By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Conference of the Left has adopted a historic Declaration committing participating formations to rebuild the organised power of the working class and the poor.
The three-day conference, convened by the South African Communist Party (SACP) at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg, had brought together political parties, trade unions, civic organisations and other left formations.
Political parties represented at the conference included the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Socialist Party of Azania (SOPA), uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC), Azanian People’s Organisation (AZAPO), United Africans Transformation (UAT), Workers’ Socialist Party and Afrika Mayibuye Movement.
The gathering comes amid deepening tensions between the African National Congress (ANC) and the SACP after the ANC stayed away from the conference, dismissing it as a gathering that did not represent the left.
The SACP has rejected that criticism saying the conference is intended to build working-class unity, not create a new political party.
The Conference affirmed that the 1994 democratic advance was a historic victory of the people’s struggle against apartheid colonialism. It opened political space, extended democratic rights and created possibilities for deeper transformation. But the 1994 settlement did not resolve the national, class, gender and land questions.
It did not dismantle monopoly capitalist ownership and control of the economy. It did not return the land to the people. It did not place the commanding heights of the economy under democratic control.
The conference was being framed as an effort to rebuild organised left power outside the limits of parliamentary politics alone.
AZAPO president Nelvis Qekema said the conference should not become another “talk shop” or meaningless national dialogue, but should build a fighting united front with clear political objectives.
“The GNU is a minority government formed by the ANC and the DA, which represents white supremacy. Why was it difficult for the ANC to accommodate the EFF or the MKP?” he asked.
Qekema said any forum seeking only limited reforms would not be worth pursuing.
Afrika Mayibuye Movement first deputy president Thato Wa Magogodi said the left had to unite around practical measures to alleviate poverty, politicise the masses towards socialism and build a platform capable of advancing a more radical programme.
Magogodi said a multipolar world did not automatically mean a more just world, warning that capitalism could survive under several centres of power.
The Conference adopted a first-phase Programme of Action organised around eight clusters:
- Economic transformation, work and livelihoods.
- Cost of living, public services and social protection.
- Land, restitution, redistribution and local democratic economies.
- Public health, NHI and social reproduction.
- Social violence, community safety and working-class unity.
- Climate justice, energy sovereignty and the just transition.
- Internationalism, Pan-Africanism, peace and anti-imperialist solidarity.
- Review of the 1996 Constitution, state power and democratic transformation.
The Conference affirmed that the Left cannot rebuild working-class power through declarations alone. It must build the capacity to organise, educate, mobilise, strike, campaign, negotiate, research, communicate and implement.
SACP General Secretary Solly Mapaila concluded the conference by announcing the establishment of the Council of the Left as a standing instrument for coordination.
He emphasized that the gathering marked a definitive shift from left fragmentation to unified action, while respecting the autonomy of all participating organizations.