SACP slams ANC over conference snub

The South African Communist Party (SACP) has hit back at the African National Congress (ANC) for refusing to attend the upcoming “Conference of the Left,” accusing the party of being arrogant, isolating itself and acting in a divisive way.

This comes after ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula confirmed on Tuesday that the party would not attend the event, which is scheduled to begin on May 29 and run for three days. 

The SACP said it had invited the ANC and offered it a short speaking slot, but the party declined to participate.

The SACP said it respected the ANC’s right to choose not to attend but rejected its characterisation of the gathering as a “coalition of negation”.

“In its decision, however, the ANC leadership wrongly labels the Conference as a ‘coalition of negation – united by what it stands against, namely the ANC in government’, presumably with the intention to impugn ill intentions and inherent subjectivity on the people and organisations responsible for organising the Conference,” said SACP spokesperson Mbulelo Mandlana.

“This logic assumes that all these forces cannot independently decide on a conference without being driven by some enmity towards the ANC. It also assumes that any and all conferences involving these forces can only be convened to plot against the ANC,” he said.

Mandlana said the SACP strongly rejected what it called an “arrogant” posture from the ANC leadership.

“The ANC, in this manner, summarises the purpose and substance of the Conference as founded on nothing more than opposing the ANC and its government for its own sake,” he said.

“The ANC does not appear in this instance to imagine a political discourse that could take shape in the South African political ecosystem except where it either affirms it or contradicts it and its GNU government.”

He added that it was “distasteful” for the ANC to dismiss the conference, saying it brought together working-class and progressive forces to address national challenges.

“For a national liberation movement established with the sole purpose of forging unity among the oppressed masses, the ANC’s appetite to castigate citizens, mostly working-class people, for convening a conference to discuss critical national issues in the context of a reality that is increasingly unbearable for the most vulnerable, which is the overwhelming majority, is not only distasteful but is also devoid of the necessary national vanguard consciousness and is instead isolationist and separatist,” he said.

Mandlana also accused the ANC of pre-empting the conference’s outcomes.

“The ANC, having been not only invited but also engaged on numerous occasions on the subject of the Conference of the Left and its overall intent and objectives, is choosing now not only to remove itself from participating in the conference and downplay its knowledge of it but has also chosen to allocate to itself the role of its public opponent, thereby attempting to cleanse itself of any association with the Conference,” he said.

He described that stance as “selective memory and opportunism”.

“The ANC’s decision to withdraw from the Conference processes is a matter of its own subjective reasons clearly rooted in its determination to lean more towards what appears to be self-isolation as opposed to common partnership with various forces working for the success of the Conference and not a reflection of a noble principle on which it purportedly stands,” he said.

Mandlana further rejected the ANC’s view that the conference’s broad participation weakened its ideological character.

“This minimalist argument emanates from a purist approach that seeks to draw rigid boundaries between political and social constituencies, thereby creating impenetrable barriers between organisations and sectors they organise,” he said.

“The Conference of the Left was initiated precisely to create a space for honest debate, strategic reflection, and possible convergence on the urgent tasks facing workers and the poor,” he added.

He said participation did not imply endorsement.

“The Conference of the Left is an open platform for honest contestation among forces that claim to stand with workers and the poor.”

“Participation does not mean endorsement. Differences will be debated openly. What matters is whether these formations are prepared to engage seriously on the crisis facing the working class,” he said.

Mandlana said the ANC’s approach reflected an “inward-looking and self-glorifying tendency” and a “paternalistic orientation”.

“The real contradiction is not between workers and struggling black micro-enterprises in townships and villages. The principal contradiction is between the people and monopoly capital, imperialism, austerity and neoliberal policies. A serious left strategy must unite the working class with broader progressive social forces under working-class leadership,” he said.

On Tuesday, Mbalula dismissed the conference’s ideological framing, saying it did not represent the left.

“On the so-called Conference of the Left, ideologically we do not think it is a forum of the left. We think it is merely a project of people coming together to discuss various issues in general,” he said.

“We are not going to attend that conference. We have received the invitation and we will write to the Communist Party to inform them,” he added.

He said the ANC had been given only a brief speaking slot and did not view the gathering as politically significant.

“It is not a platform we believe represents the real left of our country,” he said.

Mbalula also said coalition politics had complicated ideological labels in South Africa and accused some participants of trying to weaken the ANC-led alliance.

“Their strategic objective is to defeat and destroy the alliance,” he said.

“They have failed to destroy the alliance and they will never destroy it,” he added.

The South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) said it would not participate in the conference.

The SACP is part of the ANC-led Tripartite Alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu). 

It has criticised the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU) after the 2024 election.

The communist party argues the involvement of the DA and FF Plus in the coalition government at the national level does not represent the interests of Black people and working class.

It has since announced it will contest upcoming local government elections independently, while remaining within the alliance.

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