BOKSBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - JULY 15: ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa and First Deputy Secretary Solly Mapaila the South African Communist Party (SACP) Conference at the Birchwood Hotel on July 15, 2022 in Boksburg, South Africa. Minister Blade Nzimande was elected as the new chair and Minister Thula Nxesi was appointed as his deputy. (Photo by Gallo Images/City Press/Tebogo Letsie)
The SA Communist Party (SACP) is not contesting the local government elections independently for selfish reasons, SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila says.
Speaking at the commemoration service of Joe Slovo, former SACP leader and theorist, leading member of the ANC and a commander of the ANC’s military wing uMkhonto weSizwe, on Tuesday in Soweto, Mapaila said some in the political arena believe that SACP leaders were contesting elections without the ANC for the first time because they wanted government jobs.
But he said this is not true. “I do not want to go to government, I will not go to government. When we are transitioning to socialism maybe it might be interesting to build a different system, but not now.
“I am not going to government so those who are saying we are taking this decision because we do not have deployment, I do not care about deployment, I do not want deployment,” he said.
Mapaila said he has been offered the opportunity to represent the SACP in a government position but he has refused several offers of that kind.
“I have been invited by various presidents to come to government and I said no. Even the SACP said go to government and I said no. This is not personal, it’s about the working class,” said Mapaila.
Principled unity in the alliance
He said the SACP is still committed to the tripartite alliance but unity in the alliance is not real unity if it’s not based on principle.
“We have had too much time, our people have been very patient with us, comrade president. You cannot find a revolution where people have been as patient as the South African revolution.
“With so much resources presiding over poverty, even the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are shocked when they analyse the economic situation of South Africa,” he said.
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Can the SACP win elections?
Mapaila also pushed back against those who believe that the SACP does not have the support it needs to contest the local government elections.
“We are not going it alone, we are going with the people. This is not even a gamble, we are not gambling with the life of the communist party.
“We are fighting the primary struggles of the working class so we take responsibility and no longer delegate to somebody who does not even account to us,” he said.
‘SACP members need protection from the ANC’
Mapaila said the material conditions in South Africa have changed drastically since 1994 and demand a strong SACP that cannot be bought.
“We have to take some of our comrades into protection because they are threatened even by ANC leaders. This cannot be acceptable, comrade president.
“The attitude of some of our comrades in the movement who believe that they are Gods of politics must come to an end.
“Politics is for everybody; it’s for the working class. No one owns politics in this country.”
Mapaila said the SACP and the ANC have met on several occasions in bilateral meetings but these have not yielded positive results.
“We need proper commitment in practice.”
Apology
Mapaila also apologised to ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa who was disrupted by SACP members who did not want him to speak at a forum. They sang songs expressing their dissatisfaction with the ANC’s decision to form the government of national unity.
“When we have invited leaders to our forum lets give them respect. I have been hauled several times in meetings by hired hooligans and we do not want such tendencies to come into the SACP.
Is there still hope for the alliance?
Despite all these problems both the ANC and the SACP believe that they will be able to save the historic alliance.
Mapaila said the SACP is organising a conference of all left-leaning organisations. He said parties like the EFF are part of the steering committee of this gathering.
“We are building a movement to save the South African revolution collectively so we are talking to everybody, including the trade unions.
“When we meet with them we are not selling out, we are engaging leaders of different organisations so that we can rescue the South African revolution from monopoly capital,” he said.
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