'WE MUST STAND TOGETHER': LOSI DRAWS THE LINE ON ALLIANCE UNITY AHEAD OF NOVEMBER POLLS
- Mpho Dube
- 8 minutes ago
- 3 min read
COSATU President tells Polokwane rally the Tripartite Alliance “dare not fail” liberation giants as SACP, ANC prepare for separate ballot battles
By Mpho Dube, Editor-in-Chief
The Azanian | Truth. Fearless. Unfiltered.
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POLOKWANE — COSATU President Zingiswa Losi used the federation’s National May Day Rally on Friday, 1 May 2026, to issue a direct appeal for Tripartite Alliance unity, warning that the November local government elections “should not divide the alliance.”
Speaking to thousands at the Peter Mokaba Stadium, Losi framed unity not as sentiment, but strategy. “The alliance must always remain united, as its components are allies rather than opponents,” she said. “We must ensure that it emerges victorious at the local government elections and not allow differences to divide the organisations.”
Losi’s call comes as the ANC and SACP prepare to contest the 4 November polls separately for the first time in democratic South Africa. ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula last week gave dual ANC-SACP members 10 days to declare their allegiance — a move the SACP described as intimidation.
But Losi was unflinching: “This is an Alliance forged through stay aways, strikes, prison, exile and funerals. It is an Alliance built by such giants as OR Tambo, Joe Slovo, Chris Hani, Elijah Barayi and Helen Joseph.”
“This leadership of the Alliance, you dare not fail Collins Chabane, Joyce Mashamba, Ruth First and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.”
Limpopo Premier and ANC Provincial Chairperson Dr Phophi Ramathuba echoed Losi from the stage, noting that the party’s recently elected provincial executive committee includes SACP cadres.
She admitted the SACP’s decision to contest independently has strained relations with the ANC, but said: “The focus should be on ensuring that the ANC continues to lead the alliance. People of Limpopo believe in the alliance.”
In its May Day message, the SACP reaffirmed commitment to the alliance and dual membership. “Any threat against dual membership places the alliance in great peril,” it warned.
“The SACP sees no contradiction between the SACP contesting elections directly and the continuation of the Alliance. These are not mutually exclusive.”
The SACP has called for more than a decade for a “reconfiguration” of the alliance — reframing decision-making, policy coordination, and accountability between organisations. “The reconfiguration must take into account the changes in the political ecosystem… The alliance can only make significant progress when it seriously implements the principle of reconfiguration on Cosatu and the working-class movement.”
Losi positioned COSATU as the defender of that unity. “This Federation of Mark Shope and Nana Abrahams will unapologetically defend its unity,” she said.
“As we head to the most contested local elections since the dawn of democracy, this Alliance must be united. We are allies and not opponents. We must work hand in glove as we engage and mobilise voters.”
She closed with the rally’s founding cry: An Injury to One is An Injury to All. Workers of the World Unite. You Have Nothing to Lose But Chains of Exploitation and Slavery.
With the SACP insisting its electoral run does not end the alliance, and the ANC demanding loyalty declarations, Losi has emerged as the voice calling both sides back to the movement’s first principle: the working class cannot afford a divided front.
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