitation went into Luthuli House as we know at the moment the secretariat is controlled by a faction of members who oppose the SACP.”

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