Why SACP should not contest elections on its own: inside ANC NEC discussion document

The ANC has warned of dire implications for both itself and the SACP should it see through its threat to contest elections on its own.

These include impeding the national democratic revolution, forcing communists to choose between the ANC and the SACP, weakening both parties, fragmenting what is known as the motive forces and causing divisions in the alliance organisations, including Cosatu.

“The independent electoral contestation by the party will have the effect of splitting the vote of black people in general and African people in particular, and the working class. The independent contestation by the party means abandoning the working class leadership of the South African revolution in as far as the ANC has always been understood as the parliament of the people,” reads the document sent to the ANC’s broader membership.

“This will weaken leftwing ideas in the ANC and create an imbalance - the progressive Left ideas and orientation of the ANC will be weakened if working class activists are running away from the battle of ideas.”

These warnings are contained in a discussion document the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) compiled at its meeting in August, which will guide its talks with its alliance partner ahead of the local government elections next year.

This is a document the ANC will use to try to convince the SACP to remain an integral part of the ANC’s election machinery.

It comes after the SACP, under the stewardship of its current general-secretary Solly Mapaila, announced that it would register with the IEC to contest elections on its own and not under the wing of the ANC.

This came as the SACP was seemingly unhappy with its diminished role in decision-making in the alliance and its lack of presence in the make-up of the executive.

But the ANC is against the resolution.

So eager is the ANC to keep the SACP from contesting elections that it says it is willing to fast track and bow to some of its demands.

“As the ANC, we are willing to accept and engage with measures to improve the workings of the alliance. That is why we have agreed on the need for reconfiguration. We have a national conference resolution mandating the NEC to attend the matter of the reconfiguration of the alliance,” reads the document.

“If the current moment presents challenges to our historic modes of working together, we are willing to engage and where possible to refine and change those modes of work that appear not to work.”

The ANC says it is of the firm view that the ANC and the SACP should contest elections together.

“However, we are of the opinion that the party contesting elections outside of the ANC will weaken significantly the forces for national democratic change,” reads the document.

“It is our view that we must together put shoulders to the wheel and find a common way to engage with the SACP’s special national congress resolution in a manner that strengthens the party and the ANC. Let us do everything to snatch victory from the jaws of what we see as a potential monumental defeat of the national democratic revolution in our country.”

The ANC has essentially warned the SACP not to take this grand decision based on current disagreements or circumstances as those can change anytime.

“As the ANC we would advise the party not to get into the trap of a tendency that can be called resolutionism. A resolutionist approach to politics is when an organisation allows itself to be bound strategically on a decision that is engendered by conjunctural circumstances. Conjunctures come and go. They are not an epoch. The party cannot be resolutionist,” the document says.

“We all know that a congress resolution cannot make or unmake the balance of forces in society. The implementation of any resolution must be informed by the balance of forces. As we conceded in the last bilateral, there might have been in the past material grounds for the party to be unhappy with how the movement handled many strategic questions regarding policy and state craft.

“We are committed to putting such practices behind us. We are committed to our renewal including improving and fortifying our approach to matters of government in such a manner that we continue with our character as a disciplined force of the Left.”

The ANC says it also does not agree with the SACP’s suggestion that contesting elections on their own does not necessarily mean leaving the tripartite alliance as it will bring whatever support it gets back to the ANC as a partner.

“Exploring and advancing a popular front approach might appear to be correct, but what happens if the ANC is successful in its renewal programme and it is able to reclaim the support of the black majority from the parties that are currently contesting the motive forces?

“What happens if the SACP does not do well in the elections and is not able to have a significant say in the new government as a function of limited support from the electorate? What happens if the conservative forces in the ANC, now as a singular influential force, no longer contested by Communists do not want to participate in and have an alliance with the SACP?” the document asks.

“There are also the risks to the party if this resolution is taken to its logical conclusion. Some of the current membership of the party may not continue with the party if this resolution is implemented. This might weaken the party in the same way that the exodus of senior party leaders who left the party after Cuban congress in 1989 did after the fall of the Berlin Wall. We are aware that some left for genuine reasons. The ANC will also be weakened particularly ideologically if a critical number of Communists leave the movement.”