SACP rocked by move to suspend provincial secretary Nqatha
Call for probe into serious allegations against Xolile Nqatha
As divisions within the SACP in the Eastern Cape widen following the alleged suspension of the party’s provincial secretary Xolile Nqatha, affiliated formations are calling for the allegations levelled against him to be given attention.
Nqatha’s alleged suspension follows an SACP provincial executive committee (PEC) meeting where branches expressed their dissatisfaction with him, which led to heated and emotional debates.
The party’s provincial chair Mzoleli Mrara told DispatchLIVE that a discussion about list processes also led to heated arguments at the Sunday PEC meeting.
“There were discussions in the meeting where people raised different views.
“We discussed a report about list processes and as you would understand, those discussions tend to be quite emotional because some members are directly affected.
“All sorts of accusations, allegations and counter allegations were raised.
“We understand the dissatisfaction of some branches in the party about his [Nqatha] role but we could not venture into that discussion in the PEC meeting without an official complaint.”
He referred to the letter about Nqatha’s suspension, authored by the party’s first deputy secretary Sisimone Rakaibe and second deputy secretary Lazola Ndamase as 'malicious'.
Asked about developments within the party after the letter was submitted, Ndamase said: “At no point did I ever confirm the existence of any letter. There are, in any case numerous letters that provinces write to the head office and vice versa.”
In the letter that was sent to the party’s general secretary Blade Nzimande, the two secretaries accuse Nqatha of behaving in a manner that sowed divisions, causing a breakdown of unity in the party, among other allegations.
“The PEC took a resolution to prefer disciplinary charges against Nqatha for a number of alleged infractions including but not limited to acting against the interests of the SACP, bringing the name of the SACP into disrepute, failing to implement the decision of SACP constitutional structures, behaving in a way that provokes divisions and causes a breakdown of unity in the SACP, gossip maliciously in a manner that sets comrade against comrade or becomes a wedge driver, misuse, treat recklessly or dishonestly, deliberately damage, make unauthorised use of, or use for personal gain the assets of the SACP,” the letter reads.
When prompted for answers about divisions in the party, Nzimande referred all questions to the party spokesperson Alex Mashilo.
Mashilo said the SACP had internal processes to follow to engage with any of its subnational structures with issues that needed the attention of the central leadership of the party.
“It is both during following the processes and after their completion that the structure concerned receives reports or feedback directly.
“We will follow internal processes to understand the nature of the developments to ensure that everything is handled according to the party’s constitution.”
The Young Communist League of SA provincial secretary Zukisa Gana said in a statement on Wednesday they were calling for the allegations to be given the attention they deserved, considering their serious nature.
“These are very serious allegations levelled against the leader of the SACP in the province alongside the former provincial treasurer of our party.
“Therefore they deserve to be given serious attention in a manner that would bring finality to them without being compromised by the seemingly emerging public spat on this matter, owing to the leaking of the internal party communication.”
SACP provincial spokesperson Siya Mdodi said the leadership of the party would soon convene to determine what action needed to be taken following the suspension allegations.
“The SACP provincial leadership collective will meet over the recent concerning developments and after its meeting will determine the action to be taken. The decisions of the meeting will be communicated.”