Senior Cabinet minister and South African Communist Party (SACP) leader Blade Nzimande has announced his intention to retire from government and Parliament, ending a decades-long political career.
Nzimande, currently Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, told the SABC his decision frees him to speak more openly on political issues without concern for his position. He dismissed suggestions that his recent public comments were aimed at protecting his Cabinet post.
“I want to retire from government and Parliament… I’m not begging. I have never begged for any position,” he said.
His announcement comes amid ongoing tensions within the ANC-SACP-COSATU alliance over the SACP’s future electoral strategy. Nzimande has been a central figure in the Tripartite Alliance since the early 1990s.