SACP General-Secretary Solly Mapaila has told ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa that they are steadfast on their decision to contest the 2026 local elections independently.
This is despite Ramaphosa’s earlier attempts to make the South African Communist Party understand that going separately will weaken the alliance and derail the alliance’s programme of National Democratic Revolution . Mapaila was speaking at the 30th commemoration of the passing of the former SACP General-Secretary and National Chair Joe Slove in Soweto earlier this afternoon.
He says their decision to contest state power should not be seen as being enemies of the ANC or trying to weaken it. “We want working class representation, that’s why we are contesting the 2026 elections. We are not weakening the alliance but we are about strengthening the alliance. We are not the enemy of the ANC and the dual membership continues because the political landscape dictates that we confront capital and advance the NDR as the SACP.”