18 March 2003
The tenth edition of Umsebenzi Online will be available from the website of the South African Communist Party
(SACP - www.sacp.org.za/umsebenzi/online/) tomorrow, Wednesday, 19 March.
Umsebenzi Online is an exclusively electronic publication of the SACP published on the first and third Wednesday of every month.
The contents of the tenth addition are as follows:
1. Red Alert: The economic question as the fundamental
challenge in the current period
2.Guest Column: The populism and neo-liberalism of the
Democratic Alliance, Input to the Budget Vote Debate
18/3/2003 by Rob Davies, ANC MP and member of the SACP
Political Bureau
3. SACP Statement on the US War in Iraq
The main (Red Alert) article in this edition engages robustly with the required debate on economic transformation as we prepare for the Growth and Development Summit. The Red Alert article argues that the Summit calls for a very open, frank and honest debate about our economy, existing economic policies and measures required towards the fundamental transformation of the economy.
"There are many recent and welcome signs of intra-Alliance convergence - the key resolutions of the ANC's 51st National, President Mbeki's State of Nation evocation of a 'dual economy', and his reiterated insistence that the ANC and government are not 'free market fundamentalists'", argues the Red Alert article.
In evaluating the first five years of democratic government, the Red ALert article notes that "many socio-economic achievements of that period, in fact up until today, have been directly as a result of state-led programmes. These include the very impressive achievements in the provision of water, electricity, housing, education, and clinics. We already said back then that where reliance has been placed on private capital (for example, in the provision of low-cost housing, or access to affordable financial services for the workers and the poor, or job creation and the fostering of small and medium enterprises) there has been dismal failure."
The Red Alert article engages the concept of a 'dual economy', black economic empowerment, job creation and what the Summit must achieve.
The guest column by Rob Davies is an important and welcome analysis of the evolution of the Democratic Alliance as a populist, neo-liberal and reactionary force in South African politics. Rob Davies will deliver this speech in parliament today.
CONTACT
Mazibuko K. Jara (surname Jara)
Department of Media, Information and Publicity
South African Communist Party
Tel - 011 339 3621, Fax - 01 339 4244
Cell - 083 651 0271
email - mazibuko@sacp.org.za