The South African Communist Party (SACP) says calls for Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to be fired are "factional palace politics".

“We do not like this thing, as ministers, of being shouted at from the streets to be removed,” said SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande.

He and other national office bearers of the communist party held a media briefing on Sunday following a three-day central committee meeting.

The SACP said most of the discussions at the gathering were related to the “continued worrying turbulence and factionalism within our ANC-headed movement”.

The SACP will comment on a reshuffle if and when it happens as well as when necessary, added Nzimande.

The communist party also warned its comrades against becoming too preoccupied with factional politics.

One of Nzimande’s deputies Jeremy Cronin said the party had resolved to steer clear of the succession debate.

“If we play in that space, factionally we will deepen the crisis instead of helping to resolve it,” said Cronin.

Gordhan has faced severe criticism from some structures of the African National Congress (ANC), including the ANC Women’s League, the Umkhonto WeSizwe Military Veterans Association and the ANC Youth League which has been spearheading calls for the minister to be sacked.

White monopoly capital

Last week the league accused the finance minister of protecting the interests of white monopoly capital.

The SACP also hit out at those seeking to “recalibrate” their factional behaviour and passing it off as “radical sounding Africanist posture”.

It also once again voiced disdain over the appointment of former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe’s appointment to parliament.

“We are seeing growing recklessness and a disdain for collective decision- making and for formal democratically elected structures,” said Nzimande.

The general secretary said the SACP understood that the ANC had the right to deploy whoever it wanted but that it would have advised differently on appointing Molefe had it been asked.

Molefe who was implicated in the former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s report, State of Capture

“ANC can’t simply wake up and decide on its own and expect us to close ranks and agree as if we were consulted," said Nzimande.

Dubai

The SACP also hit out at those who had recently been calling for transformation in the banking sector for being opportunistic.

“SACP condemns the hypocrisy of those who have suddenly and belatedly jumped on the bandwagon on dealing with the financial sector,” said Nzimande.

A great deal of noise is heard from factionalist quarters about collusion in foreign currency trading among 17 local and international banks, he said.

Nzimande said the SACP agreed that such behaviour should be criminalised and individuals involved should serve jail time.

“The sudden opportunistic champions of bank regulation fail to recognise that the exposure by our Competition Commission of foreign currency trading collusion is part and parcel of a wider move to tighten regulation and deal decisively with illicit capital flows to places like Dubai,” said Nzimande.