Durban - The SACP has the opportunity to demonstrate that it can offer something better in terms of service delivery to South Africans than the ANC, says a leading political analyst Thabani Khumalo.
Reflecting on the ongoing discussion around the SACP and whether it should challenge the ANC in 2024 which was a hot topic at the Cosatu conference this week, Khumalo said it was clear that workers were unhappy about recent developments in the country.
He noted how former ANC president, the late Oliver Tambo had told an SACP gathering in the 1980s, that the two organisations shared a common enemy in the form of apartheid rule. Tambo had added that if the SACP wanted to pursue an alternative route for South Africa under a democratic order, the party had every right to persuade the country’s citizens.
According to Khumalo, the SACP is yet to showcase its political ideology and programme, which he contends demonstrates the party’s weakness.
“The SACP seems to not be willing to take political responsibility. This is not new but an old-age SACP tendency,” said Khumalo on Thursday.
Since the ANC came to power in 1994, the SACP has had a number of its leaders serving as Cabinet ministers in government, with many appearing to enjoy the benefits of such positions.
According to the analyst, the SACP leaders talk socialist principles but live capitalist lifestyles.
“Those in government are representing neo-liberal principles with excellence,” the analyst continued.
Relations between the ANC and its alliance partners are rocky. ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa was booed off stage while trying to address a Workers Day rally in May, and this week ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe was also stopped from speaking at the Cosatu conference, a development which demonstrated unhappiness with the ruling party.
Khumalo also observed that the growing number of people who no longer voted reflected the need for an alternative that the opposition parties have yet to provide.
“SACP’s Solly Mapaila told the Cosatu conference that the SACP is ready to contest the elections outside the ANC. Is the SACP really ready to stand on its own? I do not think so,” Khumalo said.
The analyst contended that the current SACP could not be an alternative to the ANC, adding that Mapaila had a huge task of repositioning the party as an alternative.
“And that starts with them living the values that they claim to be representing,” Khumalo stressed.
He concluded by stating that the current period presented an opportunity for the SACP to show the people of this country and voters what it stood for.