JOHANNESBURG, Sunday 30 August 2026 — COSATU has told its affiliated unions to determine their own positions on whether to support the ANC or the South African Communist Party in the November local government elections, postponing a federation-wide decision as the electoral split between its two alliance partners tests organised labour’s political unity.
The decision followed a meeting of COSATU’s Central Executive Committee ahead of the federation’s 15th National Congress in Johannesburg next month.
COSATU president Zingiswa Losi said affiliates would canvass their members before the issue is debated at the congress.
The dispute has become one of the most consequential changes to the ANC’s traditional election machinery ahead of the 4 November local government elections.
The South African Communist Party is contesting the municipal elections separately from the African National Congress on a broad scale, meaning the two organisations that have traditionally campaigned together will compete for many of the same voters.
COSATU, the third member of the Tripartite Alliance, is consequently being forced to decide how its political support should operate when both of its principal alliance partners appear on competing ballots.
Losi said the federation would not rush the decision.
She said maintaining the unity of workers and COSATU’s affiliates had to remain paramount while unions developed mandates ahead of the national congress.
“Every union has a responsibility to canvass this discussion within itself,” Losi told SABC News on Saturday.
The mandates will then be brought to the congress for debate.
COSATU currently has a standing resolution supporting the ANC in elections.
Federation spokesperson Matthew Parks told the Sunday Times that the position is reviewed at each national congress and that September’s gathering would ultimately determine COSATU’s approach to November.
The federation has therefore not formally withdrawn its support for the ANC.
Instead, affiliates are being permitted to develop different mandates before delegates attempt to establish a common position.
Those differences are already substantial.
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union has formally endorsed the SACP for the municipal elections.
Other influential COSATU affiliates, including the South African Democratic Teachers Union, Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union and National Union of Mineworkers, are reported to favour continued support for the ANC.
That division gives COSATU’s September congress direct electoral significance.
The federation represents roughly two million workers, according to the Sunday Times, and its affiliates have historically provided the ANC with organisers, campaigners and political mobilisation during elections.
A substantial movement of union campaign infrastructure towards the SACP could therefore affect contests in municipalities where relatively small changes in support determine whether the ANC retains control or requires coalition partners.
Conversely, continued backing for the ANC from most large affiliates would limit the organisational advantage the SACP gains from contesting independently.
The dispute is particularly relevant in Gauteng and other highly urbanised provinces where large numbers of public-sector and organised workers live.
Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni are all expected to produce competitive elections in November, with neither the ANC nor its major opponents guaranteed outright majorities.
Even comparatively modest shifts among traditional ANC constituencies could consequently alter the balance between parties and the coalition combinations available after the election.
The SACP’s decision to contest independently stems partly from its opposition to the ANC’s formation of the Government of National Unity with parties including the DA and Freedom Front Plus after the 2024 national election.
The party, led by general secretary Solly Mapaila, argues that the alliance has not been sufficiently reconfigured and that independently contesting elections will give workers a direct political alternative.
The ANC has rejected that approach.
The split became particularly visible at the ANC’s local government election manifesto launch in Diepsloot on 23 August.
Unlike previous major ANC election events, the SACP was not invited to deliver a formal message of support.
ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe told supporters that the SACP had “walked away” by deciding to contest independently.
COSATU and the South African National Civic Organisation remained on the programme.
The ANC has also tightened its position towards members who simultaneously belong to the SACP.
Its National Executive Committee has resolved that ANC members who campaign for the SACP against ANC candidates could face disciplinary action under provisions prohibiting members from supporting competing political organisations.
That creates an additional complication because dual ANC-SACP membership has historically been commonplace within the alliance.
The electoral split therefore extends beyond disagreements between national leaders.
It could force councillors, activists, trade unionists and local organisers who belong to both organisations to decide which party they will actively support during the municipal campaign.
Candidate nominations closed on Friday, making reconciliation before the election increasingly difficult.
According to the Sunday Times, candidate lists submitted by the ANC do not include SACP councillors who opted to contest through the communist party.
The two parties are therefore no longer merely debating whether the SACP should contest separately; they have entered the election as competing organisations.
COSATU now occupies the politically difficult position between them.
The federation’s leadership is reportedly seeking to avoid a divisive winner-takes-all vote at next month’s congress.
One possible compromise under discussion would encourage workers to support a party within the alliance without requiring COSATU nationally to choose between the ANC and SACP.
No such position has yet been formally adopted.
Parks said affiliates would arrive at the congress with their respective mandates and stressed that maintaining the unity of the federation was central to the process.
He said COSATU also wanted the broader alliance to remain intact after the municipal elections regardless of how the parties competed against each other.
The September congress will therefore have to resolve two interconnected questions: who organised labour should support on 4 November, and whether an alliance constructed around common electoral support for the ANC can continue functioning when two of its principal members are electoral rivals.
For the ANC, the outcome could determine how much of its traditional labour movement campaign network remains available during a municipal election in which it is attempting to recover support after falling below 50% nationally in 2024.
For the SACP, securing meaningful backing from major COSATU affiliates would provide organisational resources and established networks as it attempts to demonstrate that its decision to contest independently can translate into municipal representation.
The issue will now move to COSATU’s national congress in September.
Until then, individual unions will continue developing their mandates — leaving ANC and SACP campaigners competing not only for voters ahead of November, but for the support of the organised labour movement that has historically campaigned alongside both of them.
