The South African Communist Party (SACP) says it will follow the example of the African National Congress (ANC) in taking the necessary measures against its members – should they be charged with serious crimes including corruption.
This comes after the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) has instructed suspended secretary-general Ace Magashule to publicly apologise to party structures for issuing a letter suspending party leader Cyril Ramaphosa.
Magashule wrote a letter suspending party president Ramaphosa in retaliation for his own suspension earlier this month.
SACP spokesperson, Alex Mashilo says, “We must say, from the standpoint of the Communist Party, we have done that before and we are not just giving the ANC moral support. Should any member of the Communist Party be charged with corruption or serious crime in a court of law, the SACP will take the same measures as we took before to show that we will support the ANC in practice as well.”
Magashule was suspended after he refused to step aside in accordance with an ANC resolution.
In the video below, political analyst Levy Ndou gives analysis of the NEC outcome:
Political analyst Professor Susan Booysen says Magashule’s power and operating space have started to shrink. The ANC National Executive Committee has resolved that action should be taken against Magashule for being defiant.
The ANC step aside resolution stipulates that all members who are charged with serious crimes including corruption should step aside until their court cases are finalised.
Professor Booysens says Magashule has shot himself in the foot.
“We have not seen that in the ANC for quite a long time. The situation has been created very destructively by Magashule and his people. They have been forging factionalism in the extreme to help secure their political futures. Remember that Magashule was associated with some political party and was plotting along with Zuma and other ANC leaders.”
SACP welcomes the ANC decision to implement to ‘step aside’ policy:
