“We have agreed that no matter what happens, we will continue to work in this alliance,” said Paul Mashatile, the deputy president of the ANC on Friday 13, December 2024 in Gauteng during the third day of a special congress of the South African Communist Party (SACP).
The SACP’s special congress has taken place over the past few days, under the theme “Consolidate and Build a Powerful, Socialist Movement of the Workers and Poor” — but at the same time, it will discuss and debate how it will contest elections. This move has been coming for years.
On Wednesday, the opening day of the congress, party national chairperson Blade Nzimande claimed that “no one” wanted or bargained for the Government of National Unity (GNU).
Read more: ‘No one wanted this’ – SACP’s Blade Nzimande on GNU as crucial congress begins
After days of commentary by SACP leaders on the party’s future and the societal context — with the GNU and the SACP’s unhappiness with certain parties within it, it was finally the ANC’s chance to respond to some of the issues raised.
“As the NEC (National Executive Committee of the ANC), we said we respect the SACP to make that decision,” said Mashatile, adding: “We will not stand in your way.”
Mashatile said the ANC’s National Executive Committee said it would meet once the SACP finished the congress.
“We’ll have a discussion because the National Executive Committee is meeting only next year,” said Mashatile, adding that the party would meet to discuss the implications since the parties had worked together under the banner of the Tripartite Alliance alongside the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).
“If the SACP is going to contest separately, what does it mean for the alliance? But all we know is that the alliance must not break,” said Mashatile. “We have agreed that no matter what happens, we will continue to work in this alliance.”
Discussions must also include how the alliance would be reconfigured, said Mashatile, who added: “I’m sure all of you will say it’s long overdue.”
Chris Hani remembered
“So comrades as I end, let’s continue on our path. We must not be deterred, we must not defer the dreams of Comrade Hani,” said Mashatile in reference to the assassination of former SACP leader Chris Hani in 1993.
Hani’s name had been in the headlines as his convicted killer Janusz Waluś was deported after the completion of his sentence. Hani was shot and killed outside his Boksburg home on 10 April 1993, in an attempt to derail South Africa’s attempt to transition peacefully from the apartheid regime to a democratic government. Despite Waluś’ conviction and jail sentence for Hani’s murder, the SACP has called for an inquest into Hani’s death.
Read more: Hani killer to be deported as parole comes to end
Mashatile said the ANC would also push for an inquest into the famed leader’s death, as well as who was behind the killing.
Hani’s life was lauded as a guiding light in the Struggle against oppression. On Thursday, during the political report, SACP General Secretary Solly Mapaila said of Hani’s legacy that “his revolutionary ideas still call upon us to intensify the struggle for complete liberation and social emancipation and the realisation of socialism in our country… For us, Hani will never die.”
Mapaila said the party would not rest until his vision for a just, equal and socialist society had been fully realised.
Why the decision to contest the elections?
On Thursday, delivering his political overview, Mapaila also alluded to what led to the SACP’s decision to contest the elections. While this had been debated and questioned for more than a decade, there was a decision taken to support the ANC in the elections despite several attempts for meetings to discuss issues within the alliance.
During his speech, Mapaila said part of him was “bleeding” because the “weakness in leadership had led us to this situation”, which in part led to the SACP’s decision to contest elections on its own.
“The arrogance of political power has led to this decision,” said Mapaila. DM