SACP considers Ramaphosa-led party should NDZ win ANC presidency – report

An alternative political party led by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa could be on the cards.

It would be made up of leaders of the SA Communist Party (SACP), civil society and ANC veterans, should Ramaphosa lose the governing party’s hotly contested leadership race in December to Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, according to a report.

The Mail & Guardian reports that the alternative movement is being mooted by delegates at the SACP’s 14th national congress, currently under way in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni, with the view of contesting the general elections in 2019.

An SACP delegate who spoke to the weekly on condition of anonymity said the ANC needed to ensure Ramaphosa is elected President Jacob Zuma’s successor if it wanted to avoid a split that would cripple the party.

“You will see a lot of changes. If Ramaphosa does not emerge victorious in the conference in December, there are huge chances that we will be out of the ANC, and he might be leading that political party,” the delegate was quoted as saying.

“All indications are that he [Ramaphosa] is going to emerge victorious. But you know how the ANC operates; they do mischievous things. If they do that, then we’re out. It’s not even negotiable. If they do that, we’re out.”

The SACP congress is expected to take a resolution on whether the party will heed growing calls within its ranks to contest the 2019 elections independently.

Solly Mapaila, the SACP’s newly elected first deputy general secretary, confirmed to M&G that efforts were under way to work with civil society movements and party veterans to find solutions to pressing challenges facing the country.

“We cannot only rebuild the party based on what will happen in the ANC,” Mapaila said. “That’s why we have taken our own initiative to organise a wide range of social and progressive forces together and work with them.”

Mapaila added that at an Imbizo the SACP convened earlier this year in April, a lot of people indicated they could work with the party against state capture as one of the most immediate threats facing the alliance with the ANC and Cosatu.

“So, we’ve agreed to work with them on that. We’re not necessarily waiting for December to start doing something we have already begun, so this must continue,” he added.

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