DECLARATION OF THE JOINT SACP-YCL GAUTENG PROVINCE MEETING

The SACP Gauteng Province held a joint meeting with its youth wing, the Young Communist League of SA (YCL) on Sunday, 20th March 2016 in Johannesburg.  The meeting was convened to analyse and reflect on the National Democratic Revolution (NDR) as a direct route to socialism, the state of the organisation and a programme of action (P.O.A).

The meeting received a keynote address from the 13th National Congress Central Committee (CC) member, Comrade Madala Masuku.

The meeting was a resounding success and cemented the unity of the SACP and YCL as the basis of unity of the entire Alliance in Gauteng. It adopted a set of resolutions to defend, deepen and advance the NDR including the following:

Corporate capture of the state by Gupta and other class forces

We noted renewed and desperate attempts by the Gupta “dynasty” and other bourgeois class forces to capture and conquer the democratic state, especially the executive arm of the state classically to act as “a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie”.

We agreed that attempts to sway the modern state to serve the exclusive interests of monopoly capital is certainly historic and does not apply exclusively to the Gupta family. The meeting further agreed that this tendency applies also to various fractions of the capitalist class with disproportionate influence on the state at the expense the interests of the working class and the poor. The lumpen Gupta dynasty with oligarchic tendencies epitomises and personifies this tendency in its renewed form.

The meeting strongly condemned the Guptarisation of the executive arm of the state. This refers to a tendency of using extremely backward, primitive and lumpen methods of capital accumulation such as blackmail, fear and intimidation of members of the executive arm of the state to pursue its narrow class interests.

The meeting resolved to mobilise the working class to dislodge the danger of corporate money and disproportionate corporate influence on our public representatives, the bureaucracy and entire state machinery, thus reducing the state organs to mere servants of the Guptas and the bourgeoisie.

It resolved to reaffirm the working class bias of the ANC, its government and the state as opposed to a Gupta distortion of the historic character of the ANC.

The meeting further resolved that in memory of Chris Hani, Oliver Tambo and Solomon Mahlangu, the working class and all class conscious forces must fight attempts by the Gupta family to re-create state organs in the image of their class interests.

In this regard, the meeting dismissed the opportunistic and slanderous remarks by our pathetic apologists that a fight against the Gupta is an “isolationist fight” focussed “exclusively and narrowly” against the Guptas, with the real dangers of legitimising other fractions of the bourgeoisie class who use various methods for the same ends as Guptas.

The meeting therefore resolved to confront “Guptarisation” as a direct fight against the rest of monopoly capital to corrupt and conquer the state using primitive and backward methods of accumulation.

The meeting noted that “Guptayites, especially the so-called “Premier League” will be muted to protect their privileges and benefits that fall as mere crumps from the table of the super profits and patronage of this dynasty.

The meeting resolved to request the African National Congress (ANC) as the leader of the Alliance in our province to urgently convene the PEC meeting of all Alliance partners.

The meeting strongly believe that the unity of the Alliance in Gauteng (comparatively speaking), is well positioned to reaffirm the revolutionary character of the ANC as the broad movement of the historically oppressed people in general, and the working class in particular.

Such a meeting should be convened as a matter of extreme urgency to discuss the most appropriate, prompt and decisive action to be directed against the Gupta dynasty. This will seek to defend the unity of the movement, the state and the democratic government.

The meeting warned that unless “Guptarisation” is directly confronted to “back-off and hands off”, it contains inherent dangers of the self-destruction and common ruin of the revolutionary movement of Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Ruth First, Lillian Ngoyi, Mam Bertha and many others.

The meeting understood that if the ANC led Alliance unity degenerates and disintegrate into oblivion, the Guptas will get even richer, smiling not only to the bank but to Dubai, their final place of destiny, where they are allegedly constructing a new $2 billion office.

The meeting agreed not to pre-empt the outcomes of the Alliance meeting and not to engage the Alliance through public statements.  

Gupta Corporate Capture of the Democratic Alliance

The meeting noted that the phenomena of Gupta capture of the state extended to the DA controlled Western Cape government through election funding graciously donated to the DA. This is clearly contained in the letter signed by DA leader Helen Zille dated 25 May 2009. It is clear in the letter that the financial contribution has impacted positively on the DA and its attitude towards the "Gupta dynasty". The letter states that:

" Your financial contribution helped us to achieve our three key objectives in the recent election: keeping the ANC below a two-thirds majority, significantly consolidating our position as the official opposition in Parliament, and winning an outright majority in the Western Cape."

Exxaro Corporate capture of the EFF

The meeting further noted that the anti-Gupta ranting of the EFF are merely the effects of  the EFF co-opted to fight factional battles of one bourgeoisie against another faction that provide desperately needed funding for its activities.

It is a well known fact that the EFF has received funding and donations from Exxaro  dating back to the flight that was used by Malema to Kwazulu-Natal. It is also an irrefutable fact that Exxaro lost a 40 year coal supply contract with Eskom.

The contract was terminated following the placing of Gencore's Optimum mine operation under liquidation. This mine was then acquired by a Gupta owned company known as Tegela. This matter constitutes the core of the grievance of the EFF against the "Gupta dynasty”.

This further provides proof and clarity on the desperate calls of the EFF for state bail-out of bankrupt mining companies but falsely disguised as nationalization of mines, a call that was since abandoned, buried and forgotten by the neo-fascist EFF.

March against the release of Janusz Waluz on parole

The meeting noted that Judge Nicoline Janse van Niewenhuizen has on Wednesday, 9th March 2016, in the Gauteng High Court controversially ruled that the cold blooded murderer of comrade Chris Hani, our General Secretary, will be released on parole within 14 days.

Following consideration of court days, the meeting noted that Janusz Waluz may in terms of the controversial decision of the Judge, be released on the 1st April 2016. It resolved that this will be a sad day for our country and democracy as well articulated by comrade Limpho Hani, the wife of comrade Chris Hani.

The meeting resolved to work with the Alliance to mobilise the working class, the revolutionary people to render this day decided by the Judge as the real “April Fool’s Day”, to ensure that Janusz Waluz is not released.

The meeting appreciated the fact that the SACP has already consulted the Alliance to stage a provincial protest action to support the appeal by Minister Masutha. The protest will also be directed against subjective remarks by the Judge as a direct result of her potential conflict of interest in the matter and for Janusz Waluz to remain in prison until he discloses and tells the whole truth.

The meeting resolved that the protest march will take place on the 1st April 2016, 10h00, converging and proceeding from Kgoshi Mampuru Prison in the City of Tshwane, and then proceed for an Alliance Rally at Church Square Rally to be addressed by alliance leaders.

10th April, Chris Hani Month

The meeting resolved to mobilise the working class to attend the annual commemoration of the death of comrade Chris Hani at the grave side in Oupa Phasha District, City of Ekurhuleni.

The meeting noted that this event is very critical considering the desperate attempts to free Janusz Waluz by the same Judge who presided over his first court appearance whilst serving in the Boksburg Magistrate Court.

This Judge made extremely subjective and unnecessary remarks that clearly demonstrate her desperate attempts for Waluz to walk free without disclosing the truth.  It is therefore critical that the working class must attend the event and defend the living legacy of comrade Chris Hani.

The meeting resolved to convene the Provincial Ideological and Political Commission on Sunday, 23rd April 10h00, on the Chris Hani Lecture as part of the SACP’s Red Weekend.

Workers Month

The SACP noted that in the context of our country, the Chris Hani month is a prelude to the historic May Day rallies convened by Cosatu. The SACP will mobilise the working class to attend this revolutionary event of the workers. We call on workers not to treat May Day as a holiday, but as a day to remember the heroic and revolutionary struggles of the workers consistent with proletarian internationalism.

The meeting applauded the unity of Cosatu cemented in its last National Congress. We celebrate the fact that workers decided to remain in the revolutionary alliance, and rejected attempts to alienate and separate them from the overwhelming majority of the historically oppressed people, peasants and communists. 

The meeting reaffirmed the SACP’s historic and scientific observation that forces that were aligned to the Vavi-Jim faction were all along meant to split Cosatu and deliver it to the bourgeoisie in the Automotive sector. The bourgeoisie in this sector were desperate for a weakened NUMSA to restructure the production belt following the world economic crisis.

These desperate attempts at weakening NUMSA to serve the interests of the automotive bourgeoisie follows the same template of AMCU, which attacked and weakened NUM by promising workers R12 500,00, which was a ploy to deliver workers on the silver plate for massive retrenchments, an opportunity that the mining monopoly capital desperately sought to restructure production.

The meeting noted that this tendency towards class collaboration by forces co-opted by monopoly capital is again rearing its ugly head, this time in campuses targeting Nehawu. The meeting noted that workers on campuses are being fed the same poison under the false guise of fighting outsourcing. We also note similar divisive tendencies in SAMWU and SATAWU to mention but a few.

The meeting strongly condemned this populist and dangerous demagogues acting on the same divisive AMCU/NUMSA template which delivered workers for a slaughter by management, with workers now faced with the threat of massive retrenchments on campuses. Workers are being retrenched currently in campuses such as UNISA and TUT following signed agreements on outsourcing.

Just like AMCU, this bourgeois collaborators and persecutors of workers will be nowhere to be found when workers face massive retrenchments.

We call on COSATU to expose these tendencies and educate workers on the ground about the dangers of these populists, demagogues, splitters and reactionary elements that use “revolutionary sounding phraseology” to mislead workers.

The meeting also noted the dangers of the emergence of the “trade union” bourgeoisie, accumulating from business trade unionism, which is at the core of divisions within the ranks of the revolutionary trade union movement.

The Capitalist morality of “dog eat dog” is now rampant within the ranks of the trade union movement as a result of trade union investment companies. Regrettably, the biggest losers are workers, set up against each other by this marauding forces of business trade unionism serving the interests of big monopoly capital at the expense of the workers.

The meeting agreed that this is yet another form of corporate capture of the trade union movement through lumpen, backward and extremely primitive methods of accumulation and the fight over surplus value of the workers.

The meeting applauded COSATU for a principled fight against the capture of surplus value of the workers through the so-called tax law amendments by the parasitic bourgeoisie and monopoly capital.

The meeting encouraged workers to explore and creatively apply worker control and other democratic practices and principles to ensure that workers and perhaps not necessarily Office Bearers are deployed to trade union investments, as a way to manage this clearly problematic phenomenon dividing workers.

The SACP will educate workers about these realities through its dynamic and popular Qina/Tia Mosomi Campaign, a campaign seeking to cement worker unity through ideological and political work.       

Developments on campuses and the youth month

The meeting noted the forthcoming anniversary of the June Month, and mandated the YCL to adopt a detailed but practical, affordable and realistic programme of action premised on the need to mobilise and interact with the working class youth during this revolutionary period.

The meeting resolved that the YCL should also include in such a progamme a visit to campuses to interact with the youth on the basis of Marxism-Leninism, and to strengthen and support the successful Right to Learn Campaign. This should be done in line with the YCL’s Bua Thursday programme.

Such content should appreciate the fact that higher education transformation is now strengthened and consolidated by the creation of the Ministry and Department of Higher Education, a development that marked a qualitative rupture following historic calls made by the revolutionary student movement especially in the mid-1990’s.

The meeting appreciated the fact that the historic call for the creation of the Ministry and Department of Higher Education was based on a correct and scientific application of a Marxist-Leninist theory and practice about the role of state power in any serious revolution. 

The meeting mandated the YCL to ensure that revolutionary students are empowered to find the dialectic connection to use state power creatively to decisively assert their Right to Learn.

The YCL was mandated to assess whether anarchy, torture of buildings, violence, racism, reckless and unnecessary plunging students into arrests, physical/bodily harm and many other similar reactionary activities do not constitute renewed neo-fascist threats to dilute and marginalise their Right to Learn.

The meeting reaffirmed the Right to Learn as the basis for the intellectual development of the youth to fight the capitalist system and serve the working class from a position of intellectual strength. Denying students their Right to Learn through reactionary campaigns, boasted by right-wing and conservative campus management can only further perpetuate and subject the working class youth to Verwoedian supremacy.

The meeting congratulated the ANC government for creating a Ministry and Department of Higher Education and the progress it has thus far made to propel and drive higher education transformation.

The meeting reaffirmed its principled commitment to ensure that this Ministry and Department are here to stay deep into the future as a critical building block for the development of productive forces in line with scientific theory and practice.

The meeting supported the Campaign for Free Higher Education as the basis to further transform and alleviate the living conditions of the working class student especially the devastating inconveniences of preregistration, student accommodation, transport, stationery, books and all the necessary supporting material for proper learning and teaching.  

2016 Local Government Election Campaign

The meeting congratulated and applauded the working class and revolutionary people for the successful weekend of voter registration. The SACP will intensify mobilisation of the working class and the people as a whole through the Red Brigade of SACP branch volunteers, to mobilise the working class for a decisive ANC victory.

The meeting also resolved to intensify the Qina/Tia Mosomi Election Campaign that focuses on the mobilisation of the workers in industrial heartlands of our province

It reaffirmed our principled conviction that the ANC election campaign must focus and rest on the strength and revolutionary character of the working class as the class that can lead the other strata and revolutionary people.

Jacob Mamabolo – SACP Gauteng Provincial Secretary

Alex Mdakane – YCLSA  Gauteng Provincial Secretary

Lucian Segami – SACP Gauteng Provincial Spokesperson

Statement issued by the SACP Gauteng province, 21 March 2016