Red flag: South African Communist Party general secretary Solly Mapaila. Photo: Luba Lesolle/Gall Images
The South Africa Communist Party (SACP) says that although it intends to contest the next elections as an independent party, it will not act in opposition to the ANC in the post-election phase.
SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila announced on Sunday that the party had decided to contest the 2026 local government elections, saying this would be finalised at its special national congress in Boksburg next week.
The decision could have serious implications for its alliance partner, the ANC, which has cautioned the SACP against taking such an initiative.
SACP spokesperson Alex Mashilo told the Mail & Guardian this week that the party was not contesting against the ANC.
“The ANC is our ally. We are not contesting the ANC. We are not an opposition to the ANC. What we are doing here is just to exercise the democratic right that the SACP has as a political party, this time around to implement contesting elections,” Mashilo said.
The SACP has previously threatened to stand alone in the election but has backed off after securing concessions from the ANC, but it now appears that the latter’s decision to enter a government of national unity may have strengthened its resolve this time around.
Mashilo said the modalities of how the SACP would go about contesting the local government elections in 2026 would be finalised next week. He would not say whether the party would display the image of one of its leaders on the ballot paper.
“The question of what happens on the ballot, immediately I pronounce on those things, it becomes an individual thing, it’s no longer a thing of the SACP. Only in 2019, the SACP was on the ballot, that was a modality but regarding what will happen in 2026, the modalities will be finalised by the special national congress,” he said.
Some SACP leaders believe that the ANC has shown more respect for the Democratic Alliance (DA) than its alliance partners.
The SACP, labour federation Cosatu and affiliate unions including the South African Democratic Teachers Union, the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) and the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union have all accused the ANC of failing to consult them when taking the decision to form the unity government with the DA.
ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula told journalists on Monday that the decision for the SACP to contest the elections had serious implications for the alliance. He said the ANC would respect that the SACP was an independent organ but warned against it contesting the elections alone, adding that the parties would talk further about the decision.
“We had a bilateral with the SACP. They did raise the issue of going at it alone. We have agreed to continuously engage on this matter, including the modalities of that particular decision. A decision to contest elections is a decision of the communist party. They have got to examine it themselves and make a determination,” he said.
“In as far as how it will affect the alliance, it is a matter that we have agreed that next year we will talk about it but they informed us that they have taken a decision and they are taking it to their congress. We will leave it there and then the ANC will discuss with them the implication of that decision in terms of its implementation.”
Mashilo told the M&G that the SACP would meet the ANC again ahead of a meeting of its national executive committee to discuss a number of issues and that the SACP would continue to work with Cosatu, the South African National Civic Organisation and other progressive and worker organisations.
He said the SACP had taken a decision to contest the 2024 elections at its national congress in 2022, but decided not to follow through on it because of the mushrooming of political parties to the 29 May vote.
“When you looked at the IEC [Electoral Commission of South Africa] quarterly declarations, you could see that the white capitalists put too much money into these projects. They were also Western European and American foundations that were pumping money,” he asserted.
“Given the situation, the SACP said let us implement this decision in the 2026 local government elections while we are still seeking the reconfiguration of the alliance and while we will assess the outcome of 2024.”
Source:
mg.co.za
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