Solly Afrika Mapaila is a South African politician who is the General Secretary of the

South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded on 12 February 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), and tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by t ...

. He was elected unopposed on 15 July 2022 in his current position at the SACP National Congress. Solly Mapaila was appointed as the Second Deputy General Secretary of the

in 2012.

Career

Mapaila was a member of

Umkhonto weSizwe uMkhonto weSizwe (; abbreviated MK; ) was the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress (ANC), founded by Nelson Mandela in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre. Its mission was to fight against the South African government to brin ...

and operated outside of South Africa prior to 1994. On returning to South Africa in 1994, he was integrated into the

South African Defence Force The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence Fo ...

and stationed at Thaba Tshwane. He is a critic of corruption in the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

and the South African government, and of the leadership of former South African president,

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan names Nxamalala and Msholozi. Zuma was a for ...

. A group of Zuma supporters threatened to open criminal charges against him if he continued to say that the president is corrupt. Mapaila directly questioned the purported intelligence report titled "Operation Checkmate" used by President

to fire the former Minister of Finance

Pravin Gordhan Pravin Jamnadas Gordhan (12 April 1949 – 13 September 2024) was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist who held various ministerial posts in the Cabinet of South Africa. He served as Minister of Finance from 2009 until 2014, ...

. He led calls from within the

Tripartite Alliance The Tripartite Alliance is an alliance between the African National Congress (ANC), the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP). The ANC holds a plurality in the South African parliament, ...

for the resignation of President

. Mapaila was considered a leading candidate to succeed

Blade Nzimande Bonginkosi Emmanuel "Blade" Nzimande (born 14 April 1958 in Edendale near Pietermaritzburg) is a South African politician, sociologist, and former anti-apartheid activist who is currently serving as Minister of Science, Technology and Innov ...

as general secretary of the SACP for a number of years and was ultimately elected to this position in 2022.

References

Living people People from Msunduzi Local Municipality South African Communist Party politicians African National Congress politicians Year of birth missing (living people) Balobedu people {{SouthAfrica-politician-stub