The SACP will re-evaluate its role as an alliance partner of the ANC in the 2026 local government elections and the next general elections amidst an ongoing dispute over the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU).
The party snubbed the ANC’s invitation to attend the Government of National Unity’s (GNU) 100-day event this week as it has repeatedly expressed its dissatisfaction with the DA and FF+ being part of the coalition.
SACP’s general secretary and other senior party leaders did not attend the ANC event, but Blade Nzimande and Buti Manamela, who are also ANC national executive committee members, were present.
The organisation’s national spokesperson, Dr Alex Mashilo, said it had urged its supporters to vote for the ANC at the May 29 elections, with the intention that this would cover the period until the 2029 national election.
“We have made decisions regarding the 2026 elections and we will announce those decisions at the right time,” Mashilo said.
He said the party will hold a special national congress in December and the focus of the discussions will be the party’s approach to the next two elections.
A SACP member, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the issues with the GNU “resonate from top to bottom of the organisation and is a sentiment shared by the rank and file of the ANC”.
“There should have been consultation and an opportunity for feedback but this was not done and there is low morale at branch level in the SACP and ANC, especially in KwaZulu-Natal.
“The majority of SACP branches in this province want us to be independent and to contest for state power through an election and by running as a separate party,” the source said.
Cosatu’s national spokesperson, Zanele Sabela, said the federation had long been concerned about tensions in the alliance on a variety of issues and had always called for issues to be resolved as they develop and not to be allowed to fester.
“We have called for the alliance to be reconfigured, it should be functional at all levels, from local to national and not simply at national.”
Sabela said the GNU was not Cosatu’s preferred option as it had campaigned for an outright ANC majority.
“Unfortunately, the ANC did not achieve an outright majority. The GNU is now a reality and Cosatu is determined to ensure it acts upon the ANC elections manifesto and not the individual party platforms of 11 parties. All ministers must deliver accordingly, including those from historically antagonistic parties on the right,” Sabela said.
Political analyst Zakhele Ndlovu said while the SACP was in an alliance with the ANC and Cosatu, “the party did not offer anything tangible to its alliance partners”.
“They are posturing by not attending the GNU event and the SACP may be trying to appease those in the ANC who are not happy with the coalition that was formed after the election.
“The accusation that the ANC has joined neo-liberal forces as part of the GNU is not entirely correct, as the PAC is part of it and they are a progressive party.”
Ndlovu said if the SACP was a factor, then it would contest elections separately but he added that the party “is not going to do that”.
Another analyst, Professor Sipho Seepe, said the SACP was on the margins of the country’s politics and the ANC did not take them seriously.
“If they feel that strongly, they should recall all their deployees in government in order to be taken seriously.
“Their grievance makes sense as the DA is unapologetically neo-liberal and they have a common cause with those with progressive policies but they will only be taken seriously if they recall their members,” Seepe said.
The Mercury