The SACP has wielded the proverbial axe on the “defiant” provincial executive committee (PEC) of KwaZulu-Natal.
During a virtual meeting late on Monday, the politburo of the Communist Party communicated its decision to the PEC.
The axed leadership was told that the new interim structure, which will now run the affairs of the party in the province, would be announced in the coming days.
According to sources, the politburo decided this after repeatedly encountering opposition from the provincial leadership over the decision that the SACP should independently contest the 2026 local government elections away from the ANC.
James Nxumalo, a former mayor of eThekwini who was forced out by the Zandile Gumede faction in 2017 and relocated to the provincial legislature, served as the Communist Party’s chairperson in the province.
It was said that the provincial leadership kept on warning the party that the decision to contest outside the ANC was suicidal, as the Communist Party does not have credible structures on the ground to mount a formidable campaign.
“The decision to disband the PEC stems from that disagreement; the national leadership believed that KwaZulu-Natal was a stumbling block and had to be removed before next year’s elections,” a source said.
Moreover, an SACP insider in the province said the provincial leadership kept on arguing that the party in the province is mainly made up of aggrieved former ANC members, and some of them have since left to join the uMkhonto weSizwe Party led by former president Jacob Zuma.
Failure to implement party resolution
“For instance, Thabani Luthuli, a former provincial leader of the party who served the longest, left to join the MK Party and is now a provincial leader there, taking along a few of our members.
“In 2016, the SACP attempted to support candidates who had strong community backing but were rejected by the ANC, which imposed its own candidates based on factional interests.
“The candidates used SACP colours, but failed to win except for Malombo Nxumalo, the brother of the former mayor of eThekwini, James Nxumalo.
“The other candidates failed, which demonstrated that the SACP is not as deeply rooted in the community as many believe; therefore, the provincial leadership opposed distancing itself from the ANC,” said a source.
Themba Mthembu, the longest-serving provincial secretary of the SACP in the province, who lost his position yesterday, officially confirmed to Sunday World that the provincial leadership has been disbanded.
“Yes, it is true that we have been disbanded; they said they don’t have faith in us to implement the party’s resolution to contest the elections independently. That’s all I can say for now,” he said.
The spokesperson of the SACP, Dr Alex Mashilo, had not commented at the time of publishing.
