Statement of the National Committee Lekgotla

The National Committee Lekgotla of the YCLSA held its meeting over the last three days, 23-25 November 2012 in Johannesburg, COSATU House. The Lekgotla was attended by a total of 120 delegates from all the districts and provinces of the YCLSA. The purpose of the Lekgotla was to discuss the obtaining political situation in the country, the state of the organisation and also serve as a Strategic Plan for 2013. The Lekgotla received political, financial and organisational reports from the NWC. 

The National Committee Lekgotla has elected Comrade Alex Mashilo, the current Gauteng Provincial Secretary of the YCLSA, to fill in the vacancy of Deputy National Secretary as a result of the passing on of Mike Mokhutsane. With his experience, trade-unionist, student and youth movement background, Comrade Alex brings a wealth of experience into the National Committee. He has been a member of the National Committee for the last five years. 

The National Lekgotla has also appointed Cde. Sandile Kgosieng as a full-time National Committee member to be based in the National Office. There were also five young people who were co-opted into the National Committee, namely, Bram Hannekom, OJ Fourie, Precious Banda, Vuyolethu Sifanqane and Richard Mamabolo. We welcome these comrades in their new role in the National Committee and hope that their experience will add on the wealth of knowledge and commitment already existing within the YCLSA. 

The National Lekgotla called for an alternative solution that will guarantee shelter for all the affected people in Lenasia, South of Johannesburg. We were disturbed by houses being demolished. Our people reportedly became victims of a web of syndicates and corrupt government officials who sold state land by corrupt means. We believe that a caring and people's government should work with the people in order to make sure that there are further arrests and an amicable solution is found. We would like the Minister of Human Settlements to work with the communities in his intervention. We also applaud the leadership of the SACP, COSATU and the YCLSA for providing help when communities needed them the most. 

The National Committee is concerned that the rate of exploitation in our economy has increased and that this has been worsened by the ever rising cost of living, reasonably resulting in a growing number of strikes. The YCLSA will intensify the battle against exploitation. The National Lekgotla called for acceleration in the review of wages and working conditions in the agricultural sector. We believe that vulnerable workers, including domestic workers, deserve decent wages too. We urgently call on the NEDLAC to initiate a discussion that will at least lead to the determination of a living wage. We believe that this will contribute meaningfully in addressing income inequalities and the betterment of the lives of the workers, their families and therefore communities. We condemn the role played by the Western Cape government in taking sides in a labour dispute in De Doorns. 

The National Lekgotla noted the Census 2011 report presented to the country by Statistics South Africa. We are happy with the progress made in changing the lives of our people since the ANC as the leading formation of our alliance became the leader of government in 1994. We however believe that a lot more needs to be done to address inequality, poverty and unemployment.

We believe that youth unemployment in particular remains a serious threat and a source for much social unrest. Young people's impatience is justified. We need to start seeing results with regards to Industrial Policy Action Plan and New Growth Path among other important policy interventions. We also need to see results in terms of commitments made by the government to create more than 5 million jobs by 2020. We will be convening the National Jobs for Youth Summit III to assess progress since the last two Summits. 

The National Lekgotla mandated leadership to make presentations on the Green Paper on land, with specific focus on foreign ownership and accelerated land reform and redistribution. We call for an urgent Food Security and Water Summit to discuss what we believe is an impending crisis on both issues. 

The National Lekgotla reiterated the call for the complete banning of tenders in education, health, municipal services and other strategic public serves. We believe that tenders are the source for corruption and tenderpreneurship. We believe that millions of jobs can be created in maintenance of municipal infrastructure. We will continue and intensify the campaign to abolish tenderisation of the state and public service. 

The National Lekgotla is closely monitoring the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Marikana tragedy. We are concerned that the commission is only probing the death of the workers and the role of the trade unions, police and the mining bosses.

We are further concerned that Adv. Dali Mpofu has been manoeuvring to reduce the commission to advance the goals and political perspectives of the so-called Friends of the ANCYL instead of representing the bereaved families. We believe that at the core of the Marikana tragedy is the increased rate of exploitation, typified by the meagre wages, and that this, together with poor working conditions, should also be probed. 

The National Lekgotla condemned the role of Israel in its recent bombing of the Gaza strip. The fact that Israel has the third strongest military in the world effectively makes it an aggressor. The YCLSA affirms Israel as an apartheid state, and characterises Zionism as racism that should be condemned. We pledge our support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction in South Africa (BDS SOUTH AFRICA). We call for the immediate boycotting of all Israeli goods.

We call for the immediate temporary suspension of diplomatic relations between South Africa and Israel until Israel halts all expansions into the West Bank and commits to respect an independent Palestinian State. We call for the isolation of Israel from all forms of life, including academia, sports, arts and culture. We will be engaging ACSA, various Malls and retailers (such as Pick n Pay and Woolworths) to stop all trade relations with Israel and ban all Israeli products. 

The National Lekgotla called on the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) to accelerate the process of ratifying the recommendations on the names of members of the National Youth Development Agency before it rises this year. This is the ninth month since the Agency is operating without a board. We are of the view that this compromises the ability of the NYDA to deliver on its mandate to serve the need, interests and aspiration of young people. This also essentially means that the CEO of the NYDA is operating without a youth mandate. We further call on the NYDA to halt all major appointments and non-core functions until a new board is appointed. 

The National Lekgotla expressed concern over the closure of 20 schools in the Western Cape. We will deepen the campaign to ensure that the Western Cape government stops this process. The YCLSA will work with communities, the Alliance and the PYA to ensure that this closure of schools does not happen. The Lekgotla also expressed concern on alleged corruption in school feeding schemes in Limpopo.

The YCLSA will hold discussions with relevant departments to ensure that communities, through co-operatives, are the ones that must provide feeding in schools rather than tenderpreneurs. This will result in empowerment of those communities, better nutrition and improved learner performance. The Lekgotla also called for the acceleration of the school infrastructure plan in the Eastern Cape. We will in the beginning of 2013, as part of the Joe Slovo Right to Learn Campaign, target issues such as bullying, drugs, crime and teenage pregnancy in schools. 

The National Lekgotla noted an orchestrated media campaign to ostracise the General Secretary of the SACP, Cde. Blade Nzimande and the SACP in general. There are lies spread to the effect that the GS has abandoned the SACP in favour of government, that he had wanted to be the Deputy President of the ANC, and that his relations with the president of the ANC has soured. The SACP is one of the stable political formations in this country, and has elected a collective at its Congress in July this year. 

There are no relations between individuals but between the ANC and the SACP, and therefore, this becomes a barometer to measure the relations between the leaders of both organisations. We are not surprised that these lies are surfacing in the build-up to the ANC Conference, where the GS has been overwhelmingly nominated to serve in the NEC of the ANC. We are also not surprised that there is an intention to sow divisions within the Office Bearers of the SACP. All of these shall be defeated - the Party shall remain stronger. 

The National Lekgotla also expressed itself in relation to the Conference of the ANC in Mangaung. We respect the fact that this is an internal ANC process, however, as part of the broader movement, we believe that we have the right to express an opinion. We believe that although the leadership contests in our movement are part of the democratic processes, these should not be to the compromise and detriment of the ANC itself. We cannot have bitter factional rivalries each time there is a Congress. We hope, as South African citizens, that President Jacob Zuma will be elected as the President of the Republic in 2014. All members of the YCLSA who are members of the ANC should work towards this goal in all future meetings of our movement. 

The National Lekgotla noted the reports on the security renovations in Nkandla, the President's homestead. We view as disrespectful and extremely worrying that the DA sought to generate media attention to itself by going to conduct the so-called inspection at the home of the President, right in the middle of a government investigation and those done by the Public Protector. We also find the leaking of such sensitive and confidential information interesting, and cannot dismiss the fact that it is part of the web of lies spread against the President.

It is important for the public to know what happened to the public purse, but the media, the opposition and all of us should respect the privacy and security of the President. We are interested in the facts to come out of the investigations. These include facts on what the costs to the renovations and the bureaucrats responsible for such costs were and also the action that will be taken in that regard should any wrongdoing be found. 

The National Lekgotla expressed concern over the role of the courts and their interference in political institutions such as parliament and the executive. Although we respect every right of all public representatives to approach the courts if they feel aggrieved, and their right to raise whatever debates in parliament, our objection should be noted on the behaviour of the DA to try and undermine, through the abuse of courts, the majority of the electorates who have elected the ANC. We believe that the so-called motion of no confidence against the ANC government and the President of the republic is frivolous to say the least, and that our parliament will be diverted from important legislation and oversight work every year by such motions. 

The National Lekgotla expressed deep concern about the slow pace of transformation in the judiciary. By October 2012, we had 237 judges of who 91 are White, 98 Black, 24 Coloured and 25 Indian. This is far from alignment with our country's demographics. From both race and gender perspectives, out of the 273 we have 27 black females, 8 Coloured females, 12 Indian females and 20 white females. This constitutes only 67 female judges out of 237 Judges.

It is in this context that we are disappointed that someone like Dr Mamphela Ramphele, a "black conscious academic" could even consider nominating a White racist of contempt like Jeremy Gauntlett to serve as a constitutional court judge. This nomination has a potential to undermine the task of transformation in the judiciary. 

The National Lekgotla declared next year "The Year of Political Education and Ideological Training". We believe that some of the problems experienced by our movement in general are as a result of the absence of coherent and targeted political education. This is associated in our view with a general rise in ill-discipline, hurling of insults as a substitution for a healthy debate, self-serving interests by cadres and the absence of service to the people. In this regard, we will be continuing with our BuaThursdays (which has reached out to more than 50 000 people nationally and discussed topical issues) and the convening of political schools.  

On the 08 December, the YCL will be celebrating its Ninth Re-Establishment Anniversary with a Rally in Welkom, Free State. 

Statement issued by the YCLSA National Committee, November 26 2012

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