The South African Communist Party (SACP) has opposed a coalition between the African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) or the newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party.
The SACP briefed the media in Marshaltown yesterday on the outcomes of the election results following the ANC’s electoral decline.
The ANC has confirmed that it has been engaged in coalition talks with six parties including the DA.
They are the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), the National Freedom Party (NFP) and the Patriotic Alliance (PA).
However, SACP General Secretary Solly Mapaila says that a coalition with the DA would be going against its anti-capitalist agenda.
He says, “We support a minority government with GNU (Government of National Unity) features. That is the government of national unity features without the role and participation of DA-led forces. So we are clear about our anti-capitalist trajectory. The problem we face in this country is because we have pursued over the years and have been beholden to the interest of capitalists who have always threatened us about the stability of our economy.”
Mapaila dismissed any possible coalition with the MK Party, describing it as counter-revolutionary.
He says, “If the MK Party engages with the ANC and comes to the conclusion to support them in this framework, the ANC has the right to do so but we have characterised them as a counter-revolutionary organization.”
SACP National Chairperson Blade Nzimande says their position on the DA is not meant to influence the governing party’s decision.
Nzimande says, “To us, it’s a contribution to being transparent, we don’t want to be second-guessed as the SACP as to what our views are on this particular matter. It is not aimed at influencing anyone other than to state our own position and as the General Secretary has said what is paramount in our own mind are things that is of interest to the working class and poor of our country.”
