SACP leaders hold out on contesting elections
There is no doubt that the South African Communist Party’s (SACP) 14th congress resolution on state power and the option of contesting elections was an improved version from that of the 12th congress in 2007. But does it go far enough? The answer is no.
More than 95% of the 1 800 delegates wanted the SACP to resolve on contesting elections in the next elections, in 2019, either alone on a ballot or as a leader of the patriotic front that must be established. The first optional modality was open to the coalition with the ANC after elections, should they wish it. But the party must impose conditions that will ensure there is no Big Brother relationship in that arrangement.
The issue of a reconfigured alliance received very little support — and it actually came from the leadership. But this aspect got a prime spot in the crafted resolution. This resolution was an act of compromise by crafters, balanced between what delegates wanted and what leadership wanted. The new feature is the aspect of the popular front, which was not there in the resolution of the 12th congress, and the need for a road map that will determine the recommended modalities, which the new central committee must produce in the December augmented central committee meeting.
Such an augmented central committee becomes crucial for the party. Attendees must be strong and not allow any temptation or persuasion to shift the goal post at a special congress to be convened next year. Such a congress must endorse what the augmented central committee would have determined.
This is important because some leaders are so hell-bent on ANC conference outcomes and are hedging their bets on one faction to emerge so that they soften or harden the SACP’s attitude in its electoral path. We must stand in guard as party cadres against this opportunistic reduction of the SACP to certain leaders’ fortunes in the ANC. The decision to contest must be concluded before the ANC conference and be endorsed next year at the special congress.
The SACP cannot afford to lose public face even more than it has; it cannot afford to conduct itself further as some communist desk of the ANC. Nor can it continue to present a picture in public as a party of its leadership rather than its membership, masses and the working class. We must debunk these perceptions that we are always insulted about.
The new leadership must appreciate why they have been brought back to the central committee. This is not a blank cheque. The party needs a new direction that elevates SACP objectives first, before the rest of other considerations, including the ANC.
If the new central committee did not read the congress correctly, meaning the impatience from delegates as expressions of grass-roots narratives, then the leadership will be a rearguard leadership rather than a vanguard. —