The South African Communist Party in the Free State has raised concerns over the African National Congress’s failure to forge unity in the Free State Province.
The view of the SACP is that the ANC in the province, as the leader of the Alliance, has not been sufficiently decisive in safeguarding the unity of the movement in the face of open activities and developments that weaken the movement and stands to plunge state institutions in chaos.
This view was expressed by SACP’s Free State leadership during the 12th Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) ordinary plenary session of its 7th Provincial Congress.
“The PEC expressed serious reservations at the silence of the ANC leadership in the province in the face of some developments of grave concern within the movement, in government and in society. These developments, when left unclarified, have far reaching implications on the unity of the movement, the Alliance and the image of the ANC in the considerations of society.
“The SACP PEC is extremely alarmed by an institutionalised factional organisation in the province calling itself “RET Forces”. The PEC views this entity as a splinter organisation of wedge drivers, existing within, and organising in the name of, the ANC.
“It is a splinter organisation because it has its own emblem, flags/banners and structured. In the Free State province RET Forces organises with the name and face of the Secretary General of the ANC, and in its public pronouncements on national platforms, it claims former ANC President Jacob Zuma as its father, the father of RET,” said the SACP in a media statement.
The SACP said it believes that the ANC with its divisive activities, stands in contrast to the understanding and characterisation of the ANC as a unitary organisation.
The party said it categorically reject this political project and will accordingly engage the ANC in the province to expressly disassociate the movement from it.
SACP Free State Provincial Secretary, Bheke Stofile, said the PEC noted that the National Democratic Revolution (NDR) remains the most suitable vehicle for uniting the formerly oppressed and democratic forces, under the current concrete conditions, in pursuit of the democratic struggles for the liberation and transformation of society in the country.
“Each Alliance component has a role to play in the pursuit of the NDR, and the ANC has the added responsibility to lead the Alliance and society,”he said.
