SACP Eastern Cape PWC statement

18 August 2013

The South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Eastern Cape convened its Provincial Working Committee (PWC) meeting at the Buffalo City Hall from 17-18 August 2013. The meeting was held to look into the daily work of the SACP and obtaining political situation here at home and abroad.

The SACP PWC meeting was attended by the SACP Central Committee (CC) members, Cde Mandla Makupula, Cde Bulelwa Tunyiswa and Cde Fezeka Loliwe.

Nationally:

The meeting observed a moment of silence in commemoration of workers who lost their lives in the Marikana Platinum belt. We are disappointed to note that the Marikana Commission of Enquiry is not scrutinizing the role played by mine bosses in the Marikana killings.

We condemn with the strongest contempt it deserves the continuous killings of members and leaders of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in the platinum belt. We view this as not an attack to only the NUM but an attack to Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and our alliance; this is an onslaught against the people`s camp. It is surprising that as killings of NUM comrades continues there are no arrests made by the police. The killings are all happening in Marikana which makes the possibility of the perpetrators being known to the community quite high.

The situation requires that all of us in the alliance work tirelessly in defense of the majoritarian character of our democracy and the National Democratic revolution (NDR).

We condemn the stance of the big banks that are rejecting the proposed credit amnesty which is aimed at helping some of South Africans in serious debt as a result of among others the reckless lending. We have raised it many times that the behavior of the South African banks which was found by the Competition Commission as uncompetitive and that the bank charges they currently charge are not related to their business running costs.

It is against this background that we are calling for the re-introduction of the Community Re-investment Bill to compel the South African banks to invest in public infrastructure for the benefit of workers and the poor. We will be convening a financial sector summit in the province before the end of September to take forward our campaign for the transformation and diversification of the financial sector, to make banks serve the people. This proves the correctness of the SACP financial sector campaign.

Provincial:

The meeting made observation on the state of the Provincial government and municipalities across the province. We appreciate the good progress made by some of the departments from a bad state to relatively better state. The corruption network in the provincial government continues to pose serious challenges in rendering services to the Eastern Cape populace. We are of the firm view that our government should take drastic measures in combating fraud and corruption in pursuit of service delivery and clean governance.

We noted with disgust the scoring of Provincial Government leaders by the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Congress of the People (COPE) as the populist stance by desperate opposition to discredit the ANC alliance led governance. It is the people of the Eastern Cape who can judge the delivery levels of their government not those who are desperate for votes to pursue imperialist agenda.

The meeting raised concerns on the report by the Auditor General (AG) on the state of the municipalities; it was revealed that most of our Municipalities are engulfed by maladministration. We are once again saying there is a need for the alliance leadership to intervene decisively in all the municipalities with challenges. We cannot continue to have people deployed to serve our people and fail to do so yet nothing happens.

As the SACP we are concerned by the non-ending industrial action in all campuses of Walter Sisulu University (WSU). The ongoing industrial action compromises the welfare of both the workers and students. We are calling upon the management of WSU management to sit with the workers and find a solution to the strike. We believe that taking workers to court will not rescue the situation but serve as a provocation to organized workers. The WSU with the Department of Higher Education must speedily resolve workers disputes for teaching and learning to continue in a conducive environment.

We condemn the violent protest in Sterkspruit for violence will only delegitimize any demand made in the protest. It cannot be correct that when people demand the municipality they will then petrol bomb the existing municipal office meant to facilitate service delivery. Engaging on violent actions by the people in Sterkspruit criminalizes the entire protest.

Alliance:

The meeting reasserted that our alliance is not only the alliance of organizations but an alliance of class forces. The unity of our alliance is the precondition for any revolutionary advance on the radical second phase of the transition so it is important that all of us in the alliance do not take each other for granted. The good relations between the leaders in the alliance ought to be translated into changing the socio economic conditions of the workers and the poor.

As the SACP in the province we commit ourselves to work for the resounding victory of the African National Congress in the coming general elections.

Issued by SACP Eastern Cape.

Contact:

Siyabonga Mdodi
SACP Provincial Spokesperson
0833588070