Knives are out between Limpopo ANC and the SACP

It is only five months before the crucial 4 November 2026 local government elections, but The Citizen can exclusively reveal that cracks have begun to show between two political giants in Limpopo.

The newly elected leadership of the ANC in Limpopo reshuffled SACP provincial secretary, Chueni Malebana, from the position of chairperson of the portfolio committee on health.

The party, under provincial chairperson Phophi Constance Ramathuba and provincial secretary Vhamusanda Reuben Madadzhe, also ordered Malebana to resign as a Member of the Provincial Legislature (MPL).

The action by the ANC comes after the SACP decided to contest the 2026 local government elections independently, without the ANC. This decision was announced by the party’s secretary-general, Solly Mapaila, during the SACP’s fifth Congress in December 2024.

In light of this, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said those with dual membership must choose which party they will campaign for prior to the elections, strictly prohibiting them from canvassing or campaigning in opposition to ANC-endorsed candidates.

In his closing remarks at the ANC Limpopo’s 11th provincial elective conference held in Polokwane earlier this year, party President Cyril Ramaphosa warned that there would be consequences for those who did not campaign for the ANC because they also held SACP membership.

“When you have aligned yourself with another organisation, and you don’t campaign for the ANC, and we see you campaigning for another party, now you are going to get yourself into big trouble with us, and first of all with me, because I expect you to campaign for the ANC,” said Ramaphosa.

Which ANC leaders have dual membership?

On Thursday, ANC Limpopo provincial spokesperson, Tonny Rachoene said party bigwigs who had dual membership but chose to remain in the ANC include Ramathuba, ANC deputy provincial secretary Pule “Frelimo” Shayi, ANC Limpopo head of organising Goodman Mtileni, and ANC Limpopo member of the provincial executive committee Ester Mokoele, amongst others.

‘Political attack’

On Friday, Rachoene confirmed Malebana’s sacking, saying the decision was above board as it formed part of discussions within the alliance ahead of the municipal polls in November.

But soon after Malebana was shown the door, the SACP reacted with a damning statement.

The party’s 1st deputy provincial secretary, Skinjar Ramugumo, said the SACP was perturbed that the ANC reshuffled only one portfolio – the Health Portfolio Committee, chaired by Malebana.

“No other chair was touched. This is a political attack, not an administration. The ANC is clearly worried that the SACP is alive, organised, and emerging stronger from a successful 9th Provincial Congress with a mandate to build the party and contest elections,” said Ramugumo in a statement.

He said the targeting of the SACP confirms the ANC’s fear of an independent working-class voice.

“The National Democratic Revolution [NDR] is prosecuted by the alliance, and the alliance is based on mutual respect, ideological contestation, and advancing the interests of workers and the poor.

“When an alliance partner unilaterally removes a SACP cadre from leadership while leaving all others intact, it reduces the SACP from an equal partner to a “rooigevaar” – a red danger to be neutralised. That is the same method the apartheid state used to silence the communist party.

“It undermines the very basis of the alliance and distorts the NDR into an ANC-only project.

“We are aware that the ANC leadership has been asking Cde Malebana to collapse the SACP in Limpopo. When he refused, as any disciplined communist cadre must, this targeted reshuffle followed. The message is clear: You maliciously comply or be punished,” he said.

Ramugumo said his comrades would not be diverted.

“Remove one chair, ten more cadres will rise to lead the working-class struggle,” he said.

“We campaigned for ANC 2024 elections. We will mobilise and take this matter to the alliance structures and to our constituents, workers, the unemployed, and the poor, whose interests are being undermined this way.

“We, however, as the SACP Limpopo, reaffirm our commitment to building a strong, independent party of the working class because we did not survive banning under apartheid only to be intimidated by the alliance partners in democracy,” he said.

SACP ‘vulnerable’

On Friday, an independent political analyst, ​Solly Rashilo, said the SACP’s reaction to losing a single committee chair reveals their deep vulnerability. Rashilo warned that if the SACP goes solo on the ballot, they face a harsh reality check.

“By complaining about being removed from legislative structures, the SACP inadvertently admits how much they rely on ANC-allocated state positions for institutional power and resources.

“Running an independent, nationwide, or even province-wide election campaign requires massive capital, infrastructure, and machinery that the SACP historically borrows from the ANC”.

Rashilo added that the SACP was used to campaigning for the ANC and enjoying the spoils of the alliance afterwards.

“If they go completely alone, they cut off their own safety net. They will have to convince the working class to vote against the ANC, while simultaneously losing all the patronage, committee chairs, and executive positions they currently hold through the ANC.

​”While the SACP has the grassroots activist structures to get onto the ballot alone, they are politically codependent. Going completely alone would likely expose them as a minority vanguard party rather than a massive electoral force,” Rashilo told The Citizen.