WHILE the ANC may have escaped the embarrassing removal from the Union Buildings following its poor performance in the May general elections, the Tripartite Alliance may not escape internal divisions as the Alliance partners feel excluded from decision-making.
The Alliance partners, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), have expressed early symptoms of discontent over ANC’s decision to team up with the Democratic Alliance (DA) – a party accused of protecting the economic privileges of the white minority exploited before and post-apartheid.
The SACP vented out its frustration last week with the former liberation movement accusing the dominant liberal faction within the ANC of “selling out”.
The Tripartite Alliance campaigned fiercely for the ANC and promised to keep the party above 50%, however, when the voters humbled the party, the ANC opted to form a government with the DA and other smaller parties – excluding the MK party and the EFF.
While addressing the Nehawu National Political School which met last Monday week for its second sitting at Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg, SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila labelled the ANC “sell-outs” for forming a coalition with the DA under the guise of a GNU.
“Some in the ANC were ‘too impatient’ with the view of looking into a coalition with the EFF,“ he said, but proceeded to offer “reactionary forces and anti-revolutionary forces so much power. The other faction inside the ANC was ‘too helpless’,” he said.
He stated that the dominant faction in the ANC was now neo-liberal and favoured austerity measures.
Nehawu President Mike Shingange shared similar sentiments and said that they were now under a government of an elite pact.
Trade Federation Cosatu said last month that it was never “consulted” or asked to contribute to the formation of the GNU.
With the ANC dislocated and weakened under President Cyril Ramaphosa and, what may signal the beginning of public contracting statements and the war of words in the Alliance, ANC deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane reportedly said that Mapaila's comments were unfortunate and did not reflect the events of the matter.
According to reports, she criticised Mapaila for using the Nehawu event as a platform to air his frustrations with the ANC. She argued that if there was a misunderstanding, the SACP should have raised its concerns within the alliance.
“His assertions are far from the truth – including how he puts what he says was his role. It is so incorrect and far from the facts. We arrived at a solution that circumstances have forced us to be at,” Mokonyane said.
Approached for comment, SACP national spokesperson Dr Alex Mashilo denied that Mapaila said the ANC sold out.
“You should see from the video that it is a deliberate distortion to suggest that is what Mapaila is asserting. Before drawing attention to people who said those words, Mapaila referred to a media editor who misled the public by only sharing the signatures of the ANC and the DA from a document, to the DA's advantage, without sharing the entire text of the document concerned.
“What Mapaila is clearly saying is that the editor's misleading conduct then generated the anger he is drawing attention to, in which the reaction from the anger was that ‘the ANC has sold out’. It is, therefore, wrong to say ‘the ANC has sold out’.
“It is his position, while he is drawing attention to the claim as a reaction from the anger he referred to, generated by what he characterised as misleading conduct,” Mashilo said.
Despite the SACP always campaigning for the ANC and helping propel former Presidents Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma, and Ramaphosa to power, in return for cabinet and parliament posts, it’s not rare for the SACP to call for the removal of a sitting president whenever disagreements arise.
ANC alliance partners SACP and labour federation Cosatu led the vigorous campaign for Zuma to ascend to party presidency ahead of the 2007 elections.
At the time, the then secretary-general of the SACP Blade Nzimande said they were witnessing some of the problems they had with the Mbeki presidency, including the failure to transform the economy, consult on key decisions, and the abuse of state organs.
Mbeki was recalled from office, paving the way for Zuma who was also not spared by the Alliance.
At the height of the calls for Zuma to step down in 2017, Nzimande said they failed to deal with factions when Mbeki was recalled, taking a veiled jab at the Zuma administration and led calls for him to step down, following his Cabinet reshuffle in March that saw five ministers fired, including former Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.