IF the jeers, heckling and howls meted out on the ANC's Julius Malema and Billy Masetlha at the recent Polokwane SACP congress are anything to go by, then the alleged healthy relationship between the alliance partners is merely papering over the cracks.

The unabated tirade and vitriol directed against the so-called counter revolutionaries by the ANC Youth League and Young Communist League became an ideal breeding ground for a culture of disrespect which is foreign to the broad mass liberation movement.

The culture of disrespect for elders, particularly those with impeccable liberation and political activism track records, has given an impetus to a culture of intolerance and disrespect within the tripartite alliance.

A war of words has been brewing between Malema and SACP-YCL leaders such as Blade Nzimande, Jeremy Cronin and Buti Manamela with impunity from the tripartite alliance top leadership.

Some of us saw what happened at Polokwane a long time coming. In my opinion, incompatible ideological differences (capitalism versus communism), personal egos, narrow-ended intentions, scramble for material wealth, power struggles, manipulative inclinations, jealousy and an ugly fight for the soul of a giant liberation movement (the ANC) are putting paid to the bond that kept the tripartite firm.

It will take a great deal of conflict-management skills to bridge the ever-widening chasm between the alliance partners.

Something drastic needs to be done to rescue the alliance before the hawks hovering on the sidelines capitalise on its disunity and dissension.

Steven Sibuyi, Hazyview