The African National Congress (ANC) has been ruling the nation since 1994 when Nelson Mandela became the president as the head of the ANC which led the liberation struggle against the British rulers. The ANC from the beginning was a platform of freedom fighters of different shades of political persuasion. South African Communist Party (SACP) which took a prominent part in the anti-apartheid struggle, has been a part of the ruling ANC all along and its leaders held positions of ministers in the government of ANC. The SACP members, however are in the government as ANC members and they fight elections also on ANC ballot.. Another participant in the triple alliance is the trade union body COSATU.

SACP has been fighting inside the ANC government for the implementation of its programme. Some demands were approved, some were not, but SACP members remained loyal to the ANC regime. However, the relationship took a bitter turn during the presidentship of Jacob Zuma who was neckdeep in corruption. He was later removed and Mr. Ramaphosa took over as the president replacing him. The new president has better ties with the SACP.

Under president Ramaphosa’s leadership, South Africa took Israel to the International Court of Justice for war crimes. The ICJ mentioned of Israeli crimes as genocide and asked the Israeli government to take immediate action to end its war crimes. Though Israel and other western nations, are yet to implement the ICJ directive, South Africa’s stature has gone up among the developing nations. South Africa is a leading member of the BRIC group of which India is also a prominent member.

SACP leadership discussed the possibility of leaving the ANC and functioning independently outside the ANC during Zuma’s presidency but the leadership waited taking into account the looming threat from the opposition Democratic Alliance. Now with Mr. Ramaphosa as president, the SACP, after long debate on the issue opted to remain as a part of the ANC and fight the general elections jointly.

When South Africans head to the polls later this year, they will be faced with a ballot offering myriad choices — from the governing African National Congress (ANC) to the opposition Democratic Alliance and its assorted new bedfellows, and new formations like RISE Mzansi and the Jacob Zuma-backed Umkhonto we Sizwe party.. Zuma has his own pockets of influence and he has already started his poll campaign targeting the ANC. The ANC vote share has always been above 50 per cent in all earlier elections. This time for the first time, the percentage may dip below 50 per cent, say political observers.

Out of the 29 million registered voters in South Africa, 77 per cent are youth. They are looking for jobs and better opportunities. The opposition Democratic Alliance has been making all efforts to tap this section of the electorate. SACP is focusing on youth as the Party has a strong youth organization and its youth leaders are popular. The SACP is still following a two stage theory according to which the first phase was the national democratic phase and this will be followed by the second stage of socialist development.

Defying the far left critics of the Party, the SACP leadership says that the time is still not ripe for the second stage and it is politically sensible to remain a part of the ANC to fight in the coming general elections jointly to ensure the victory of the ANC once again

A SACP statement in January this year gives an indication of some of the policy priorities the party intends to assert. These include “a new macroeconomic framework and an adequately funded high impact industrial policy,” pushing for industrialisation and relief to the current unemployment crisis. The party also wants to see the existing social relief of distress grant transformed into a universal basic income grant, as a step towards eradicating poverty.

The past few years have seen an increasingly outspoken SACP criticizing the ANC’s record in government — particularly over its failure to reduce poverty and inequality. The Party leaders slammed the actions of former president Jacob Zuma, both for facilitating the “state capture” of public enterprises in office and for backing the new MK party — named after the ANC’s armed wing — in the forthcoming elections.

Paradoxically, SACP was itself crucial to Zuma’s rise to the top of the ANC and the presidency. After party influence was sidelined under president Thabo Mbeki and his neoliberal economic policies, leading party figures believed there would be more opportunity for left advance under Jacob Zuma. The SACP’s turn against the controversial president later became a key factor in his downfall.

“The party identified three modalities to contest the election. One, a reconfigured alliance, two, a broad left front, and three, independently. The party, for 2024 elections, opted for the first one. The leadership felt that that will be the best strategy s at this stage when the anti-ANC forces are mobilizing in a big way to retard the advancement in respect of the social policies. The SACP can not allow any return to neo liberal policies. It is to be seen how the election campaign shapes up in the coming days. (IPA Service)