African National Congress president Cyril Ramaphosa said the party remains committed to preserving the tripartite alliance despite growing tensions with the South African Communist Party over its decision to contest future elections independently.
Addressing COSATU’s 8th Central Committee meeting in Benoni, Johannesburg on Wednesday, Ramaphosa said breaking or weakening the alliance would not serve anyone’s interests.
“The ANC remains committed to the strategic alliance that we have. The ANC remains committed to the objectives of the NDR and in the end, we are irrevocably committed to strengthening the alliance,” Ramaphosa told delegates.
The statement comes amid deteriorating relations between the ANC and SACP following the Communist Party’s announcement that it will contest the 2026 local government elections independently for the first time in democratic South Africa. At the heart of the two parties’ differences is what the SACP says is the ANC’s refusal to reconfigure the alliance.
SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila has repeatedly criticized the ANC’s decision to form a Government of National Unity with the Democratic Alliance after losing its parliamentary majority in the 2024 elections. The SACP considers the DA an ideological enemy pursuing neoliberal policies.
“As president of the ANC, I have always been clear that breaking this alliance or weakening this alliance is not in our best interests. Breaking this alliance or weakening this alliance is not in the best interest of all of us and we need to deal with all the challenges of reconfiguration, how alliance partners are respected,” Ramaphosa said.
COSATU president Zingiswa Losi urged both parties to resolve their differences without dividing workers. “We love the ANC of Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela. We love the SACP of Joe Slovo and Chris Hani. We need our alliance partners to resolve their challenges and to engage the federation on this,” she said in her opening address on Monday.
The tripartite alliance between the ANC, SACP and COSATU dates back to the struggle against apartheid in the 1920s. Since 1994, the SACP and COSATU have not contested elections independently, instead fielding candidates through the ANC.
The SACP’s 2022 congress resolved to contest elections independently, citing the ANC’s failure to implement alliance decisions and its neoliberal economic policies. Mapaila has accused the ANC of arrogance and conducting “meaningless meetings” that fail to produce implementation.
COSATU has not yet decided whether it will support the ANC or SACP in the 2026 elections. The federation’s upcoming congress will determine its electoral stance between its two alliance partners.
Despite the tensions, Ramaphosa maintained that the ANC has no intention of interfering with the SACP’s decision but disagrees with it fundamentally.
“We believe that this decision has fundamental implications for the strategy and programme of the National Democratic Revolution and the alliance that has led the struggle for liberation in our country since the 1920s,” he said at an August meeting.
The ANC secured only 40 percent of votes in the 2024 elections, forcing it to form a coalition government for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994.
