25 March 2004
With the morning and midday activities of the Red Thursday Offensive underway currently, the elections message of the South African Communist Party (SACP) has reached thousands of workers across the country. Hundreds of Party activists, led by Deputy General Secretary Jeremy Cronin, are continuing with direct work talking with thousands of workers, distributing leaflets and addressing public meetings at industrial areas and workplaces across the country.
By the end of the day we will have distributed 1 million leaflets and 100 000 posters in 40 major centres in all provinces. Our activists are being warmly received by workers everywhere we are going. As we write 3,000 people are joining farm workers and are about to start with the Komatipoort march for farm workers' rights which will be directed at Agri South Africa and the Department of Justice.
In addition to the activities announced yesterday, the Eastern Cape activities for today are will all start at 13h00 today as lunch-hour workers' assemblies at the Glen Victor Meat Depot in East London, Bisho Hospital, Queenstown Post Office, Mount Frere Boxer Supermarket and the VWSA plant in Port Elizaberth.
The message which was taken to workers was the importance of voting for the ANC on 14 April and the need for them to continue taking an active part in the current process of transformation. The text of the message is below.
VOTE ANC! With and for the workers and the poor
The SACP calls on workers and poor communities to vote in millions for the ANC. Let every worker vote count! Let every poor community send a clear message:
We want:
Vote ANC for A STRONG PUBLIC SECTOR
The rich can buy what they need from the private sector. We, the poor, need a strong public sector for education, health-care, water, sanitation, policing, housing, social grants.
Where we have contracted out pension payments, there has been corruption and confusion. Where we have relied on the private sector for basic needs, our communities have been neglected or cut off.
Over the last 10 years our ANC government has learnt - without a strong public sector, we cannot fight poverty, or create jobs.
The ANC manifesto commits to spending R1 billion on infrastructure. Government will use its power to force private companies to use labour-based methods - more workers less machines.
This is why the opposition parties, the DA, the IFP, the NNP are all crying that the "ANC has abandoned privatisation".
ROLL-BACK THE PROFIT-GRABBING RICH!
VOTE ANC! VOTE FOR A STRONG PUBLIC SECTOR!
WORKER RIGHTS
Since 1994, the ANC government has passed many laws to strengthen worker rights - the Labour Relations Act, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. Together, we have declared minimum wages for farm and domestic workers. We have introduced security of tenure for farm families. We have enforced safety regulations at work.
This is why opposition parties like the DA, the IFP and the NNP are crying.
They speak for the narrow interests of the bosses. They want to weaken trade unions. They want to deprive workers of their rights. They want a "flexible" labour market.
ROLL-BACK THE ANTI-WORKER AGENDA OF THE RICH!
VOTE ANC FOR WORKER RIGHTS!
LAND REFORM
Millions of our people are land-hungry. Farming is dominated by a few thousand capitalist companies. Poor households in rural areas need land for food and livestock. In towns, poor communities cannot feed themselves without going to the shops.
The ANC manifesto agrees we need major land reform. It says by 2014 one-third of agricultural land must be redistributed.
The opposition parties are very silent about land reform. They use the crisis in Zimbabwe to say "don't disturb the power and privilege of the commercial farms in SA".
ROLL-BACK THE POWER OF THE LANDED RICH!
VOTE ANC! VOTE LAND REFORM!
POWER TO THE POOR
Where millions are unemployed, the bosses are strengthened. They can hire and fire at will. Where poor households have no access to finance, they become the victims of black-listing and loan sharks. Where government is far-away, where poor communities do not know their rights - we can be ripped off by shops, banks, corrupt officials.
The ANC election manifesto commits us to:
This is not charity. This is not welfare. Power to the poor is the condition for building a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic SA!
The opposition parties call for "trickle-down". "Let the rich get richer", they say, "so that there will be more charity for the poor"! The DA calls for raising VAT, making us pay more for food and other basics. The DA says increased VAT will be revenue for a "basic income grant". That's robbing us, and then giving back small change!
DOWN WITH THE ANTI-POOR AGENDA OF THE OPPOSTION!
THE SACP SAYS: VOTE ANC, WITH AND FOR THE WORKERS AND THE POOR!
CONTACT
Mazibuko Kanyiso Jara (surname Jara)
Head of the Office of the General Secretary
South African Communist Party
Tel - + 27 11 339 3621,
Fax - +27 11 339 4244/6880
Cell - +83 651 0271
Email - mazibuko@sacp.org.za