SA Communist Party general secretary Solly Mapaila has blamed what he referred to as the ANC’s “arrogance” and refusal to take the alliance seriously, which he said led to the party’s decision to contest the 2026 local government elections on its own.

Mapaila says this decision was made by the South African Communist Party’s (SACP) national congress and cannot be reversed – not even by him or the party’s central committee. 

He said the ANC’s “arrogance” and refusal to take the alliance seriously led to this move.

Speaking at the SACP’s central committee meeting in Braamfontein on Friday, Mapaila said the ANC had several chances to fix the situation, but chose not to.

“We had an opportunity to manage things differently, but the ANC was arrogant. Even in meetings, they didn’t take our proposals seriously,” he told the public broadcaster.

The SACP previously indicated that it plans to contest the upcoming 2026 national elections on its own, without the ANC. 

A big reason for this is the ANC’s coalition with the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the current Government of National Unity (GNU).

Mapaila has long criticised the GNU, saying it does not represent the interests of Black South Africans and the working class.

He claimed that the ANC rejected every attempt by the SACP to work together differently. 

“They gave us a ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ attitude and expected us to go against our own congress decision. That was disrespectful,” he said.

He explained that the SACP had called for a “reconfiguration” of the alliance between the ANC, SACP, and COSATU since 2019 – meaning a new way of working together more equally. 

However, he alleged that the ANC did not take that seriously.

“They even accused us of trying to destroy the ANC just because we wanted changes in how we work together. That showed they weren’t serious about the alliance,” Mapaila said

Despite the tensions, the SACP is still technically in the alliance with the ANC, and members can belong to both parties. 

However, Mapaila says the communist party feels it has no choice now but to stand on its own, especially with more and more of its members wanting to contest elections.

“We have already started getting calls from our structures to take part in by-elections. We can’t stop that. The decision was taken long ago,” he said. 

“In fact, we were supposed to run in the 2024 elections already.”

Mapaila admitted that running an election campaign won’t be easy, especially since the party doesn’t have a lot of money. 

But he believes they can still succeed with support from the working class and communities.

“We don’t have money, and that’s the reality. But we’ll still run. The people will respond to this challenge. We’ll focus on community-based campaigns,” he said.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, IOL News reported that President Cyril Ramaphosa has said the ANC is concerned about the SACP’s decision to contest the elections independently.

He says it could weaken the broader movement for transformation in the country.

“We will explain to our members why this decision by the SACP poses a challenge. But we still see SACP members with ANC membership as full members of our movement,” Ramaphosa said.

He added that the ANC will try to find ways to work with the SACP before the 2026 elections, even though the relationship is clearly under pressure.

simon.majadibodu@iol.co.za

IOL Politics

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