By Simon Nare
ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula said on Monday that ANC members who also belong to the South African Communist Party will be asked in writing to state whether they will campaign for the ANC or the SACP in the upcoming local government elections.
Those who ignore the process and campaign against the ANC will face consequences, he said.
Mbalula said at a press briefing at Luthuli House in Johannesburg that letters would be sent out next week to ANC members with dual membership, giving them 10 days to clarify where they stand once campaigning begins.
The secretary general said reports that dual members had until Tuesday to resign were incorrect, adding that the ANC was not moving to expel members of its alliance partner but was instead seeking clarity on who they would campaign for.
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“You misunderstand that the letter will be written. It’s not yet written by the secretary general to all ANC members including those in the SACP to respond in 10 days if ever they will campaign for the SACP or the ANC. That letter will come out next week to all members.
“Now, if you don’t respond to that letter but you continue to campaign for the SACP, there will be consequences because the ANC constitution is very clear that dual membership is acceptable but if now the SACP is a party on its own campaigning and therefore you are an SACP member and you campaign for the SACP, you have to choose the SACP,” he said.
Mbalula said the choice would have to be made in writing so that the ANC had it on record.
He said communists would not be kicked out of the ANC because the alliance had not been broken, but that the SACP had taken a decision to contest for state power in its own right.
He said the situation should not be treated as though the SACP were an enemy in the same way as other opposition parties, adding that the ANC would assess after the elections what impact the SACP’s contestation had on the alliance.
“[Y]ou can’t campaign for both. I can’t be Mbalula communist party in the afternoon and in the morning, I am ANC. It’s a practical question. You can’t as a minister, deputy minister or as a mayor campaign for both. Others have already chosen that they will stay with the ANC and campaign for the ANC,” he said.
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The ANC and the SACP have been at odds since the communist party resolved in late 2024 to contest the 2026 local government elections independently, a move it failed to reverse despite a series of engagements.
Mbalula said the ANC had accepted that the matter was now settled and was briefing its structures on the implications for the campaign and for relations within the alliance during the election period.
