‘DA is a no’: Mapaila rules out coalition with DA as post-election negotiations loom

SA Communist Party general secretary Solly Mapaila has dismissed the prospect of the DA and SACP working together.

Working with the Democratic Alliance (DA) is off the table for the SA Communist Party (SACP), with general secretary Solly Mapaila saying the party will not enter a coalition with its political rival as parties prepare for negotiations following the 2026 Local Government Elections (LGE).

Mapaila made the position clear on Sunday, insisting that while the SACP was prepared to engage with other political parties, an agreement with the DA was out of the question.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the election results announcement at the National Results Operations Centre in Midrand, he dismissed the prospect of the two parties working together.

“No, no, certainly not. I mean, we are a part of the working people,” Mapaila said.

He defended the SACP’s position by drawing a sharp distinction between the party’s political and economic outlook and what he described as the DA's interests.

Mapaila also pointed to the disparity in reported political funding, saying the SACP had not received even R1 million from any force of capital. In contrast, the DA had received more than R100 million in declared funding.

“So that's the party that is completely the opposite of what we represent,” he said.

The SACP leader also questioned whether communities governed by the DA were receiving adequate services, pointing to working-class neighbourhoods in Cape Town as an example.

“Go to Cape Town, to working-class communities and the surrounding areas, and see what today, in the municipalities they've been controlling over the last few years, is still happening in the streets,” he said.

“The working people are not being serviced.”

He argued that voter frustration and advertising algorithms had contributed to support for the DA, but maintained that the party would not address the economic challenges facing working-class communities.

“It will not resolve their problems. It will bring more capitalism. It will bring more tenders into the system. But the bottom line is that they are our opposite,” Mapaila said.

He further described the DA as a reactionary political force that, in the SACP's view, represented an economic system that neglected poor and working-class people.

The hardline position reflects the party's longstanding opposition to the ANC's partnership with the DA in the Government of National Unity (GNU), formed after the 2024 national elections.

The SACP criticised the arrangement as a betrayal of working-class interests, opposed what it considers neoliberal economic policies and raised concerns about disagreements over key interventions, including National Health Insurance and Black Economic Empowerment.

The party subsequently decided to contest the 2026 local government elections independently of the ANC, marking a significant departure from its traditional electoral alliance.

The SACP emerged as one of the exceptional surprise performers in the local elections.