Joint statement of the SACP Mpumalanga and COSATU Mpumalanga Bilateral meeting
9 February 2023
The South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Union (COSATU), Mpumalanga Province, held a joint bilateral meeting at COSATU House, Emalahleni on 7 February 2023. The meeting was attended by the SACP Provincial Working Committee (PWC) members, COSATU officials and affiliates in Mpumalanga.
The purpose of the meeting was to assess the work that we are doing as the socialist axis and to further strengthen this relationship. The meeting agreed that there are a number of challenges that pose a threat to the National Democratic Revolution (NDR) and need a strong left popular front to confront these challenges as they are reversing the gains of our 1994 democratic breakthrough.
The NDR is about common struggle to confront and do away with class, race and gender disparities and the ANC, being a leader of the Alliance, ought to ensure that its policies are for the benefit of the motive forces. However, the meeting has noted that the NDR is not on track; certain policies that are forced on us are not a product of common objectives as the Alliance.
On the Energy Crisis
The bilateral shared deep concerns with the rest of the citizens with regard to the ongoing power blackouts in the country. These blackouts pose a serious threat to the livelihood of the working-class and poor, including those who own small businesses. Our utmost fear is the safety of the women who come from work late at night during the time of load-shedding. These blackouts are reversing the gains we have made in the fight against Gender-Based Violence and Femicide in our communities.
Mpumalanga province is the home of power generation in Southern Africa and with the many coal mines that it has; the proposed shift from coal to nuclear and or clean energy is going to affect the people of this province negatively. Many people working in the coal mining industry will lose their jobs. Therefore, our view is that resolving the energy crisis must not compromise the jobs of the people especially now that the National State of Disaster has been called on the energy crisis. This National State of Disaster should not be used as an excuse to bring in Independent Power Producers whose only interest is to make profit out of people’s misery. Priorities should also be given to fixing existing power plants and allow those that are existing to function optimally.
The SACP and its vanguard role in society
The SACP as the vanguard of the working-class and poor must continue to play its role in society and also unite the workers who play a critical role as the dominant force in our National Democratic Revolution. It must lead in the discourse which is now dominated by minorities whose primary task is to reverse the gains of our democracy through its neo-liberal agenda.
To do this, the SACP must, together with progressive trade unions, continue to build a Popular Left Front with a view to building a class conscious movement. It must ensure that the ideas of socialism are widely debated and are dominant among the working-class. To do this, the Party must interrogate and conduct a qualitative analysis of various factors determining what obstructs as well as what will be required to advance socialism.
Reconfiguration of the Alliance
COSATU and SACP have been, for some time now, calling for the reconfiguration of the Tripartite Alliance. This reconfiguration should not be misunderstood to be in the context of the deployment of SACP and COSATU leaders in the echelons of the government and, by extension, the state.
Reconfiguration should, among others, mean going back to the root; recommitting ourselves to the goals of the National Democratic Revolution, which is about building a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society. This means that all the partners should work in unison with an understanding that they are all equal in this Alliance.
State of local government in our municipalities
The meeting expressed deep concerns with the state of our municipalities. The lack of service delivery to the people will have negative consequences in our NDR and the people are showing lack of confidence in our government. This has led to a number of service delivery protests, some of which are led by "faceless" individuals. We need to do a thorough analysis on this as the Alliance. We need to understand that some of these protests will use genuine issues to achieve a different outcome.
The Kingdom of Swaziland and counter-revolutionaries
The struggle for democracy in Swaziland is faced with difficult challenges. These include the jailing and the assassination of pro-democracy activists. However, it was shocking that after a visit of the Deputy President, despite ANC resolutions to support this struggle, a human rights lawyer and pro-democracy activist, Thulani Maseko, was also assassinated.
This sends the wrong message to the democracy loving people of Swaziland and South Africa. We call for the ANC led government to distance itself from that country and to impose sanctions on that government until democratic processes are established. With Mpumalanga being close to that kingdom, we also call for our government not to have any ties with that country.
Working relations
COSATU and the SACP have committed themselves to continue to have joint programmes, including having constant sittings. The meeting also called for the Annual Alliance Summit with all the partners. This will help in dealing with issues that are stumbling blocks in the reconfiguration of our Alliance.
Issued by SACP Mpumalanga and COSATU Mpumalanga, 9 February 2023
