SACP FREEDOM DAY STATEMENT
The 27th of April 2011 marks the 17th commemoration of the formal attainment of freedom and democracy in our country. 17 years ago, millions stood in long queues to cast their first ever vote to mark the beginning of a task to reconstruct a new democratic dispensation despite prophets of doom predicting otherwise.
The SACP characterised this moment as an important democratic breakthrough which has put in the hands of the progressive forces political power to act and pursue a radical programme to change the colonial character of our society in its entirety. In its Strategy and tactics document the SACP characterised it thus:
"It is critical that we do not squander the opportunities of the new situation with hesitation and indecisiveness, or with a complete absorption by a new elite in the enjoyment of the "spoils of office". (We need to) assum(e) full responsibility, as the ANC-led alliance for our victory and therefore governing. Hence the need to grasp the strategic significance of this victory in advancing, deepening and defending the national democratic revolution."
Today we can look back and ask critical questions. As we celebrate Freedom day we know the conditions that many of our people find themselves in, notwithstanding the many advances made under the ANC led government.
Millions find themselves in conditions of poverty and underdevelopment, in part due to the neo-liberal economic paradigm which further compounded the apartheid underdevelopment patterns. Inequality has grown and joblessness has been a key character of SA's economic growth.
There is once more a growing rise in confidence of counterrevolutionary right wing forces, only this time collaborating with the liberal media and the DA, using our democratically created institutions to attack what we achieved on the 27th of April 1994.
They have continued to periodically play, as we approach elections, to the fears of the minorities about the true commitment of the progressive forces to building a non-racial South Africa. Those amongst us who are busy caught in the enjoyment of the "spoils of office" have unwittingly also contributed to strengthening the hands of those opposed to the objectives of our democratic project.
We in the SACP know well that democracy in SA doesn't come without contradictions and reactionaries who want to exploit them for their own narrow agendas. At the heart of this is an attempt by reactionary forces to use our hard won democratic order to further their class interests.
A case in point is the recent court case brought against ANC YL President on trumped up charges of hate speech. The former oppressors have the audacity to abuse our democratic institutions to let us account to them about our heritage and songs. The generosity of the majority in the transition is now being taken for a ride.
What is the equality court doing when domestic workers continue to be treated like slaves by the ilk of those people who brought up this case? What is the role of the equality court when farm workers and their communities are daily brutalised in the hands of some racist white farmers; atrocities that those who have brought this case are completely silent about. As the SACP and millions of other South Africans we are deeply offended by such abuse of the generosity of our people!
Consistently the ANC and the liberation forces are now being painted as the new enemy of our people. The SACP abhors this kind of an agenda which is aimed at diverting us from the key goals of our National Democratic Revolution, that of building national unity.
As we celebrate freedom day we must ask the question which class enjoys freedom today? The poorest of the poor who toil for many hours in farms and are subjected to slave like conditions, the poor who are daily victims of labour brokers, the poor who are victims of rising police brutality during strikes and community protests have reason to feel disillusioned about our freedom and democracy. They can easily be deceived by messages that in a simplistic way seek to suggest that the ANC or some of its individual leaders are the problem.
In asking critical questions, the SACP does not in any way seek to suggest that there has not been major progress in our society. The SACP wishes to point out that our progress has been constrained by our inability 17 years down the line to have drastically changed the colonial apartheid economic structure.
It is in this context that the SACP encourages all in society to interact with the newly released New Growth Path and the revised Industrial Policy Action Plan. Unless we do something radical now about the apartheid economy we have inherited our achievements will be greatly undermine by the system of capitalism.
Our attempts at a gradual economic transformation have only landed us with a failed BEE project which is at the heart of the corruption we see today. We have not expanded our industrial and manufacturing base as a country thus everyone is chasing this or that government tender.
Whilst millions swim in poverty and hunger we cannot allow a continued painting of a picture where those who have access to power or those who have access to those with access to power are enriching themselves at the expense of the masses. Corruption is theft from the poor and directly undermines our democracy.
The SACP calls on all in society to join hands, in a principled and non-sectarian way to fight corruption. We must honestly and urgently review narrow BEE as it has not addressed the huge economic inequalities and has led to the empowerment of only small elite instead of the majority.
Many in the world are now exposed to similar conditions we have spoken about because of the failure of capitalism. Humanity faces a serious ecological crisis and as we celebrate freedom day, we must ask ourselves if our future generations will have this opportunity given the speed at which our environment is being destroyed in order for some to become rich.
This year as we celebrate freedom day our country is on the verge of holding its 3rd local government elections. The SACP has released its message calling on our people to come out in their numbers on 18th May to once more reaffirm their confidence in the ANC to lead our people.
We must reject the reactionary agenda of the DA to fragment national unity and to treat the three layers of government as isolated islands. Embedded in this approach is a desire to fragment state power, as this will better enable them to consolidate their racial and class interests accumulated under apartheid, thereby frustrating the process of transformation.
The conditions that many find themselves in today is a reminder to all of us that even after voting for the ANC overwhelmingly on May 18th, electoral victories on their own do not mark a radical transfer of power. It is for this reason that at a local government level the SACP is interested in deepening people's power in action - in drafting of IDP's, in the fight against corruption, in holding councillors accountable through ward meetings and many other similar activities. Only the ANC led alliance victory will lay conditions for the exercise of people's power!!
On Freedom Day, the SACP pays homage to many unsung heroes and heroines of our movement who paid the maximum price in order for us to achieve our freedom; Basil February, Lillian Ngoyi, Oliver Tambo, Ruth First, Dan Tlome, Dora Tama, Braam Fischer, Moses Kotane, Moses Mabhida, Joe Nkosi, Gert Sibande, Mzala Nxumalo, Dr Yusuf Dadoo and many others. Your selfless service and dedication to noble goal of a socialist South Africa remains a source of inspiration to many of us.
In their memory, the SACP says Socialism is the Future!! Build it Now.
Statement issued by the SACP, April 26 2011
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