Simon Nare
The South African Communist Party will allow some of its senior leaders to campaign for the ANC in the upcoming local government elections, without repercussions, despite resolving to contest for state power independently.
SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila said in a television interview with the SABC on Sunday that senior members — some of them cabinet ministers — would not be punished if they chose to campaign for the ANC.
“We expect all our members to campaign for the SACP, that is the bottom line. Of course, understanding this dual role within the ANC, we also expect some of them to take decisions to stand with the ANC, and we won’t punish them for that. We have said it publicly, we have said it to our structures.
“So, we don’t understand what this brouhaha is about…we want to redirect the National Democratic Revolution (NDR) to respond to the needs of the people, to fight against neoliberalism and to improve the living conditions of the majority of the people,” he said.
Mapaila said that, in the current form of the alliance, those objectives were not achievable, which was why the SACP wanted to contest for state power.
The SACP’s decision to contest elections independently has strained its relationship with its longtime ally, the ANC, while leaving Cosatu caught between the two partners as they compete for workers’ votes.
“We need a radical shift, and this opportunity brings that element. That is why even when we realised as the SACP that the alliance is unable to activate and rejuvenate itself and rejuvenate the NDR, we went out to convene a conference of the land.
“We have already set up a steering committee of the conference of the land. We will be holding that conference in the next couple of months so that we clarify our agenda of transformation not only beyond ourselves, but to the rest of the society,” he said.
Mapaila also criticised ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe, accusing him of misinterpreting SACP policies despite claiming to be a party member. Mapaila said the SACP did not need members who did not follow its policies.
Mantashe has previously said that the SACP contesting elections independently would be tantamount to political “suicide”.
Mapaila said: “We are not going it alone. We are going with the people. We remain with the people. The ANC is deviating from the course of the people, and that is what we are trying to rescue.”
Mapaila described the ANC’s recent national general council as a talk shop that would not translate into improved lives for ordinary people.
He also said its endorsement of the Government of National Unity amounted to further “selling out” of the masses.
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