18 July 2020

The activities of this year’s Nelson Mandela Day take place as the world is engaged in a battle against the novel coronavirus (Covid-19). The theme for this year’s Nelson Mandela Day aptly captures our key task against the deadly disease: ‘Take Action. Inspire Change. Make Every Day a Mandela Day’.

Quality health-care for all, in memory of Nelson Mandela

Comrade Nelson Mandela remains one of the most prominent practical ambassadors of the right to quality health-care for all. His steadfastness against HIV/AIDS denialism, his resoluteness for HIV treatment to save lives, should serve as a source of courage towards quality health-care for all across all tiers of health-care, namely primary, secondary and tertiary health-care. It is therefore proper to invoke his revolutionary spirit in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly in prioritising the health and wellbeing of our people.

The majority of our people are the working-class. The unemployed number approximately 11 million in total now. Low-waged workers are also in millions. Other sections of the workers who are exploited in the capitalist job relation are also in millions. The poor in rural areas, densely populated townships and squatter camps are also in millions.

The private health-care sector and pharmaceutical corporations exclude the masses from health-care and deny them medicine, respectively, because the workers and poor do not have money to pay for private health-care and medicines as commodities.

That starkly shows that the business of the private health-care sector and pharmaceutical corporations is primarily to profiteer from, and not to prevent disease. Pharmaceutical corporations in particular, for instance, have immensely benefitted from the society ravaging impact of the coronavirus disease!

As the SACP we are resolute in our policy position for the introduction and full implementation of the National Health Insurance (NHI) to ensure delivery of quality health-care for all. We are decisive in our policy position for the development of a state-owned pharmaceutical manufacturing enterprise, as a step towards the establishment of a wider state-owned pharmaceutical sector to produce medicine to look after the health-care needs of all. We stand firm in our policy position for industrial policy to include a focus on the manufacturing of health-care equipment and technology to take care of the health-care needs of all. We are calling on the working-class, trade unions, community-based organisations, the progressive women’s, youth, civic and students’ movements, to rally behind these developmental policies.   

South Africa has not been spared from the global Covid-19 pandemic. This week South Africa’s Covid-19 positive cases surged past the 300 000 mark, recording 324 221 Covid-19 positive cases this week on Thursday, 16 July 2020. The infections are still rising. The number of deaths because of the deadly disease in South Africa reached 4 669 this week. The SACP sends heartfelt condolences to the families of all those who have died from the virus and wishes speedy recovery to those who have been infected. We also remind the people of our country to do all they can to abide by the health regulations that are communicated by the World Health Organisation and the government and thus prevent further infections. The wonderful news is that 165 591 people have recovered. More people can recover, and we can stop the rising infections. 

The SACP commends the work that has been done in fighting Covid-19. An overwhelming majority, if not all, of those who have been in the frontline of this battle ever since the virus was detected is the working-class, of whom many have also been infected by the virus, with some dying from it.

The SACP also commends the research work being done in the various research centres in the country. We reiterate our stance that the primary focus in the research should be the health and wellbeing of the people.

While the front liners, especially health-care workers, are critical in the fight against Covid-19, it is important to remember the crux of Mandela Day – an active citizenry, at the heart of which should be the working-class, in changing social circumstances for the better. We can defeat the deadly disease through active communities and working-class activism and leadership. The fight against Covid-19 should therefore not be left in the hands of the government and health-care officials alone. 

Gender-based violence

The SACP reiterates its strong condemnation of gender-based violence. The prevailing system of capitalist exploitation, inequality, poverty and patriarchy, is central to violence in every society where the capitalist mode of production prevails.

The imperative to stop violence must therefore be anchored in the broader working-class struggle against capitalism, the struggle for universal social emancipation. The SACP reiterates its call for decisive law enforcement and harsh sentences against the perpetrators of gender-based violence and violence in general.

Violence against women and the LGBTQI+ community members must be fought against, along with violence and crime in general as an integral part of the struggle for a just society. Our criminal justice system must be radically improved in order to lessen delays of criminal cases, encourage reporting of violent acts and hold the perpetrators to account.

Working-class internationalism and solidarity – a cause which Mandela stood for

The fight against the apartheid regime in South Africa is one of the greatest teachers of the people of our country on the need for working-class internationalism and solidarity. The defeat of the apartheid regime in South Africa was greatly supported by the working-class of the world, motivated by the firm belief that injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere. It is our duty on this Mandela Day to place international solidarity high on the agenda to achieve a peaceful and just world.

On 4 December 1997 in his address at the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian People Comrade Nelson Mandela said: “…we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians; without the resolution of conflicts in East Timor, the Sudan and other parts of the world.” These words should inspire every person who is genuinely committed to justice.

The SACP has thrown itself body and soul into the battle for the release of Palestinian children held in Israeli prisons. The Party is also taking part in mobilising the masses of our people in the campaign for the writing of letters to those children who are held in Israeli prisons.

Over 6 000 Palestinian children have been detained by Israeli authorities since 2015 Official reports show that about 98 per cent of the children have been subjected to psychological and physical abuse and violence in the apartheid Israeli prisons. It is even more disturbing that dozens of minors were detained after first being shot and wounded by the troops of the Israeli regime.

The SACP calls for more voices and action in the fight to end the occupation of Palestine by the apartheid Israeli regime. The apartheid Israeli regime enjoys the automatic support of the imperialist United States. Recently, the United States Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concluded what they dubbed a “Deal of the Century” on Palestine. That is nothing but the disaster of the century, and yet another ploy by the two regimes to annex the entire Palestinian land. This must strongly be opposed by all peace-loving people, united in practical action in memory of Nelson Mandela.

The United States regime continues to attack Cuba, Venezuela and other countries. This imperialist force proved to all and sundry that - even during the global spread of Covid-19 – it would not cease its imperialist aggression. The United States Trump administration has blocked the supply of vital medicine destined for the people in Cuba and Venezuela. More, the United States regime has violated countless United Nations resolutions calling for it to stop its unilateral, criminal and imperialist economic blockade of Cuba. The SACP reiterates in unwavering solidarity with the people of Cuba and Venezuela.

Solidarity with the people of Bolivia and Evo Morales should also be intensified. The coup against the democratically elected Morales was nothing but a result of imperialist aggression. The recent steps taken by the illegal government in Bolivia to arrest Morales is a continuation of the agenda of imperialist machination and its domestic agents to keep working-class voices out of the upcoming elections in Bolivia and ensure that the country remains under the control of an imperialist supported puppet regime.

The fight for a just and peaceful world must also involve Africans in practical struggles to rid our continent of the injustices that still engulf it. The SACP condemns the atrocities committed by the Cameroonian military against the people in South Cameroon. We are calling upon the government of Cameroon to end the violence, but also for the African Union to take practical steps towards resolving the problem of Cameroon.

The SACP continues to support the struggle for freedom of the people of Western Sahara, and for democracy in Swaziland.