NEHAWU NEC STATEMENT
The NEHAWU National Executive Committee {NEHAWU-NEC} convened a two day ordinary national executive committee {NEC}meeting between the 11-12th of April 2013, the last one before our 10th national congress and our 26th anniversary in June this year.The union did a thorough assessment of its performance in implementing the worker's mandate as instructed by the 2012 CEC.
The discussions covered political, international, organisational and key socio-economic issues facing the workers. The meeting commended the union structures for delivering on the mandate of the 9th national congress, after membership reports showed that not only will we achieve but we will even surpass the set target of 275 000 members by the time of the 10th national congress.
The NEC is outraged by the emergence of the scourge of women abuse in our country. In South Africa and the world, we have witnessed the shameful escalation in gender violence with many women being raped and murdered. This coupled with the capitalist exploitation of women in the workplaces, constitutes a crisis that needs urgent and decisive action from everyone.
The meeting recognised that the scourge of Aids is still strangling the nation and while we have seen tremendous progress since 2009 in the fight against Aids, there is still a lot of work to be done.
The meeting also took place at a very significant time when we are marking 25 years since glorious Battle of Cuito Cuanavale that took place in south-eastern Angola from September 1987 to July 1988, pitting the victorious combined offensive of the Angolan army {FAPLA}, SWAPO, Russians, MK and the internationalist Cuban forces against the Apartheid army. This battle represented a pivotal role in the struggle against apartheid because it broke the apartheid regime's back and heralded the liberation of both Namibia and South Africa.
We also salute and remember the revolutionary commander, theoretician, orator and leader of the SACP and Umkhonto Wesizwe, Cde Chris Hani, who was assassinated by reactionaries through the hand of the cowardly fascist Janusz Walus.To honour him, we will intensify our project of swelling the ranks of ANC and SACP in order to ensure that there is an active presence and voice of the working class within the political structures of these allies.
ON MANGAUNG
The NEC concluded that the outcomes of the 53rd conference of the ANC in Mangaung were a major strategic blow against the populist demagogy inside the movement. Now the immediate task is to unite the movement and the alliance as we move towards the 2014 national general elections.
The conference, in Mangaung, served to consolidate the working class gains made since the 2007 Polokwane conference, in relation to the national leadership and progressive resolutions adopted.
The NEC called on the ANC to decisively deal with ill-discipline and factionalism in its ranks in order to reclaim its historical character and traditions. There is an urgent need to restore the revolutionary and democratic principles of our movement, i.e. collective leadership, criticism and self-criticism, democratic centralism, selflessness, humility, and revolutionary morality.
ON COSATU
The NEC received a comprehensive report about the outcomes of the last Cosatu CEC, including the internal challenges facing the federation.
We call for the unity and discipline in the federation during this challenging period.
We call on all its leaders to refrain from making public statements mobilizing members for or against any position but respect the federation's internal processes.
The NEC calls on everybody to wait for the outcomes of those processes, and for the report that will be tabled in the upcoming Cosatu CEC in May. We will be guided by that report regarding our way forward.
We remain true to our principle of working for the unity of the federation and of putting the organization above any individual leader.
ON THE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2030
The NEC noted the adoption of the National Development Plan 2030 (NDP) by the Mangaung conference. We look forward to tabling our views about the NDP at Cosatu, where we will also be able to engage on its shortcomings. We will also use the upcoming Alliance Economic Summit in June and the Alliance Summit in October to engage on Mangaung resolutions, including the NDP, and to iron out any differences and confusion.
MACRO-ECONOMIC POLICIES
The NEC is very much concerned with the slow pace of economic growth, with growth recorded at around 3.5% in 2011, declining to 2.5% in 2012 and projected at 2.7% in 2013. At the same time, the Treasury is hell-bent on reducing real expenditure growth to an average of 2.3% over the next three years, despite continuing to stick to its counter-cyclical fiscal policy. We expect the Minister to align the New Growth Path and the Industrial Policy Action Plan II and not locate the fiscal policy within the framework of the National Development Plan as was done in the Budget Speech.
HEALTH
The union resolved to identify and mobilize our members to help drive the implementation of the health related issues from COSATU Congress, ANC Conference and the State of the Nation address.
We will engage the government over the Human Resources for Health Strategy, with particular reference to the establishment of equitable human resource norms and standards throughout the health system. We want government to interrogate the outdated departmental organograms, so that the filling of vacant posts (funded and unfunded) does not worsen the current inequitable distribution between urban and rural areas.
We will take forward our commitment to scale up our HIV/AIDS campaign in our union by building regional health subcommittees in order to educate our members about the benefits of the NHI.We want them to jealously defend it from attacks by those with vested interests in maintaining the status quo.
We will engage with the NHI offices in the district regarding monitoring the provincial business plan, the implementation of the re-engineering of Primary Health Care and also to mount a campaign in the pilot sites on the improvements based on the 6 key areas as reflected in the national department audit.
The NEC condemned the loony ideas of Helen Zille and her Western Cape government of offering cash prize incentives to those who test their HIV status. This is morally outrageous and will trivialise a very serious campaign by government and reduce it into a mere competition, where there are winners or losers.
We support the national health department's call for all citizens to get tested as part of a broader strategy to improve the health and wellbeing of South Africans.
The NEC welcomed the move by the Department of Health to launch the roll out of the Fixed Dose Combination pill (ARV), to fight Aids. We commend the department for this important step in the fight against Aids and we hope this reaches as many patients possible.
We will develop our own perspective on the redesign of the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) as part of our agreement with the DOH on the need to change its current structure and functions.
We will ensure that we are properly represented in the Health Professions Council of South Africa and other health professional bodies such as the South African Nursing Council, South African Pharmacy Council and others. Our intention is to place the internal transformation of these structures and the workplace issues affecting the workers at the centre of their priorities.
EDUCATION
We will convene a meeting with SASCO, YCL and ANCYL to discuss, the governance/management crises in specific institutions, The Right to Learn Campaign, new universities and other key issues on transformation and corporatization as part of our drive towards rebuilding a broader movement of People's Education for People's Power.
We will rollout a campaign to discuss the introduction of centralised bargaining in the sector.
The union will engage with the process of the migration of FET College Staff to the public service which is envisaged to be concluded by the 1st of April 2013 and the establishment of provincial offices of the DHET.
We will work with COSATU and other affiliates to monitor and engage government and private employers on the implementation of the National Skills Accord.
We will make a submission on the report which has been recently released by the DHET on the establishment of comprehensive universities in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape.
We will follow up on our agreement with the Ministry of Higher Education and Training to explore possibilities of taking advantage of the recently signed exchange partnership with Cuba on higher education and use this exchange programme to enhance our relations with the SNTS and CTC.
INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL SITUATION
The NEC has noted that the meeting took place at a time when the crisis of the global capitalist system is continuing to expand; in the process contributing to the growth of resistance and a changing consciousness of the working people.
The trajectory of the capitalist system towards ceaseless accumulation of capital is clearly limited and is continuing to exhibit vast structural fluctuations in markets, in geo-political alignments, within states, in the sphere of international relations and in economic production. We also see indicators that austerity measures are a dismal failure and cannot produce the desired outcomes in capitalist production.
In the course of resistance by working people and popular forces worldwide, substantial political battles have been waged resulting in major class realignments such as BRICS, in which it is difficult for the ruling class to impose seamlessly, the logic of austerity in the international system.
We congratulate the South African government for hosting a successful BRICS {Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa} summit that produced concrete developmental outcomes including the establishment of a BRICS Development Bank. The significant public capitalisation of the bank must help drive major infrastructural projects in the South and shift the international power equation away from IMF, World Bank and the influence of the traditional western capitalist countries.
We salute the gallant 13 South African soldiers that were killed by the Central African Republic's Seleka rebels. These courageous warriors fell in pursuit of an African agenda to build peace and stability in the continent. The NEC condemned the puerile and shameless political attacks on government by opportunists, who are questioning the motive of the South African government's mission in CAR.
We congratulate the ANC conference in Mangaung for adopting the Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions (BDS) resolution on Israel. This will further isolate the apartheid Zionist state of Israel that oppresses and slaughter the people of Palestine.
We congratulate the Public Services International {PSI} for adopting a very comprehensive resolution in support of the Palestinian struggle during its 29th Congress in Durban. It became the second international worker federation after WFTU to openly support the Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions campaign against Israeli.
We also congratulate the people of Kenya for conducting a peaceful election and for the swift transition of the government to Uhuru Kenyata.
The NEC condemned the intimidation of Syria by the imperialist forces and their interference in its internal affairs.
We will be intensifying our solidarity in support of the people of Palestine, Swaziland, Saharawi and all the other oppressed people of the world in their struggles.
TOWARDS THE 2014 GENERAL ELECTIONS AND A TWO THIRDS ELECTORAL VICTORY
The NEC concluded that it is no exaggeration to assert that the policy outcomes of Mangaung represent the consolidation and advance on the gains of Polokwane. There is now strategic convergence in the alliance around radical second phase.
Regarding social transformation we largely agree that some existing policies need fine-tuning. But there are some proposals too, including the proposed financial support for job-seekers, optional national youth service.
There is unanimity regarding the re-opening of the process of land restitution and the abolition of the "willing buyer willing seller principle".
The alliance is in agreement that decent work is the primary focus of economic policy. There is also consensus on "transforming the structures of production and ownership"; "expanding the social wage"; "macroeconomic policies that support growth, job creation and poverty eradication. Regarding the all-important macroeconomic policy, the resolution goes further to call for: "flexible monetary policy regime, aligned with the objectives of the second phase of transition and insist that monetary policy should also take account of other objectives such as employment creation and economic growth".
Organizationally, we agree on the need for safeguarding the core values of the ANC;of strengthening the Alliance in order to improve its capacity to implement the resolutions adopted in Mangaung.
Unity across the alliance structures is paramount, at this juncture, if we are to achieve a 70% percent majority in the 2014 national general elections. The ANC is rapidly growing and is more united now than ever before. The break-away faction that formed Cope is in strategic disarray and its offshoot Agang is confused and will be still-born.
We call on COSATU, the alliance and the entire democratic movement to unite as we prepare for a decisive victory in the 2014 national general elections.
We will consciously and actively play a unifying role between the SACP and COSATU and the Alliance as a whole in order to ensure that the revolutionary alliance is able to consolidate and implement the second phase of the transition.
Statement issued by Fikile Majola, NEHAWU General Secretary, April 15 2013
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