A future where the Democratic Alliance (DA) takes over from the African National Congress (ANC) is not inconceivable, South African Communist Party (SACP) deputy chairperson Thulas Nxesi said on Thursday.

“Imagine if the DA takes over? That must not be very far when you look at the big metros they are controlling and the big budgets they are controlling,” he told the Congress of South African Trade Unions' (Cosatu’s) 6th central committee meeting in Irene.

During the presidency’s budget vote debate in the National Assembly on Wednesday, DA leader Mmusi Maimane said, referring to President Jacob Zuma: "First he killed the ANC, now he is killing the country."

Nxesi said this could resonate with some people.

“I don’t think it refers only to the president, but to all of us in the leadership of the ANC. The ANC has been destroyed by us.”

The ANC had thought its support would grow after the 2016 local government elections, but the party’s downward slide merely continued.

Zuma was embroiled in controversy following the release of former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s State of Capture report in 2016, and then again because of his late night Cabinet reshuffle on March 30 this year.

The tripartite alliance’s members should not be denialists, cowards, or reckless in dealing with their problems, Nxesi said.

It had been losing members since 2007, when Zuma replaced Thabo Mbeki as ANC leader. The breakaway of the Congress of the People (Cope) from the ANC in 2008, and of the Economic Freedom Fighters in 2013 both caused “dents” in the party’s support.

“This time around, if we are reckless I don’t know what we will be left with.”

He said some SACP members were feeling alienated by happenings in the ANC.

There was reportedly fierce contestation between supporters of Zuma’s current deputy Cyril Ramaphosa and of former AU Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, ahead of the party’s elective conference in December. They are the two main contenders to take over from Zuma.

Several leaders had warned that a winner-takes-all approach to electing the party’s top six officials would destroy the 105-year-old movement.