The South African Communist Party (SACP) has rejected any suggestions that the decision to contest by-elections in the Metsimaholo Local Municipality in the Free State is an attempt to test waters ahead of the 2019 general elections.
During its July congress the SACP resolved to actively contest elections. However, the party was unclear on when or how will the resolution be implemented.
The party says the decision to contest elections in Metsimaholo is the result of interests of the people in that area being subordinated to factional interests that further undermined the alliance.
The elections will be held on Wednesday. The SACP has fielded 42 candidates in the Metsimaholo Local Municipality.
Party spokesperson Alex Mashilo says they cannot continue to be used as an electioneering tool by the African National Congress (ANC).
“When we tell them about the importance of democratic consensus, seeking consultation, in response they are telling us about prerogatives as if they contested for elections and outside the principles of collective leadership and mandate.”
The move could see the ANC further weakened during the poll, opening doors for possible coalitions. However, Mashilo says no decision has been made on who to partner with.
“We have not taken a decision about coalitions but what we are presently discussing is to allow the community to decide together with the SACP on a way forward in that event. We don’t want to impose decisions on people who would have voted for the SACP while we had serious problems about not being consulted.”
At the same time ANC secretary general, Gwede Manatashe says the SACP’s decision is regrettable. “The ANC must further interrogate and engage the resolution of the SACP on state power and its implications for the alliance. When you put a parallel team to campaign in a municipality you are raising tensions in the alliance and this we hope will be understood.”
No political party won a majority of the vote after last year’s fiercely contested local government elections, forcing parties to enter into a power-sharing deal. The coalition government was dissolved in July after it failed to adopt its 2017/18 budget and later on when its then mayor, Sello Hlasa, defected from Metsimaholo Community Association to the ANC.
The communist party is contesting all 21 wards. Its candidates include respected individuals in the community who are not members of the party.
Political analyst Somadoda Fikeni says the SACP’s decision is tantamount to political manoeuvring.
“When you look at that situation, you have two possibilities, one: It could be local dynamics where SACP and the community are self-assured that they will have traction because they are fielding the well-known, well recognized and therefore is going to make it. But also because it fits in the bigger scheme of things where the SACP has promised that it will take part in provincial and national elections should things not work out within the ANC. So it could be seen as test case but at the same time that should be done as a cautious approach because it will depend on whether these were local dynamics which prevailed or it is the SACP strategy and campaign.”
Meanwhile, the Central Executive Committee of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) is currently meeting in Johannesburg and is expected to soon pronounce on the Metsimaholo debacle. The federation has also been mum on the SACP’s decision to contest elections.
However, this issue is likely to dominate at the federation’s congress next year.
