Communist ministers in the African National Congress-led cabinet may have to choose between leaving the party or becoming opposition members.
This is what the SA Communist Party in Gauteng wants, after it resolved on Tuesday that the party should contest elections from 2009 at all levels by fielding its own candidates.
The provincial SACP said it would lobby hard to win over other provinces, especially at the central committee meeting this weekend.
The final decision rests with the SACP's national congress in July.
If Gauteng wins the debate at the congress, current communist ministers and other political office-bearers in the government on an ANC ticket could face a dilemma.
There are high-ranking communist leaders in cabinet, including the Ministers of Safety and Security, Charles Nqakula (SACP chairperson); Provincial and Local Government, Sydney Mufamadi; and, Intelligence, Ronnie Kasrils.
SACP Gauteng provincial secretary Zico Tamela told Independent Newspapers Tuesday: "Members will have to abide or make a choice of leaving the party. It will not be correct to start at individual level; the organisation must take a decision."
Tamela said the decision to contest elections meant that the SACP would be in opposition to the ANC.
"If we use the term 'opposition' loosely... we could be characterised like that. You have the ruling party and everybody else is opposition," he said.
He agreed that this could worsen the already tense relationship between the ruling party and its ally, especially if the erstwhile comrades campaign against each other.
"There might be tensions but what we would like (to see) is that when we campaign as the Communist Party, we will focus more on the issues of the people and how we think they must be addressed, but not go on the rampage attacking the ANC," he said.
SACP national spokesperson Malesela Maleka said on Tuesday that the issue was part of "the engagement".
"We have always said the discussions will take place at congress."
The alliance would have to be restructured if the SACP went it alone.
So far, the SACP and Cosatu are demanding a pact in which they could consider withdrawing their support if the ANC let them down.
In 2006, the SACP registered with the Independent Electoral Commission in case of any eventuality.
However, the party's official line was that it wanted to prevent anyone from registering the party name with the IEC, and that it wanted to benefit from tax reprieves.
However, insiders said the SACP was unlikely to take a decision to go it alone at its July congress, but the party would wait until the ANC conference in December.
A senior leader once told Independent Newspapers that if the ANC's leadership was infiltrated by communists, unionists and so-called leftists, with their favourite presidential candidate, there would be no need for the SACP to go it alone.
This is why Cosatu is having a central committee meeting immediately after the ANC conference to, according to the federation's Zwelinzima Vavi, assess the situation.
The SACP's decision will also depend on support from the labour movement.
