The SA Communist Party (SACP) organised Conference of the Left resolved to establish a new Council of the Left as a permanent co-ordinating structure aimed at unifying progressive formations around campaigns, political education and mass mobilisation.The council, which will have its first sitting in six weeks, would not become a political party or contest elections, but would instead co-ordinate action among trade unions, political parties, student organisations, civic groups, faith formations and community movements. The conference resolved the council’s first meeting must take place within six weeks and it will oversee a 12 month programme of action with measurable outcomes across key policy and mobilisation areas.“The current social relief of distress grant is inadequate and falls far below what is required for a dignified life. The conference notes millions who require income support remain excluded through restrictive criteria, administrative barriers and underfunding. “The struggle for a Universal Basic Income Grant must therefore be linked to expanded social protection, redistribution of wealth, land justice and the construction of economic alternatives that place human need before profit,” reads the document.The ANC stayed away from the Conference of the Left but several of its traditional alliance and affiliate partners were represented at the gathering including the SACP, Cosatu, Cosas, Sasco and Sanco. The conference brought together left wing parties and organisations seeking to co-ordinate opposition to what they described as the ANC’s increasingly neoliberal policy direction under the government of national unity (GNU).EFF leader Julius Malema and SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila used the event to attack the ANC-DA partnership, arguing it had deepened inequality, unemployment and economic exclusion. The conference also reflected growing frustration within sections of the broader liberation movement, with the SACP increasingly distancing itself from the ANC over electoral strategy and governance choices. ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula dismissed the gathering as anti-ANC. DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis focused on the divisions to criticise the ANC and the leftist bloc, describing in his weekly newsletter their politics as outdated and economically damaging. Hill-Lewis argued South Africa needed accelerated economic reform and private sector led growth rather than expanded state intervention. His comments highlighted the tensions within the GNU, where the DA continues to position itself as a reformist alternative while governing alongside the ANC nationally.