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ANC tells SACP to sit down

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South African Communist Party (SACP) first deputy general-secretary Solly Mapaila during a media briefing. Picture: Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Felix Dlangamandla/ File
South African Communist Party (SACP) first deputy general-secretary Solly Mapaila during a media briefing. Picture: Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Felix Dlangamandla/ File

Governing party says yes to alliance’s demands for more participation, no to independent caucus and quotas

The ANC has told the SA Communist Party (SACP) in no uncertain terms that it will not allow SACP members guaranteed places on its lists through quotas or let them have independent caucuses in Parliament and legislatures.

In a hard-hitting response to the spirited push by the SACP and labour federation Cosatu for all partners in the tripartite alliance to have an equal say in government deployment and policy decisions, the governing party has told them that “no alliance leader or anyone in the ANC must be guaranteed, or feel entitled to, a leadership position either in the ANC or in the state”.

City Press has seen the document that the ANC presented to the partners, in which it warns that Cosatu is not a political party and the SACP must pull up its socks.

Addressing Cosatu, the ANC said its members were included in the election lists “from the perspective that these cadres are transiting from the trade union movement into full-time politics. In doing so, they assume the status of representatives of a political party, which Cosatu is not.”

The ANC added that the only exception was in local government elections, where there are part-time councillors.

The governing party said questions should be asked about the role of the SACP, particularly the extent to which it had been playing its role as the vanguard in “building the working-class consciousness and unity in action”.

The document, compiled by ANC national executive committee (NEC) member David Masondo, was presented at the augmented central executive committee of the SACP this weekend.

However, the SACP on Saturday vowed to continue to push for independent caucus structures in provincial legislatures and Parliament.

The SACP’s first deputy general-secretary, Solly Mapaila, told City Press that it wants to be able to express itself as a party of the working class.

“We cannot be in Parliament, and all we listen to is the neo-liberal posture of our movement,” Mapaila said.

“We should be allowed, therefore, to communicate through the parliamentary platform which we get through the ANC.

“We need to articulate ourselves independently as the communist party all the time for the benefit of the working class.”

The SACP insists that it will not accept the status quo in the ANC-led alliance.

It had proposed radical changes in the alliance, which include each member of the alliance drawing up its own list of candidates for Parliament and the provincial legislature.

“We will not accept the status quo in the alliance. That will not happen. There must be change in the manner in which we do things as the alliance, treat each other and govern our country. The current mechanism that leaves everything in the hands of the ANC is extremely inadequate. It cannot represent us. That is why we need real change,” Mapaila argued.

He said the ANC’s document did not provide new avenues for improvement.

“It simply regurgitates all that we have known and should have done, which has largely failed precisely from the basis of the ANC. In that regard, the document is okay for people fulfilling the mechanical process to have responded to our document. But we need substantive stuff. Overall, we welcome the document because it lays the basis for a discussion.”

Cosatu’s general secretary, Bheki Ntshalintshali, said there should not be a “big brother” in the alliance.

“We want to be consulted fully as equal partners. The alliance is not working the way it is supposed to work. In our view, the alliance needs to be reconfigured,” he said

The alliance has been dominated by the ANC, with the SACP, Cosatu and the SA National Civic Organisation serving as partners, despite campaigning for the ANC during elections.

This has been a constant bone of contention that has resulted in the ANC allies demanding a review of the arrangement.

Among its proposals, the SACP had pushed for an electoral pact that “could include agreement on deployments, possible quotas, the accountability of elected representatives – including the accountability of SACP cadres to the party – [and] the election manifesto”.

The party also highlighted “the importance of an independent face and role for the SACP and its cadres within legislatures”.

Alternatively, said the SACP, the partners could produce “independent electoral lists on the voter’s roll, with the possible objective of constituting a coalition alliance agreement post-election”.

Cosatu, however, disagreed with the SACP on setting up a quota system to determine how many officials from each partner are elected to government posts.

In its response, the ANC made a slight concession that its list processes to nominate candidates for public posts after the elections needed to be strengthened to ensure active participation by the alliance partners.

However, it said, the Constitution of the Cabinet must be left in the hands of the president. “That is to say, the current practice on the appointment of Cabinet must be maintained.”

It said that since the first democratic elections in 1994, “Cosatu and the SACP have, in practice, secured ample ‘representation’ on the ANC’s electoral lists. In this light, the proposal that there be quotas on these lists seems odd, since the ANC has been only too willing to accept the large numbers of SACP and Cosatu cadres on to its election lists.”

In fact, said the ANC, “any ‘quota’ agreement is likely to reduce rather than expand their representation”.

It added: “The acceptance of dual membership between the SACP and the ANC means that SACP cadres are, in fact, allowed a ‘double bite at the cherry’. A formal quota system would occasion hair-splitting that could degenerate into the kind of witch-hunting that would be disastrous for the alliance.”

The ANC similarly rejected the SACP’s proposal to have its own independent caucus structures across the legislatures, and the right to recall its members without interference from the ANC.

“It is hard to imagine how the proposal of ‘independent caucuses and right of recall’ could be practically realised, without a fundamental redefinition of the alliance.”

Furthermore, said the ANC, “quotas, just like allowing SACP members presenting the SACP political line in the legislatures, would generate doubts about loyalty to the ANC mandates and policy perspectives”.

“This proposal on quotas and independence, while still contesting the elections under the ANC, would be tantamount to entryism and seeking deployment and independence within legislature, without loyalty to the ANC and its policies.”

Nevertheless, said the ANC, there was still considerable room for discussion about a clearer definition of the role of each of alliance partner in the process of defining, seeking and monitoring the implementation of electoral mandates, as well as managing the deployment of public representatives.

The ANC was amenable to the proposal that the election manifesto – which has no constitutional status and was drafted through an ad hoc approach – be adopted at a national policy conference, as a basis to address some of the concerns raised by alliance partners in their proposals for a “pact”.

It said monitoring the implementation of the electoral mandate was also critical. So, the key solution to the problems of the alliance might lie in the strengthening and refining of the ANC’s own capacities.

In this regard, the ANC would look to “strengthening and capacitating the ANC Policy Institute and the capacity building of the NEC policy committees”, as well as look at the proposal for a second deputy secretary-general responsible for monitoring and implementing the ANC resolutions.

The ANC recommended that the envisaged tripartite alliance summit next month should further discuss these proposals, and that an Alliance Political Council be held ahead of the summit to “tease out areas of agreement and disagreement, and set out a process to implement agreements and a process to resolve areas of disagreement”.

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