SACP Message to the ANC 101st Anniversary to be delivered by SACP General Secretary, Cde Blade Nzimande.

On behalf of the more than 160 000 members of the South African Communist Party, we wish to congratulate the ANC on this 101st anniversary. In addition the SACP congratulates the ANC for reaching a historic membership of 1,2 million and for the very successful centenary celebrations over the last 12 months. Congratulations on a very successful conference, and the election of Cde Jacob Zuma and the rest of the leadership elected at Mangaung.

Celebrating January 8 must also be a celebration of the achievements of the ANC over the past 19 years, and especially over the last five years.

The SACP rejects with the contempt it deserves the false claims and propaganda that the ANC has not done anything, and that life was better under apartheid and that there is no political leadership in this country. This is nothing but a ploy of sections of the elite who want to derail us from pursuing the goals of our NDR

Amongst other things as the SACP we celebrate the fact that

a. Electrification, water, housing, social grants and other basic services that have been significantly expanded over the last 19 years. Those who say nothing has been done are the rich, the wealthy who never knew what it is like not to have running or clean drinking water, electricity, a house, etc. We cannot judge progress in our country through the eyes of the elites, the wealthy and their newspapers. They often sneer at our achievements precisely because these things mean nothing to them!

b. We particularly note progress made since Polokwane - increase in life expectancy since 2009 by more than five years; more than 8million children in the school feeding scheme and steady improvement in matric results. We have also achieved steady increase in bursaries for higher education, including free education in FET colleges. Let us celebrate these and other achievements and not be diverted by professional cynics and whiners, and professors of doom, who will always try to negate our progress.

Indeed we still have enormous challenges, especially poverty, unemployment and inequality. Let us use government's planned investment into infrastructure as a key foundation to address these problems. SACP also calls upon the Alliance to urgently resolve outstanding matters like the youth wage subsidy and labour brokers, so that we do not allow our enemies and detractors to use these matters to cause unnecessary strain in our Alliance

We wish to take this opportunity to call for the farm bosses in the Western Cape and the rest of the country to go and genuinely negotiate with workers for a decent wage settlement. To most farmworkers 1994 never arrived, instead they live in slave like conditions, if not dragged on the back of tractors or being thrown into lion's dens.

Helen Zille must stop crying to national government; instead she must go tell farm bosses to negotiate in good faith. In 2013, the SACP is taking up issues on basic services and revitalizing our campaign to transform the financial sector; so that its resources are directed into the productive economy and infrastructure spend.

The challenge to our Alliance cadres and supporters is that they must be in the forefront of community work, on all fronts: in SGBs, ward committees, community policing forums, street committees, etc. Let us build unity in defense of the ANC and our Alliance. Let us be everywhere where our people are. Let none of us, especially at leadership of the Alliance, allow ourselves to be media heroes by attacking especially the ANC and/or each other's formations in public in order to prove that we are independent. Whilst we will continue to articulate publicly as the SACP our positions, we will refuse to become media heroes through attacking the ANC or COSATU.

Issued by the SACP, January 12 2013

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