Cape Town – ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula has announced upcoming bilateral talks with the South African Communist Party (SACP) to address its decision to contest the 2026 local government elections independently.
The SACP, a member of the ANC-led tripartite alliance, announced earlier this month its intention to contest the 2026 local government elections independently, while affirming its commitment to remaining within the alliance.
“We had indicated to the ANC that we have taken a decision to contest local elections as the SACP. So, officially and formally now this has been communicated to the ANC,” SACP general-secretary Solly Mapaila at the time.
Mapaila revealed that the decision to contest elections independently was made last year but was postponed to support the ANC and counter efforts by “imperialist forces” seeking to weaken the ruling party, IOL reported.
“We want to contest elections to win them and drive a radical social transformation agenda that can serve the interest of the majority of our people in this country and not the interest of the minority few, white racists and capitalists,” he said.’
At a media briefing on Saturday, at the party’s headquarters in Johannesburg, Mbalula expressed concerns about the impact of this decision on the alliance and stated that the ANC does not support the move.
“We’ve got an appointment with the SACP in a bilateral. How is this going to happen? These are some of the questions we must answer. We don’t believe in this thing of the party contesting us. We don’t agree with that. And when we met with them, we cautioned them against that. We’re going to engage on that with the SACP,” SABC News quoted him as saying.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
