COSATU Weighs Its Political Future With the ANC and SACP

South Africa · Politics

Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand  |  15th National Congress: September 14–17, 2026

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) — the country's largest trade union federation, representing close to two million workers across 20 affiliated unions — is heading into its most consequential political moment in years. With its 15th National Congress set for September 14–17 in Midrand, COSATU still has not decided which of its two historic alliance partners, the African National Congress (ANC) or the South African Communist Party (SACP), it will formally back in November's local government elections. The uncertainty reflects a deepening rift within the 36-year-old tripartite alliance that has defined South African post-apartheid politics since 1990.

How the rift began

The roots of the current crisis stretch back years. At its own 15th National Congress in 2022, the SACP first resolved to contest future elections independently of the ANC, demanding a "reconfigured alliance" built on collaborative leadership rather than what it viewed as a top-down relationship dominated by the ANC. That resolution was reaffirmed more forcefully at the SACP's Fifth Special National Congress in Boksburg in December 2024, where the party committed specifically to standing on its own in the 2026 local government elections — a decision driven in large part by the SACP's long-standing rejection of the Government of National Unity (GNU), the coalition government formed after the ANC lost its outright parliamentary majority in the 2024 general elections. SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila has repeatedly argued the GNU, which includes the Democratic Alliance and Freedom Front Plus, does not represent the interests of the working class and black South Africans.

The ANC responded firmly. Its National Executive Committee took a hard line against the SACP's move, warning that any ANC member who campaigns or votes for the SACP risks losing their ANC membership — leaning on constitutional provisions that bar members from supporting rival parties. That put thousands of South Africans holding dual ANC-SACP membership, a long-standing and previously uncontroversial arrangement, in an increasingly difficult position.

COSATU caught in the middle

Caught between its two alliance partners, COSATU has spent much of 2026 trying — without success so far — to avert an open split. COSATU parliamentary coordinator Matthew Parks has repeatedly stressed that the federation's "bottom line" is to unite the alliance rather than pick a side, and that COSATU retains a standing resolution to support the ANC as leader of the alliance even as it works to maintain its relationship with the SACP.

"We have a standing resolution to support our ally, the ANC, the leader of the alliance, at elections. That hasn't changed," Parks said. "We do want to see the Alliance reclaim its leadership role in society. We do want to see the ANC being renewed. We want to see the SACP being strengthened. And we want to see how to reconfigure and really strengthen and unite the Alliance."

But holding that middle ground has proven difficult in practice. COSATU's affiliated unions have taken visibly divergent positions after consulting their own memberships: the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) has obtained a mandate to support the SACP, while the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (SADTU) has mandated support for the ANC. Other affiliates, including the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union, the South African Municipal Workers Union, and the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union, have previously called on COSATU to abandon the ANC altogether in favour of the SACP — a call first raised at COSATU's 14th National Congress back in September 2022 that remains unresolved four years later.

A federation warning against division

COSATU's Central Executive Committee (CEC), the federation's highest decision-making body between congresses, met in late August and issued a stark warning about the risks the ongoing ANC-SACP tension poses to worker unity. The federation said it feared public sparring between its alliance partners served only to weaken rather than strengthen the alliance, and pledged to keep pushing for the urgent convening of the alliance's political council to resolve tensions ahead of what is expected to be a fiercely contested set of municipal polls.

"The federation will continue engaging its partners and will intensify its efforts to convene the alliance and develop a common programme before and after the local government elections," COSATU said in a statement following its CEC meeting. Outgoing general secretary Solly Phetoe stressed that the federation's political programme "must remain a unifying federation position," warning that the 15th National Congress "must not become a platform for factional political battles."

Complicating matters further, reports ahead of Congress indicate that ANC candidate lists already submitted for the November elections reportedly exclude sitting SACP councillors — a development that, if it holds, may render moot much of COSATU's hoped-for reconciliation before delegates even gather in Midrand.

What Congress will actually decide

According to Parks, the federation deliberately avoided making a decision before Congress, insisting the choice "belongs to delegates to decide upon." Delegates arriving in Midrand broadly face three options: maintain COSATU's existing resolution backing the ANC, shift support to the SACP, or attempt to craft a middle-ground position that accommodates both — formally or informally — without fracturing the federation itself. Cosatu's KwaZulu-Natal leader, Edwin Mkhize, described the federation's predicament bluntly, noting that its membership includes dual ANC-SACP members, ANC-only members, and SACP-only members, meaning "the DNA of our membership is very different" and any resolution must ultimately be led by what rank-and-file members decide.

The SACP, for its part, has publicly urged COSATU not to let the election question divide it, framing the underlying issue as one of political and economic direction rather than personal loyalty. "We are calling on Cosatu to unite behind prioritising better conditions for workers across the economy, in all industries and sectors, rather than being divided along electoral issues," the party said ahead of Congress, while reaffirming that its own decision to contest independently does not amount to a formal break from the alliance.

Key facts at a glance

Detail	Information
COSATU 15th National Congress	September 14–17, 2026, Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand
COSATU membership	~2 million workers, 20 affiliated unions
Tripartite alliance formed	1990 (ANC, COSATU, SACP)
SACP independent-contest resolution	First adopted 2022; reaffirmed December 2024
Local government elections	November 4, 2026
Affiliates mandated for SACP	NUMSA
Affiliates mandated for ANC	SADTU
Current national minimum wage	R30.23/hour (up from R20 in 2019)

What's at stake

Beyond the immediate electoral question, COSATU's decision carries broader symbolic weight for a labour movement that has anchored South Africa's post-apartheid political order for more than three decades. An outright endorsement of either the ANC or the SACP risks alienating a substantial share of COSATU's own membership and could accelerate the alliance's fragmentation at a moment when both the ANC and the SACP are already contending with declining electoral support and rising political fragmentation nationally. A genuine middle path — one that preserves COSATU's relationships with both parties without diluting its political relevance — remains, by the federation's own admission, difficult to construct in the current climate, but it is the outcome COSATU's leadership continues to say it is fighting for as Congress approaches.

Sources

• Business Day — "News Analysis | Cosatu heads into congress with political fault lines exposed"
• Business Day — "Half of Cosatu leadership open to another term before national congress"
• Sunday Times — "Cosatu caught between ANC and SACP"
• Eyewitness News — "COSATU's ANC support faces test as SACP eyes 2026 local elections"
• Eyewitness News — "COSATU to host Congress ahead of local government elections"
• African News Agency — "COSATU to decide ANC, SACP election support at congress"
• African News Agency — "SACP reaffirms Alliance ties despite independent election bid"
• The Citizen — "Cosatu tries to save alliance as ANC and SACP trade blows"
• Joburg ETC — "Cosatu urges unity as ANC and SACP clash over election breakaway"
• Cape Times — "SACP defies ANC directive on dual membership"
• Modern Treatise — "Mzansi Now: SACP Running Independently of ANC"

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