I remain unconvinced that the SACP will ever ditch the ANC and contest elections on its own, despite repeated threats to do so.
While the tripartite alliance comprising the ANC, Cosatu and SACP is dead in the water, it is unlikely that the communists will be the ones to end this marriage of convenience with the former liberation movement.
This behaviour is best described as a form of Stockholm syndrome given that the SACP frequently expresses displeasure with the ANC’s track record in government, especially runaway unemployment, poor service delivery, low economic growth, non-implementation of standing wage deals and corruption in the party and the government.
Yet, despite the abuse, it keeps coming back for more. Both Cosatu and the SACP have for years accused the ANC of undermining workers, failing to consult them on governance and policy matters, and refusing to implement alliance programmes/policies in the government.
Even so, the two organisations have used their members’ funds to support the ANC during elections since the dawn of democracy, the return on investment being the deployment of their cadres to key cabinet positions and other government institutions.
SACP leaders such as Gwede Mantashe, Blade Nzimande, David Masondo, Thulas Nxesi and the late Pravin Gordhan have served in government structures for years, despite the party announcing periodically that it was considering contesting elections on its own to take up the plight of the working class and poor.
At its national congress in Midrand in September 2022, Cosatu’s largest affiliates, including the National Education, Health & Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), the Police & Prisons Civil Rights Union, the SA Municipal Workers Union and the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA, called for the labour federation to immediately dump the ANC and support the SACP in the 2024 elections.
Presumably, the four unions — accounting for more than 600,000 of Cosatu’s estimated membership of 1.6-million — were instrumental in preventing President Cyril Ramaphosa from addressing the congress, as he pulled out at the 11th hour and was replaced by ANC national chair Mantashe, who was booed and prevented from speaking despite his SACP credentials.
Nehawu leaders would address the media in December 2023 saying they had had a change of heart and would campaign for the ANC in the May 29 2024 election after all, supposedly to prevent a “fraudulent right-wing takeover” of the country by the DA-led multiparty charter.
Even so, the ANC suffered a crushing defeat at the polls, hemorrhaging 17 percentage points to just 40% support. It was “slaughtered”, to borrow Mantashe’s words at former labour minister Membathisi Mdladlana’s memorial service in Cape Town on Thursday.
I am therefore sceptical that the SACP will make good on its most recent threat to “re-evaluate its role” in the municipal elections in 2026, and the next general election in 2029. “We have made decisions regarding the 2026 elections. We will announce those decisions at the right time. We will talk about the 2026 and 2029 elections, we have a national special congress in December where these elections will be a focus,” SACP spokesperson Alex Mashilo said recently.
So angry was the SACP at the ANC’s decision to partner the DA in the government of national unity (GNU) that it snubbed an ANC gig where Ramaphosa reflected on the GNU’s first 100 days in office. The SACP characterises the GNU, which includes the DA, IFP and Freedom Front Plus among several other small parties, as a “monumental setback” for the working class.
However, the reality is that if the SACP were to contest for state power and lose, it would lose credibility and have even less influence within the tripartite alliance. SACP leaders such as Mantashe and Nzimande hold key positions as cabinet ministers, a strategic advantage they risk forfeiting if the SACP is discredited.
The disappointing outcome in the 2019 election for Numsa’s Socialist Workers Revolutionary Party, despite the union’s large membership, serves as a cautionary tale. Fear of losing its foothold in government — and the perks that come with it for both individuals and the party — has kept the SACP lashed to the mast of an ANC whose own leaders have described as a “sinking ship”.
Will the SACP go down with the sinking ship or take a leap of faith into stormy waters in a bid to chart a different course for itself towards survival? Until the party’s leaders break free from the allure of political privilege, their threats to go it alone will ring hollow, a recurring act in the theatre of SA politics that does little to inspire hope for real, radical change.
• Mkentane is Business Day’s political correspondent.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.