RESOLUTION IN SUMMARY

STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION

TASKS

Local government elections

Party contribution to Election Manifesto

Party campaign & focus

Party elections message

August CC to discuss Party contribution to election manifesto, Party campaign, focus & elections message

Extended PBC to use KYN-BSA campaign discussion as basis for August CC discussion.

Local governance programme primarily address the needs and concerns of the workers and the poor, particularly in regard to jobs and basic services

Intensification of the KYN-BSA campaign

Audit of flash points by each province & district by the extended PBC

Party audit of local governance & service delivery required.

Extended PBC to discuss KYN-BSA campaign.

Audits must be submitted at PBC.

CHI role in the audit?

For serious consideration is a significant & extensive cadreship development programme linked to a course/s course with bursaries & placements/learnerships of comrades in local areas & structures (for 12 month periods at least). DTCC, CHI & CUBES roles need discussion.

Resource mobilisation - SALGA, DPLG, DFID, developmental aid, DWAF, CDW programme, etc.

Possible link with the CDW programme?

List process

Democratisation of election of ward candidates (full participation of communities, and grass-roots level alliance structures)

Deployment strategy & structures

Party members on lists

CC to clarify complete approach to list process

Party approach on democratic election of ward candidates required (should it include the issue of the right to recall?)

CC to clarify.

CC to clarify approach.

August CC to discuss approach to list process, election of ward candidates, deployment strategy & structures, & Party members on lists.

Councillors

Empowerment & capacitation

Ensuring full accountability to communities & alliance

Audit of current ANC empowerment/capacitation programmes required. Party input required to consolidate relevant programmes.

Audit of current accountability mechanisms. Party position paper required on accountability mechanisms including right to recall & accountability of Party councillors.

Resources & extensive programme required for audit & a focus on Party councillors. What about focus on Party councillors as per proposal to Swedish Left Party?

Party audit of performance of its elected representatives

Ideally audit needs to be done before list process but significant capacity & resources required. Criteria for audit could include:

Participation in PDFs

Availability for, & participation in Party structures, work & campaigns

Constituency work

ANC work

Contribution to Party policy capacity

Audit process, systems & structures required with clarity on roles (Secretariat, CC Commission, provinces & districts).

DTCC & CHI roles need discussion.

Resource mobilisation - SALGA, DPLG, DFID, developmental aid, DWAF, CDW programme, etc.

Party to engage ANC on modalities of Party members who are elected representatives.

List process – see above. And possibility of full-time people.

August CC to discuss.

CC to appoint commission which must conclude its work in time for a CC report to the 12th Congress in July 2007.

Commission to do a SWOT on MTV including the development of strategic options on elections, assessment of the organisational assessment & readiness, canvassing views of workers, alliance, progressive social formations & assess the extensive electoral and state-power experience in SA Party and of Communist and other Left parties world-wide, and of the variety of organisational forms in which the Left is or has contested and exercised power.

Commission work to facilitate extensive political education, discussion and debate.

Constitution, structure, role, function & programme of commission needs serious consideration. Resources will be critical.

1.7 May CC to discuss & adopt full document on all aspects of the commission. CHI role to be discussed. Roles of other institutions with scenario planning. Resources also. Commission essentially has a 24-month time-frame (May 2005 to May 2007).

RESOLUTION IN SUMMARY

STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION

TASKS

Industrial policy – CC to identify ways for the Party to build power and exert influence to drive relevant  processes forward including a focus on HIV/AIDS.

Do we not need focused SETC industrial policy workshops nationally, provinces and districts leading to a national policy, provincial & district strategies & political education on the economy? NALEDI, NIEP, CHI & COSATU need to be engaged. Do we not need an Economic Policy Coordinator?

HIV/AIDS – long coming has been the idea of an HIV/AIDS policy conference & programme. Which NGOs & institutions must be engaged?

SETC to discuss & report to May CC.

GSTC to act on policy conference & report at August CC. Resources can be mobilised through other NGOs.

Interest rates and exchange rate policies – to exert pressure re concerns on SARB approach on interest rates, monetary policy & inflation targeting.

Should be part of process in 2.1.1 above.

Engagement with SARB also required.

SETC to report to May CC.

Meeting with SARB Governor required.

Media activism & public engagements required. SETC to lead & produce relevant material.

Sustainable livelihoods and cooperatives

CC to take forward proposal for conference

Calls on government to develop a co-ops support programme prioritising co-ops over other enterprises in bringing development to workers and the poor.

See DTCC report on sustainable livelihoods.

DTCC to audit support & other programmes & produce policy recommendations. SACP to act politically with NCASA, FSCC, etc. in engaging govt. SETC role central.

Preparations to be finalised for conference & post-conference process.

Time-frame & TORs need to be set with DTCC.

Skills development and human resources

extension and improvement of skills training opportunities to workers and the poor

skills development programmes orientated to people marginalised from the formal capitalist economy

programme to provide assistance to persons drawing social security to become involved in sustainable productive activities

Reiterates the KYN-BSA campaign 

Education & SETAs Unit to develop framework as part of SETC industrial policy process in 2.1.1 above.

GSTC & SETAs unit to develop framework as part of SETC industrial policy process in 2.1.1 above.

See 2.4.2 above

See 2.4.1 above. Appropriate political education required & integration of skills development approach in the KYN-BSA campaign.

26 April meeting of SETAs Unit to act & engage SETC for clear TORs & accountability mechanisms.

See 2.4.2 above & include GSTC in process.

See 2.4.2 above.

Extended PBC to start planning on programme. Raises the need for a Cadreship Development Officer & political education programme.

Engendering our perspectives on economic policy

Party to improve its understanding of the interrelationship of national, gender and class dynamics, particularly in its analysis of stratification of the working class and the potentiality of the struggles of those involved in casualised, contract, home-based and unpaid family labour.

Party to strive to promote gender equality as a central objective of its economic policy options.

SETC industrial policy process in 2.1.1 above to integrate the engendering of economic policy perspectives. GSTC to implement long-standing resolution for a Party conference on women & gender which must include women & the economy.

See 2.1.1 above.

Promoting a developmental mandate for State owned enterprises - review of mandates of SOEs to ensure developmental objectives have stronger impact on the actual performance of these entities.

For alliance processes & SETC industrial policy process in 2.1.1 above.

2.6 SETC to discuss & report at May CC.

BEE

Calls for BEE to be broad based and meaningful for workers and the poor (scorecards, charters and other instruments to give due weight & priority to this approach)

Calls for the eradication of BEE fronting and activism around this.

Government to align BEE with developmental industrial policies & a developmental state

Party to resist & oppose deals that detract from objectives in resolution & if they benefit a few black people.

Requires research & consolidation of policy perspectives by SETC.

For discussion with COSATU & progressive capitalists.

Alliance & government engagement by SETC.

Public activism required. SETC audit of key deals required.

Once more raise the need for an Economic Policy Coordinator.

SETC to discuss & report to May CC.

SETC to advise on how to move forward. 

See 2.7.1 above.

See 2.7.1 above. 

Secretariat & SETC to discuss this position & how to mobilise resources.

Developmental investment

Calls for a summit between IDC, PIC and worker representatives on boards of pension and provident funds to lead a developmental investment strategy

CC to consider whether 5% target of investible incomes is appropriate and the need to re-open debate on prescribed assets.

SETC to develop framework. FSCC role in tabling matter at NEDLAC. COSATU engagement required. CHI-led consultative process needs alignment with FSCC programme in this area.

SETC policy framework required on this target. NALEDI & NIEP can be engaged to do research.

SETC to discuss & report at May CC. Consultative workshop on retirement funds must proceed with clarity on roles & must be followed up by extensive education & campaign work on the financial sector.

SETC to discuss & develop ways to engage NALEDI, NIEP & other relevant institutions.

Financial sector campaign

Devising ways to take the campaign to and embed it in all Party structures taking into account focused needs in rural areas and linked to the land campaign.

Taking up unresolved issues in the Financial Sector Summit Agreement

Calls for an amnesty for poor people blacklisted by the Credit Bureaux

Extended PBC must discuss how to do this. Land campaign must include relevant demands & issues in rural areas (access to finance & agriculture for farmers, banking services in rural areas, etc.)

FSCC National Forum to discuss strategy. FSCC resource mobilisation is critical. Any further delay undermines potential of FSCC work.

Lobbying & campaign strategy required on credit bureaux amnesty. Public hearings in parliament & all legislatures required. Capacity to deal with consumer enquiries will be stretched unless FSCC resource mobilisation is addressed.

Preps for extended PBC must integrate this.

FSCC National Forum preps to be finalised by 25 April.

Engagement with Black Sash & other relevant institutions required on dealing with consumer enquiries.

Property clause in the constitution - CC to foster a debate on the extent to which this clause impedes the people sharing in the country’s wealth with a view to identify options in this regard.

SETC to discuss & report at May CC.

2.10 SETC to discuss & report at May CC.

International and regional economic relations

CC to find ways for the SACP to become more effectively engaged on struggles on IMF, World Bank, WTO, globalisation & world trade issues

CC to work with allies and supportive institutions to devise a perspective on a progressive working class orientated vision of building regional economic cooperation and integration

SETC to advise. SASN role critical.  more effectively engaged on struggles on IMF, World Bank, WTO, globalisation & world trade issues

CC to work with allies and supportive institutions to devise a perspective on a progressive working class orientated vision of building regional economic cooperation and integration

Translating economic policy perspectives into programmes - to develop programmes that translate Party economic policy perspectives into concrete programmes that can be practically taken forward by provincial, district and branch structures.

RESOLUTION IN SUMMARY

STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION

TASKS

Local government elections

Party contribution to Election Manifesto

Party campaign & focus

Party elections message

August CC to discuss Party contribution to election manifesto, Party campaign, focus & elections message.

Extended PBC to use KYN-BSA campaign discussion as basis for August CC discussion.

Local governance programme primarily address the needs and concerns of the workers and the poor, particularly in regard to jobs and basic services

Intensification of the KYN-BSA campaign

Audit of flash points by each province & district by the extended PBC

Party audit of local governance & service delivery required.

Extended PBC to discuss KYN-BSA campaign.

Audits must be submitted at PBC.

CHI role in the audit?

For serious consideration is a significant & extensive cadreship development programme linked to a course/s course with bursaries & placements/learnerships of comrades in local areas & structures (for 12 month periods at least). DTCC, CHI & CUBES roles need discussion.

Resource mobilisation - SALGA, DPLG, DFID, developmental aid, DWAF, CDW programme, etc.

Possible link with the CDW programme?

List process

Democratisation of election of ward candidates (full participation of communities, and grass-roots level alliance structures)

Deployment strategy & structures

Party members on lists

CC to clarify complete approach to list process

Party approach on democratic election of ward candidates required (should it include the issue of the right to recall?)

CC to clarify.

CC to clarify approach.

August CC to discuss approach to list process, election of ward candidates, deployment strategy & structures, & Party members on lists.

Councillors

Empowerment & capacitation

Ensuring full accountability to communities & alliance

 Audit of current ANC empowerment/capacitation programmes required. Party input required to consolidate relevant programmes.

Audit of current accountability mechanisms. Party position paper required on accountability mechanisms including right to recall & accountability of Party councillors.

Resources & extensive programme required for audit & a focus on Party councillors. What about focus on Party councillors as per proposal to Swedish Left Party and other initiatives?

Party audit of performance of its elected representatives

Ideally audit needs to be done before list process but significant capacity & resources required. Criteria for audit could include:

Participation in PDFs

Availability for, & participation in Party structures, work & campaigns

Constituency work

ANC work

Contribution to Party policy capacity

Audit process, systems & structures required with clarity on roles (Secretariat, CC Commission, provinces & districts).

DTCC & CHI roles need discussion.

Resource mobilisation - SALGA, DPLG, DFID, developmental aid, DWAF, CDW programme, etc.

Party to engage ANC on modalities of Party members who are elected representatives.

List process – see above. And possibility of full-time people.

August CC to discuss.

CC to appoint commission which must conclude its work in time for a CC report to the 12th Congress in July 2007.

Commission to do a SWOT on MTV including the development of strategic options on elections, assessment of the organisational assessment & readiness, canvassing views of workers, alliance, progressive social formations & assess the extensive electoral and state-power experience in SA Party and of Communist and other Left parties world-wide, and of the variety of organisational forms in which the Left is or has contested and exercised power.

Commission work to facilitate extensive political education, discussion and debate.

Constitution, structure, role, function & programme of commission needs serious consideration. Resources will be critical.

1.7 May CC to discuss & adopt full document on all aspects of the commission. CHI role to be discussed. Roles of other institutions with scenario planning. Resources also. Commission essentially has a 24-month time-frame (May 2005 to May 2007).

SUMMARY RESOLUTION

STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION

TASKS

That each branch that has not paid its R2,500.00 for registration at this National Special Congress must do so by or before the end of 2005

Branches should engage in continuous fundraising activities

The debt is a collective responsibility of the entire branch

Fundraising is a political task of every member of the branch

Each branch member can contribute at least R100.00 for the next six months to cover the branch the R2500.00 due

District Secretaries should coordinate the branch collection of these monies

All monies collected must be properly lodged with the province and submitted to the Head Office accordingly

Every branch member should be active in fundraising

All structures will prioritise fundraising activities and events as per the decision of the 2004 Augmented CC

It is the responsibility of the Secretaries particularly, and all executive committee members, at all levels to ensure there is a follow up on fundraising matters in the programmes and meetings of the organisation

Decisions of all constitutional structures should be widely distributed at all levels of the SACP and implementation should be monitored

Provinces should complete the planning of the annual fundraising dinners, and so should districts and branches should also hold fundraising activities

Provinces should coordinate the opening of branch accounts according to the financial manual

Every structure must increase its fundraising capacity

Mechanism to fund the current POA and the 2006 programme must begin now and be sustained.

This involve also the funding for political education programmes in provinces, districts and at branches

 All members will pay the required membership levy of the SACP for 2005, including any arrears

Every SACP meeting will conform to the constitutional requirement of levy payments and quorate only with paid up members on the levy system and requirements of the membership system accordingly.

All members will conform to the resolutions of the Augmented Central Committee of November 2004 on the levy system

PECs, DECs and BECs should follow up all members to verify that they are on the levy system and to ensure that they are up to date with their payments accordingly

All comrades owing their levies should pay in full for the duration of the owing period failing which their membership is considered lapsed unless they have a written permission from the National Treasurer as per constitutional requirement.

The Head Office should issue provinces with the new membership forms starting with all members paying the levy

 All structures will report and account for the SACP resources as per the policy of the SACP.

Accountability on resources of the orgnanisation should be demanded and encouraged at all level of the organization

All resources of the organization should be recorded and accounted for accordingly

These includes reading material handed over to branches which belongs to the organization and other resources that may have been mobilized for or in the name of the organization.

RESOLUTION

STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION

TASKS

Status of land ownership and delivery

Noting that the required rate to meet the target of redistribution of 30% of agricultural land by 2015 is 2,125 million hectares per year;

We need a combination of factors to speed up distribution of land and its transformation towards meeting basic needs.

The slow pace of redistribution of land is in fact a major tool to call and mobilize the landless to demand more land

Affirming the demand for land given that there are millions of unused hectares of arable land and there is significant resistance by white farmers and other land-owners to subdivide and sell unused land;

Affirming the demand for land given that there are millions of unused hectares of arable land and there is significant resistance by white farmers and other land-owners to subdivide and sell unused land;

Resolves to reaffirm the demands of the 2004 Red October Campaign (Mawubuye Umhlaba) for the release of productive land to the landless including a call to white farmers and other landowners to release land for productive use by the landless;

 Engage government and other stakeholders over whether the 30% target is an appropriate target for land redistribution and whether there is an appropriate framework, sufficient capacity and resources for the redistribution of land in terms of a comprehensive and integrated land and agrarian reform programme;

Mobilise the landless people, the rural poor masses, the farm dwellers and those who work in the farms, emerging black farmers and those in the urban centers who have been robbed of their land and those who need land for productive use and human settlement

Engage the government vigorously to ensure we achieve of the goals set out in speeding up land and agrarian reforms

Engage AgriSA and the 44 000 white farmers who occupies the most fertile portion of the land in the country and are very hostile to land reform and redistribution.

Fight against increasing prices for land and against foreign ownership which is partially responsible for the high prices due to exchange rates which favours them

Every structure should assess implementation of the Red October campaign demands of 2004.

Raise the 30% target at the land summit and continue to assess if it is an appropriate target. Ensure we provide enough and convincing research for the capacity to deliver on the targets and compel government to create enough capacity, allocate more resources and deliver on the targets of land reform

2. Land and agrarian reform policy

Supporting the objectives and pillars of the land reform programme which are land tenure reform, restitution of land rights and redistribution;

Noting the new Strategic Plan (2005-2010) of the Department of Agriculture which is a significant step forward towards a more integrated land reform framework;

Concerned with the emphasis in government policies on the creation of a new class of black commercial farmers possibly at the expense of the rural poor and landless without necessarily redistributing land and transforming the agricultural sector;

Believing that the market-based focus of the land reform programme and therefore lack of interference with existing property rights is no in line with the constitutional mandate for land reform and a developmental economic logic;

Noting and supporting the additional legislative and policy measures including labour market reforms for farm workers, the Agricultural Credit Scheme, rural public works programmes, the investigation on foreign land ownership, and the newly launched Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme

Believing that the scope of the land reform programme is limited in terms of its developmental objectives, budgets and overall impact on the pattern of property rights

Expressing concern about other legislative and policy measures which do not sufficiently take into account pro-poor land and agrarian reform such as the AgriBEE Charter and the Strategic Plan for Agriculture, which government discussed with land owners and emerging farmers without the voices of farm workers, women and the landless being heard in the process;

 There are major weaknesses in the land reform programme including neglect of post-transfer support for land reform beneficiaries and insufficient integration of land reform with a wider programme of rural development and agrarian reform;

 Believing that land and agrarian reform must be informed and shaped by the goals of building sustainable livelihoods, the revival of the rural economy and the transformation of the agricultural sector;

Believing that land reform needs to be subjected to a rigorous class and gender analysis in terms of who currently has access to land (particularly within the former homeland areas), who is benefiting from land reform programmes, what relations of labour are emerging, both on large commercial enterprises and within households, and how we balance the interests of so-called emerging farmers with those of the desperately poor;

 Expressing concern about the backlog and other problems in the land restitution and claims process;

Resolves that the Party must engage government, civil society, rural people and the landless on the scope of the land reform programme, the AgriBEE Charter, the Strategic Plan for Agriculture, the new Strategic Plan (2005-2010) of the Department of Agriculture and the process to consolidate existing tenure legislation in order to address current weaknesses which allow evictions and increases vulnerability of those with insecure land tenure;

Calls for a state-led, redistributive and developmental land reform programme integrated with a similar agrarian reform programme;

Calls for the establishment of consultative and representative Local Land Forums at the district level which must:

include the landless, rural dwellers, farm-workers, women, trade unions, local government, traditional leaders, relevant government departments, land-owners and other relevant stakeholders and role-players;

be structures for engagement and social dialogue around district-level land and agrarian reform issues and demands;

Mandates the CC to consolidate the Party’s programmatic and policy perspectives on agrarian reform focusing on the following specific issues:

Improvements in both security of tenure;

Restructuring of the predominantly capitalist organisation of agricultural industry and markets;

Rural development measures;

Food security and the restructuring of the capitalist agricultural food chain;

Restructuring of commodity markets;

Complete reordering of agricultural service structures in order to ensure access to finance and credit, extension and support services, research services, markets, farm-input supply, infrastructure (roads, fencing, irrigation, storage, processing facilities, etc.);

Pro-poor transformation of Agricultural Colleges, SETAs and other education and training bodies for capacity building and skills training for beneficiaries of land reform, the landless and rural dwellers; 

Access to, democratic control and use of water and other natural resources on a sustainable ecological and environmental basis and in line with land and agrarian reform;

Review of the role of the Land Bank; and

Our approach to building progressive land-based and agricultural co-operatives and their associations/organisations for vertical and horizontal linkages.

Calls for an Agriculture Sectoral Summit in line with the 1998 Presidential Jobs Summit and the 2003 Growth and Development Summit in order to address the above issues and to develop an industrial strategy to transform the agricultural sector as outlined above and to stop job losses and contribute to job creation in the sector;

Calls for the integration of the above perspectives in the Party’s Medium-Term Vision (MTV) including the debate on the issue of the nationalisation of land and desirability of the state being the custodian of all land rights;

The mass mobilization programmes must conform to this requirement of his resolution by calling on the implementation of the irrigation schemes in the rural areas and urban areas and lead a demand for these.

Fight for a bigger budget for land reform and ensure that we link the developmental objectives of the economy with land reform programmes. The SETC to develop guidelines to help this process and to deal with the agricultural charter processes

 Engage government vigorously on the inadequate legislative and policy framework for pro-poor accelerated land and agrarian reform.

Call for an inclusive dialogue on finding resolutions to the land question which will involve affected organizations, political and non-political organizations, land owners, farm workers and dwellers, communities, peoples, victims of state led land appropriations and the agricultural industry as a whole

 We need to use more the non-market measures such as appropriation and pronounce more against the willing-buyer, willing-seller” principle which subjects land reform to the interests of land owners and is in fact out of step with the intentions and spirit of Section 25 of the Constitution; which gives a clear mandate for state led land reform but still guarantees protection of private property subject public interest.

Calls on the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs to expropriate unused land and for the acceleration of land redistribution as provided for in the constitution and legislation and,

To introduce into legislation of the “use-it or lose-it” principle and a progressive land tax for all unused land;

Opposes anti-poor legislation including new by-laws in some municipalities that prohibit the husbandry of cattle and other domestic animals in certain urban residential areas;

We should also mobilise communities and our structures to intensify work and campaigns to test the limits of Section 25 of the Constitution, property rights clause, through struggling for change in relevant market-based policies and legislation, constitutional challenges through test cases affecting communities, the local-level mobilisation of communities, and informed progressive public debate on property rights;

 Argue that land and agrarian reform are not just rights-based and legal, but in our context are actually about a sustainable and progressive economic logic, buttressed by mass organisation and mobilisation, in order to transform and roll-back the capitalist market; the SETC should broaden its work on this matter and we need to strengthen the sphere of mass mobilisation

We should mobilise for the review of the cut off date for land restitution, through active mobilisation, engagement with government and other mass organisations involved in land reform

Make a concerted effort to ensure we win the call for a moratorium on all evictions particularly in the farms and in occupied rural land. Every structure should articulate its role in his regard. We need a strong presence in the farm dwellers, workers and in the organisation of farm workers and the building of People’s Land Committees would be a good stepping stone towards, in essence we should oppose evictions of farm workers, labour tenants and other farm dwellers and concerned with the many loopholes in the relevant legislation on security of tenure and evictions;

 Resolves that the Party must also engage all these forces mentioned above and campaign actively on its concerns on the Communal Land Rights Act;

Resolves that the Party must take forward its work of rolling back the shift away from land reform as a programme aimed at the rural poor and landless to one aimed at the creation of a new class of commercial farmers including the development of practical alternatives on post-transfer support and the integration of land reform within a wider programme of rural development and agrarian reform;

Calls on municipalities to provide land for commonage, and to identify and release farms and other productive land for productive use by the landless; and call on municipalities to withdraw legislation against animal husbandry in urban areas and work towards the integration of an appropriate pro-poor land and agrarian reform logic and framework into the IDPs and LED strategies of municipalities;

Mandates the Central Committee to develop an approach and programme of action on problems in the land restitution process and restitution claims;

Directs branches and districts to undertake local initiatives and programmes of action regarding problems in the land restitution process and restitution claims including the mobilisation of claimants;

a) Mobilisation of the motive forces for redistributive land and agrarian reform

Supporting the rights of the landless, rural dwellers, farm workers, labour tenants and other farm dwellers to basic services such as water, electricity, housing, health, food, education and social security;

Calls on the CC to engage the Rural Legal Trust on its research on evictions as a base for identifying issues and local areas around which to start and sustain mass mobilisation based on real local demands and issues; and

Calls on branches and districts to work with existing advice centres and building new ones; and

Direct branches and districts to use the above struggles and the building of PLCs to build Party structures in farms and rural areas.

Supporting the rights of farm workers to join trade unions, protect their rights, work in a safe and healthy environment and earn a living wage;

Noting that landless people, small-scale farmers, landless, rural dwellers, farm workers, labour tenants and other farm dwellers are largely unorganised and have little support in organising;

Call for basic services to the landless, rural dwellers, farm workers, labour tenants and other farm dwellers majority of them are vulnerable to abuse, violence and racism at the hands of land owners without any recourse to justice;

Strengthen FAWU and help to build a strong organization of farm workers, peoples land committees

The Party, at all levels,

must intensify working and building tactical and strategic alliances with the landless, rural dwellers, existing organisations of the landless, trade unions and land rights organisations around local issues and demands including the organisation of farm workers; capacitate the structures with the political economy of land in the broad ideological consolidation process

Directs branches and districts of the Party to act in a democratic and non-sectarian manner to build and strive to be the leading political force at the core of People’s Land Committees which must:

aim to bring together farm workers, youth, women, small farmers, existing Communal Property Associations, rural & land organisations, and agricultural co-ops (where they exist);

encourage learning from each other;

formulate local demands and actions;

strategise and struggle together around the Local Land Forums and local demands and issues;

sustain mobilisation; and

act as a base for consciousness building, capacity building, strategising, planning, networking, mobilisation of resources & ongoing action.

Directs the CC and provinces to capacitate branches and districts organisationally, politically and programmatically in the building of PLCs and the political economy of land and agrarian reform through targeted and sustained political education and cadreship development;

Directs branches and districts to implement the integrate the Know Your Neighbourhood-Basic Services for All Campaign in the land and agrarian reform campaign and in the work of building the PLCs;

Directs branches and districts to monitor living and working conditions in farms and undertake local campaigns on cases of abuse, exploitation and racism;

Directs the CC to develop a framework on the occupation of land in relation to whether it can be used effectively in a disciplined and orderly way in the struggle for land linked to mass-driven land audits, local land needs, mobilisation around unused land, and the productive use of land;

Prioritise the organisation and the building of the capacity, voices, representation and leadership of women in the PLCs, Local Land Forums and other appropriate structures and forums;

The Land Summit

Welcoming the announcement by the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs to hold a National Land Summit;

Calls on the Central Committee to develop an approach to the Summit which must include consideration of the following:

SACP position paper on the Land Summit;

The minimum issues the Summit must address;

The consideration of the June-July Summit as the first part of a multi-part Summit and social dialogue process whose modalities, content and time-frame can be decided by the June-July Summit;

The mobilisation of the landless and consolidation and tabling of their demands before and after the Summit;

Calls on Party provinces to capacitate Party branches and districts and to prepare for Provincial Land Summits.

Engage provincial government and even municipalities to convene Land Summits;

 Engage in mass-driven land audits as part of the Summit and social dialogue process to focus on:

land needs against the land that is available not just agricultural land but mining, tourism and other land

details of number of people that have received land through land redistribution process and whether they have put the land to sustainable use

mobilisation to expose the current situation with respect to the imbalances in the current situation

Ascertain which processes of the summit should be devolved through the NEDLAC or government

 Calls on Party branches and districts to prepare for mass mobilisation around the Summit and social dialogue process in particular the collection of land and agrarian demands from our people through district-level land audits and conferences and people’s forums of the landless; and

 All provinces and districts to convene Peoples’ Land Forums over between June and July 2005 in preparation of the Land Summit

CAMPAIGNS

The SACP has grown to become a campaign based organisation.

These campaigns has focused on various stratums of the working class, these are vulnerable workers, farm workers, urban working class, etc.

The campaigns have led to a growing and sophisticated SACP.

We need to build an SACP of activists and not merely members.

We should see our campaigns focusing on issues that affect women.

We need to focus much more on campaigns that deals with Poverty and unemployment.

We need to strengthen our focus on co-operatives, which are alternatives to unemployment and can significantly contribute to poverty eradication.

We reaffirm our support for the existing campaigns and will encourage active participation of all members into such campaigns

All members should champion at least one campaign and we should continue to build a Party of activists committed to working class power and socialism

Immediate tasks for every member are those programmes on building people’s livelihoods as in cooperatives, access to social security and community programmes including leading communities on rebuilding themselves and their livelihoods.

We should deepen the Know Your Neighbourhood campaign in our communities and aim to reach at least a minimum of 40% by the end of the year.

Participate in celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Freedom Charter together with the ANC and COSATU, ensure that it is rooted within the workers and the poor of our country.

MEMBERSHIP

There is a growing membership, however, this is not reflected in the activities of the SACP.

Most members and some of the leadership (including at Central Committee level) are not involved in the daily life of the Party.

We need to assess members of the SACP and Central Committee members on the basis on their deployments and their work within the organization

We need to focus on the targeted recruitment of new members and lapsed members and ensure that they are being properly inducted and educated on Party, ideology, programmes, campaigns and policies.

There should be continuous political education programmes for members at the unit, branch, district, provincial and national levels

The political education programme should be both formal and informal, the respective leadership should also task members to perform political education and ideological consolidation in the Party and the broader liberation movement

THE SACP AND TRADE UNIONS

The significant role that the Party can and should play in building the trade union

Many communists are active in the ANC and in COSATU.

The Party can assist in the goal of building one country one federation by recruiting in unions outside COSATU.

We need to have an SACP that is rooted within the trade union movement. We must engage workers beyond the federations to the un-unionised workers.

 The YCL has an important role to play in ensuring that young workers join and build trade unions.

We should recruit from members of COSATU affiliates and ANC should be recruited into the SACP.

Our members should foster unity of the workers and root the Party in the orgnanised labour

Recruit from the trade unions and beyond affiliations and federations, attend all key activities of the trade unions and bring membership forms, debit order forms, publications plus paraphernalia

 Encourage young workers to join the YCL and induct them with the communist ideology 

IDEOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION

We have witnessed absence of political education and cadre development programmes.

 We should improve and make visible the mass work of Party cadres in mass formations and communities.

Strengthen ideological agitation and propaganda.

We need to invest in the cadre development programme of the SACP.

We need to ensure that SACP history, mission and objectives are deep-rooted amongst the youth and society at large.

All members of the SACP should form and actively participate in Study circles, branch campaigns as part of their political education programme.

Political and ideological education should be based on the question of real life activism and linked to the campaigns of the SACP.

OUR MEDIUM TERM VISION

SACP is part of the ANC-led Alliance and has contested power.

The MTV will take the party a long way towards the kind of readiness required to enter an election campaign.

The MVT is not an alternative to standing in elections. It is an essential stage in developing the party’s capacity to take part in both elections and in government, whether as part of the ANC or independently.

That the SACP is an organisation of power, influence and activism.

Power in trade unions, civic, ANC, mass movements NGO is what we mean in terms of power.

Influence means ensuring that the party presence is felt and decisions and

Interests of the working class are met or served.

We need to internalise the MTV in Branches and Districts, and ensure that we advance the question of working class power.

We need to engage into a programme to educate members on the MTV

The party should carry out an evaluation of progress in relation to the MTV particularly of our policy thrust and to assess our performance.

Ever member of the Party should discuss the MTV and internalise its meaning and work towards achieving it.

The CC commission on the Party and relationship with power should further deepen the membership’s. knowledge, essence, understanding and strategic meaning of the Medium Term Vision

The MTV should form part of the induction pack of the SACP programmes and strategic role and focus of our activism

ON THE KIND OF SACP DO WE NEED

The role of the SACP is to abolish all forms of exploitation. And believing that the SACP is poised to lead the struggle against capitalism which is the basis of exploitation of man by man.

The party must be the hope of the working class and the poor in ushering a society free of exploitation.

1.1. We need an SACP that responds to the needs, aspirations and interests of the working class.

We need to ensure that we build a Party of Revolution, a vanguard of the working class.

Building a vanguard party: mass party, a party that finds itself in every organ in society, grounded politically and theoretically, a grounded party that leads to and seeks to foster working class hegemony..

The SACP has and will continue to lead in analysing, and in developing Strategy and Tactics to overcome class exploitation, as a route to socialism.

The SACP continues to see a mass-based and radical NDR as the shortest route to socialism.

The SACP remains the theoretical vehicle for the completion of the NDR and the advancement of Socialism.

The SACP should be part of the leadership of the National Democratic Revolution.

We need an SACP that directly mobilise the working class for a socialist struggle.

We need a revolutionary and militant Party, a caring Party, a Party of activists and cadres, a true working class Party

Our branches should be point of reference for good work in then service of the working class and the poor. We need to make an internal assessment of the SACP, its strength and weaknesses

Each member and every branch must assess whether they are contributing sufficiently to the values and ethics of society

We need to assess the impact of our work in communities were we say and work

We need to take full responsibility for the leadership of the working class struggles and encourage good service delivery by government

All members with other interests that prejudices them on the work of the Party should declare to the officials

TOWARDS FREEDOM FOR WOMEN AND THE STRUGGLE FOR GENDER EQUALITY

South African women are at the center of struggle and suffers from capitalism

We should consciously include women in the programmes and vision of the SACP.

We need to continuously assess the impact of the various governmental institutions responsible for capacity building of women.

Consider the question of a Women’s Forum at a Branch level, and what the role of such a structure should be in the SACP.

Challenge the sexual division of labour and unpaid labour.

We should have a target of 50% for women’s participation and representation in all structures of the Party.

We should focus on the development of the rural masses with women at the centre.

To engage in targeted recruitment and politicization programmes to empower women particularly new entrants in the Party

We should convene a gender summit to look intently in the conditions of women in SA and advise the CC and develop programmes of action based on specific needs of women.

We must expose women much more to our political education, active participation in campaigns.

WHAT KIND OF CADRE DO WE NEED/NOT NEED

The decline in communist morality, ethics and values has caused a considerable strain on the moral standing of the Party

We need to have cadres who conduct themselves in a communist manner.

Cadres who are grounded in the theory and ideology of Marxism and analyse situations on the basis of being communists first and not on the basis of their deployment.

We need communists who are self-less and are not taking or influencing decisions based on their own interests, and that they should subordinate their interest to those of the working class and the Party.

We need cadres who understand the broader national and international situation.

Understand the significance, relevance, role and tradition of the Alliance

Cadres who work in the trade union movement and understand the need to serve organised workers.

Cadres must be rooted and grounded in society, and understand what their role in transforming or revolutionising society.

Cadres must be ready to influence people, communities and structures.

Communist cadres who are gender activists and fight against all forms of oppression.

Cadres who view accountability as an important duty of their work as communists

Provinces should monitor and lead in the implementation of discipline among members

Branches should assess performance of cadres as per the pillars of the annual POA and other tasks as mentioned in the new membership system

Branches should ensure that all our cadres are all-rounded, rooted in masses, found where our people are, and who are also active in social movements.

INTERNATIONAL WORK

Our international work has no been really impressive

It depended largely on our traditional allies which have decimated in numbers 

Specific work should be done relating to the release of THE CUBAN FIVE.

Creation of strong international voices of the working class.

The SACP should make an analysis of the left forces in the continent and ensure that together with the Trade Union movement and the ANC we strengthen them

Strengthen or revive relations with National Liberation Movements within the region and continent, particularly FRELIMO and MPLA.

We should work with a range of forces to ensure that the working class can play the role towards peace and development.

We need to embark on campaigns focusing on Zimbabwe and Swaziland specifically and the continent as a whole.

Resuscitate the International desk of the SACP from all structures.

Structures of the SACP should take responsibility in joining and building the Friend Of Cuba Society to deepen our fraternal relations and solidarity with the Cubans. Discuss the Cuban example and learn from it.

Every province should find space for doing international solidarity work and all provinces adjoining other Southern African countries should service our relationships with sister organizations in liaising with the Head Office.

Mpumalanga to service Mozambique and Swaziland

KZN – Swazialand and Lesotho

Free State – Lesotho

Northern Cape – Namibia

North West – Botswana

Limpopo – Zimbabwe

Eastern Cape - Lesotho

Every province to open a functional international desk before the end of the year

BRANCHES

Every member of the Party shall belong to a branch

There is a need to organize to build a large, politically and theoretically educated, and informed party at the branch level

There should be a consistent servicing of branches by Districts and Provinces which should be defined by the Organising department.

The SACP should consider translating most of its key documents and programmes into other languages so that language does not become a barrier to communications.

Every branch and district should have an Annual Plan based on the National, Provincial and District Programme of Action and ensure that it implements such a plan.

Foster within SACP branches mobilisation on community based issues through the Know Your Neighbourhood Campaign and other SACP led campaigns.

Branches should be given reports from Central Committee meetings as part of ensuring that they are kept abreast.

We need to understand the sociology of the SACP Branch, what we discuss in these branches, who constitutes the SACP Branch and what is the difference between an SACP Branch and other community organisations.

There is a need to re-align our structures in line with government demarcations without losing our impact. 

The CC must look into this matter and check feasibility and

Provinces will submit concerns and proposals for adaptations and should all affected and none affected districts and branches

Every branch must implement the annual POA of the Party without fail. Provinces and districts should monitor implementation and intervene when appropriate if implementation is poor

THE ALLIANCE

There is an interrelation between the ANC, SACP and COSATU, which constitute the Congress Movement and everyone should be part of that Movement.

We reaffirm the alliance as a revolutionary vehicle for the advancement of the National Democratic Revolution.

The SACP should continue to seek to influence and engage with but also learn from the ANC and COSATU and veer both into the correct path of the NDR. The main thing is to underline mutual influence as none of us have all the wisdom to lead the revolution in our own

There have been changes in the alliance and thus, also impacting the NDR and its path. There is however convergence points between the alliance partners.

The SACP should be in the forefront of strengthening the Alliance.

The SACP is committed and will actively participate in the implementation of the alliance programme.

1) We should built the alliance from the ground through concrete joint programmes

2) The alliance POA is a basis to strengthen and unify the alliance

3) Party members should also be actively involved in the alliance structures

4) Our political education programme should respond to the political needs and challenges of the alliance.

POLITICAL AGITATION AND PROPAGANDA

1. Strengthen the work of the SACP as it relates to mass media.
2.  That our mass media communication should be educational and informative

1. We need to ensure that we use Umsebenzi as an organising and educational tool.

1. We should also ensure that every branch has at least one Umsebenzi and branches should be central in distributing them.

BUILDING THE YCL.

1. The YCL has been relaunched as part of the implementation of the resolutions of the 11th Congress and a consolidation of the Party organisation and strengthening the communist movement in South Africa.

1. Political education is highly required for the rebuilding process of the YCL.

1. Every branch of the SACP should lead the process of the formation of the YCL
2.  Where there is a YCL branch and no SACP branch, the YCL should lead the process of launching an SACP Branch as one of its first tasks.
3. Party provinces must lead the process towards the launch of YCL provinces in line with the guidelines of the YCL NEC.