This weekend’s Conference of the Left felt familiar, reminiscent of the African National Congress’ (ANC) 2007 national conference in Polokwane. The characters, the rhetoric and everything about the South African Communist Party’s (SACP) gathering mirrored the watershed conference that delivered Jacob
Zuma to the presidency of the ANC and the country two years later.
In fact, Zuma was the only person missing at the Conference of the Left at the Birchwood Conference Centre in Boksburg, in the east of Gauteng. The other actors who facilitated the Nkandla crooner’s rise to power were prominently featured, and the socialist rhetoric he had employed to achieve success dominated the discussions in the conference rooms at the venue.
From Tony Yengeni, now deputy president of the Zuma-led Umkhonto We Sizwe Party (MKP), to Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema, SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila, former ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule and National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa general secretary Irvin Jim – they were all instrumental in the 2007 moment.
They rejoined under the Conference of the Left banner after falling out over the years due to shifting political factors.
Now with the acrimonious breakup between the ANC and SACP, it is obvious from posture and political statements made that this new formation will be shaped by the dying tripartite alliance that in its heyday characterised the union between the ANC, Cosatu, and the SACP.
And it would seem, after months of uncertainty, Cosatu has chosen to align with the Communists.
The ANC snubbed an invitation to attend the conference, but Cosatu attended, and its deputy president, Mike Shingange, delivered a telling speech.
“We welcome this meeting, very much so. The forces of the left must come together and identify the class agenda and common objective and a revolutionary agenda to achieve those objectives,” said Shingange.
“As Cosatu, we welcome the convergence of the class forces that are here. Everyone who has decided to come to the Conference of the Left has taken a class decision to be on the left. Those that have decided not to come (ANC) – it is not a neutral decision; it is a class decision and class position because nothing is class neutral in this country.”
What binds these forces is the growing frustration about an ANC they deem to be drifting rightwards.
Although there were major fallouts even during Zuma’s time as the leader of the country, which led to the formation of the EFF and the Cosatu split, the 2024 decision to form a government of national unity with the likes of the Democratic Alliance and Freedom Front Plus seems to have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.
That decision was one of, if not the ultimate, triggers that pushed the SACP to finally make good on their long-standing threat to go it alone in the elections without the ANC.
Through the Conference of the Left, the SACP has strategically positioned itself as the leading voice of the left, aiming to mobilise the so-called left forces that will ultimately occupy the space of the fragmented tripartite alliance.
Another glue that has brought these forces together is their known passionate opposition to the incumbent head of state Cyril Ramaphosa, whom they deem the poster child of the entrenched neoliberalism in government policy.
But for others, it is an opportunity to settle political scores for misfortunes that they attribute to Ramaphosa.
Magashule, who was removed from his position as chief administrator of the ANC due to his opposition to Ramaphosa, serves as a prime example.
Whether this new front can stand the test of time and be a sustainable political project, only time will tell with decisions and resolutions due to be announced today after a day-long deliberation in commissions yesterday.
- The recent Conference of the Left echoed the 2007 ANC Polokwane conference, reviving key figures and socialist rhetoric that propelled Jacob Zuma to power.
- Key players from Zuma's era, including Tony Yengeni, Julius Malema, Solly Mapaila, Ace Magashule, and Irvin Jim, reunited under the Conference of the Left after previous political rifts.
- The conference highlighted the fracturing of the ANC-SACP alliance, with Cosatu siding with the SACP, signaling a resurgence of leftist unity against the ANC's perceived rightward shift.
- The SACP, disillusioned by the ANC's 2024 government coalition with DA and FF Plus, positioned itself as the leading leftist force aiming to fill the void left by the fractured tripartite alliance.
- Opposition to President Cyril Ramaphosa's neoliberal policies and internal party conflicts, exemplified by figures like Magashule, fueled the formation of this new leftist political front.
