Leaders of the Tripartite Alliance have hailed ward 4 in Inchanga, between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, as an example of how the alliance can work together to resolve its problems and unite behind a common purpose.
This was the common theme in the messages of support by alliance partners at the launch of the SACP’s Red October campaign in Inchanga on Sunday afternoon as they delivered messages of support that called for unity to ensure a decisive victory for the ANC at the November 1 local government elections.
In recent years the area has been a battleground in which violent and often deadly tensions between members of the SACP and ANC have played out, with political killings emanating from the tensions that were rife in the lead-up to the 2016 local government elections.
At the heart of the tensions were accusations of ANC gatekeeping, the manipulation of ANC membership in accordance with factions, and preventing SACP members from getting ANC membership.
Tinyiko Ntini, the National Secretary of the Young Communist League of South Africa, called for a united tripartite alliance, saying that if they were divided they were putting the National Democratic Revolution under siege.
“As we’re heading towards the local government elections, let us unite, all of us, and focus on delivering a decisive victory for the organisation. Let us focus on what unites us rather than what divides us, because that will be the bedrock for success for the revolutionary alliance.
“This does not mean there are no challenges in the household, but always when there are challenges in the household it does not mean you run to Home Affairs to change your surname because you disown that family. When challenges are there you need to confront them and within the proper confines, and Inchanga is one example that has done that,” Ntini said.
He said the peace achieved in Inchanga was an incredible milestone that should continue to provide direction to the entire country.
“This should teach us that as the alliance structures we’ll make equal partners, and that if we treat each other as equal partners we will always succeed because we will always focus on what unites us, and we will share the same programmes together,” Ntini said.
ANC NEC member Lindiwe Sisulu, delivering a message of support for the governing party, said that she had been encouraged by the unity shown in Inchanga, in which members of the Communist Party and the ANC had opted to come together and decided that they were no longer going to work divided and tear each other apart, but would instead work together for one goal.
“I’m also glad that this thing of the Communist Party wanting to contest elections on its own is over, we are all ANC today, all ANC to wish the SACP good luck in the years going forward. We must congratulate the SACP because we are one party fighting an election as one.
“The unity that we found here is the unity that we want to make sure that each and every province in this country is going to be able to pick it up and take the sword and move forward. We’ve faced worse periods than this, but right now we need to make sure that we face those problems together,” Sisulu said.
Political Bureau