ANC, SACP, Cosatu and Sanco Western Cape post Political Council statement
17 May 2020
The organs of our revolutionary alliance, the African National Congress (ANC), South African Communist Party (SACP), Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), and South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) in the Western Cape met to assess the situation in the province.
The Alliance Political Council noted that the components of our revolutionary alliance previously individually cautioned that unless the national intervention is made, the situation in the Western Cape would get out of hand.
In fact, we predicted that the Western Cape would fast become the epicentre of the deadly coronavirus in South Africa. Our predictions, which have proven to be correct, were based on our observation of the unpreparedness of the Western Cape government in dealing with the virus.
We have long warned about the dangers of the poor state of public health care in the Western Cape, particularly in the working-class areas. The public health care was unable to deal with the demand during normal times, and it was always wishful thinking that it would cope in a state of disaster.
Therefore, the spread of the virus in the Western Cape is largely due to the structure of the public health systems in the province, hence the uncontrollable increase in both new infections and fatalities. To date, the province has recorded 7798 cases, representing approximately 58 percent of total infections in South Africa. Similarly, 55 percent or 137 out of 247 people who died in South Africa come from the Western Cape.
Most tragic is the rate at which the virus is spreading in the working-class areas like Dunoon, Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain, and also the lack of a coherent plan by the Western Cape government to mitigate this catastrophe. When our revolutionary alliance raised the alarm about this exponential increase in infections, the Western Cape authorities buried their heads in the sand and instead focused their attention on lobbying for its constituency – “big business” – on the sale of cigarettes.
We have always known the DA-Administration as a mouthpiece of capital, but we never imagined that they would trade off lives over profit. Despite the spread at which infections and fatalities are increasing in the province, the neoliberal government of the Western Cape continues to hide behind a spurious logic that the increase is due to their aggressive screening and testing.
This fallacy was debunked by a report from the Department of Health released on 29 April 2020, which revealed that “In the past 24 hours the Western Cape contributed to 75% of the total new cases nationally while only contributing 30% of total tests over the same period.” In addition, no logical person can claim a correlation between fatalities and screening.
Furthermore, the revolutionary alliance of the ANC, SACP, Cosatu and Sanco rejects the illogical Winde-Steenhuisen-Helen call for the wholesale opening of the economy in the Western Cape.
If this anti-humanity and the pro-business for-profit call is allowed, it will undo the good work of the lockdown in the Western Cape. In fact, due to the unpreparedness of the province, the Western Cape should remain at stage 4, if not returned back to stage 5. Evidence suggests that in the Western Cape, workplaces, and particularly the retail, farms, frontline health workers and the police are sources of the spread of the virus.
In essence, the Winde-Steenhuisen-Zille obsession can be characterised as desperation for relevance in the face of a crumbling health system in the Western Cape. Thus, we say no to opportunism and populism!
In addition, the Alliance warmly welcomes the intervention by Health Minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize in the situation regarding the Western Cape. The Alliance re-affirms the call it made on 12 April 2020, that Premier Allen Winde is not fit to lead in the battle against this deadly coronavirus. In fact, Health MEC Mbombo herself is not capable to lead a fight against the coronavirus. Therefore, as the Alliance, we are looking forward to the visit by President Ramaphosa which will be a moment for a thorough assessment and provision of decisive leadership.
In line with the risk-adjusted approach, we also call on the National Command Council to review the relaxation of lockdown regulations in some parts of the province. The lives of our people count, thus the strategic approach should be to save lives before profit.
It is for this reason that we believe that based on the uncontrollable nature of the coronavirus in the Westerns Cape, the province is far from being ready to return to normality. Any move to relax the restrictions in the Western Cape will be a decision that we will live to regret. Return to normality must be based on scientific evidence, and not ideological persuasion or desperation to please the masters. Further, we call for stricter implementation and monitoring of health and safety measures in all work-places.
Issued by Tripartite Alliance in the Western Cape
Contact:
Ronalda Nalumango
ANC Western Cape Interim Provincial Coordinator
Mobile: 0796316038
Benson Ngqentsu
SACP Western Cape Provincial Secretary
Mobile: 082 796 6400
Malvern de Bruyn
Cosatu Western Cape Provincial Secretary
Mobile: 060 977 9027
Teboho Majela
Sanco Western Cape Provincial Secretary
Mobile: 072 216 5243
