Cosatu stands with SACP in move to contest 2026 elections

Union federation Cosatu says it supports the SACP’s decision to contest the 2026 municipal elections separately from the tripartite alliance.

Cosatu deputy president Mike Shingange delivered a message of support at the SACP's fifth special national congress on Friday in Boksburg.

He criticised the ANC for sidelining alliance partners in forming the government of national unity (GNU). He told the congress the ANC leadership has not met with Cosatu since the May elections to discuss the future of the alliance. The SACP had echoed the same remarks.

Deputy President Paul Mashatile conceded the ANC leadership has been slow in engaging with alliance partners.

“Things went so fast after the elections; we missed some of the consultations. It is true that they came late in the process. We accept the criticism that at some point we were moving so fast, we left them out,” he said.

Shingange lambasted the ANC’s working relationship with the DA, highlighting several policies clashes the blue party had with the alliance.

This included the DA’s fight against an increase on a national minimum wage, the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act and National Health Insurance which are key policies for the alliance. 

Shingange said the ANC should not be angry when alliance partners lambaste the GNU.

“We know the ANC and GNU are not spelt the same way. It is not the same thing. The ANC has no reason to be angry with us when we do not like the GNU that has the DA. Do not force us to love people who hate us,” he said 

“There is a class in this country that remembers that 1976 children died, not only fighting for equal education but refusing to be taught in a language foreign to them which is Afrikaans. But there is a class today that is fighting not only for us to continue racial segregation in education but is fighting to force us to learn in a language we cannot comprehend. There is a class that wants our children, even if they are a majority speaking isiZulu, isiXhosa, Tsonga, but want them to learn in Afrikaans or they will fail. A class that does not recognise that the injustices of the past must be rooted out.” 

The DA has rejected parts of the Bela Act, saying if implemented as proposed it will cause harm to mother tongue education.

Shingange shone a spotlight on the strained relations with the ANC, saying the alliance was yet to come up with a strategy to counter its setback in the May 29 elections.

He said the Cosatu leadership would discuss whether in 2026 it will campaign for the SACP or ANC. Cosatu had supported the SACP's mooted election run as a separate party in 2021, he said. 

“We said if the reconfiguration doesn’t happen in 2021, we will mobilise for the overwhelming victory of the SACP in the 2021 municipal elections. In 2021, the SACP was not on the ballot. Now that you are here and you are saying what you are saying, we hear you. We will go in our corner and engage.” 

He remained coy over who Cosatu would support in the coming elections but said Cosatu it would support a “socialism party”.

The SACP brands itself as a communist and socialist political party while the ANC has been known as a party that entertains all ideas which further its objectives to liberate and unite South Africans.

“Cosatu committed to fight, build and defend socialism. We knew at some point we would have to proceed with the organisation that pursues socialism because that is our logical conclusion in the national democratic revolution (NDR) [central ideology of the tripartite alliance].” 

While the ANC national executive committee (NEC) is yet to discuss the nitty-gritty of the SACP’s move to contest 2026 municipal elections separately from the tripartite alliance, deputy president Paul Mashatile says the ANC respects the decision.

Mashatile addressed the congress on Friday.

“We support the SACP, and they remain our ally. As the leadership of the ANC, we respect the decision of the SACP to contest municipal elections separately. We will not stand in the way,” he said. 

Shingange implored the alliance to ensure the SACP’s decision does not cause division between the alliance partners. 

“We do not expect problems or divisions in the alliance. We are not going to participate in the discussion that will be characterised as division or even leaving the ANC. If you listen to who we are, we chose the party and we chose the ANC, NDR, socialism and national liberation struggle. They go together. We are not going anywhere but we are going to pursue socialism, with the party of socialism.” 

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