From Alliance to Independence: The SACP's Path Forward to Reclaim Revolutionary Integrity

Dr. Reneva Fourie

The South African Communist Party's celebration of its 104th anniversary, from 30 July to 1 August, occurs at a groundbreaking moment in its history. Its decision to contest elections independently is not merely a tactical adjustment. This decision reflects a sober assessment of the country's political realities and is a necessary response to the multiple crises affecting it.

The original basis of the Alliance – currently comprised of the ANC, SACP, COSATU and SANCO – rested on the shared understanding that racial oppression, patriarchy and class exploitation were intertwined. National liberation, as envisaged in the Freedom Charter, was viewed as a prerequisite for the socialist transformation of society. The Alliance was a strategic vehicle for mass mobilisation towards this shared vision. But alliances, as Lenin reminded us, are historical constructs that must serve a revolutionary purpose and require constant re-evaluation.

Since 1994, South Africa has undergone a political transition without an economic transformation. The commanding heights of the economy remain in the hands of monopoly capital. The post-apartheid state inherited the formal architecture of democracy while leaving the structures of capitalist accumulation intact. 

The ANC-led government primarily embraced neoliberal macroeconomic policies that prioritised global capital over national interests, limiting the state's ability to effectively promote development for the benefit of South Africans. The result has been the reproduction of mass poverty, unemployment, inequality and crime. These structural failures have fuelled disillusionment with the liberation movement. The working class, once a leading force for change, is now largely excluded from real political influence.

 Within the Alliance, the SACP’s influence has diminished as the ANC has come to be dominated by opportunist strata, many of whom entered the movement after 1990 to pursue private enrichment. This process has weakened the ANC’s historical identity and transformed it into an increasingly bourgeois formation.

Joe Slovo warned of such a development. In his essay Has Socialism Failed?, he highlighted the danger of bureaucratisation and class compromise in liberation movements that enter state power without altering the material foundations of oppression. The rise of patronage, corruption and internal factionalism within the ANC has vindicated this analysis. The dissolution of the National Party and absorption of its members, along with those of apartheid-era institutions, further diluted the ANC’s progressive character.

The working class has borne the brunt of this degeneration. Local government has become a site of elite contestation rather than a means of popular empowerment. Service delivery failures and corruption have alienated communities, while the voices of the poor are increasingly marginalised in national policy discourse. 

Electoral politics have shifted in favour of well-financed capitalist parties, many of which receive external support from Western-aligned foundations and donors. Much of the media, aligned with elite interests, has played a key role in shaping narratives that delegitimise the liberation movement while promoting the opposition.

The 2024 general election confirmed this trend. Although the ANC retained the largest share of votes, it fell below 50 per cent and entered a Government of National Unity with the Democratic Alliance. This decision was not the result of democratic will, but rather a response to pressure from capital and foreign interests. 

The DA’s connection to imperialist institutions and its role in advancing neoliberal orthodoxy are well documented. The GNU represents a class project aimed at restoring the full dominance of capital and undermining the last remnants of transformative policy within the state.

Faced with this reality, the SACP cannot remain confined to a subordinate role within the Alliance. The decision to contest elections independently is rooted in Leninist strategy. For Lenin, participation in bourgeois institutions was a method for revolutionary agitation and exposure, not an endorsement of the system. 

The Party’s presence in elections is, therefore, a means to assert working-class interests, build political clarity, and offer an alternative pole of power. It is not an abandonment of the ANC, but a necessary correction to restore the movement’s revolutionary integrity.

The SACP has also advanced the idea of a Left Popular Front. This formation, rooted in the Marxist concept of the united front, seeks to bring together trade unions, community movements and progressive organisations around a common minimum programme. The goal is to build a mass-based movement capable of resisting neoliberalism and advancing a socialist alternative. 

At the same time, the SACP continues to support the reconfiguration of the Alliance. This reconfiguration must involve democratic engagement, strategic coordination and mutual accountability. It cannot remain an informal arrangement in which the ANC monopolises decision-making. 

The Alliance must be restructured to reflect the balance of forces within society and the need for a socialist orientation to the National Democratic Revolution. The SACP’s role within the Alliance must be recognised not only symbolically, but in the structural transformation of the economy.

The pursuit of electoral independence and the building of a Left Popular Front are not contradictory. Both are responses to the changing material conditions of post-apartheid South Africa. The class character of the state has not shifted adequately. Racism, patriarchy and tribalism remain embedded in society. The transition to political democracy was a moment of historical importance, but without economic liberation, it remains incomplete. The second, more radical phase of the revolution demands bold and decisive leadership.

The SACP has the historical legitimacy, ideological clarity and organisational roots to lead this phase. Its tradition of struggle, rooted in the working class, positions it to reclaim the revolutionary mandate of the liberation movement. The Party must now deepen its presence in communities, expand its cadre base, and develop the organisational capacity required to contest and exercise power. The ultimate aim is not merely parliamentary presence, but the creation of a socialist society in which all South Africans benefit from the country’s wealth.

The working class cannot afford further delay. The crisis of capitalism is sharpening. Forces opposed to economic justice are advancing ideologically and institutionally. The SACP must step forward as a unifying agent for the working-class struggle. In asserting its independence, the SACP is laying the foundations for a new phase of revolutionary advancement.

* Dr Reneva Fourie is a policy analyst specialising in governance, development and security.

** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL, Independent Media or The African.