2nd November 1998
The Central Committee of the SACP met in Johannesburg on the 31st October and lst November. The main items on the agenda of the CC were:
The SACP'S reaction to the final report of the TRC; The emerging economic consensus within the Tripartite Alliance; The Jobs Summit; and The SACP'S programme of action.
TRC Report
Based on a first reading of the TRC'S five volume final report, the
Central Committee welcomed what is an extensive and generally very considered
report. In particular, the CC welcomes the TRC perspective that the national
liberation movement in South Africa was involved in a just war. The distinction
between a just struggle and unjust means (that were sometimes regrettably used
by the movement of which we are part) is appropriate. All of the unjust means
attributed to the ANC-led alliance by the TRC report are indeed factual
realities that the alliance, itself, has admitted and investigated.
By contrast, the TRC report finds that human rights violations were not accidental to the policies and strategies of the apartheid regime. Systematic, extensive and persistent violations were integral to the policies and strategies of the regime. We welcome this finding.
The CC also expressed especial satisfaction with the focused and thoughtful attention given by the TRC to the complicity of business in apartheid violations. The relevant chapter makes important findings, and advances some constructive practical suggestions.
It is regrettable that a generally outstanding report should have been overshadowed in the past days by an entirely peripheral matter - namely the ANC's court action aimed to compel the TRC to consult effectively with it prior to publication. While it is possible to question the tactical wisdom of the ANC'S move (especially in the light of the subsequent events), the SACP fully accepts the constructive intentions of the ANC when making the application. The ANC was, indeed, treated shabbily in the final weeks by certain leading TRC officials.
To portray the ANC court action as "tyranny" or as an attempt to "gag" the TRC is ridiculous. Tyrants silence their critics, they do not pursue matters through the courts. The ANC graciously accepted the court's verdict on the matter.
Sadly, the Chairperson of the TRC, Archbishop Tutu, who has played an outstanding role in the TRC process, has not helped matters with ill-considered hyperbole in the past days.
Even more objectionable has been some of the media reporting. Across its front-page on Friday October 30 The Star had a head-line "The villains of the dark years". The headline was accompanied by photographs and pen-pictures of the villains. Included with PW Botha, Wouter Basson, Craig Williamson and Eugene De Kock is deputy minister of defence, Ronnie Kasrils. According to the report Kasrils is "among those who committed abuses in ANC camps". But Kasrils was not even mentioned in the TRC Report! While The Star has since apologised for its blunder, the mistake exemplifies the way in which many commentators have approached the TRC report with a pre-packaged "villains on all sides" agenda. Beside apologising, we trust that The Star will take a long hard look at itself.
Economic Policy
The Central Committee discussed in some depth the policy documents
emerging from the Alliance Summit of 24-24 October. The CC noted that the
Alliance Summit had characterised the current global economic crisis as being
rooted in a classical capitalist over-accumulation crisis, which extends back
over the last quarter of a century. The present crisis is neither narrowly
regional in character ("Asian contagion" or "Russian flu"),
nor of short-term duration, although its present acute symptoms may be surpassed
for a time. The CC supports the Alliance perspective that major economies, which
are at the root of the present crisis, are once more dumping the problem on to
the developing world.
The acuteness of the present crisis has finally punctured the bubble of the neo-liberal, Washington Consensus. For the past years the SACP has consistently attacked this paradigm, not least for its arrogant assumption that a one-size-fits-all, macro-economic mantra was the answer to everything.
The SACP also welcomes the much greater convergence within the Alliance on what must constitute an appropriate macro-economic policy. 'We welcome, amongst other things, the commitment to reconsider the funding of the Civil Service Pension Fund, and effective monetary and fiscal policy.
Job Summit
The Job Summit was an important mile-stone. It helped to focus
economic debate upon the real economy, and particularly on critical areas like
industrial strategy, infrastructural development, new housing initiatives and
training. The Job Summit also successfully avoided the agenda of those who hoped
to use it to bash the unions, and to focus narrowly on labour market
"flexibility".
Programme of Action
The CC discussed and approved a programme of action. The key emphasis
of this programme will be the active organisational support that the SACP will
give to the ANC'S election campaign. The SACP will focus on the working class
vote, and will underline the anti-worker policies of all of the main opposition
parties.