2005-11-30,+Alliance+in+the+Western+Cape,+SACP

**South African Communist Party**
PO Box 6357 4th Floor, Fountain Place

ROGGEBAAI Heerengracht Street

8012 Cape Town


 * Western Cape Province**


 * Phone : 021-425 1950 branic@polka.co.za Fax : 021-462 1299**

= **PRESS STATEMENT: ALLIANCE IN THE WESTERN CAPE** =


 * //29 November 2005//**


 * 1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND**

1.1 Since the current Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) of the SACP was elected in December 2003, we have tried to meet the leadership of the ANC in the Western Cape on a number of occasions, mostly without success.

1.2 There was one meeting of Office Bearers of the three alliance formations that was held in 2004. At that meeting, we agreed that we would jointly prepare for an alliance summit that would take place in 2005.

1.3 The alliance summit never materialized, because the ANC had started with the preparations for its Provincial Conference.

1.4 Internal squabbles within the ANC dominated the agenda of the ANC leadership, and therefore they were unable to pay attention to the alliance.


 * 2. ANC PROVINCIAL CONFERENCE**

2.1 After the ANC conference in June 2005, the SACP congratulated the newly elected leadership and we suggested that we hold a bilateral meeting with them. The ANC did not respond to any of our correspondence.

2.2 The only person who responded was the provincial chairperson who addressed our provincial council. The ANC promised to convene alliance meetings, but they never carried out their promise.

2.3 We took a decision to participate in the local government elections campaign, even though the ANC was ignoring the SACP from branch level up to provincial level.


 * 3. LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS**

3.1 We were invited by the ANC to a Provincial Election Team (PET) meeting and we agreed at the first meeting that we would meet fortnightly on Monday mornings at 6:30. The second meeting went smoothly, and at the third meeting, all the ANC leaders did not pitch up; they did not even bother to apologize or clarify why they were not available.

3.2 Since then, they never invited the SACP in any meeting – at all levels.

3.3 While they were sidelining the SACP, the ANC continued with preparations for the elections. The processes of nominating ANC candidates for the local government elections were flawed – there was widespread corruption and some of the meetings were unconstitutional and were not based on the national elections manual of the ANC.

3.4 On a number of occasions, the ANC did not invite the SACP to their meetings and functions. However, the chairperson would call up a representative of the SACP to the podium to speak. We believe they did this in order to tarnish the image of the SACP in the eyes of the rank and file of the ANC. In fact this is the most destructive counter revolutionary tendency which is foreign in our democratic movement.

3.5 The current leadership of the ANC is using the local government elections as a weapon to retaliate against people they believe voted against them at the conference.

3.6 Many of the comrades who are victimized are people who are vocal against corrupt practices in the organization.

3.7 The Branch General Meetings (BGMs) where candidates were elected were organized in a factionalist manner – only certain members were informed. The leadership also had demonstrated that they had predetermined outcomes for the BGMs, despite the feelings of the membership in some of the branches.

3.8 Many activists were deliberately sidelined in the process – the provincial leadership even used mass suspensions based on flimsy charges in order to eliminate some of the comrades who would have availed themselves for nomination. Their suspensions are being lifted immediately after the BGM’s and nomination processes.

3.9 These are the reasons why the SACP cannot endorse the outcomes of the process and also refused to participate in the so called Provincial List Conference.

3.10 Many of the candidates nominated do not enjoy the popular support of ANC members, let alone the communities where they live.

3.11 The SACP in the Western Cape has been trying to build the culture of unity and Solidarity among the working class and the poor behind the ANC led Alliance. However this work has been always undermined by petty opportunist tendency which is perpetuated by certain greedy individuals within the ANC. There are certain elements within the current leadership of our movement in the Western Cape who want to benefit by creating unnecessary divisions between coloureds and Africans working class communities.

They consistently campaigned in African communities against coloured communities in order to maintain racial divisions. These reactionary opportunist benefited in the process because this animosity tend to sideline progressive and grounded comrades who have a history of working for a non-racial society.

The SACP warned the ANC leadership about the consequences of chauvinism which might take the organization backward. It is that warning that the ANC in our province decided to sideline both the SACP and COSATU in all its activities including the election process. They decided to continue to operate as a faction and reduce any critical voice into a faction against them.


 * 4. REPERCUSSIONS OF THE FLAWED NOMINATION PROCESS**

4.1 The reaction of some of the members and supporters of the ANC to this largely unfair process has been: forming election-driven civic organizations (eg Oudtshoorn), burning membership cards and joining UIF (Phillipi), possibility of many independent candidates – standing against the ANC.


 * 5. CONCLUSION**

5.1 As the SACP, we call on communities to go out on March 01, 2006 and give an overwhelming mandate to the ANC to govern in all the municipalities in the Western Cape Province.

5.2 We make this call despite the flawed nature of the processes of nominating candidates for the local government election.

5.3 We believe that there is no political party that can govern in the interest of the people of our province, better than the ANC, however we would like to insist that our support and commitment to an ANC Election victory should not be abused or taken for granted.

5.4 The SACP in the Western Cape is still committed to an Alliance with both its historical strategic partners i.e. COSATU and ANC.


 * Khaya Magaxa**


 * Provincial Secretary**


 * 084 630 9885**