8th May 1999
The SACP Central Committee met today, May 8th 1999, to review the Party's work in the ANC election campaign, and to finalise preparations for the last three weeks before June 2. Reports received from all our provinces and districts reflect a high level of SACP participation in the election campaign. In particular, the success of some 42 Chris Hani Commemoration rallies last month, and the general success of 38 May Day rallies was noted.
One of the features of SACP participation in the election campaign has been our focus on workers. A number of highly successful SACP work-place meetings and worker election trails have been undertaken by leading Party officials. The feed-back we have received from these activities is that there is a very strong working-class response to the call for every worker, every socialist to vote ANC. In the coming weeks we will be focusing on all those workers who have not historically been in the COSATU fold.
The Central Committee also discussed the situation in Yugoslavia. The SACP expressed its outrage at the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, and, indeed, its outrage at the NATO bombings in general. As we said at the outset, the bombing campaign flouts all international legality, it deliberately by-passes the UN and UN Security Council. As we had warned weeks ago, the bombing will simply exacerbate the situation on the ground in Kosovo, and further polarise matters. Sadly, this has proved to be correct.
NATO's apologies for hitting an embassy, like its earlier apologies for hitting refugees and civilian buses, are unacceptable, and miss the point. NATO hawks have assured us that there will always be some "collateral" damage, concealing beneath technical jargon the fact that this bombing campaign is an act of extensive terror designed to send an arrogant message to the rest of the world. This latest incident threatens to escalate the conflict beyond its current Balkan context, posing a threat to world peace.
The SACP Central Committee saluted the consistent stand taken by our government on the situation, and called, in addition, for our government, as the present chair of the Non-Aligned Movement, to ensure that NAM takes active steps to condemn NATO and halt the bombing.
Issued by the SACP Department of Information & Publicity
E-Mail: sacp1@wn.apc.org
South African Communist Party Head Office
COSATU House
No. 1 Leyds Street - 7th Floor
Braamfontein 2001
Republic of South Africa
(Tel: 27 11 339-3621/2)
(Fax: 27 11 339-4244)