JUSTICE MALALA: The SACP’s power without responsibility
Where else is there a party that will not contest elections yet sits in the cabinet while holding a gun to everyone else’s head?
We really need to talk about the SA Communist Party (SACP). No, not the fact that it is probably one of the last few communist parties left in the world — most of them closed shop after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Not the fact that the SACP probably has fewer supporters than Mzwanele "Gupta" Manyi’s new political party, the profitably named ATM (as in automated teller machine, geddit?). We need to talk about the power — and responsibilities — of the SACP, you see. Over the past week I have watched as the SACP held forth on the unbundling of Eskom, its possible privatisation and possible job losses in the process. And I wondered: what exactly gives you the right to hold the country ransom to your demands when you won’t even contest elections so we know your strength? Last weekend SACP secretary-general Blade Nzimande bellowed: "We are going to mobilise workers in the country to ensure that the unbundling of Eskom does not lead to its privatisation. We want government to commit that ...
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