SACP Eastern Cape PEC statement

The South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Eastern Cape held its ordinary Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) meeting on the 16-17 March 2013 at the Carnegie Hall, Gonubie in East London. The PEC meeting was held for our party to assess its ideological and political work and scientifically analyze the socio-economic conditions of workers and the poor here and abroad; and apply Marxist-Leninist tools of analysis in seeking solutions and adopt a program of action for the year.

The PEC meeting was graced by the presence of the SACP Central Committee (CC) members, Cde Mandla Makupula, Cde Bulelwa Tunyiswa and Cde Fezeka Loliwe, the meeting received and discussed a report back from the last CC meeting which underlined the importance of the unity of our party and the alliance as a critical vehicle to advance and deepen the National Democratic Revolution (NDR).

The meeting observed a moment of silence in paying tribute and respect to Cde Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela, who has recently passed on. The SACP respects Hugo Chavez as the great leader of the people who has lived his life with and for the workers and the poor and as a true testimony that an alternative socialist order is possible everywhere as long as capitalism exist. The SACP joins the workers and the poor of the world in celebrating the life of this great leader of the people; we wish Cde Nicolas Maduro led United Socialist Party resounding victory in the forthcoming elections.

International:

We are concerned by the fact that billions of the world population live in squalid conditions whilst the few elite go on to accumulate at the expense of the toiling masses. Whilst the crisis of capitalism continues to plunge the majority of the people in the world in grinding poverty and inequality; it also presents an opportunity for the left forces internationally to unite and deepen this crisis and build alliances for a progressive counter force as basis for building a new world order!

We welcome the recognition of Palestine as a UN nonmember state with access to all its bodies. We also strongly condemn extension of Israel settlements in East Jerusalem. This invasion continues to undermine the rights of the people of Palestine. The injustice in Palestine is an injustice to all of us in the world; none of our freedoms are complete without the freedom of the people of Palestine. It is on this basis that we are calling for the isolation of the apartheid Israel, our country South Africa must not do any trade with the Israel and recall all diplomatic relations in this regard.

The SACP congratulates Cde Xi Jinping the leader of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on his election as the president of the People's Republic of China. We wish him well in his responsibility and looking forward in cementing our decades long comradely relations between our two parties.

National:

We welcome the budget allocation for the infrastructure roll-out which will go a long way in creating sustainable job opportunities in our country, the implementation of the NHI as the basis for providing free quality healthcare for the majority, and the commitment to improve the quality of public education. However we would like to caution once again that the resources put aside for infrastructure roll-out are not highjacked by the selfish tenderpreneurs.

We reiterate our call for the re-nationalization of SASOL for the energy needs of our country, the rising fuel hikes and use the profits generated by SASOL as reported recently to fund the agenda of the second phase of the transition. We reject the 8% electricity hike as proposed by NERSA; the energy needs and challenges of the country cannot be a burden to the workers and the poor when we have SASOL as a former state entity. SASOL should be re-nationalized for these and other imperatives.

The SACP is concerned by the ongoing public protest actions throughout the country. These actions have been characterized by the violent actions, blockage of roads, closure of schools and the damage to the government property meant for the servicing of the people. These actions has also has been coupled with police brutality in many incidents. We strongly condemn closure of schools as that is denying children their right to education; to embark on violent actions risks delegitimizes some of the genuine demands. The PEC added that some these actions underline the urgency for faster change as people are being more impatient as a result of growing levels of poverty, unemployment and inequality in our country.

We as the SACP condemns the heightening police brutality and hence calling for the demilitarization of the South African police in our country as the introduction of the military ranks has not served in building a police service for the majority. It is important to note that there was never any consultative process for the re-introduction of these military ranks.

Alliance:

We would like to add our voice in congratulating the African National Congress (ANC) for having held a successful 53rd National Congress which demonstrated increased levels of unity, if we were to compare it with the highly contested 52nd national conference held in 2007. The conference was one building in the 2010 ANC NGC that called for discipline and radical economic transformation. We would like to congratulate comrades elected in the ANC NEC and those from our Province. The current ANC NEC has seen many communists and serving trade unionists being elected to serve in the ANC NEC in their own right as members of the ANC.

The bedrock of our democracy, with its majoritarian character, is the ANC led alliance; this democracy can only be defended and deepened through the unity in action and the strength of our alliance. The unity of our alliance is paramount otherwise we risk the defeat of our NDR and the postponement of a Socialist South Africa. It is important that all comrades, leaders in particular to work tirelessly for the unity of this alliance; it is in this context that we call upon all leaders to comply with the decisions of the alliance to stop public spats and raise issues within alliance structures.

The implementation of the second phase of the transition as adopted in the ANC 53rd conference depends on the organizational strength of the movement to subject the interests of individuals and elites to the interests of the majority for real national emancipation.

Provincial:

The meeting asserted the characterization of the state of the province in line with the analysis of the last PEC; that what obtains in the provincial administration and the state of local governance represents a state of paralysis. The State of the Province delivered by the Eastern Cape Premier failed to provide solutions to many challenges faced by the people of this province.

The SOPA failed to assimilate the resolutions taken by the Eastern Cape Alliance Council and the ANC Lekgotla and thereby failing to elevate those resolutions to the program of government. The main trust of the address is about national project, nothing or less of what are the provincial driven programs to change the semi -colonial structure of the Eastern Cape as a reserve for cheap labour over many years.

The SACP is concerned by the ongoing non-payment of workers in the Department of Health as this poses a serious threat in the provision of public healthcare. This matter should be resolved speedily; workers should be paid what is due to them for them to work effectively. The SACP condemns the unfortunate protest by medical students in Cuba. This in our view is an act of ungratefulness.

Our provincial government should replace such ungrateful students by those who are committed to education for the benefit of the people of the country. We are calling upon our government to source the medical professors from Cuba to come and train students from the working class families, this will save state a lot of money and help to train many medical personnel for the health needs of our province and our country.

We are calling upon our provincial government to act swiftly against corruption as corruption continues to render the state incapable of responding to the needs and aspiration of our country. There must be consequences against those found with their hands in the cookie jar; there should be no political protection of corrupt officials in the province. In the same vain we call upon the trade union movement to refuse to represent those accused of corruption and sexual abuse of school children as that can potentially serve as a deterrent.

The Department of Education and the Department of Transport must look unto the issue of the scholar transport as this has proven to be highjacked by cruel tenderpreneurs who transport school kids by dilapidated vehicles; this should come to an end and perpetrators should be brought to book as lives are lost because of this. What happened in Libode should not happen anywhere again, where school kids lost their lives due to an accident.

The state of the Eastern Cape municipalities as the sphere close to the people is quite disheartening as our municipalities has been characterized by political infighting and corruption. What is obtaining in many municipalities desire a decisive leadership; the ANC leadership should not be hamstringed by the forthcoming ANC Provincial Conference in taking decisions for the people and with the people. In our province many municipalities has been identified as hot spots, Buffalo City Metropolitan, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality, Mnquma Local Municipality, Lukhanji Local Municipality, Mbizana Local Municipality, etc. it is imperative that challenges in these municipalities are resolved consistently for these institutions to deliver services to the people.

We also call upon the leadership of the ANC to ensure an alliance approach as any unilateral approach on matters of provincial importance will not heed the intended results. The PEC expressed its deepest concern in the manner in which the intervention in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality was handled as it failed to mobilize all forces of the broader movement as led by the ANC behind the intervention to ensure its success and stabilization of the metro in both the level of government and the organization.

The SACP denounces the malicious media reports, in particular by the Daily Dispatch that our Provincial Secretary, Cde Xolile Nqatha is to contest the election as the Provincial Secretary of the ANC. We would like to categorically clear that the malicious reports by the media and some faceless media sources are nothing else but an attempt to tarnish the name of our Provincial Secretary and plant suspicions among leaders of the alliance.

This we view as an attempt by our class enemies to tarnish the image and the character of the person in our Provincial Secretary and that of our party. The PEC wishes to put on record that, the reports are completely not true but that does not mean as the SACP we are a dis-interested party on who is leading the ANC.

We commit ourselves to join all progressive struggles of the workers and the poor, for better working conditions and for a social wage which is something more than a living wage.

Statement issued by the SACP Eastern Cape PEC, March 18 2013

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