SACP believes running for upcoming Limpopo by-election will be litmus test for 2026 polls

JOHANNESBURG - The South African Communist Party (SACP) plans to run for an upcoming by-election in Polokwane in what it believes will be a litmus test ahead of 2026’s local government elections.

The SACP has fielded its own candidate in what is historically an African National Congress (ANC) stronghold, pitting the alliance partners against each other.

SACP ward councillor candidate, Obed Thabana, will go up against the ANC’s Mokadi Boloko and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)'s Michael Mongatane in the ward 13 by-election in Polokwane in Limpopo in July.

SACP delegates who attended the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)’s 18th national congress in Boksburg on Thursday said this was proof that the communist party would not tiptoe around the ANC, despite their decade-long pact.

The SACP and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) have not let the ANC forget their frustrations about the decision to form a Government of National Unity (GNU) with opposition parties with little consultation with its own alliance partners.

This has only added insult to injury for the SACP, which previously raised concerns about the slow pace of the reconfiguration of the alliance.

"We remain committed to strengthening it [the tripartite alliance], but we are saying for 22 years there have been boardroom discussions about the reconfiguration of the alliance that has never happened. There’s never been a political will to implement this thing," said SACP central committee member Tinyiko Ntini.

He said the SACP’s loyalty to the tripartite alliance did not make it a lesser contender.

"We are not a league of the ANC, but we are an independent political party that is in alliance with another political party."

Although the NUM is tipped to support the SACP at the municipal elections, a resolution is yet to be passed at a special congress.