‘No winners’ if SACP cuts ANC ties, says Kodwa
THERE would be no winners if the SACP decides to cut ties with the ANC and contest elections on its own‚ ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa said yesterday.
The SACP holds its 14th party congress this week‚ at which it will discuss whether or not to break away from the ANC-led tripartite alliance and contest elections on its own.
The fractured state of the ANC and allegations of state capture have induced serious discussions in the left axis of the alliance about the possibility of the SACP contesting for state power on its own.
The SACP has gone as far as to say President Jacob Zuma should step down‚ and he would also not address the congress later this week.
The party forms part of the alliance with the ANC and trade union federation Cosatu‚ and uses the ANC as a political vehicle.
Kodwa told journalists yesterday there had always been a few members in the party who discuss breaking away from the ANC to‚ among other reasons‚ cement the ideals of socialism.
Kodwa said the debate had always been handled with care within the party‚ and that it must strengthen the state of the alliance‚ which was at its weakest since Zuma took over the reins of the ANC in 2007.
He said there “is no winner” if the SACP leaves the alliance.
“We are all losers. The Communist Party does not win‚ the ANC does not win‚” Kodwa said.
He said members formed part of the same political family‚ and that there were SACP and ANC members who held dual memberships in the respective parties. “We need one another‚” Kodwa said. The ANC national executive committee will send a large delegation of 25 people to the congress. — DDC