SACP Eastern Cape Augmented PEC press statement - Towards the SACP 3rd Special National Congress
22 June 2015
Towards the SACP 3rd Special National Congress
The South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Eastern Cape convened an Augmented Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) meeting at the Calgary Conference Centre on 20 21 June 2015. The Augmented PEC meeting was extend to all delegates to the SACP 3rd Special National Congress as part of the preparations.
The Augmented PEC meeting observed a moment of silence in paying our last respect to the late SACP Central Committee member, Comrade Judy Malqueeny, who has served the party and the people of South Africa with diligence till the end. We salute her for tireless work on co-operatives and gender struggles in true spirit of the late SACP leader comrade Dora Tamane.
The meeting also marked the 20th anniversary of the late Comrade Harry Gwala, a fearless leader of the SACP and the African National Congress (ANC). We are deeply indebted in the contribution and sacrifices that he and many other leaders made in the struggle for freedom. We made an assertion that for as long as we live, for as long as our vanguard party exists, Harry Gwala, Chris Hani, Joe Slovo, Ruth First, Govan Mbeki, and many of our communist martyrs will never die.
The meeting received a presentations on the last Central Committee political report and the organisational renewal discussion documents from our CC members through Cde Buti Manamela, Yunis Carrim, Mandla Makupula and Bulelwa Tunyiswa. The thought-provoking presentations were used by the meeting as a theoretical and political guide in deliberations.
Ongoing to the root.
The Augmented PEC appreciates the going to the root discussion document of our party as it properly analyse the state of affairs in the country and suggest the sustainable solutions. The PEC underlined assertion of the document for the economic transformation to ensure economic sovereignty. The imperialist attempts to use our country to arrest President Al Bashir means that without transformation of the judiciary and economic sovereignty, our current political sovereignty remain hallow.
Building Organizational Capacity:
We are going to congress committed to build the SACP internal capacity to develop policies on Education, Health and Youth as tools for educating and mobilizing for a socialist South Africa. We therefore of a strong view that institutionalize political education beginning in schools and public servants is of paramount importance.
As part of putting our country on a path towards a second more radical phase of our transition, we should defeat the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and multi-dimensional inequality. We re-affirmed the SACP perspectives of changing the dependence of South Africa on the mineral-energy finance complex, which is export orientated (more of plant to port), as it is unsustainable.
The Augmented PEC meeting asserted that our long held view that, there is an urgent need to review the macro economic framework as means of breaking away from the neo-liberal discourse as entrenched by the 1996 class project. We should diversify the South African economy from mineral-energy complex with greater beneficiation and value adding anchored on the well-articulated industrial policy. The state must take an active lead in the building of redistributive economy that does not grow abstractly from the workers and the poor.
The infrastructure roll-out programme as announced by government should include amongst other things a strategic role to be played by the cooperatives and SMMEs and be vigilant that it is not highjacked by the corrupt tenderpreneurs and some government officials. The state must be de-tenderized and build a state capacity, as this tendering system has created high levels of corruption and closed real job opportunities. As a starting point the PEC calls for the establishment of a Shared Service Centre in the province under the Premiers office with legal services and procument services.
We strongly reject the attempts by some in the movement to privatise ESKOM for their narrow selfish interests. Instead of selling ESKOM for greed; we are calling for the nationalization of Arcelor Mittal and SASOL for the state to respond better to the energy needs of our people.
We are calling for the coming National Alliance Summit to review the role of the National Treasury as its current positions on radical phase, wage negotiations and funding of the NHI for example is unwittingly or wittingly blocking the radical phase. This has resulted in the National Treasury to veto the manifesto of the ANC led alliance undermining the very basis people have voted for the ANC.
On Education:
We appreciate the great work done in the Training Vocational Education & Training (TVET) Colleges by our government, we still think more still needs to be done in de-stigmatising the TVET colleges. The theoretical courses like HR Management, Financial Studies, Public Management, etc should be taken to Universities, the TVET Colleges should remain the theatre of the production of artisans and skills that our economy needs. This would mean there should be a deliberate link between the countrys developmental agenda and the content of the curriculum in the TVET Colleges and Universities.
We are of the firm view that the industry must play a great role in the TVET sector as those institution nurture skills to be absorbed by the industry. We are calling for the industry to invest in modernising the workshops of the TVET colleges and for them to open workplace skills training and internship programmes for the students, this will be part of the public private partnership in building the future of our country. There should be a well-articulated role of the private sector in the TVET sector, as government cannot work alone in transforming the sector.
We are of the strong view that the responsibility of the construction of public schools should be taken from the Department of Basic Education to the Department of Public Works as it falls within its scope of mandate. This should be dine as the transition towards establishment of a state department responsible for infrastructure.
The Department of Education should focus on its core mandate and that is educating and developing children, its core business remains a teacher, teaching and a child learning.
On organisational renewal.
Our party should not only strengthen itself but also our allies to rid themselves of challenges like ultra-democracy and the growing tendency of pinning hopes of the members into individual leaders as opposed to the organisation. Our organisations should also be strengthened to reject the financialization of our structures by certain business cartels for their interests of conspicuous consumption.
There is a great need to strengthen co-ordination of international left forces for total destruction of the capitalist mode of production. Our SACP must deepen the struggle of an alternative production system which is socialism as transition to communism, considering that capitalism is not only illogical, exploitative and cruel but has proven to be incapable of responding to the needs of people.
On the battle of ideas:
The APEC meeting has asserted that over a period of time the bourgeoisie media has placed itself as an opposition to the peoples government and paraded as an anti-alliance force and only focused on profit making whilst propagating neo-liberal views and positions.
Our party should modernise and strengthen how it propagates its views with its membership and the broader populace of South Africa in an uninterrupted manner. The promotion of the peoples languages remains a strategic struggle; alternative sources of media should be developed whilst intensifying battle of ideas within mainstream media. The Party must insist on legislative instrument to diversify media.
Redeployment of ANC deployees:
While we respect the decisions taken by our independent ally, the ANC on matters of redeployment of comrades who get overwhelmed by the tasks given by the movement. We, however reject this growing trend of promoting those who have erred to another levels of governance without entire interrogation of what led to the redeployment. The people as a whole should also be taken to confidence as it relates to the redeployment, for they are the ones who vote the ANC to power. Let us not reinforce the perception that wrong doing is rewarded in the movement.
Report by Cde Mrara.
The Augmented PEC meeting received a detailed account from the SACP Provincial Chairperson, Cde Mzoleli Mrara on the allegations levelled against him on his responsibilities as the ANC Chief Whip. The meeting welcomed the report and appreciate the true leadership character shown by Cde Mrara, that of taking the party into confidence.
The meeting appreciated the exemplary leadership displayed by Cde Mrara that of taking responsibility of mistake committed. That is what it means to be communist, for to be communist is to be human.
On the SACP 3rd Special National Congress:
We will go to the congress with the aim of strengthening the party and building elements and capacity for socialism with and for the workers and the poor. The APEC agreed that our party continue to grow and call for a dedicated focus on transforming quantity to quality through a vigorous cadreship development programme.
We remain true to the fact the organization remains a dialectical combination of theory and practice.
The APEC closed on a high note as we welcome the Cuban 5 in our country after spending years in US jails for defending their country against aggression of the US imperialist empire. We remain unwavering for our call for the immediate lifting of the economic blockade against Cuba.
Issued by the SACP Eastern Cape.
Contact:
Siyabonga Mdodi
SACP Provincial Spokesperson
Mobile: +2783 358 8070
Office: +2740 635 1046/42
Fax: +2786 286 1281
Facebook: SACP Eastern Cape
