The ANC national general council (NGC) will have to discuss what is to be done with the SACP after the longtime alliance partner decided to contest elections independently.
NGC delegates will also have to consider the ANC and SACP dual membership provision.
For the first time in 2026, the two organisations will go toe-to-toe in the local government elections, seeking votes individually.
The SACP and ANC have always urged their supporters to vote for the ANC, even though SACP members are also ANC members.
However, that all changed in December 2024 following the SACP’s special congress, when delegates decided that the party must stand alone in the polls and oppose the ANC.
It brought about an untenable political situation for the ANC, which spent the whole year begging the reds to reconsider their decision, but all attempts fell flat until this NGC.
“It is clear that the SACP is determined to proceed with the decision, and it has started with contesting the by-elections.
“There is serious concern that the SACP resolution will not only divide the alliance, but it will also cause divisions and strife inside the individual organisations of the alliance affected by the historical phenomenon of shared or dual membership,” Mbalula told the 1 600-strong delegates.
“In light of this emerging situation, the ANC will take steps to ensure that it safeguards its internal unity and organisational discipline among its members.
“Secondly, the ANC has a responsibility to safeguard the unity and cohesion of the alliance and the core social forces of the NDR [National Democratic Revolution]. Any adventurism and recklessness must be avoided at all costs.
“This NGC will have to shape the ANC’s strategic approach to the 2026 local government elections. All ANC members will be expected to march in unison once the NGC has given strategic direction on the matter.”
Dual membership
Mbalula hammered the dual membership point further when he revealed that the special national executive committee (NEC) meeting held last week had pondered the question of the SACP following a meeting between ANC national officials and SACP top brass, which again yielded no result.
“This invoked the issue of dual membership, to which the ANC special NEC meeting sitting on December 1 resolved that it could no longer be allowed, lest the ANC harbour within its ranks sleepers who could work against it from within.”
During the entire campaign leading up to the 2024 national and provincial elections, pretend ANC members in KwaZulu-Natal attended ANC election strategy meetings and then took the information to the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), which beat the ANC at the polls.
This episode is just one example of how the phenomenon of dual membership has already hurt the ANC.
“Bitten once, twice shy,” said Mbalula. “The ANC would be bound to reconsider the inclusion of SACP members in its electoral machinery” to avoid a repeat of the MKP situation in KwaZulu-Natal ahead of the 2024 elections.
Mbalula reported to the NGC the many meetings the ANC top brass held with their SACP counterparts this year, trying to twist their arms.
But led by its no-nonsense general secretary, Solly Mapaila, the SACP sent them packing every time.
The primary source of the SACP’s dissatisfaction is the ANC’s decision to form a government of national unity with the “neoliberal” DA.
Even with the threat of cutting the dual membership regime that connects the two parties, the SACP remains unmoved.
Mutual benefits
In response to Mbalula, SACP deputy general secretary Madala Masuku told Sunday World that he could not see any correlation between the party’s decision to contest elections independently and the dual membership.
“The ANC has a constitutional right to conduct a review, just as we are doing, but it must not be done in anger because that is when mistakes are made.
“Such a review is not even necessary because dual membership does not take anything away from them.
“Look, our work with the ANC is based on the Freedom Charter, which carries mutual benefits for both of us. If the objectives of the Freedom Charter are achieved, that is a 100% achievement for the ANC,” he said.
Masuku added that he does not believe the SACP will lose relevance if it no longer shares a membership with the ANC.
“It will not be a concern. We chose to be members of the ANC and to share some of our strength with it. Stepping back from that will not create a problem for us.”
The NGC continues at the Birchwood Conference Centre in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni.
