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.