The SACP has noted the announcement earlier today by the former Minister of Defence and a former member of the ANC, Terror Mosiua Lekota, of the intention to leave the ANC and form a new political party

Finally, the beast is in the open!

Over many years when our movement and our alliance went through difficult times, we pointed out to the fact that there were strong provocations for the alliance to split. The provocations at the time were initiated by those who at the time where at the helm of our movement, the ANC. We refused to bow to this pressure.

The membership of the ANC saw this for what it is and acted in the manner in which they did in Polokwane.

When we were confronted with these problems we analysed the problems facing us and and we came to no other conclusion but about an existence of what we called the "1996 Class Project" whose main thrust was to modernize the ANC from a mass based campaigning organization to a narrow electoral party, marginalization of the ANC and the alliance partners on issues of governance, a pursuance of economic policies meant to advantage capitalist profitability and forging a new kind of a cadre in the ANC.

These attempts to change the ANC into what it has not historically been have dismally failed. The attempts to marginalize communist from the ANC have failed.

The last option for the likes of Terror Lekota and others has been nothing else but to achieve these goals which they failed to achieve inside the ANC, by establishing a new political party.

We can however state it for the record that to our knowledge, some of the problems referred to in the announcement today are the legacy of the previous leadership of which Terror Lekota was part of.

As the SACP it is our understanding that there have been preparatory meetings to form this Party since January this year. This is nothing but a coalition of the ill-disciplined who cannot accept democratic processes inside the ANC.

It is for that reason that we are ready to defend the revolution against a right wing attack from within. This is not new, the breakaway of the PAC, the group of eight and the latest formation of the UDM are but some of the historical breakaways that we have had to deal with and defeated in the past.

These characters will meet the full might of the organized working class. And we shall meet in the next elections to teach them a lesson!!

Statement issued by the South African Communist Party October 8 2008