Misgivings about SACP going alone

THE bickering on whether the South African Communist Party (SACP) should contest the 2019 elections continued between the party and Cosatu as the two allies held their bilateral meeting yesterday.

The two organisations held the two-day meeting to discuss the current political climate within the ANC-led tripartite alliance. Several provincial structures of the SACP, including its youth wing, the Young Communist League, have called on the party to contest the next elections on its own.

Cosatu, however, has misgivings about the call, saying it was always raised when there was strain in relations within the alliance.

On Tuesday, Cosatu general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali, said the federation suspected that some within the SACP were merely looking for jobs in legislatures or at best wanted political office.

Yesterday the SACP’s second deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila, dismissed the assertion that the plan to contest elections was driven by the personal ambition of individual SACP leaders. “This notion that we participate in state power because of positions, is wrong,” Mapaila said.

He said the party had an interest in capturing power because in a capitalist society like South Africa, the state had the highest concentration of social power.

“It has the ability to make laws and enforce them. It can change the direction of the economy and, therefore, is the most strategic centre of social power,” Mapaila said.

The two organisations have, however, stressed that they were not at odds with each other. Mapaila said the two had fought battles together and that their relations were not based on friendship.

“There is no organisation in this country that has built the trade union movement than the Communist Party, not even the ANC can come close.”

Both Cosatu and the SACP have called on the students protesting for free higher education to redirect their frustrations at the private sector and not the government.