The decision by SA Communist Party (SACP) to contest the 2026 municipal elections independently of the ANC is a blow for national democratic change, President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
In his closing address to the National Executive Committee (NEC), the ANC’s highest decision-making body between conferences on Monday, Ramaphosa said his party recognised the SACP was an independent political organisation that had the right to contest elections “as it sees fit”.
“However, as we have indicated to the SACP, our ally, we disagree with the decision. We believe that this decision has fundamental implications for the strategy and programme of the National Democratic Revolution and the [tripartite] alliance that has led the struggle for liberation in our country since the 1920s,” Ramaphosa said.
“While the alliance between the SACP and the ANC has spanned the better part of a century, this is not about the past. It is not about nostalgia. As the ANC we are seriously concerned that this decision taken by the SACP to participate in elections in their own name and right will weaken significantly the forces for national democratic change. We will continue to seek to engage with the SACP on how we will run those elections.”
The SACP took the decision during its fifth special national congress in Boksburg in December 2024. The party, which has campaigned for the ANC since SA’s first democratic elections in 1994, has become increasingly critical of its record in government and has spoken out against state capture, malfeasance, maladministration, looting and poor service delivery.
The SACP has threatened to leave the ANC-led alliance several times to focus on the working class and the poor, but the threat has always dissipated once its leaders, such as Gwede Mantashe, Blade Nzimande, David Masondo and Thulas Nxesi, are included in national, provincial and local government structures.
The SACP, which has criticised the government of national unity (GNU), said that by assuming a more direct role in local governance, “it can more effectively strive to pursue its socialist programme, encourage democratic public participation and seek more effective service delivery”.
In 2017, the SACP decided to contest by-elections in the ANC-led Metsimaholo Local Municipality after the dismissal of 300 SA Municipal Workers’ Union members who had been protesting against unfair labour practices.
The party received almost 8,000 votes and took control of the local council, including the mayorship, after forming a coalition with smaller parties.
Ramaphosa said the NEC would explain its position on the matter to its structures so that its members “are empowered to explain the challenge this poses to our transformation agenda. We are determined to ensure that these developments do not divide our movement or cause instability”.
“We reiterate that SACP members who hold ANC membership are full members of our movement, with the same rights and duties as any other ANC member as contained in our constitution.”
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