CAPE TOWN, Western Cape — The removal of SACP Western Cape secretary Benson Ngqentsu from the provincial legislature has sharply intensified ANC-SACP tensions, signaling a deepening ideological fracture within the Tripartite Alliance. Following his dismissal, Ngqentsu has defiantly framed the expulsion as a “badge of honor,” vowing to accelerate the South African Communist Party’s independent working-class electoral strategy for the upcoming 2026 and 2029 local government elections.
Ngqentsu stated that his axing, alongside the potential removal of other communist councilors in areas like the Garden Route municipality, was entirely expected. He emphasized that his primary duty is to campaign for the SACP and uphold the ideals of a socialist-oriented national democratic revolution. If his removal is rooted in his commitment to the class struggle rather than participation in a “patronage scheme,” he proudly accepts it as a testament to his service to the people.
Defying the Polls with a Grassroots Strategy
Acknowledging that current polling data does not favor the SACP, Ngqentsu countered that dominant public opinion in a class-divided society is manufactured by the ruling class. He stressed that the party’s electoral push is fundamentally a “working-class process,” not merely an internal party maneuver. To reflect this, the SACP is fielding candidates directly from civil society, the trade union movement, and organic community activist circles, deliberately moving away from traditional political elites.
A major focus of the SACP’s post-November 4 agenda is halting the outsourcing of municipal services to the private sector. Ngqentsu pointed to the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) as a glaring example of systemic exploitation. He noted that in the City of Cape Town’s solid waste department, precarious EPWP workers now outnumber core municipal employees. He pledged that wherever the SACP gains leverage, this “new precarious layer of workers” will be absorbed into permanent, insourced roles, and councilors will be held strictly accountable to the communities they serve.
The 30-Year Ideological Drift and State Hollowing
When confronted with the fact that prominent SACP figures in national government—such as Cabinet Minister Blade Nzimande, Minister Gwede Mantashe, and former youth leader Muti Manamea—have failed to shift the ruling party’s trajectory, Ngqentsu traced the problem back decades.
He argued that the ANC abandoned the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) in 2006, adopting a “neoliberal austerity agenda” that the SACP has tried, but failed, to reconfigure for over 30 years. This policy shift, he claimed, directly led to the auctioning of state-owned entities, the unbundling of Eskom, and severe budget cuts.
To illustrate the consequences of these policy choices, Ngqentsu highlighted the deliberate hollowing out of the South African Police Service (SAPS). He asserted that the police force currently lacks vehicles, personnel, and intelligence capabilities by design, a direct result of the ruling elite’s entanglement with international capitalist market forces that reproduce poverty, inequality, and unemployment.
A Message to COSATU Ahead of Congress
With the COSATU congress approaching in a matter of weeks, speculation is mounting over whether the labor federation will be forced to choose between its alliance partners. Ngqentsu noted that his party’s first deputy secretary recently mentioned the SACP’s independent stance has complicated COSATU’s position.
In response, Ngqentsu urged the federation to look beyond partisan loyalty. He advised workers to base their decisions purely on class interests, casting their votes against privatization, budget cuts, and neoliberalism. He warned COSATU not to fracture over party divisions or allow the communist party to be used as a tool to “sell out the workers,” emphasizing that the true measure of any political entity is its unwavering representation of society’s most vulnerable.
