Take up the challenge, SACP

IF POLITICAL parties were to be measured by their noisiness and ability to attract media headlines, Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) would have won hands down by now.

Barely three years old and relatively green in the cut and thrust of parliamentary politics, the new kid on the block is already the third largest party in the House of Assembly with 25 seats, having attracted 1.1 million votes in the last general elections.

Most middle class South Africans might not feel comfortable with what they say or even the manner in which they say it, but when it comes to sheer political chutzpah, they make all their competitors – including the ruling ANC and the opposition DA – look like mere amateurs.

That’s simply because they, whether rightly or misguidedly, believe they have the right policies and strategies to meet the country’s needs. And despite their relative inexperience, they had the courage to venture into the country, campaign among the electorate and win enough support to earn them a presence in Parliament.

Yes, they are loud, brash, sometimes ill-mannnered, and just love spoiling for a scrap, but they were prepared to test their electoral strength where it really mattered – with a fair measure of success.

Now that’s more than can be said for the South African Communist Party (SACP), which has been around for donkey’s years – since 1922.

Like the EFF, it also rates highly on the political noise-meter, has several high-profile figures in its hierarchy, pontificates regularly on current political issues – yet does not have a single voice in the House of Assembly, the provincial legislatures or municipal councils.

All this could obviously change if the SACP decides to contest the municipal elections next year, and that possibility gained momentum this week when Mluleki Dlelanga, national secretary of the Young Communist League, urged communists to take a decision on whether to enter the fray.

The debate over whether the SACP is just piggy-backing on the ANC or whether its interests are better served by its leaders influencing policies from within the tripartite alliance has been simmering for years.

In his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela famously stated: “There will always be those who say that the communists were using us (the ANC). But who is to say that we were not using them?”

Perhaps that question will be best answered when the SACP tests its strength at the polls. We wait with bated breath.

dennis.pather@telkomsa.net