WE WOULD not know whether the Communist Party misses former president Thabo Mbeki. We will take its leader Blade Nzimande's word that they don't.

WE WOULD not know whether the Communist Party misses former president Thabo Mbeki. We will take its leader Blade Nzimande's word that they don't.

We are, however, concerned when Nzimande wants to blame all of the ANC's current internal infighting on Mbeki.

Nzimande does not even have to take our word for it. If he called his leftist comrade, Zwelinzima Vavi, say, for a glass of red wine or a drive in his shiny German beauty, the worker leader might repeat what he has already said.

"The tender is the new enemy of our movement, not the Congress of the People or Helen Zille's Democratic Alliance. It is crass materialism which is the most formidable enemy that we must confront and defeat. If we do not, the revolution is going."

ANC general secretary Gwede Mantashe at a meeting with councillors blamed the deployment of unqualified comrades to top management positions in municipalities and laziness and corruption.

So, if anything, Nzimande is displaying Mbeki's most tragic flaw - he has become a denialist.

It is essential that theproblems within the ANC be attended to honestly and soberly as Mantashe and Vavi are doing.

Numbers of South Africans who have voted for the party are a reminder that it is still seen as the best bet for delivering on the promises of 1994.

The sooner the likes of Nzimande deal with reality, instead of searching for red herrings, the sooner we will get South Africa and its ruling party fulfilling their enormous potential.