THE SACP WELCOMES THE ANC'S OVERWHELMING ELECTORAL VICTORY

On 22 April, millions of our people came out in numbers to cast their votes in the fourth democratic elections of our country. The outcomes of the votes that have been counted so far have reaffirmed the overwhelming confidence that our people have in the ANC.

The ANC has amidst all manner of pessimisms, including sustained negative media publicity, emerged with a renewed mandate to work together with our people to transform the South African society for the better.

Just as it happened in the run up to Polokwane and during the persecution of the ANC President, the media is licking its wounds with this resounding victory for the ANC. The DA's racist campaign was seen by our people for what it is and was rejected. The fugitives from the Polokwane democracy, the eternal opportunists calling themselves COPE, have faced their day. The people of South Africa have rejected the elitist campaign to demonise the ANC and its President.

Our people have reaffirmed their trust and confidence in the ANC!! Our people have heeded the call to defend the legacy of Chris Hani. Hani's legacy and indeed that of the many heroes, heroines and martyrs of our revolution remain an inspiration to the majority of our people who came out in their numbers yesterday and "Did it For Chris Hani!". This victory indeed is a great way to honour the sacrifice and commitment of our leaders like Oliver Tambo, Joe Slovo, Dora Tamaana, Ncumisa Kondlo and Esther Barsel.

The SACP commits itself to deepening the political organisation of the working class to play its rightful place as the leading motive force to deepen and consolidate our democracy.

In our election campaign, as communists we interacted with millions of our people who have raised with us genuine challenges and problems relating to service delivery. We do not have the luxury of time on our side, but to move with speed to attend to the water and roads problems in Itsoseng township in the North-West, the total absence of sanitation facilities in sections of Bethal in Mpumalanga, attending to the backlog of land and agrarian reform and the conditions of the farmworkers in South Africa's countryside, and many other challenges identified during this campaign.

To do this, we ought to remain true to our commitment to working together! The SACP calls on our people not to demobilize but to utilize the momentum that has been generated by the elections campaign to form street committees to fight against crime and corruption, to form people's health committees to attend to the challenges of provision of quality health for all, establish local people's education committees to eradicate illiteracy and make education a societal issue, establish people's land committees to deal with the issue of land reform and attending to issues of food security in order to fight hunger and establish public transport committees  for safe, accessible and reliable provision of public transport services.

We need to continue with the momentum to deepen community participation in various platforms set for them to influence decisions of government especially at a local level. This victory should be a declaration that nothing should be done to communities without their participation!!!

The working class and the poor have scored a major victory today and should benefit immensely from their effort. When we started the second decade of our democracy we declared that the first decade indeed benefited capital more and that the second decade of freedom should be a decade of the workers and the poor. Half way that journey, we are at a pole position to accelerate our efforts to make this, the second decade of our democracy the decade of the workers and the poor!

The SACP congratulates the ANC and the rest of the Mass Democratic Movement on this resounding victory. We wish Cde Jacob Zuma and his leadership collective all the best in the next administration and guarantee them of our support.

Statement issued by the SACP, April 24 2009

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