Tuesday, 18 January 2005
The South African Communist Party (SACP) welcomes the statement of the Annual Lekgotla of the ANC NEC which was also attended by an SACP delegation.
We specifically welcome the commitment of the ANC to focus on economic growth which is broad-based, redistributive, job-creating and pro-poor. As the ANC NEC statement says, this focus will require significantly increasing rates of investment within the economy and addressing the skills gap.
The SACP is also pleased about commitments to ensure the extension of the coverage of free basic water and electricity to the rural and urban poor in particular and to address backlogs in school infrastructure. The SACP agrees with the ANC NEC that communities and individuals must be mobilised to be actively involved in governance at a local level, giving direction to the strategic development programmes of municipalities, and ensuring that local councillors are held accountable to the residents who elected them. In this regard, the SACP's own programme of action for 2005 will contribute to an alliance effort to work on these issues in local communities through the "Know your neighbourhood" campaign. This campaign will include face-to-face meetings with masses of our people to identify problems that ordinary South Africans face, and listen to the solutions that the masses themselves put forward. It is this kind of intensified popular mobilisation and joint alliance unity in action that the workers and the poor of our country expect.
The SACP is particularly pleased with the ANC NEC statement on Zimbabwe. This statement is a clear signal that all South Africans must contribute to the achievement of free and fair political activity and parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe. We agree that anti-democratic measures and human rights abuses in Zimbabwe - regardless of the source - must be consistently & clearly condemned by our entire alliance. Indeed we recognise that, while free and fair elections in Zimbabwe are probably the most likely breakthrough possibility, solidarity and engagement must not be narrowly confined to an electoral objective. We call for the deepening of South African solidarity with Zimbabwe. Government to government, party to party, and people to people engagements are all part of what is required. In engaging with all formations within Zimbabwe, different components of our alliance and of South African society will have better prospects in different directions. All these must be fostered and encouraged on the basis of a common commitment to democratic principles and respect for human rights as outlined in the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections.
CONTACTMazibuko Kanyiso Jara (surname Jara)
Head of the Office of the General Secretary
South African Communist Party
Tel - 011 339 3621,
Fax - 011 339 4244/6880
Cell - 083 651 0271
Email - mazibuko@sacp.org.za , sacpho@wn.apc.org (alternate)
Website - www.sacp.org.za