The SACP and opportunism do not mix. Sorry the DA, try elsewhere.

9 June 2016

This week the DA issued a statement calling on the SACP to vote with it on a motion to have Parliament set up an ad hoc committee to “investigate” allegations of “state capture”. The DA’s statement was opportunistic consistent with its character. Branding its so-called call walking the talk, the DA realised that it was left behind and sought to catch up by trying to grab headlines through the window. The objective the DA seeks to achieve, rather than a principled struggle, is to organise the type of theatricals it is now associated with in Parliament where it will dance to the media for coverage on the electronic and in the print media.

The DA is lost in its catch up manoeuvres. It is moving in a right-wing direction that can only be reactionary, or counter-revolutionary, while on the other hand the SACP is advancing leftwards in a revolutionary direction. As opposed to the liberalism of the DA that is mixed with a conservative agenda to preserve white privilege acquired under colonial oppression including apartheid but presently masked and fronted in a black face, the SACP organises on the basis of advancing a revolution to eliminate the legacy of colonial oppression and its foundation of capitalist exploitation. The SACP is guided by the principles of democratic centralism, a dialectical combination of democracy involving among others freedom of thought and discussion and centralism involving essentially unity of and in action once a decision is taken.  

The SACP First Deputy General Secretary Comrade Jeremy Cronin correctly represented the SACP in an interview with the Business Day in response to the DA when he said: “First of all, the DA’s call is not going to fly when it’s directed at SACP members … because we are raising these issues out of concern for the ANC and for the ANC-led government and we are not doing it to grandstand in an opposition way, which we think is the DA’s agenda... They certainly are not going to split ANC MPs who happen to be SACP members from the ANC caucus.” He further emphasised that SACP members in their capacity as ANC MPs “would work ‘loyally’ within that caucus”. Cronin further correctly pointed out on behalf of the SACP that the issue of corporate capture of the state, in political formations and trade unions was important and concerning and that the Party supports genuine efforts aimed at getting to the bottom of it.

Notice the different in wordings.

On the one hand, the SACP is talking about corporate capture, which the Party is strongly opposed to. Corporate capture is not limited to the state, by the way including the Western Cape provincial government and Cape Town metro where the DA is in charge. For example, it was in the Western Cape that the High Court in Case no: 17480/2014 set aside and ordered the re-evaluation of a R113.5 million tender to rehabilitate sewage in Cape Town. This was a corporately captured tender awarded by the DA-led government.

On the other hand the DA is talking about “state capture” excluding the word corporate in “corporate state capture”. This is not innocent ideologically, organisationally and politically. Several leaders of the DA from the head were recently exposed for not declaring in parliament the sponsorships they received from certain corporations in their internal party competition. In general, the DA as a whole is pushing for an agenda of a corporate capture in which the state is hollowed out and its role in the economy is curtailed in favour of private corporations running the show.

The SACP, in line with our country’s constitution, from the outset called for a judicial inquiry into corporate state capture. The DA was probably grandstanding in Parliament when the SACP made this call. The DA either did not notice the call or rejected it. What it wants now is to organise other platform to continue grandstanding to grab media headlines through a theatrical conduct and insults in Parliament such as honourable “pastor” Mmusi Maimane the black face of the DA saying at our country’s esteemed constitutional court on 15 April that “Zuma must voetsek”.    

The SACP and opportunism do not mix. Sorry the DA, try elsewhere.

Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo is SACP Spokesperson, and writes as a Professional Revolutionary

This article first appeared in the SACP’s journal, Umsebenzi Online