YCLSA Gauteng Province Provincial Executive Committee Special Plenary Session Statement, 13 October 2012
There is no neutrality in class struggle
YCLSA will defend the ANC and support President Zuma
The 3rd YCLSA Gauteng Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) met on 13 October 2012 in Johannesburg to reflect on the political situation in the province. Particularly the PEC focused on the forthcoming African National Congress (ANC) 53rd National Conference (Mangaung).
Attacks on President Jacob Zuma
The ANC is not just a leader of its members only, by the way who include us as the Communists. Over the years the ANC earned itself the position of the organisational leader of our liberation struggle and alliance, the national democratic revolution, the government and indeed our society at large. What happens and goes on in the ANC therefore has far reaching implications. Society cannot afford the cost of being indifferent about the ANC.
Neither must the factionally embedded elements masquerading as political analysts who are given media space to destructively criticise ANC leadership, targeting particularly President Jacob Zuma and in the process also belittling him, be allowed to exercise intellectual monopoly on the affairs of the ANC. The attacks on President Jacob Zuma and similarly ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe are not innocent. They constitute part of factional manoeuvres to capture the leadership of the ANC in Mangaung.
These attacks share the same motive as those launched and sustained from within the ANC following the 2009 elections. What is most problematic is that the attacks and the venom of insults unleashed on ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe and President Jacob Zuma are based on a factional elevation and popularisation of some ANC national executive committee members including the Deputy President.
By offering tacit and at times explicit support, those who are elevated by ill-disciplined elements have become weak links in the organisational unity and cohesion of the ANC. As it is revealed by reality, this has most possibly been motivated in exchange of political support for a counter-productive change of leadership in Mangaung. It is also proven that some sections of people who derive joy out of insulting ANC President and Secretary General are allegedly corruption extremists.
A drive by elitist groupings in Gauteng to hijack the ANC for their selfish interests
Elitist groupings that are determined to stop at nothing to impose their factional agendas have emerged in Gauteng. Their rise is not independent from their election in the ANC as linked with deployments and private capital accumulation through tenders. In the process, these elitist groupings are unleashing various forms of patronage and purging.
This is how we understand the recently imposed reshuffling of the provincial cabinet and disbursement of appointments to renegades. The resent reshuffling of the mayoral committee in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality is absolutely no different. Both of these were motivated by the agenda of a counter-productive change aimed at Mangaung.
Our position
Considering all these matters and our role we derived guidance among others from the Manifesto of the Communist Party, written by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels (1848). The Manifesto shows that "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle". The historic mission of the YCLSA is to advance class struggle. Folding arms on Mangaung would constitute disengagement in class struggle, which is counter-revolutionary.
According to the Marx and Engels, the Communists are the advanced and most resolute section of the working class parties of all countries. In the movement of the present, in favour of the working class the Communists support every revolutionary movement against the socio-economic and political order of things. It is in this context that we are duty bound to defend the ANC, the largest working class party in our country by membership and our leading revolutionary movement.
We publicly announce, therefore that the membership of the YCLSA in Gauteng (Provincial Council, 4 June 2012) reaffirmed confidence in the leadership of our alliance and country by President Jacob Zuma. Just to mention only one reason, the provincial leadership of the ANC in Gauteng has dismally failed to lead the alliance. Under the leadership of President Jacob Zuma, for the first time after 1996 the alliance became strong.
The ANC needs unity and cohesion than ever before. We are not opposed to change. What we believe in is continuity and change in line with the character of the ANC as a disciplined force of the left. We shall support the leadership collective that is led by President Jacob Zuma and Gwede Mantashe as Secretary General.
Those that became weak links in the unity and cohesion of ANC leadership collective must be changed. Most of these constitute a grouping of names that was announced by ANC Gauteng PEC which acted in total disregard of the membership that supports President Jacob Zuma and Secretary General Gwede Mantashe. We do not support the ANC Gauteng PEC grouping of names which represent nothing but a wish list.
Statement issued by Alex Mashilo, YCL Gauteng, October 14 2012
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