The African National Congress (ANC) must lead by example when calling for help in strengthening and deepening unity in the tripartite alliance, the South African Communist Party (SACP) has said.

"If the leadership does one thing and calls on ANC structures, members and alliance partners to do something different, that will make it difficult for the leadership to achieve its objective," SACP spokesperson Alex Mashilo said on Wednesday.

The ANC on Wednesday called on its members to refrain from making public the names of their preferred candidates ahead of its 54th national elective conference in December.

It asked its tripartite alliance partners, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the SACP, to stop being part of "divisive tendencies that have engulfed the movement".

"The SACP has not made any pronouncement endorsing a name of an individual or names of individuals because it is important for us to be consistent," Mashilo said.

Last month, SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande said some protocol and policy about the succession debate was needed. He expressed concern about the turbulence that characterised the ANC’s leadership succession.

Mashilo referred to President Jacob Zuma’s interview on SABC radio last week, in which he spoke about how outgoing AU chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was ready to lead the party. It was not a tradition for the ANC’s deputy president to succeed the president, Zuma said.

Cosatu subsequently called on ANC leaders to not play cute with principles which had served the movement and stood the test of time.

Cosatu said it had used the argument that the ANC’s deputy president should succeed the president when it campaigned for Zuma to succeed Thabo Mbeki at the ANC’s elective conference in Polokwane in 2007.

Mashilo said he agreed with the ANC that the alliance should help build unity, but this would only be effective if its leaders "walked the talk".