Statement+of+the+SACP+Central+Committee

South African Communist Party Central Committee
3rd Floor COSATU House, 1 Leyds Street, Braamfontein 2017 P O Box 1027, Johannesburg 2000

Tel: 011 339-3621/2 Fax: 011 339-4244/6880
 * //E-mail address: vuyiswa@sacp.org.za//**

=Statement of the SACP Central Committee=

The SACP Central Committee met over the weekend of August 11th and 12th 2006 in Johannesburg.

The agenda included a comprehensive overview of the progress made in taking forward our Central Committee discussion document within the Party, the Alliance and broader public. The CC noted that the publication of our document has contributed to opening up a major public debate – including on questions like the moral values of our new democracy and the corrosive impact of market-place capitalist values; the challenges related to the inter-face between the state, progressive organisations and business; and the task of deepening the democratic character of the state, including key institutions like the judiciary and parliament.

The CC commission on the “Party and the state”, which has been directing this work, will now promote further analysis and discussion on the overall objective of fostering working class hegemony in every site of power in our society. This includes a careful appraisal of the advantages and disadvantages of different modalities of SACP engagement with elections within the context of our strategic alliance with the ANC and COSATU.

As part of this discussion, the CC also received an input from COSATU General Secretary, Cde Zwelinzima Vavi on the current strengths and weaknesses of the trade union movement, COSATU’s own discussion document, and on the forthcoming COSATU national congress. The CC appreciated the perspectives advanced by COSATU, and agreed to take forward much more actively our bilateral interactions with COSATU, not least in regard to the challenges of organising and mobilising millions of casualised and other marginalised working people.

The Central Committee discussed plans for our forthcoming Red October campaign which will mobilise communities around the need for safe, affordable and accessible public transport. There have been several attempts to address public transport challenges over the past decade. These have included a long drawn-out attempt to ‘formalise’ and ‘recapitalise’ the minibus sector, and annual operational subsidies of R5-billion for Metrorail and bus services. But public transport has not significantly improved for the great majority of South Africans. In many respects the situation has worsened. It is time to approach public transport in a fresh and much more dynamic way that includes popular participation by those who are most affected.

In the coming weeks, the SACP will engage with our allies and key stake-holders, including government departments, municipalities, public transport operators, workers and communities to discuss the main outlines of our campaign and its key demands. Further details of the campaign will be announced in due course.

In reviewing our ongoing land and agrarian campaign, the CC noted the pent up crisis around unresolved land restitution claims, and we call for the whole restitution process to be opened up once more, taking into account many communities that never had the opportunity to bring their claims forward, including the millions of victims of forced removals. In this regard, however, the SACP believes that land restitution must not be approached in a stand-alone manner – it must be integrated into a sustainable agrarian reform programme and into broader integrated development plans. The SACP welcomes the statement by the Minister of Land and Agriculture, Cde Lulu Xingwana on her intentions to take forward the resolution of the Land Summit to completely review the willing seller, willing buyer approach to land reform. In particular we welcome her commitment to set deadlines to negotiations over price of land under claim, and her commitment to expropriation thereafter. The SACP is looking forward to seeing further progress in this regard.

The CC received reports on the launch of the Progressive Women’s Movement from SACP members who participated in this launch. The SACP welcomes the launch of the Progressive Women’s Movement. The challenge going forward will be to ensure that the movement empowers grass-roots women’s formations and that it prioritises the aspirations and challenges of working women, of the urban and rural poor women.

The CC briefly discussed the latest developments in the trial of ANC deputy president, cde Jacob Zuma. The CC reiterated the SACP position, which we share with our alliance partners, that in the course of the trial we shall support cde Zuma as he deserves in a principled and dignified manner. In this context we call for a speedy and fair trial. This matter has dragged on now, in one form or another, for many years. It has placed an untenable burden on cde Zuma himself and indeed our entire movement. For justice to be done, a speedy resolution to this process is now imperative. The SACP therefore calls for the trial to start without delay, as justice delayed is justice denied.

The CC also reaffirmed the SACP’s principled position that the question of future elections for ANC office-bearers at the ANC 2007 national conference is an internal ANC matter. The SACP respects the organisational integrity of our ally, and, other than asserting this principle, we will not adopt any position on this matter.

The SACP believes that our movement should lead a comprehensive review of the entire arms procurement package, including a re-investigation, given the many questions that continues to cloud this procurement process. Wherever there is any indication of corruption this should be pursued by the appropriate authorities without fear or favour. However, the SACP believes that the emphasis of such a comprehensive review should be placed much more on asking broader policy and strategic questions. How is it possible that our government, which in the mid-1990s was placing so much emphasis on fiscal discipline, could have entered into an enormous multi-billion rand procurement project, whose strategic value, let alone social development impact, seems to be tenuous? If, as we are assured, the primary contracts directly driven by government, were corruption free, were we naïve about the secondary contracts? What lessons can we learn from this procurement process? Are there similarities between this procurement process and other government-led mega initiatives in which billions of rand of public money are spent on projects of seemingly limited social value – like Coega and Gautrain? The SACP believes that many of these mega-projects are wasteful and have minimal developmental impact and addressing the needs of the overwhelming majority of our people.

The CC, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the 1946 mineworkers strike, the 12th of August, also saluted the heroic struggles and sacrifices made by the mineworkers who participated in that strike. In particular we noted the role that was played by communist leaders like JB Marks, Thabo Mofutsanyana and Moses Kotane in organising mineworkers and their role in that strike.

The CC discussed the crisis in the Middle East, notably the conflict in Lebanon and the growing intensity of Israeli military adventures in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel remains the spring-board for United States ambitions to dominate and control the energy resources of the entire region. Whilst the UN Security Council resolution creates the possibility for a desperately needed reprieve for peace and lessens the dangers of a further expansion of the conflict to other countries in the region, it lacks any reference to Israeli aggression against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and of the rights of Palestinians to self-determination.

The SACP calls for:


 * Mobilisation for sanctions against Israel, including a trade and consumer boycott of Israeli products on sale in our country; and


 * The South African government to review its diplomatic ties with the Zionist state of Israel.

In addition, the CC resolved to:


 * Intensify our ongoing solidarity ties with the Communist Parties of Lebanon, Israel and the people of Palestine;


 * Support the anti-war peace movement in Israel and internationally, including a groundswell of resistance by many Israelis, refusing enrolment in illegitimate military actions.

The SACP wishes Cuban president, cde Fidel Castro a speedy recovery. In saluting his outstanding patriotic and internationalist role, the SACP warns against futile speculation and vain hope that Cuban socialism is somehow entirely dependent on a single personality. The US administration which still harbours this illusion needs to know that the Cuban people themselves and millions of their friends around the world are the bedrock on which the gains of the Cuban socialist revolution will be defended and advanced.

The SACP welcomes the ground-breaking democratic elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We are proud of the role that our government has played in facilitating this democratisation process which has the potential of unleashing hugely progressive possibilities for the peoples of our entire region.

Malesela Maleka SACP Spokesperson Tel: 011 339 3621 Fax: 011 339 4244 Cell: 082 226 1802 Email: malesela@sacp.org.za Website: [|www.sacp.org.za]**
 * Johannesburg, 13 August 2006**
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