SACP Western Cape Provincial Council declaration
17 April 2018
We communist cadres comprising of delegates representing SACP Districts, Branches and the entire membership of the Party and representatives of our alliance partners the ANC and SANCO converged at the Provincial Council of the SACP on 15 April 2018 at Ntsebenziswano High, Philippi, Cape Town. The purpose of the meeting was to deliberate on the state of our national democratic revolution.
Delegates saluted the brave freedom fighters of our revolution who perished over the years during the April month. These martyrs waged a gallant uninterrupted struggle and contributed to the defeat of the apartheid regime. We count amongst them the most advanced cadres, including Solomon Mahlangu, Chris Hani, Oliver Tambo, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Zola Skweyiya. The struggle for which they fought and died is neither complete nor over. Aluta continua!
Whilst this month provides an opportunity for reflection, for us there remains a painful reminder that the masterminds behind Hani`s assassination are still walking free. We therefore reaffirm our Party`s call for inquest into the murder. The Provincial Council reaffirms its decision, that in honour of comrade Chris Hani, Cape Town International Airport must be renamed Chris Hani International Airport.
The Council condemned the ongoing aggression of the apartheid state of Israel against the Palestinian people with the complicity of the imperialist United States` Donald Trump regime. The Council condemned warmongering by NATO in Syria.
In the same vein, the Council condemned the United States for its interference in Latin America and more recently in spawning destabilisation of Venezuela.
During this Chris Hani month, as the SACP acting jointly with progressive forces, we will embark on a campaign directed at the United States Consulate to demand that the imperialist state desists from supporting the killing of people in Palestine and violating the sovereignty of Venezuela. The Council reiterated our Party`s call to the United States to unconditionally uplift its illegal blockade of Cuba.
The Council noted the recent shifts towards land expropriation to speed up the pace of redistribution and restitution, interventions to expand progressive rollout of free higher education, public ownership of the Reserve Bank and related pronouncements. We welcome these developments but are concerned that there is lack of policy substance. This risks reducing the interventions into rhetorical political populism and hijacking by right-wing and opportunist elements.
We note that since the Nasrec 54th ANC Conference the World Bank and ratings agencies have been making positive projections on our national economy. The Council expressed concern about the contradiction emerging from that optimism. This involves imposing measures that impoverish the working class, for example VAT increase. This regressive tax punishes the poor and reduces them to beggars whilst not touching the filthy rich. In addition to the VAT increase, Eskom wants to increase electricity tariffs. This will add to the punishment suffered by the working class. The money that has been misappropriated, that was spent in fruitless and wasteful expenditure, that was paid in corrupt dealings, must be recovered.
The City of Cape Town plans to increase water, electricity and fuel levies to 27 per cent. These measures suffocate the poor in areas such as Joe Slovo, Nyanga, Chris Nissen Park, Valhala Park, Zwelihle, Paarl East, and Ashton. In addition to this systematised attack on the poor, the workers are facing the risk of losing their jobs and are even facing death through the rail transport system which is outdated, unsafe and inefficient. The Party will heighten its campaign on the safe, reliable, accessible and affordable public transport system.
The onslaught on the working class requires urgent mobilisation of all sections of the working class communities and formations on a non-sectarian basis to fight the anti-poor forces in entities such as Prasa, Eskom, PetroSA and the City of Cape Town. We reiterate our calls for wide-scale investigations in the affairs of state owned entities as well as an end to perpetual acting stints at these entities.
The DA government is impervious to the pain of the working class. This is further evidenced by its inability to, and complicity in, the rising levels of crime and increased evictions of vulnerable people, for example in Scottsdene, Kraaifontein. Failure to intervene by the DA authorities is a tacit endorsement of the evictions of poor people, thus rendering them destitute in the most callous and inhumane manner.
Under the DA crime has increased to high levels wherein scores of people are killed like flies while the DA government fails to prioritise crime fighting capacity and simultaneously destabilising community crime fighting structures. The DA has paralysed community policing forums by creating and funding parallel neighbourhood watch which blunts and divides community responses to crime.
Delegates noted that the season of public sector salary negotiations is underway and unapologetically pledge support to public servants in light of the VAT and other increases which condemn workers to a status of the working poor.
As loyal communists, our commitment dictates that we entrench our 14th Congress resolution on contesting elections either through a reconfigured alliance and/or by building a left popular front. We actively commit to push for reconfiguration of the Alliance and advance the building of a left popular front to advance and deepen the second radical phase of the national democratic revolution and advance to a socialist transition.
For more information please contact
Benson Ngqentsu
SACP Provincial Secretary
082 796 6400 or 083 809 1142
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