SACP welcomes the progressive thrust of the State of the Nation Address

8 February 2019

The South African Communist Party has noted the State of the Nation Address delivered in Parliament, Cape Town, by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday evening, 7 February 2019. The overall thrust of the State of the Nation Address is at first sight generally progressive and therefore the SACP welcomes it. 

While the SACP will produce a deeper analysis at its Political Bureau and Central Committee meetings scheduled to take place successively after the State of the Nation Address, a few preliminary points are worth underlining.

State Owned Enterprises

The SACP concurs that important steps were taken in the past year to turn the tide against governance decay, mismanagement, maladministration and corruption, and to ensure that State Owned Enterprises and other public entities and agencies function effectively and efficiently.

While there is still a lot of work to be done to get things right, there can be no doubt that the steps taken are positive and public confidence in the work of the ANC-led government is progressively being regained. The importance of transformation, development and cleaning up of State Owned Enterprises, cannot be overemphasised.

The SACP has noted the announcement regarding initiating consultation on reorganising Eskom into three publicly owned entities, namely power generation, transmission and distribution, but all falling under Eskom Holdings – which will remain state owned. Retrenchments of workers should be avoided, in addition to ensuring that Eskom in its entirety firmly remains a publicly owned productive asset. Moreover, Eskom must be diversified to act as the premier producer and supplier of renewable energy as opposed to destruction by the so-called Independent Power Producers (IPPs).  

Review of intelligence service and the Police   

The SACP welcomes the announcement of progress on the work of the high level intelligence review panel appointed by President Ramaphosa in June 2018 and the determination to reconstitute the State Security Agency to ensure a professional intelligence service. As part of the process, decisive action must be seen to be taken against those who were involved in sanctioning or co-ordinating rogue intelligence operations, as well as those who were complicit in the abuse, misuse or misappropriation of the funds allocated to the State Security Agency.

Similarly, a high level review of the South African Police Service, including the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks), is required to answer why the corruption of corporate state capture took root as if these law enforcement agencies were non-existent.

Housing, economic upgrading and employment

The SACP welcomes the policy focus on upgrading the economy by moving its trajectory up the value chain through manufacturing expansion and diversification to produce high value added products. The use of our mineral resource endowments as a strategic advantage has an important role to play in supporting this focus on the development of our productive capacity in the economy. Successful manufacturing expansion and diversification, and high levels of production will go a long way in contributing to employment creation.

The SACP notes the appointment of the Presidential Commission on the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” in the wake of the deepening digital technological revolution and quantum computing development. Related to this announcement, the SACP reiterates its call that South Africa should develop a digital industrial development strategy. 

The SACP commends government for the decision to do away with the requirement for work experience at entry-level in state institutions for young people. This is good news for the youth as the majority of new labour market entrants and unemployed work seekers. 

The SACP welcomes the announcement to expand the People’s Housing Programme, where households are allocated serviced stands to build their own houses, either individually or through community-led housing co-operatives. Over and above the housing sector as announced, the SACP will continue pushing the development and expansion of the co-operative sector. Co-operatives have an important role to play towards economic transformation and mass empowerment as opposed to elite empowerment which benefits a few at the expense of the masses.

The SACP further welcomes the announcement made by the President on amending the Constitution to make expropriation of land without compensation as a key strategic intervention, among others in support of agrarian transformation.  

Education

The SACP further welcomes the announcement of the measures to improve our education system in its entirety, starting from the foundation level.

The plan to implement the migration this year of early childhood development from the Department of Social Development to the Department of Basic Education is welcomed.

The SACP also support the policy commitment by the ANC-led government to provide every school child in South Africa over the next six years with digital workbooks and textbooks on a tablet device.

Universal quality healthcare through the National Health Insurance

The SACP welcomes the announcement to decisively press ahead with the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme and fully supports the solidarity model announced by the President; namely, that the young should subsidise the old, the well off should subsidise the needy and the healthy should subsidise the sick. In particular, the National Health Insurance should uproot inequalities in, and equalise access to quality healthcare.    

The SACP calls upon our Alliance to develop a clear programme to mobilise our people and communities in support of these progressive commitments.

Issued by Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo, National Spokesperson, SACP, 8 February 2019