By Charmaine Ndlela
South African Communist Party (SACP) general secretary Solly Mapaila has called on left-wing and progressive formations to unite against what he described as a deepening global capitalist crisis, warning that fragmentation was weakening efforts to respond to unemployment, inequality and poverty in South Africa.
Speaking at the Conference of the Left in Boksburg on Friday, Mapaila said workers and poor communities were increasingly bearing the burden of inflation, rising living costs and weak economic growth, which has averaged below 1% over the past decade.
The conference, held at the Birchwood Hotel under the theme “The Crisis of South African Capitalism and the Tasks of the Left,” brings together left-leaning organisations to discuss a coordinated political response to economic challenges.
“We are meeting at a very decisive moment, not only for the left, but for the working class as a whole,” Mapaila told delegates.
He said wealth remained concentrated in a small elite while ordinary South Africans faced escalating prices, volatile currency conditions and economic stagnation.
Mapaila also criticised the recent repo rate increase by the South African Reserve Bank, arguing that monetary policy decisions were worsening conditions for workers.
“Workers are being asked to carry the burden of inflation,” he said, adding that austerity and neoliberal policy approaches were eroding living standards.
He urged the conference not to become a “symbolic gathering” and called for practical outcomes and a shared programme of action.
Addressing social tensions, Mapaila warned against xenophobia, saying economic frustrations should not be directed at foreign nationals.
“Africans are not the enemies of other Africans,” he said, adding that the crisis was rooted in systemic economic inequality rather than migration.
He said the gathering should mark a shift “from fragmentation to coordination, from discussion to action, and from aspiration to organisation.”
