ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa and SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila in Boksburg at a tripartite alliance summit. Picture: Gallo Images The SA Communist Party (SACP) is not contesting the local government elections independently for selfish reasons, SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila says. Speaking at the commemoration service of Joe Slovo, former SACP leader and theorist, leading member of the ANC and a commander of the ANC’s military wing uMkhonto weSizwe, on Tuesday in Soweto, Mapaila said some in the political arena believe that SACP leaders were contesting elections without the ANC for the first time because they wanted government jobs.
But he said this is not true. “I do not want to go to government, I will not go to government. When we are transitioning to socialism maybe it might be interesting to build a different system, but not now.
“I am not going to government so those who are saying we are taking this decision because we do not have deployment, I do not care about deployment, I do not want deployment,” he said. Mapaila said he has been offered the opportunity to represent the SACP in a government position but he has refused several offers of that kind. Even the SACP said go to government and I said no.
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This is not personal, it’s about the working class,” said Mapaila. He said the SACP is still committed to the tripartite alliance but unity in the alliance is not real unity if it’s not based on principle. “We have had too much time, our people have been very patient with us, comrade president.
You cannot find a revolution where people have been as patient as the South African revolution. “With so much resources presiding over poverty, even the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are shocked when they analyse the economic situation of South Africa,” he said. Mapaila also pushed back against those who believe that the SACP does not have the support it needs to contest the local government elections.
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