SACP response to DA led coalition counter-memorandum delivered to the ANC led Alliance march on the 20 March 2009
The South African Communist would like to place on record that it is not going to be bullied and told by Helen Zille what it must say and not to say, as her counter-memorandum (see here) contains language symptomatic of the language that was used to suppress communism through the introduction of The Suppression of Communism Act, No. 44 of 1950. In 2005 the SACP launched "Know Your Neighbourhood Campaign", in this campaign we focussed on "Basic Services For All", highlighting amongst others: "Free electricity For ALL", "Free Water and Sanitation For All" etc, and centrally to this campaign was the door to door work that we undertaken as the SACP, listening to issues of service delivery facing our communities.
This is the context through which the DA led coalition in the City of Cape Town should understand our campaign (see here), our campaign did not start on the 20^th of March when we delivered our Service Delivery Memorandum to the City of Cape Town, it is a culmination of series of interactions with communities in the City of Cape Town, and across the province.
The South African Communist Party vehemently condemns the spoilt attitude and cynical behaviour of the Democratic Alliance led coalition, which is a brainchild of the apartheid tricameral system, a system that undermined for many years issues of the working class and the poor, especially Coloureds and Africans in the City of Cape Town. The fact that Helen Zille decided to take an election tour to Gauteng, whilst she was informed many weeks in advance about the march, shows that she does not have interests of the working class and the poor at heart, indeed if the march was organised by the business people who are mainly white males, she would have postponed everything even within a 24 hour notice to attend to this section of our community. DA's led City of Cape Town's mediocre response, contained in its counter-memorandum, addressed to the ANC led alliance march, is nothing else but an evasive attitude in addressing concrete service delivery issues affecting the poor and the working class within the City of Cape Town.
Since out launch of "Know Your Neighbourhood Campaign" we have discovered, amongst others that in Coloureds and African Communities: 2 085 people are using chemical toilets; 26 108 people using bucket system; 83 621 people are living in informal dwelling; 55 683 people are living in shacks in backyard; 168 778 people have no access to piped water inside the dwelling, these are the issues that we are expecting response from the DA lead City of Cape Town, nothing short of this, not a memorandum, seeking to silence the SACP, 15 years to our democratic breakthrough.
Furthermore in the geographical areas of: