The SACP and ANC were locked in a bilateral meeting on Monday to discuss issues pertaining to the latter’s economic plan and the former’s decision to contest elections independently of the ANC.
“This is a normal bilateral. As alliance partners we usually have bilaterals to discuss contemporary political issues,” SACP communications head Mbulelo Mandlana told Business Day.
“We will discuss several issues, such as the ANC’s 10-point plan to revitalise the economy. We also have a task team looking at how we will co-ordinate efforts, strategy and tactics when the election time comes, given that the ANC and SACP will be on the ballot [during the upcoming 2026 municipal elections],” Mandlana said.
“Given that new dynamic, it’s important that the organisations have discussions on that approach … given that the SACP has a right to contest elections alone, just like the ANC does.”
The ANC said in a statement that the meeting “forms part of ongoing efforts to consolidate unity of purpose in advancing the National Democratic Revolution”.
The bilateral comes as SACP chair and science, technology and innovation minister, Blade Nzimande, was reportedly unhappy with the SACP’s decision to contest elections independently of the ANC, and wanted the decision “revisited”.
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 election in 1994, has become increasingly critical of its record in government and had spoken out against malfeasance, low economic growth, maladministration, looting and poor service delivery.
ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa recently criticised the SACP’s decision to go it alone during the upcoming 2026 local government elections, saying the decision was a blow for national democratic change.
Ramaphosa has 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 recently.
“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 had long threatened to leave the ANC-led alliance several times to focus on the working class and the poor, but the threat had always dissipated once its leaders, such as Gwede Mantashe, Nzimande, David Masondo and Thulas Nxesi, were included in national, provincial and local government structures.
The SACP, which has criticised the government of national unity (GNU), said 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.
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