7 June 2004
The SACP welcomes the commitment by the NNP to work towards radically breaking with its past and seeking to work closer with the ANC towards the attainment of the objectives of a united, democratic and non-racial South Africa. As we said when the NNP broke away from the right-wing Democratic Alliance, we would support all genuine efforts to deepen non-racialism in our country and break the mould of racially based politics. An essential component of this is to defeat the DA’s strategy of mobilisation of ethnic minorities into a laager that opposes at every turn efforts towards the genuine liberation and transformation of our country.
However, our movement as a whole, and critically the Tripartite Alliances, needs to thoroughly debate the implications this decision by the NNP. This is because we need to ensure that the values of our movement remain intact and that those who choose to work closer with our movement fully understand and embrace these. In addition the mass of our people on the ground must be fully on board. This becomes even more important particularly because the leader of the NNP has been on record a number of times arguing that the NNP’s decision to forge closer relations with the ANC is premised, amongst other things, on his vision to create a centre-right alliance, in order to counter and outmanoeuvre the left in future. Much as he will not find this easy to do, we however need to proceed with caution and ensure maximum debate and consensus around terms of forging closer links with the NNP.
The SACP wishes to reiterate its commitment to attempts by the ANC to forge and lead a broad-based non-racial movement. At the centre of this we still believe must be a working class bias, and co-operation based on prioritisation of the interests of the workers and the poor.
CONTACTS
Mazibuko Jara
SACP Media and Publicity Officer
Tel :(011) 339 3621
Cell : 083 651 0271