SACP warns it will no longer be a junior partner in the ANC-led alliance

THE South African Communist Party (SACP) has warned that it will no longer accept being treated as a junior partner in the ANC-led Alliance, and is prepared to contest future elections independently.

- HOPE NTANZI

This follows what the party describes as years of marginalisation, policy disagreements, and a failure to implement the core programme of the National Democratic Revolution (NDR).

Speaking during the SACP’s three-day Central Committee conference in Braamfontein, secretary general Solly Mapaila delivered a sharp critique of the ANC’ leadership, accusing it of abandoning the Alliance's shared vision and imposing neoliberal economic policies without consultation.

“We reject to be treated as a junior partner,’ said Mapaila. “And those who think that they are junior partners, when they belong to the Communist Party, they are in the wrong party.”

“We are not a junior partner in the Alliance. We have given ourselves fully to the liberation of this country. We have made major initiatives in the struggle for national liberation in this country, including venturing into armed struggle, together with the African National Congress. And we have accepted the leadership of the African National Congress in this regard,’ said Mapaila.