JOHANNESBURG, Gauteng — The South African Communist Party (SACP) has officially confirmed its readiness to contest the upcoming November local government elections independently. This strategic decision marks a significant political shift, designed not as a permanent walkaway from the African National Congress (ANC), but as a decisive move to force a long-sought reconfiguration of the tripartite alliance that the SACP argues has been ignored for over two decades.
Following a weekend central committee meeting, SACP General Secretary Solly Mapaila briefed the media on the party’s electoral plans. Mapaila emphasized that the upcoming election campaign will be utilized to mobilize workers and aggressively combat corruption and crime. The party has reportedly compiled a list of approximately 4,400 candidates. Notably, this slate does not consist solely of SACP members; it includes community activists, faith-based organization representatives, and traditional leaders who align with the party’s vision for grassroots representation.
Independent political analyst Sipho Masigo notes that the SACP’s frustration stems from feeling consistently marginalized within the alliance. Masigo highlighted that the SACP has repeatedly voiced concerns that the ANC does not take the partnership seriously, particularly regarding workers’ rights, social issues, corruption, and maladministration. A major point of contention is the ANC’s coalition relationship with the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus). Masigo pointed to recent events, such as the DA announcing a cabinet reshuffle before the President, as evidence of a lack of meaningful consultation and the coalition partners effectively leading the ANC.
According to Masigo, the ANC finds itself caught between a rock and a hard place regarding its ideological identity, torn between its socialist roots and pro-capital policies. The analyst cited former leaders and ministers such as Pravin Gordhan and Tito Mboweni, whose pro-capital policy implementations have long been opposed by the SACP. This ideological friction was further highlighted by the SACP’s recent “Conference of the Left” held in Birchwood, which aimed to unite left-leaning forces against rightward political shifts.
The SACP’s independent run presents a complex dilemma for Cosatu and other alliance partners. Masigo explained that Cosatu will face significant difficulty in choosing whom to back, a situation that could further dilute the black vote. The political analyst also observed that certain prominent leaders, such as Jacob Mmamabolo and Gwede Mantashe, have remained conspicuously absent from recent SACP rallies, seemingly maintaining their government positions quietly amidst the growing tension. Furthermore, the SACP’s stance has reportedly sparked internal calls from some quarters to remove SACP members from public representation positions that were originally secured through collective alliance campaigning.
Despite the political friction, Masigo noted that the SACP’s manifesto priorities may not appear drastically different from the ANC’s localized proposals at the municipal level. The SACP’s key priorities include the right to work, municipal decent work, sustainable livelihoods, reliable public services with preventative maintenance, land and housing for social needs rather than private profit, and councils free from tender corruption. While local government manifestos universally focus on service delivery issues like water, electricity, roads, and housing, Masigo pointed out that the SACP distinguishes itself through a stronger emphasis on minimum wage enforcement and regulations concerning employer age groups.
Addressing the SACP’s strong stance against tender corruption, Masigo cautioned that completely abolishing the tender system is an ambitious goal without a viable alternative. He explained that the government currently relies heavily on private consultants and small businesses to execute work due to internal capacity and competency challenges. Unless a highly skilled public workforce is developed to handle these tasks internally, walking away from the tender system remains unlikely. This reality is reflected by the fact that neither the ANC nor the SACP formally called for the removal of tender processes at the last ANC conference.
As COSATU prepares to convene its Congress in two weeks to decide its political alignment, the SACP remains steadfast. The party maintains that its independent contestation is the only viable path to address the current crisis of working-class representation and to finally achieve the reconfigured alliance it has long demanded.