The South African Communist Party (SACP) in Moses Kotane Province (North West) has elected Smuts Matshe as the party’s provincial secretary during its 10th elective congress, held over the weekend in Klerksdorp.
Matshe takes over from Madoda Sambatha, who decided not to contest the position again.
Matshe’s election comes days after the ANC stripped him of his powerful legislative role as chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA).
Speaking on YOU FM Newshour, Matshe said he was not aware whether the ANC’s decision to remove him as chairperson of the committee was politically motivated or whether some ANC leaders were uncomfortable with his work.
“I don’t know. I was just doing my work.
“I was the chairperson of SCOPA, which works in terms of the rules of the legislature, which are clear on how to run such a committee.
“I had the responsibility to make people account for how they use public money. There’s no way one can use the money of the people of South Africa and not want to account,” said Matshe.
He said he learned about his alleged removal as SCOPA chairperson through the media and had not yet been formally informed.
“At this stage, nobody has told me I have been removed, or at least I have not received the letter informing me of the decision to remove me from the committee.
“I heard it in the media and in the corridors, so I am still waiting for the formal communiqué from the ANC, even though the organisation that I lead has not been informed of that decision,” added Matshe.
The SACP has highlighted that it has been reliably informed that some of its leaders serving on various municipal councils are being individually targeted and asked to declare their allegiance.
“We are quite aware of at least four other councillors who have been approached by some ANC leaders to explain themselves as to whether they will be campaigning for the ANC or SACP in the looming local government elections in November.
“Now, our position is clear: individuals cannot be punished for a decision taken by an organisation they belong to,” stressed Matshe.
The SACP has, among other resolutions, decided to call an urgent bilateral meeting between the alliance partners in the province to iron out their differences, discuss the state of the Tripartite Alliance, which is at a knife-edge, governance matters and the looming local government elections.
In addition, the newly elected provincial executive committee of the SACP reiterated that it will not compromise or negotiate when it comes to contesting elections.
“No other ally of the SACP will determine whether it will continue with the resolution or not. The SACP owes it to its members, the working class and the poor to contest these elections, so it’s not up for discussion.
“What we will be prepared to discuss is how we manage this discussion,” remarked Matshe.
He lambasted the ANC for its unilateral decision to remove members of the alliance from their deployments in government or municipalities.
“It’s clear that some of the leaders in the ANC interpret governance as an exclusive area for the ANC, whereas the understanding is that we’ve campaigned together.
“We’ve collectively made decisions on who we deploy into government, and when we want to redeploy people, it should be a joint decision-making process,” highlighted Matshe.
