ANC given the cold shoulder from one of its closest allies

The South African Communist Party (SACP) has dismissed the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) ongoing pleas not to contest them in the upcoming local government elections.

In late 2024, the SACP leader, Solly Mapaila, announced that the party would break its long-standing tradition and contest the local government polls against its Tripartite Alliance partner, the ANC.

The tripartite alliance is a political pact between the ANC, SACP and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) formed during apartheid.

It united nationalist, communist and labour forces around a shared “National Democratic Revolution” (NDR), while retaining independent organisational structures under ANC electoral leadership.

However, increasing frictions between the ANC and SACP have boiled over, particularly after the ANC formed a coalition that includes the DA and FF Plus following the 2024 elections, rather than the EFF and MK Party.

At a commemoration event for the late SACP leader Joe Slovo on 6 January 2026, Ramaphosa called for the alliance partners to unite.

This is particularly because, in the 2024 general elections, the ANC dropped to a historic low of 40%, with concerns that the SACP’s decision could see it drop even lower in the local government elections.

“The ANC is on record as saying that the decision, which we respect, by the party to go alone in elections will, we believe, be a historic mistake,” said Ramaphosa.

“It will weaken the alliance. It will distract our people from knowing who to vote for… and power could be wrested from our hands,” he added.

However, the SACP was little swayed, with Mapaila taking to the podium to announce plans for the launch of its election manifesto.

“Sometime in March, we will convene ourselves at the people’s manifesto conference,” Mapaila said.

“Communities will come together, trade unions, informal traders, youth, women, faith-based activists, progressive professionals and formations of the working class to determine their own manifesto.”

Political analyst Dr. Ntsikelelo Breakfast argues that the ANC will be the primary loser, as the SACP’s independent run will split votes among the same working-class base, weakening the ANC’s electoral prospects.

Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, he said that this could signal the alliance’s breakdown, evidenced by the ANC’s exclusion of SACP members from election strategy meetings.

Dual membership headache

Another conundrum that the ANC faces is that many of its members and leaders, like Minister Blade Nzimande, hold dual and high-ranking membership with the SACP.

When the ANC and SACP re-emerged in 1990, they facilitated shared leadership, allowing members to hold positions in both parties and the government post-apartheid.

TimesLIVE reported how ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula told fellow party members during his mid-term report that the party’s NEC had essentially given the SACP an ultimatum.

This was to either backtrack on its decision to contest elections on its own or have its members lose their ANC membership.

But Mapaila is unfazed, telling attendees that the decision to contest elections would not change.

“The SACP is entering the local government elections in 2026 which will be a crucial terrain of class struggle,” said Mapaila.

“This will not be another bureaucratic exercise; we are entering the battles of governments at the local government level in the interest of the working class. In other words, we are coming to determine a new social path for municipalities.”

Mapaila said the party expected all its members to openly campaign for the SACP, while recognising the reality of dual membership.

“We expect all our members to campaign for the SACP. That’s the bottom line,” Mapaila said.

He acknowledged that some members held senior positions within the ANC and government and would be required to act accordingly.

“Understanding this dual role inside the ANC, we also expect some of them to take decisions to stand with the ANC, and we won’t punish them for that,” he said.