Karima Brown
9 May 2008
Johannesburg — SOUTH African Communist Party (SACP) MPs could, for the first time, be elected to Parliament on an African National Congress (ANC) ticket, making the SACP a vocal and identifiable bloc in the legislature representing leftist policy positions of the ruling alliance.
If an ANC-drafted proposal, to be discussed at this weekend's tripartite alliance summit, is accepted, the SACP would have much more power in its alliance with the ANC and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), including having a say over the appointment of premiers and mayors.
The document proposes that the ANC's leftist allies sit on its deployment committee, giving them a say over which ANC leaders are deployed into public office.
This committee is also where the party's MP list is compiled, a process that begins in August.
Under the resolutions taken at the ANC's conference in Polokwane, the deployment committee together with provincial executive committees will decide on the appointment of premiers and mayors.
While the president has the prerogative to appoint the cabinet, the proposals in the document, if accepted, could influence the appointment of ministers, suggesting that the SACP and Cosatu will be able to influence key portfolios such as the economic cluster, foreign affairs and social transformation.
Other key areas of participation proposed for the SACP and Cosatu include representation and input on the ANC's national executive committee subcommittees. This ranges from economic and social transformation to preparation of the ANC's election manifesto.
These proposals indicate a marked departure from the chilly relations between the ANC and its allies during the era when President Thabo Mbeki still led the party.
However, the document stresses that all MPs would still be accountable to the ANC in political terms.
The document states that "considerations should be given to the positions of the SACP in debates in the legislatures" and that specific SACP members who serve as MPs should be identified to give voice to the party's views on political and economic questions.
If this view carries support at the alliance summit which begins at Gallagher Estate in Midrand today, the SACP could well emerge as a significant partner in policy and governance in the new ANC government when Mbeki steps down in April.
The ANC's discussion document comes as a result of a demand from the SACP and Cosatu for the alliance to be reconfigured.
Jacob Zuma's election as ANC president last year also saw the catapulting of senior SACP figures into the ruling party's leadership structures.
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