text: The South African Communist Party (SACP) would not be an absentee participant in the election of a new African National Congress president, the organisation’s deputy general secretary Jeremy Cronin said on Sunday. He said the SACP was planning to uphold the values of the liberation struggle in the debate rather than act as a campaign manager for any one personality. Cronin was speaking at a press briefing on this weekend’s meeting of the party’s central committee. He said a key issue in next year’s election of a new leadership for the ANC would be the struggle against corruption, and key to this was the unhealthy link between big business and politicians. SACP secretary general Blade Nzimande said the intersection between business and the state was the root of many of the problems the ANC and government faced. “We must disrupt this relationship,” he said. “If you decide to serve the public, serve the public. If you decide to make money and go into business, go into business, but don’t mix the two,” Nzimande argued. He added that for many the public service had become a station “where you wait for the next [gravy] train.” Asked about President Thabo Mbeki’s recent statement that his successor should be a woman, Cronin responded to laughter that “our position is that the next president will be a man or a woman”. Commenting on perceived political factions within the ANC, Cronin said these were “often business factions operating through our structures”. Nzimande said the atmosphere surrounding the succession race had become poisoned. There was a dire need to “de-individualise” the succession debate. In addition, the ANC’s national executive committee had ruled that the election of a new leadership team had to be left to internal constitutional processes in the run-up to the 2007 conference. “We agree with that,” Nzimande said. However, the party wanted an ANC leadership that valued the ANC-SACP-Congress of SA Trade Unions alliance and valued the values of that alliance. He added that the party was committed to gender equality and the emancipation of women, but then Mbeki had raised the issue in a “rather difficult” atmosphere and the call could have the unintended consequence of hindering, rather than advancing the cause of women. Nzimande said the entire matter, therefore, had to be handled in a disciplined and inclusive manner, but without stifling democracy. 2 Mbeki said on Saturday that while there might be “squabbles” or “fights” within the ruling party particularly about the succession, the objective of the ANC is to address the needs of ordinary South Africans. “What are the principle tasks of the ANC? The principle task is not to be fighting over leadership. We should be concentrating on improving the lives of our people … positions are not decided by the ANC president or the secretary general. “I can understand that people are ambitious to become leaders — that shouldn’t surprise anyone. If they want to become a leader — it has to be within the confines or the rules and regulations that govern the country. “Some people want to have a seat for the presidency and some want to take over. What South Africans are saying is: ‘However you resolve your squabbles in the ANC, this is the direction we want for our country to take.'” – Sapa