A Week Is A Long Time In Politics

The South African Communist Party’s Central Committee met this weekend. Its Press Statement is of high quality and will clear up misunderstandings raised by the deplorable half-baked leaks published in the Sunday Times and Sunday Independent. See the link below. The latter paper’s report concluded with this sentence: “Insiders described the issue of the SACP going it alone in elections as a "red herring", as those senior members in favour were largely the same ones who insisted Zuma should succeed Mbeki as ANC president.” This sentence is a non sequitur – the second part in no way follows from the first. Nor is there any basis for reporting that any SACP leaders are insisting on a Zuma succession. This is a true red herring. The record shows a principled defence of ANC Deputy President Jacob Zuma’s rights and of the democratic process as a whole - the very opposite of a partisan lobby. The “State Power” discussion document has nothing whatsoever to do with Jacob Zuma’s case. It would be nice to know who these “insiders” (or “insider”, singular) are or is. Or whether the Sunday Independent’s Moshoeshoe Monare and Christelle Terreblanche, who are in possession of the “State Power” document, somehow divined this construction from imaginary circumstantial evidence. In any case it is poor journalism. South African democracy is not beholden to any constitutional piece of paper. It is a living reality and never more so than when, in the same week, the SACP CC, the COSATU CEC, and the ANC NEC (due to start on Friday) all meet. See the linked press announcement of the content of COSATU’s CEC, starting today. The City Press had the best front page story yesterday. Unfortunately they are quite stingy in terms of what they put up on their web site. Their story of the withholding of a film about Thabo Mbeki from being broadcast on SABC as printed in hard copy is much longer. However, the linked version below gives a good sense of what is at stake. Are the Scorps on the skids again, as the miserable fiasco of their prosecutions of Jacob Zuma is progressively exposed? Lets hope so! See linked City Press article. Comrade Hope Mankwana Papo, among other illustrious positions, has the distinction of being a member of the SACP Johannesburg Central Branch. In his capacity of ANC Gauteng Provincial Spokesperson, he announced last Thursday an event which took place yesterday, namely the launch of a drive to rebuild the ANC’s branches in Gauteng. See the linked document for a description of the intended scope of this Imvuselelo/Tsoseletso Campaign. Finally, from across the Atlantic Ocean, the blogger xymphora tells it like it is for the people of Sudan. See the linked document. Click on these links: SACP CC 19 and 20 May 2006 Press Statement (1089 Words) COSATU CEC meeting, 22 to 24 May 2006 (Notice) SABC cans Mbeki film, Japhet Ncube, City Press (368 words) SAPS ready to absorb the Scorpions, Mkhabela, City Press (545 words) Launch of Gauteng ANC Imvuselelo Campaign, Hope Papo (403 words) Zionist rain of death on Sudan, Xymphora (792 words)