SACP Mpumalanga PEC Statement
Wednesday, 18 June 2014
The 8th Congress Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) of the South African Communist Party (SACP) in Mpumalanga Province convened its 9th Plenary Session on Sunday, 15th June 2014 at Mbombela. The meeting focused on political developments. The meeting also convened to consolidate our programs, campaigns and strategy. The meeting took place a day after the burial of our former Provincial Chairperson Cde Ephraim Mogale 11 years ago, and during the revolutionary month inspired by the fearless students and youth of 1976.
Total onslaught on Africa, a sharp rise of Extremist Groups
The PEC is concerned by the rise of extremist groups in the continent. The definition of a terrorist on the continent has changed dramatically from how imperialists saw it in their day, to a dangerous extremist prepared to kill, maim and destroy.
With the recent abduction of over 200 girls in Nigeria by Boko Haram, sparking outrage all over the world, the issue of extremism shows to be clearly international.
G7 shuns Russia for the first time in 17 years.
The world's leading industrialized nations (France, US, Germany, Britain, Canada, Italy and Japan) met without Russia for the first time in 17 years, leaving President Vladimir Putin out of the talks in retaliation for his seizure of Crimea and Russia's part in Eastern Ukraine. While Russia has been denied the opportunity to participate, Russian President signed a treaty with Kazakhstan and Belarus to create a vast trading bloc which hopes to challenge the economic might of the United States, European Union and even China.
With the seizure of the oil gas pipeline passing through Ukraine, the west is in for a crisis if the needed volumes are not paid.
The struggle to obliterate Tinkundla Regime Continues:
We are dismayed by the purported utterances attributed to Swaziland government that there are no political prisoners in the country. During the three extended trials of Mario Masuku, President of PUDEMO, who was charged with treason for daring to call for a constitutional monarchy, the government insisted he was not a prisoner of conscience but a terrorist. Yet Masuku never committed or had knowledge of terrorist acts, and was acquitted. He was made to spend months behind bars, and often denied bail. Makhubu and Maseko have also been denied bail, and are brought to court shackled in leg irons as if they are dangerous criminals.
We commend the Centre of Human Rights at the University of Pretoria which called on the Swazi government to honour the international human rights accord Swaziland had signed, including the African Charter, and ensure that those who are arrested immediately released.
The SACP in the province will mobilize its members and other progressive formations to hand in a memorandum to the Swazi Embassy calling for the release of all political prisoners and total unbanning of political structures.
A moment for Radical Economic Transformation is now: Review the NDP Economic Chapter
Our economy is premised on capitalist mode of production whilst we are striving towards being a democratic developmental state. The mid-1990s class projects' interventions through privatization and outsourcing, liberalising exchange controls and conservative inflation targeting all imposed negative impact on the working class and the poor.
We believe the economic chapter in the National Development Plan is not radical. It does not temper with the macroeconomic policy environment through which we have failed to reduce the persisting high levels of inequality, unemployment and poverty. It therefore has to be reviewed as a matter of urgency.
In pursuit of building a democratic developmental state towards a fully-fledged national democratic society we call on the state to assert public property rights, develop and build state capacity to deliver on its functions and delivery rather than rely on the tender system that only enriches a few while the masses are exploited. We therefore reiterate our Party's for de-tenderisation of the state and review of outsourced functions in line with the 2008 National Alliance Summit declaration.
Media Offensive against the Progressive Government and Alliance
The ruling class continues to entrench itself through various means, especially the bourgeois media. The liberal offensive is still dominant within the South African media. In this agenda falls the behaviour of eNCA and Mail & Guardian in the main with their perpetual onslaught against ANC-led government, Alliance and the President of the country, Jacob Zuma.
The public broadcaster the SABC in Mpumalanga shows the signs of being hijacked by lumpen-tenderpreneurs. In addition, some print media shows obsession of profit by their gutter journalism, distorting the South African Communist Party deliberately. To mention but few, African Eye News Services and the New Age Mpumalanga correspondent have been caught in these acts several time.
No Parole for unrepentant and un-rehabilitated murders
We are extremely disturbed by some recommendation from Department of Correctional Services to release Clive Derby-Lewis. Clive Derby-Lewis was sentenced to life imprisonment. Until he makes full disclosure he doesn't deserve any forgiveness. This is why the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was right in denying Derby-Lewis amnesty.
Consolidating the Working Class Struggles towards Socialism
The SACP in the province will embark on rigorous campaigns and activities in line with our political programme in the quest of working class hegemony and leadership in the society and the movement.
It is time to intensify our campaign against corruption in the private and public sector. Threats and persecution will not stop us.
We still are calling for the arrest of the killers of Bomber Ntshangase and Jimmy Mohlala. No amount of intimidation and marginalization will ever deter us from fighting for a just society, and no individuals have a right to take others' lives. We are planning to have a picket at the offices of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development persuading them to reactivate the prosecution of those who committed such crimes.
Apartheid was the most corrupt system, it killed many people but also corrupted a lot of our people, some of its remnants are still active and in full operation. It is easy to identify them, because they are not just corrupt but were also trained to be anti-communist, hence their daily bread is planning to liquidate the SACP and kill its leaders especially in Mpumalanga.
We support COSATU's campaign against the sky-rocketing Toll Fares in the province. The working class is subjected to daylight robbery by these Toll-gates. Mpumalanga tolls are a thorn to motorists travelling within or moving out of the province. We further resolved to dedicate the month of August to this campaign.
We resolved to continue dispatching the Red Brigades to various communities in order to address the issues raised during elections' campaign and assisting the ANC for 2016 Local Government Elections. The decision was triggered by the numerous concerns raised by our communities and the most shameful matter of a concerned community group attaining a seat in the provincial legislature.
Statement issued by Bonakele Majuba, SACP Mpumalanga Provincial Secretary, June 18 2014
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