South African Communist Party secretary Blade Nzimande has hit back at ANC Youth League president Julius Malema for referring to some cabinet ministers as minorities and claiming they were “not black enough”. Nzimande told a media briefing yesterday that the SACP rejected comments that President Jacob Zuma’s finance cluster was not black enough.
Malema had charged that the Zuma government had seen an increase in the power of minorities (whites, Indians and coloureds) in economic portfolios such as Finance, Trade and Industry, Economic Development, Public Enterprises and National Planning. He said blacks dominated less influential posts in the security cluster, which included the ministries of Defence, Police, Home Affairs and Intelligence. Malema’s charge put the spotlight on Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies, National Planning Minister Trevor Manuel, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan and the newly appointed Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus.
Nzimande said the SACP central committee, which met at the weekend, “affirmed our party’s full confidence in and support for our comrades in the cabinet, including those in key economic portfolios”. He called on the ruling tripartite alliance, which includes the ANC and Cosatu, to root out “narrow African chauvinism” within their structures. “We are pleased to note the robust defence of the core non- racial principles of our movement by senior ANC leaders, and their forthright rejection of any opportunistic attempt to play an ethnic card. “While ugly white chauvinistic attitudes persist in many places, sometimes brazenly and sometimes subliminally, and should be fought at all times – a counter, narrow Africanist chauvinism simply reproduces and feeds its counterpart. “Such trends must be nipped in the bud as they have been throughout the history of the ANC.”
Last week the Youth League said it “reaffirms its position on the principle of African leadership, particularly on key economic cluster responsibilities”. “We have never said we doubt the capabilities of the incumbent leaders . “The principle we wish to reaffirm amid the misinterpretations is that African leadership should not be compromised when future appointments are made, as that could play into a racist perception that Africans are incapable to perform key economic roles in the government and corporate sector.”
Source: The Sowetan
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