Mantashe suggesting SACP tried delivering ANC to EFF, MK Party absolute nonsense - SACP's Mapaila

JOHANNESBURG - The South African Communist Party (SACP)’s general secretary, Solly Mapaila, has described suggestions that the communist party tried to deliver the African National Congress (ANC) to the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party as absolute nonsense and disrespectful.

Mapaila told Eyewitness News’s Politricking with Tshidi Madia that ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe was lying when he claimed the SACP was never opposed to the ANC’s bid to work with the Democratic Alliance (DA).

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Mantashe was speaking on eNCA’s Truth to Power, where he said he found the communist party’s anger over the coalition government suspicious.

The SACP has been a vocal critic of the inclusion of the DA in the Government of National Unity (GNU).

The matter is likely to find its way onto the agenda as the SACP kicks off its 5th special national congress on Wednesday.

Mapaila said Mantashe’s suspicions over the vanguard party’s role in coalition talks had been shut down before.

He criticised the ANC chair, telling Eyewitness News that Mantashe’s assessment of the ANC’s opponents lacked the basic understanding of their national democratic revolution.

“The EFF and MK Party are mere adversaries of the ANC. They cannot even transform a village.”

This was as he continued to insist that the DA remained a threat to the very essence of the ANC and its alliance partners.

“DA is a party of capital, a party of oppression, a party of the colonial masters, so how can a leader at that level even conflate this?”

The SACP has accused the ANC of failing to consult properly during the establishment of the GNU.