THE General Secretary of the SACP, Solly Mapaila, said on Tuesday that the party is ready to contest the national elections on its own.
Mapaila was speaking at the 14th National Conference of COSATU held in Midrand, north of Joburg.
He said that “the ANC that we are in alliance with is not the ANC which we are aligned with.”
“The working class must contest the ANC. Today the working class just enter the ANC for debate, raise issues and the issues are ignored,” Mapaila said.
“Criminals are now contesting the ANC. How can criminals be better than revolutionaries? They contest the ANC and their views are heard in policy frameworks, in tender systems. They control leaders, they fund leaders to contest positions in the movement to come and lead the national democratic revolution. This cannot be allowed to go on anymore. The working class has to stand up.”
He reiterated that the SACP was ready to contest the elections.
“We have raised issues that we must still discuss with out alliance partners. We have laid out an engagement process that is why our congress has given us until December to come out clear on the next course of action we will take,” said Mapaila.
“Don’t ever say the SACP is not ready, that is incorrect. The SACP is ready. The issue is in its readiness, is the working class ready?”
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