SACP plans solo run in 2026 as ANC faces new threat

As the 2026 local government elections approach, the ANC is concerned about the SA Communist Party’s (SACP) move to contest separately, or potentially challenge, the ANC in the upcoming elections.

However, an expert believes the SACP’s alliance with the ANC could prove to be an Achilles heel for the party.

The ANC’s transgressions could be revisited upon the small socialist party, with voters punishing it for tolerating the ANC’s neoliberal policies that adversely affected the poor.

SACP alliance with ANC could prove to be Achilles heel

Besides, said an expert, the party may fail to amass much support like in the 2016 election – in Metsimaholo, Free State – because voters will not take it seriously.

Last week, the SACP reiterated its position, taken as a resolution at its national congress in December, that it will stand alone in the local government elections.

Initially, some analysts had been in doubt about the party’s intention to go it alone, arguing such a move had always been on the SACP’s agenda but failed to materialise as the party always changed its mind.

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But following SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila’s reiteration of the decision, analysts said the party was not a real threat to the ANC because it lacks the numbers.

Political analyst and scholar Dominic Maphaka, from NorthWest University, said the SACP resolution to contest elections alone “will not affect the ANC”.

“An in-depth analysis of the SACP demonstrates that the party has no constituents that can affect the ANC if they stand for elections,” said Maphaka.

Party doesn’t have contituents that can affect the ANC

“The SACP has spent many years defocusing and demobilising itself by aligning with the ANC, which prioritises neoliberal policies.”

He said the SACP’s “socialist ideological basis to draw the hearts and minds of voters will fall on deaf ears”.

“Many South Africans will not take the SACP seriously. If anything, the party would fail to amass much support,” he said.

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Coalitions worldwide have crumbled, some as far back as the 1930s in Germany, and that this continues to this day, he said.

The cause was often ideological differences, including policy implementation, something that threatens South Africa’s own 10-party government of national unity, he said.

The party, which renewed its registration at the Electoral Commission of South Africa, described its participation in the elections as “contesting for power”.

‘Contesting for power’

In preparation for its campaign, the SACP launched “The Peoples’ Red Caravan” last week. The campaign was themed “The People’s Movement for SelfReliance and Sustainability”.

The observers regard the Red Caravan initiative as a final stamp in the party’s position to go it alone under its Soviet-styled hammer and circle banner, plus black star banner.

Some party grassroots structures have begun to prepare the media by carrying SACPspecific messages, including election T-shirts and caps, banners, and leaflets – an indicator that the stand-alone decision will not be reversed this time around.

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Political analyst Dirk Kotzé said the history of left-wing parties in South Africa wasn’t good, as they performed poorly and had minimal following.

The SACP votes would come in the major urban centres and mining areas. Rather than compete with the ANC, he said, the party would compete with the EFF, which had the best record in membership and electoral performance.

“I don’t think the SACP will really be able to manage nationwide local elections, which are much more demanding as they need organisational presence in each town or place where it is contesting,” said Kotzé.

Votes would come in major urban centres, mining areas

“Local elections need a local organisation and I don’t think the SACP has got that.”

But one thing is for sure, he said, “any poll victory for the SACP would be a loss for the ANC, which will also lose votes to other parties”.