Mokopane+YCL+National+Policy+Conference,+Manamela





Umsebenzi Online, Wednesday, 17 August, 2005 (Vol.5 No.41)
=Ufasimba is Focused and in Action=


 * Guest article by Buti Manamela, National Secretary YCLSA**

We have just emerged from a very successful National Policy Conference in Mokopane Multipurpose Center over the weekend and already the buzz is in the open on the resolutions of the conference. More than 600 delegates (representing more than 20 000 members); guests from the ANCYL, COSAS, SASCO and the leadership of the Alliance blessed this historic gathering with their presence. The most important people at the Conference were the branch delegates, who without fear and full of courage engaged robustly in the issues of the day. The quality of the debates and the outcome reflects the more than 100 meetings that took place as part of the preparations were a fruitful exercise and the implementation that will follow such resolutions should now take the center stage.

When we met in Limpopo Province, it was exactly 20 Months since the re-establishment Congress of our organisation and since then, there has never been a turning back.

We said at the Policy and Strategy Conference that the re-establishment of the YCL a resultant of the SACP resolution, we were marking a historic moment in the history of the country, in the history of the youth movement, in the history of the SACP and importantly, in the struggle for Socialism in our lifetime and the revolutionary role of youth.

The Deputy General Secretary of COSATU concurred that the launch of the YCL was an important landmark in youth politics as it occupies a space that has been empty since 1994. He agreed that the YCL has in a way transformed youth politics from that of being obedient, calm and recipients of directives from above into youth politics of activism, radicalism and engagement.

We also said in the National Policy and Strategy Conference that since the re-establishment Congress, the critics of the re-establishment of the YCL have dissipated and went into oblivion, those who alleged that this growing youth organisation has no relevance have perished leaving behind a strong Ufasimba; in their place, the new critics who cannot wish us away develop a new sense of function in trying to suppress the might that the YCL will become. When their philosophy of cutting the roots of a flourishing YCL failed, all that they resort to is to wish that the fruits of our work will rot and the seeds that we plant will not grow.

As all who wish we were not here struggle to write us off, the youth of the country looks in glee at the wonder of hope that is being brought were hope was no more; were activism is rekindled were activism was no more; were swimming against the tide can still be possible in the course of building socialism in our lifetime.

The conclusion of the conference with the presence of deputy president of the ANC, Jacob Zuma, and an estimated 10 000 young people to come and hear the resolutions of the conference demonstrated that the YCL has become a force to be reckoned with.

As we headed to Limpopo province, we set ourselves the following tasks:

a. The first and major task is the development of the YCL Political program, b. The Second task was to explore the permanent tasks of the YCL: learn, educate, mobilise, organise and fight. c. Thirdly, placing our programme in the context of the history of the working class youth movement and the revolutionary movements. To deal primarily with the question of tactics in the general sense d. Lastly, to deal with the activity plan of the YCL and its priority tasks in a ferociously capitalist society.

Given the resolutions of the National Policy and Strategy Conference, we have clearly achieved the said objective and defined the marching course for the members of the YCL and the agenda for youth development in general. Below are some of the critical resolutions that the National Policy and Strategy Conference.

Call for an Inquest into the Death of Chris Hani
The National Policy and Strategy Conference (NPSC) resolved that there should be a further inquest into the assassination of the late General Secretary of the SACP, Chris Hani. The NPSC believes that those who were accused, tried and sentenced went through this process under Apartheid. The NPSC believed that much more can be found on who the real killers of Chris Hani are, and those who were involved in the conspiracy to assassinate him. The YCL will be calling on young people to sign a petition to the department of Justice and to the various courts throughout the country so as to put pressure on these institutions to launch the inquest.

Nationalisation of all land and the creation of a State Bank
The YCL calls the government to nationalise all land, excluding residential land and ensure that, in the spirit of the Freedom Charter, the land belongs to all those who live it. We believe that all land used for production and commercial purpose should be leased by the government to individuals for that purpose, for a limited period of 99 year. We believe that there should be no private ownership of land in this country. The NPSC notes the fact that there is a review in the "willing buyer willing seller policy", however; we believe that this does not do away with private ownership of land.

The YCL NPSC further resolved that the government should create a State Bank for the development of our people. The YCL believes that private banks have failed our youth because of their profit orientation. We believe that the tasks performed by the Land Bank, Umsobomvu Youth Fund, NTSIKA, KHULA Enterprise, The National Empowerment Fund and other funds that the government has created for economic development should be centralised and be rum by the State Bank. The other role of the State Bank should be to focus on housing, education and other financial services that the private banks provides at lower or no interest.

The Conference also resolved that all mineral resources should be nationalised and the products thereof be shared by all who live the country. The Conference further criticized the privatisation of State Assets, and called on for their total nationalisation. We believe that this process has shed many jobs, and has led to these institutions (TELKOM, ESKOM, TRANSNET etc) to focus on profits rather than service delivery

The "10 Youth Demands for 2015"
The Conference resolved that the YCL's programmatic vision and strategy should be to rally young people behind the "10 Youth Demands for 2015". The demands includes Work for All Youth, Free education, Free Justice System, Safety and Security, socialisation of the means of production and many others. These demands are in line with the Freedom Charter. The YCL will be launching a programme to the public in two months time around the demands. We believe that the demands are achievable, and thus our activities will be inclusive of demonstrations, engagement and internal initiatives to address some of the demands.

ANC Deputy President Jacob Zuma
The conference noted the systematic attacks on the South Africa former Deputy President, Jacob Zuma. The conference also raised a concern regarding the process towards his trial. The former Deputy President has already been found guilty by Squires and the court verdict was used as a basis for his dismissal as the Deputy President. The right of the former Deputy President to be innocent until proven guilty has been violated. For this reason, the proceedings of the court have already prejudiced him. This was also confirmed by the Public Protector office that said the former National Director of Public Prosecutions 'unjustifiably infringed upon Mr. Zuma's constitutional right to human dignity and caused him to be improperly prejudiced'.

The conference resolved that YCL must support all activities aimed at supporting the former Deputy President.

SACP and State Power
In line with the SACP Medium Term Vision (MTV), the conference agreed in principle that there must be communist presence in the state legislative arms at all levels. The YCL will participate in the SACP-led Commission to look at the SACP's relationship to state power and power in general. In doing so, the YCL will also establish its own Commission to consolidate our position guided by the aforementioned perspective. We in the same light resolved that all list committees should be representative of the alliance partners, including the deployment committee of the ANC. This will in the final analysis ensure broader Alliance participation in governance issues.

Building a Strong and Mass Based Youth Organisation
The National Policy and Strategy resolved that our role as the YCL is to recruit as many young people as possible behind clear demands and ensure that these young people understand what it means to be a communist and thus, prepare them for membership of the SACP. The conference expressed concerns over the uneven growth of the organisation, and indicated that the YCL at any province, district or branch should not be second fiddle to any organisation. Districts were encouraged to ensure that they launch ward based branches were possible and ensure that the YCL grows bigger in quantity, quality, influence and action.

Other key Demands includes
a. The banning of all privately owned Credit Companies, and the creation of an institution run by the state to keep credit records. This is mainly because the credit status of individual, which is their private affair, is used for profit making purposes, and equally used for the disadvantage of young people. Many young people gave been refused an opportunity to work precisely because of they are blacklisted with the credit bureaux. Equally, there are young people who cannot advance co-operatives development, SMME's and many other economically developmental functions. b. Basic Services for all should be the function of the State, this means that all privately owned companies providing basic services should discontinue. The crises that communities face is mainly because of the profit-oriented private companies who charge high prices. c. Communal Land should not be sold or privatised to anybody except to the State. Communal land should be administered by the state in consultation with the community and community structures such as People's Land Committees. d. Houses that are subsidised by the government should not be sold except back to government. We are worried of the welfare of the people, and thus the whole package of our proposals focus on these. We call on for constitutional amendments in this regard. The other critical issues relates to the corruption in the housing subsidies. e. Lowering pensionable age to 55 for all men and women. We believe that the idea that men live longer than women is flawed. This will result in sufficient work for youth. Pensions to elders should then be increased and those who currently qualify should be put in the system. This should apply for both private and public institutions. We also call on government and the private sector to extend pension and provident fund to all workers. f. We call on the extension of the child support grants to 18 and an increase in that child support grant. We also call on the extension of school feeding schemes to high schools. g. We call on the institution on prescribed assets as most companies have failed to meet the GDS target of 5% investable income into infrastructure development. This should be done by a law passed in government and not NEDLAC, and that this should apply across the board.

Post Conference Process
Post conference, we will be convening an extended National Policy and Strategy Conference whose main focus will be on the implementation of the resolutions of that conference. We will engage with the different youth organisations which are rooted in communities to ensure that we build a strong youth force for youth development.