Aggrieved by the South African Communist Party’s decision to contest next year’s local government elections, the ANC stopped short of cutting ties with its longstanding ally at its national general council meeting this week. Instead of cutting this umbilical cord once and for all and letting the chips fall where they may, the glorious movement decided to postpone the inevitable. The SACP decided in December last year to contest the upcoming local government elections under its own name, thus throwing down the gauntlet to its alliance partner.
Although the SACP has not previously felt inclined to stand for elections, its members, who have dual membership, have enjoyed all the perks and positions of power, influencing critical decisions courtesy of the ANC — a classic definition of power without responsibility. The gathering last week was the first opportunity the ANC had to deliberate on the matter since the SACP’s decision to go it alone. Instead of bidding the communists goodbye and good luck, the ANC decided that soft-pedalling was the better option.
SACP members, it said, should withdraw or recuse themselves from ANC election strategy meetings. Even the language used — withdraw, recuse themselves — is anodyne. No compulsion, just trying hard not to offend.
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The decision merely creates more problems for the ANC. Who decides which meetings are about election strategy? What if the chair, as is often the case, is an SACP member?
Given that local government elections are around the corner, isn’t every party meeting from now on going to be about preparation for the vote? And what happens after the elections? The SACP is, of course, a miniscule party, a pimple in the bigger scheme of things over which we ordinarily shouldn’t be wasting too much of our precious breath.
But this tiny, unelected cabal, by virtue of its alliance with the ruling party, has had a disproportionate influence on the policy direction of the country. This tiny, unelected cabal, by virtue of its alliance with the ruling party, has had a disproportionate influence on the policy direction of the country Government officials always have to keep the SACP in mind, or on side, when making decisions or deliberating on any piece of legislation. And whenever the SACP fails to get its way, it is quick to throw its toys out of the cot.
Although the smallest, it has the loudest voice in the tripartite alliance. The relationship between the ANC and the SACP is a relic from a bygone era. In exile, the SACP’s top echelon were the kingmakers and the gatekeepers.
One was unlikely to climb the greasy pole in the movement without the party’s blessing. After 1994, with the ANC enjoying untrammelled power, the party and its union friends were able to partake of new-found wealth, their members getting cushy government jobs and much sought-after government tenders. They also sit on the ANC NEC, where policies that end up as government legislation are often crafted.
For a party that prides itself on its credo of equality, it has been complicit in perpetuating one of the most unequal societies under the sun. Whatever ideological differences they had with the ruling party could always be assuaged by the good life they were living by virtue of their proximity to power. However, they became the chief architects of Thabo Mbeki’s downfall when they decided he had gone rogue ideologically, hoping that his challenger, Jacob Zuma, would be more amenable to their entreaties than the pipe-smoking intellectual.
They had misjudged the man from Nkandla and lived to regret it. It may be 30 years too late, but the SACP has done the right thing by finally opting to take part in elections. It is, after all, the fundamental notion of democracy that those keen to exercise power should do so, not from the shadows or smoke-filled rooms, but through the ballot box.
They may find it a bit scary at first, but it could also be an invigorating exercise. Chances are they’ll be humiliated. There doesn’t seem to be much of an appetite for their type of ideological fare.
But why has the SACP taken a different tack? Times have changed, obviously. Ramaphosa’s government of national unity seems to have a lot to do with it.
Despite the SACP’s loudest protestations, the ANC went ahead and formed a governing alliance with the DA, camp followers of big capital. That’s too bitter a pill to swallow for the commies, even though it hasn’t stopped its members from being part of Ramaphosa’s cabinet. But also, as a result of its waning electoral support, the ANC is no longer the only show in town.
Which means there are now not enough perks and positions to share with its alliance partners. When the GNU was formed, for instance, Ramaphosa had to surreptitiously increase the number of cabinet posts to make sure all factions of the alliance were accommodated.
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