SACP not bluffing about contesting elections

Manamela says people's voice diminished

- By Mawande AmaShabalala and Setumo Stone

The SACP would never be petty and threaten to contest elections just as a stunt to force the governing ANC into a more agreeable power-sharing arrangement, says the party’s central executive committee member Buti Manamela, also a member of the ANC national executive committee.

Speaking to Sunday World Engage, Manamela, also the deputy minister of higher education, said the SACP has repeatedly raised concerns around the configuration of the alliance and certain decisions, “including how consultation is made on the appointment of cabinet, austerity measures and so forth”.

What was important, he continued, “is that the SACP in its resolution strongly believes that the working-class voice in the state, which is a site of struggle, has gradually diminished and that the working-class voice has to be represented in those structures. It is within this context that the SACP believes that there is no political party that represents the working-class voice in a way in which the SACP can,” he said.