The SACP has described the ANC as arrogant and unresponsive to its alliance partners.
Despite the SACP being expected to contest the upcoming local government elections on its own, it offered the ANC in Johannesburg a message of support at its regional elective conference.
This conference will essentially elect the ANC’s chairperson, and who is likely to become its mayoral candidate in next year’s elections.
SACP supports ANC in Johannesburg
The SACP’s Afrika Masoa gave his party’s message of support at the ANC event in Woodmead on Wednesday, but he did not hide the tensions between the two parties.
This stems from the SACP’s decision to contest the local government elections for the first time without the ANC.
“The communist party has a stake inside the ANC, and that is why we are here. We will contest inside the ANC, we are not going to go out,” he said.
He reminded the ANC that it is now in a weak position after only getting 40% of the vote in 2024’s general elections. This led to the party entering into an unfavourable coalition with the DA.
“Our understanding is that when people do not vote, it’s not that they hate the organisations that are there, they are rejecting the system… they are saying what we are expecting we do not get,” he said.
Why is the SACP in the alliance?
Masoa said the ANC should be reminded that the SACP was formed to attain state power, not to support any other party. But he said they had chosen to attain this goal by backing the National Democratic Revolution (NDR).
The ANC is considered the leader of the NDR.
It is still not clear whether SACP members who hold dual membership will be allowed in the ANC’s discussions on strategies for contesting the upcoming local government elections, since the SACP’s decision essentially makes them opponents.
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ANC’s appeal
Meanwhile, ANC Gauteng co-convenor Panyaza Lesufi says the party’s national leadership must try mend its relations with the SACP.
He was speaking at the same event.
“We must not allow the differences between the ANC and the SACP to collapse the alliance. We may differ, but the alliance must remain.
“The problems that the SACP is having with the ANC must be attended to and resolved, and the problems that the ANC has with the SACP must be attended to and resolved. But there must be no one who stands on a public platform and says this is the end of the alliance,” he said.
Lesufi said both the ANC and the SACP should not be impatient with each other.
“We must never allow comrades to think it is normal for the SACP to contest in the same area,” he said.
He admitted that the SACP’s decision to contest elections could further weaken the ANC.
“To have another political party coming out of the ANC is going to create problems for us. We are making a clarion call to our leaders to resolve our differences, and there is no one who can be better in the absence of the other; we are better together,” he said.
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