KEY NOTE ADDRESS BY SENZENI ZOKWANA - SACP NATIONAL CHAIRPERSON TO THE SACP 2013 MOSES MABHIDA COMMEMORATION RALLY, SLAHLA STADIUM RICHMOND KZN, March 10 2013
Leaders of the SACP
Leaders of YCL
Leaders of SANCO
Leaders of COSATU
Leaders of ANC (leader of the Tripartite Alliance and governing party)
Comrades and friends,
Let me once again welcome and give my respect and greetings to the family present here of the great revolutionary fighter and Commissar Moses Mbheki Mncane Mabhida.
Comrades , the people of our country , the working class broadly , and the communist in particular have converged here to celebrate the life and times of this great stalwart of our revolution , comrade Moses Mabhida born on the 14 of October 1923 at Thornville in Pietermaritzburg , in the province of KZN where we are today. This Commissar of the people `s armed forces Umkhonto We Sizwe died in exile in Maputo, Mozambique on March 8, 1986.
While on a mission to Havana in 1985, he suffered a stroke which overtime culminated through ill-health on to a heart attack in 1986 and was buried in Maputo. He was reburied in a democratic South Africa 2006, the land of his birth. May his soul rest in peace! The reburial marked not only his return but his indelible presence amongst us to continue to serve as a source of inspiration towards total freedom of our people.
The Freedom from poverty , freedom from unemployment , freedom from inequality , freedom from homelessness ,freedom from disease , freedom from ignorance, and freedom from exploitation. The presence of his spirit should urge all communists to push for the freedom of women and children from the ravages of rape, male aggression, and domestic abuse.
The commitment of the SACP in fighting all ills above mentioned is the way to celebrate Moses Mabhida's memory. We commemorates him for the joy his sacrifices have created for our people. As Nokuthula Mabhida put it during the reburial ceremony in 2006 "... The tears that you see are not tears of pain but tears of joy, because for years we have been trying to get our father reburied in South Africa,". These words though said some time ago but they mark the collective mood of our efforts in remembering this titan of the National Democratic Revolution today.
These tears of joy cannot be spoiled by tears of anguish because we have not changed the attitudes of men towards women, children and the elderly. To effectively commemorate the late comrade Mabhida the women and children in his family today must feel protected, must feel safe in a democratic country led by the alliance which Mncane belonged to and died for.
The National Democratic Revolution can never be complete without the active involvement of women, without a sense of freedom by women. Thomas Sankara said: ‘The revolution and women's liberation go together. We do not talk of women's emancipation as an act of charity or out of a surge of human compassion. It is a basic necessity for the revolution to triumph'.
The surge of gender driven violence is a demonstration of our inability as progressive organs of society to transform the unequal historical gender power relations in our country. We call for harsher sentences and no parole for sexual predators and child molesters. We send our support to all negatively affected families due to the surging vicious male aggression in South Africa.
The law enforcement agencies must tighten cases to secure convictions because as it stands convictions are very low on rape and this encourages the crime. The revolution will not be complete without the freedom of women from abuse, violence and rape.
MABHIDA AN ALL-ROUNDED CADRE
Comrade Mabhida was a leader of the Communist Party and a working class hero. He was elected the General Secretary of the SACP in November 1979.A role he played with excellence, effectiveness, dedication and trust.
He served as secretary of the ANC's Pietermaritzburg branch in the mid-1950s; He was also a member of the NEC of the ANC. He became a member of the ANC's National Executive Committee (NEC) around 1956, and in 1958-1959 was acting chair of the Natal ANC.
Moses Mabhida underwent training after an instruction by Oliver Tambo and became MK Commissar and chief political instructor dealing with military recruits. He served in the Revolutionary Council after the 1969 Morogoro conference.
He contributed in establishing the ANC's Intelligence and Security Department. He also served on Politico-Military Strategy Commission, a true liberation fighter. Comrade Mncane was an all round cadre and we must emulate him.
TRADE UNIONISM AND INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY
Comrade Mncane was highly active in the trade union struggles. A true communist loves not only the workers but the working class in their broadness. Thus comrade Mabhida after joining the SACP in 1942 was readily available to serve the industrial proletariat by working for the trade union movement with full dedication.
He bolstered the Howick Rubber Workers Union including the Chemical Workers in this area of Pietermaritzburg because as the wise say ‘Charity begins at home'. This does not alter the fact that ‘induku enhle igaula ezizwene'.
As a trade unionist and communist he contributed a lot to international solidarity pertaining to workers struggles. He was instrumental in building an international solidarity network abroad mandated by SACTU and worked closely with World Federation of Trade Unions and African trade Union Federations in the 1960s in advancing the cause of workers.
In this we have the responsibility to continue to build Cosatu and support its affiliates as the Communist Party. His involvement culminated in him being elected as one of the four Vice Presidents at the SACTU founding congress held in Johannesburg in 1955, the year of the adoption of the Freedom Charter in Kliptown, Johannesburg.
He witnessed how the working class was prosecuted by the apartheid government for protesting against the pass laws in the early 1950s.Thus he was highly involved in the build up towards the 1955 Congress of the People in 1955.
I am talking about a historic and true Congress of the people and not a Mickey Mouse duplicate, you know what I'm talking about. Those that leave us but suffer hangover from our progressive legacy.
CLOSING RANKS AND BUILDING THE ALLIANCE
Moses Mabhida was a true embodiment of the Tripartite Alliance and a complete revolutionary. The Alliance which he embodied is the only reliable vehicle the working class has at its disposal to push the National Democratic Revolution forward in favour of the poor. In his memory we shall continue to protect and defend the Tripartite Alliance.
The Tripartite alliance must close ranks and resolve any contradictions in a manner that propels social transformation forward. Our instant loud differences must not propel us closer to reactionary forces such that our members can no longer see the difference between friend and foe.
Comrades, Moses Mabhida was a true face of the SACP, true face of the ANC, and true face of SACTU. He did not see his roles constituting conflict of interests but mutually reinforcing as there was no ideological confusion.
Moses Mabhida new that the working class is everywhere and all organs of people`s power had to be occupied everywhere. Thus communists must be ready to serve everywhere , in the ANC , Cosatu , Sanco ,women and youth formations in the true spirit of Mncane and he would defend this where he alive. An all rounded cadre active in the alliance structures without fear of contradiction or conflict of interest.
NATIONAL ELECTIONS IN 2014
South Africa will hold elections next year in 2014 to elect new National Assembly and the provincial legislatures for each province. The work for this challenge starts now in 2013. The SACP will go all out to support the ANC in its election programme and mobilize majority of society to back the ruling party.
The democratic breakthrough in 1994 was an outcome of the sacrifices made by comrade Mabhida as an individual and part of the collective. In his memory the SACP calls on all communists to support the ANC to win national and provincial elections to defend the democratic gains in 2014.
LAND AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Comrades, in June this year 2013 South Africa will mark 100 years of the evil 1913 Land Act which laid the legislative framework that facilitated the disenfranchisement of the African people from their land.
Many African people were pushed into overcrowded rural graveyards which constituted less than 20% of the whole of South African geographic space. In consequence more than 12 million of our people are still trapped in the poverty stricken rural landscape today.
We are almost 20 years into our democracy yet we have not effectively changed the unequal colonial ownership patters entrenched by the apartheid legacy. We shall not shy away from the reality that the land dispossession was instituted through draconian legislation and created conditions of super exploitation of the dispossessed.
The SACP will push for radical transformation in the resolution of the land question. The time of piecemeal reform and willing lover transactions is over. The Freedom Charter is clear: "The land shall be shared among those who work it". It furthermore states, among other clauses, that all the land re-divided amongst those who work it to banish famine and land hunger; the state shall help the peasants with implements, seed, tractors and dams to save the soil and assist the tillers".
The state will not be able to meet the 30% target for 2014 for land redistribution. We need aggressive land redistribution and necessary state intervention and support to the beneficiaries. The state must provide the necessary infrastructure and skills to help beneficiaries of land redistribution to be productive.
CORRUPTION IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR
Comrades , the SACP supports the fight against corruption at all fronts. Corruption in South Africa steals resources that should be dedicated towards service delivery , job creation , and the battle against poverty to uplift the poor people from horrible conditions of degradation.
The government created a lot of corruption busting programmes and structures and the enabling environment for the battle against corruption, we must also intensify it in the private sector because this sector is no holy domain.
In the past 3 years close to 237 corrupt government officials implicated in corrupt practices have been arrested. This shows government commitment in the fight against the rot. We look forward to their successful prosecution to send a strong message of no nonsense anymore.
Naming and shaming the culprits
We welcome the initiative by Justice Minister Jeff Radebe of naming and shaming the thieves convicted for corruption in the public service. This will ensure that no one must ever be allowed to join government or the ANC for narrow gain.
If the SACP does not assist to fight corruption the state will be taken over by thieves and criminals, we dare not fail. We call on all communist to remain resistant to the temptation to steal from public coffers and to blow the whistle everywhere they suspect corrupt practices.
Corruption and price fixing
Price fixing is corruption by the private sector wherein companies collude to control the market at the expense of all in society and especially the poor. In the private arena capitalists with their lieutenants continue to collude to make more profits through price fixing and make life difficult for the poor.
In 2007 Tiger Brands admitted guilt for colluding with other food companies to raise and fix prices. Pioneer Foods was involved in price fixing over wheat, maize, poultry and eggs markets. Affecting negatively products used more by poor people. Foodcorp admitted to colluding in the fixing of prices of flour and maize meal, products which constitute staple food for the poor in South Africa.
We saw the same in the milk industry in 2008 , petroleum industry , and the construction sector recently pertaining to 2010 Football World Cup projects. We applaud the Competition Commission and all other collaborative law enforcement agencies in bringing the culprits to book.
Although financial penalties have been meted out against the culprits ranging beyond 100 million of rands. It is becoming clear that the financial punishment is not enough a deterrent to stop this corrupt uncompetitive behavior. We need to see more direct individual criminal liability advanced including naming and shaming of those directly involved in the malpractice.
FINANCIAL SECTOR CAMPAIGN
Banking service for the poor
We must continue to educate our family members about the importance of the Mzanzi account. The Mzanzi account is a victory for the working class and we must protect and defend it.
It has ensured that banking facilities also extend service to multitudes of the poor. The party of Moses Mabhida is a party of both theory and practice. But we are aware that this facility is not a priority for the banks and this is a threat to this victory.
Micro-lending and indebtedness
Comrades , as part of the SACP Financial Sector Campaign we must ensure that our alliance interactions guide the state `s capacity to deal with reckless lending by financial institutions. Today the poor are highly indebted because the greed of banks has pushed them to allow the poor to get unsecured loans with prospects of repayment highly remote if not nil.
Many are now gripped by a state of indebtedness. Some are losing their dignity because when you lose your identity you also lose your dignity. Some of the loan sharks take your ID book and your bank card as security for repayment and this must be condemned.
We must intensify initiatives to create affordable micro credits to be accessible to the poor. This will destroy the beast of loan sharks.
CONDOLENCES TO HUGO CHAVEZ
As we commemorate the life and times of Moses Mabhida, we also take this time to send our deepest condolences to the people of Venezuela and Latin America, to the family of this great revolutionary Hugo Chavez who died on 05 March at the Military hospital in Caracas.
The imperialist forces are celebrating and hope to have a sigh of relief now that this great revolutionary is gone. What they forget is that his spirit lives on like that of Moses Mabhida.
Comrade Chavez like Moses Mabhida gave the working class and the marginalized a sense of hope for the possible in their future. He led a successful democratic revolution in Latin America and was fearless in his pursuit of social justice. In his term of office poverty was reduced from 42% to 34% between 2000 and 2006.
By 2009 this percentage was severely reduced to between 29% and 27%. This inspiration must drive us to intensify the second phase of transition now and after 2014 national elections when we put the ANC back to power overwhelmingly.
Chavez used the oil resources to create jobs, provide housing, and increased services to the marginalized in his country. He defended the sovereignty of Venezuela successfully in the face of aggressive imperialism.
He fought against the ruling class and confronted the looting culture of the elite successfully. He was never the darling of the elite, capitalists and imperialists. We have every reason to learn lessons and surpass him where he succeeded and resolve to fight for the successful path to socialism.
Long live Moses Mabhida Long Live! Long Live Hugo Chavez Long Live! Amandla!
Issued by the SACP, March 10 2013
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
