SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila has poured cold water on speculation that the party is searching for new allies amid tensions with its key alliance partner, the ANC.
Leaders of the SACP met with the EFF on Monday, sparking rumours that the party was pursuing alternatives to its tripartite alliance with the ANC and Cosatu.
Mapaila said they were working towards a conference of “like-minded parties”, to which the ANC was also invited.
They were seeking to build a powerful socialist movement of workers and the poor, but it would not be a coalition, he added.
“We have invited the ANC to the conference itself. Everyone who characterises themselves as Left is invited. We don’t see them as an enemy in that conference. But we are saying that the state which they have led for quite some time has betrayed the masses in a big way.
“The progress is too slow because of the neoliberal economic choices that they keep making that are not based on the needs of South Africans but rather on the bookish economists that are removed from the lived reality. They will decide whether they want to align themselves with the masses and ... their daily realities, or those of the political elite.”
We felt that this conjuncture requires a consolidation of Left and popular forces, social and political forces from all different backgrounds, as long as they feel excluded from the economy of this country
— Solly Mapaila, SACP general secretary
Mapaila said the move was necessitated by the economic crisis facing the working class and the poor.
“We felt that this conjuncture requires a consolidation of Left and popular forces, social and political forces from all different backgrounds, as long as they feel excluded from the economy of this country.
“For as long as they are opposed to the traditional capitalist system of reactionary politics that continues to shape the future of our country on an unequal basis, a necessity to converge and bring together such forces who are grounded in the material realities of our society will be important.”
He said the conference of the Left would be a step towards fighting inequality and prioritising the issues of neglected people, even from outside government.
The EFF said in a statement that the purpose of the meeting with the SACP was to lay the foundation for rebuilding principled relations and taking the first steps towards hosting a “conference of the Left”.
The two parties agreed to establish a joint working group ahead of the gathering, which would develop a programme to defend democratic gains while advancing economic emancipation.
The SACP has decided to contest this year’s local government elections independently, breaking from its traditional alliance with the ANC at the polls.
The party has previously accused the ANC of arrogance and ideological differences, but the tipping point came when the ANC decided to co-govern with the DA and the Freedom Front Plus in the government of national unity.
