Nzimande slams tenderpreneurs

Johannesburg - SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande condemned what he called an attempt by "tenderpreneurs" to steal the ANC for personal enrichment, according to a report on Tuesday.

Nzimande told The New Age newspaper in an interview that the SA Communist Party was "seriously concerned" that entrepreneurs who sought control of the ruling party could also sell it to the highest bidder.

He said this was a challenge facing the ANC and its alliance structure, including the SACP and the unions.

"The danger of people who do that is that they can even sell the country to the highest bidder," Nzimande was quoted as saying.

Nzimande believed that those who had catapulted President Jacob Zuma to the helm of the ANC had little to do with genuine concerns to elect quality party leadership.

"I have no doubt that a lot of the people who supported Zuma at Polokwane did so because they wanted genuine changes in the way the ANC was being run," Nzimande told The New Age.

"But it is clear to us now that there are people who went to Polokwane because they were hoping Zuma would help them to build a kleptocratic state."

The ANC Youth League was seen by many as influential when it came to choosing leaders but Nzimande disagreed, according to the report.

"There are no kingmakers. If there were, it would be the branch representatives that elect leaders," Nzimande said.

He said the SACP was concerned about the growing culture within the alliance structures to use money as a tool to campaign for leadership elections.

Nzimande said this was not limited to the ANC but applied also to its allies.