The African National Congress (ANC) would cooperate but not "co-govern" with its alliance partners, South African President Jacob Zuma told the SABC on Sunday.

"Once somebody feels that there should be co-governance that is when the debate must come...because we've got one President," Zuma told the public broadcaster in an interview.

"You can't co-govern."

Zuma said that the political alliance between the ANC, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) with its discussions and cooperation would "absolutely" continue.

"But you must also not mistake the consultations and discussions with co-governance," said Zuma.

"Once you begin to think that once we meet and discuss the issues that is co-governance then you are missing the point."

Zuma added that including the SACP into more ANC governance could lead to the weakening of the former.

"There are matters that the party has to take as a party, the SACP, as the party given its own ideology.... We [the ANC] can either blunt the party from its objective because we as a party, the ANC, approach things differently."

"That is a different thing than having a central structure that governs everything...because then it would affect the independence of the partners," said Zuma.

Tensions within the alliance have been increasing with the SACP and Cosatu demanding that more decisions be taken with their input.

These issues reached a new high point when ANC Youth League president Julius Malema was booed and heckled at the SACP conference in Polokwane last month.

Malema has been amongst the most vocal critics of the SACP and Cosatu's influence with the alliance.