14-16th May 2004
The SACP Central Committee met in Johannesburg over the weekend of 14-16th May. The main item on the agenda of the CC was to assess the 14 April elections, the campaign, and ongoing responsibilities for implementing the ANC Election Manifesto.
The CC noted with satisfaction the overwhelming election majority obtained by the ANC and its alliance, and also noted the important breakthroughs in KZN and the Western Cape. For the SACP what has been especially noteworthy has been both the manner in which the ANC and its alliance fought the election campaign, and the programmatic perspectives of the manifesto.
The ANC campaign was fought and won essentially through a major re-connection with the mass base of our movement. In the course of the last years, the SACP's Red October and financial sector campaigns, have ensured consistent and ongoing contact with the masses. Last year with a series of government-led izimbizo, the ANC and the ANC-led government has engaged actively and democratically with township dwellers, with informal settlement communities and with remote rural villages. This active engagement with our mass base was then taken forward in the first months of this year, with systematic door-to-door work by tens of thousands of movement activists, among them many thousands of Communist Party members. The CC saluted the efforts of our membership, and congratulated them on their victory.
This was an election campaign and victory that once more reaffirmed the working class and the poor as the core social motive forces of the massive transformation process under-way in our country. Post-election, it is important that workers and the poor take possession of their victory.
Another very clear message coming from this election campaign is the critical importance of alliance unity. We are convinced that part of the ANC election success is related to the affirmation by millions of ordinary South Africans of the centrality of a united alliance led by the ANC. The SACP will play its part in taking forward this unity.
The campaign was also notable for the programmatic content on which it was contested by the ANC-alliance. The key components of this perspective were:
This was not a manifesto for accelerated privatization; the prioritization of job retention, job creation, and the broadening of our approach to include work in the context of sustainable livelihoods significant and accelerated land reform, targeting 30% of existing commercial farming land over the next ten years a much greater developmental orientation towards building sustainable households and communities, and orienting our intervention in regard to micro-credit, co-ops, housing construction, land reform, public works programmes, etc. towards the strategic goal of sustainable livelihoods.
The SACP shares the elation of all South Africans at the winning of the World Cup 2010 bid. This is a wonderful achievement for our country and continent. The SACP salutes President Mbeki, former President Mandela, Danny Olifant, Irvine Khoza and all those who have played a leading role in securing this outcome. The CC broke from its discussions just before midday yesterday to join hundreds of South Africans around TV screens nervously awaiting the bid announcement.
Of course, as many have remarked, the real challenges begin now. In particular, hosting the 2010 World Cup can lead us into one of two directions. We might be tempted into showcasing to the world the ability of an African country to host an essentially first world experience. We might be tempted into holding an "enclave" World Cup, that is remote from and inaccessible to the actual social realities of the majority of our people. This direction needs to be resisted, it will end up focusing on airports, hotels and soccer venues and very little else, and the durability of what is set in place will be little more than the durability of a film set.
The alternative approach, and the one to which we know our government is committed, is to ensure that we use 2010 as a catalyser for the many transformational and developmental tasks that we need to undertake - including sustainable work creation, and infrastructure that serves all of our communities. The projected price of stadium tickets (around R800) will also need to be addressed. Individuals from working class communities will not easily be able to afford such prices - we need to find collective and social solutions, so that we ensure that the great majority of our people are fully participant in 2010.
The Central Committee passed resolutions and approved an interim board for the Dora Tamana Savings and Credit Co-operative - our Communist Stokvel. The CC will be monitoring progress in the implementation of this pioneering initiative that will be open to SACP members. It is part of parcel of the SACP overall contribution to transforming the financial sector.
During the same weekend of the CC, comrade Thobile "Tall" Mtwazi was buried in Zwelethemba, Worcester. Only 37, comrade Tall died after a short illness a week ago. He was a committed, active and long-standing member of the SACP and the ANC. He was part of MK structures and had also served as part of the security staff for comrade Nelson Mandela during his term as President.
The CC passed its condolences to comrade Ncumisa Kondlo, his wife and a member of the SACP Political Bureau, his family, friends, comrades and people of Zwelethemba. The SACP salutes his contribution to our struggle.
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