NATASHA MARRIAN: Communist party mulls solo fight at polls
Affiliate unions are debating whether unions should throw their weight behind the SACP to contest elections, writes Natasha Marrian
Donald Trump’s election as US president is yet another instance of a new wave of nationalist and populist politics globally. SA is no different. The rise of the nationalist "premier league" in the governing ANC and of populist EFF leader Julius Malema is clear evidence this phenomenon has long been lapping at our shores. As with Trump, in the absence of a credible alternative, the premier league — comprising the leaders of the North West, Mpumalanga and Free State, supported by sections of KwaZulu-Natal, the ANC Youth League and the ANC Women’s League — is set to take control of the party at its elective conference in 2017. Recognition of this prospect has started to induce serious discussions in the left axis of the ANC-led alliance about the possibility of contesting for state power. It has happened in the past that the South African Communist Party (SACP) considered entering elections on its own, and it admits in its document on state power and elections released on Wednesday: "T...
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