The South African Communist Party (SACP) leadership in Gauteng on Monday disparaged attacks on the integrity of the Zondo commission of inquiry into State capture, including, it said, from within its own ranks.

SACP Gauteng secretary Jacob Mamabolo said the attacks sought to undermine a principled fight against the theft of state resources.

Speaking after a provincial executive committee, he called on the SACP to take a clear and unified stand in the fight against graft.

“Equally of concern to the PEC is the series and renewed wave of attacks and acts of intimidation against the Zondo commission by various forces, including those from within the ranks of the revolutionary movement.

"Of late, these elements are resorting to a racist populist stance to weaken and derail the principled fight against corruption and looting within state institutions. It is important that the party reclaim and consolidate its work around the fight and battle against corporate capture of the state and the need to defend our sovereignty and organs of the democratic state."

Mamabolo said the SACP in Gauteng has been unambiguous in its support for the Zondo commission and the National Prosecuting Authority, which has in the past month brought corruption charges against a raft of officials

“As a province we have played a key role in raising the banner of the party at the commission and National Prosecuting Authority. With the now relaxed lockdown regulations, the PEC resolved to reactivate the principled activism and campaign around this critical question.”

The remarks come as former president Jacob Zuma’s stand-off with Judge Raymond Zondo continues to escalate.

Zuma has accused Zondo of bias and demanded his recusal, leading the head of the commission to issue an extraordinary statement in which he said he believed the accusation related to his relationship with a woman who many years later became one of Zuma’s sisters-in-law.

On Saturday, the Jacob Zuma Foundation said Zondo’s statement “was a deliberate diversion”.

Zondo has issued a summons for Zuma to appear before the commission on November 16.

The SACP has in recent years experienced tension due to the perceived closeness of its KwaZulu-Natal secretary Themba Mthembu to the former president.

However, last month Mthembu gave his unconditional support to a rallying cry by President Cyril Ramaphosa for the ANC to fight corruption and weed out corrupt officials.