By Zukile Majova
- The SACP plans to go it alone in local elections after falling out with the ANC over the DA coalition.
- Communist Party says the ANC is ignoring their concerns and treating them poorly.
The South African Communist Party (SACP) says it will no longer back the ANC in local elections and will now fight for votes on its own.
This is a big change, as the SACP and trade union federation Cosatu have always thrown their weight behind the ANC at election time.
However, the ANC’s recent decision to work with the DA in government has caused trouble in the alliance between the three parties.
The split is already having effects in KwaZulu-Natal, where the SA National Civic Organisation wants to leave and join former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party.
Some Cosatu union members in KZN have also jumped ship to MK’s new workers’ group.
SACP leaders met with top ANC officials last month to sort out their problems, but it seems the damage was already done.
SACP leader Solly Mapaila believes the ANC is treating them like poor relatives and won’t listen to their complaints about working with the DA.
“We are ready to contest the local government elections alone,” Mapaila said on Sunday.
He said they were unhappy that the ANC joined forces with groups “funded by the private sector to weaken the ANC.”
Mapaila added that the new MK party has made the ANC weaker.
This won’t be the SACP’s first time in an election – they previously won three seats in Metsimaholo Municipality in the Free State.
Pictured above: SACP General Secretary, Comrade Solly Mapaila.
Source: SACP/X
