The South African Communist Party (SACP) said it is against the African National Congress (ANC) seeking a coalition arrangement with the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Party, citing apartheid oppression and State capture corruption, respectively.

Having won only 40% of the vote in the 2024 national elections, the ANC needs to find a coalition partner to secure a majority in Parliament which will support its choice of President and legislative plans.

The SACP highlighted that to maintain strategic consistency, it is against seeking a coalition arrangement with the “right-wing, DA-led anti-ANC neo-liberal forces”.

“The core of the DA-led neo-liberal forces, highly supported by dominant sections of capital, mainly the white bourgeoisie whose roots can be traced to the era of colonial and apartheid oppression of the black majority, organised itself into the so-called multi-party charter. This grouping also received support from western foundations,” the SACP said.

“…neo-liberal economic restructuring, which includes retrenchments – those announced during the May 2024 election campaign period in the mining and other sectors included, opposition to the national minimum wage, attacks of our collective bargaining framework and resistance to National Health Insurance, among others, has severely impacted the workers and impoverished populations of our country. These forces remain arrogant and anti-working class as evidenced in the DA’s reckless utterances,” said the SACP.

It also explained that it was against seeking a coalition arrangement with the MK Party, whose origins, it said, can be traced back to “factionalism, the corruption of State capture and resistance to accountability”, as outlined in the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture report and Constitutional Court judgments.

It pointed out that the industrial-scale looting under State capture crippled many of the country’s State-owned companies, public entities and financial resources, which the SACP said negatively impacted the capacity of the State to serve the people.

The ANC’s alliance partner noted that the “factional conduct” and “ethnic nationalism” of those driving the MK Party had negatively impacted the ANC-led movement, and the ANC’s electoral performance.

“…the votes and number of seats from the May 2024 national and provincial government elections offer coalition permutations with the features of a developmental and transformation purpose-driven ANC-led government of National Unity – excluding both the DA and the MKP,” said the SACP.

On Wednesday the ANC highlighted that it was keen and determined to engage all political parties and unite the broadest range of sectors of the country’s population behind the urgent need to move the country out of the current potential electoral stalemate.

The party noted that it had held engagements with delegations from the Inkatha Freedom Party, Economic Freedom Fighters, DA, the National Freedom Party and the Patriotic Alliance, and that it had repeatedly reached out to the MK Party, for an engagement meeting, with no positive response.

ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri revealed the ANC was still awaiting the MK Party’s response.

“The strategic adversaries of the working class include the neo-liberal and ‘looting’ class networks, as well as fugitives from justice who have profited from State capture and fled South Africa to evade accountability,” the SACP said.

It said intensifying efforts to track down and hold accountable those who were involved in and benefitted from the proceeds of State capture corruption and fraud must be a central component of the programmatic basis of the coalition arrangements that the ANC should pursue.

“In pursuing the ideal scenario under the circumstances and in the interests of the working class, the SACP will prioritise governance stability over the instability often associated with local government coalitions,” it explained.