Thursday, 02 June 2005
Put the working class at the centre of our society
The Special Congress of the South African Communist Party (SACP), taking place in Durban (Coastlands Hotel, 45 West Street) from 08 to 10 April, will coincide with the 12th Anniversary of the death of Martin Thembisile "Chris" Hani. In this regard, the Congress will:
The Congress will be attended by more than 600 delegates drawn from more than 500 SACP branches, 45 districts, the ANC, COSATU and other allied organisations. Special guests including government leaders, members of the diplomatic corps and leaders of local government have also been invited.
Preparations and Congress Agenda
Preparations for this Congress have included intense internal debate over the last two months from the branch up including various public and trade union forums, and the national bilateral meeting between the SACP and COSATU held on 22 March. This discussion has sought to deepen our programme and perspectives on:
whilst workers' share of GDP has declined dramatically, productivity has increased, and unemployment levels have escalated. This continued accumulation of wealth by the already rich threatens to sweep away the many democratic gains and social transfers to the workers and the poor led by the ANC government: these include a new constitutional framework, workers' rights, equality for women, provision of social services (water, electricity, sanitation, housing, social security grants, etc.). The prevailing growth and accumulation path will not be able to resolve the systemic, structural crises of under-development that continue to beset our society. Our Special Congress will consolidate these discussions into a coherent programme of action intended to intensify working class struggles and campaigns on the socio-economic front to ensure that the workers and the poor can benefit economically in the second decade of our freedom. In other words, through its Special Congress the SACP makes a direct call on all poor and working people in South Africa to escalate their own organisation, mobilisation and struggles for jobs, poverty eradication, access to basic and essential services for all, accelerated land reform and challenging the management and ownership monopoly of the shopfloor and the economy by small, elite and un-elected group of managers and capitalists. The intensification of an all-round class struggle is the only way to ensure that they, as the workers and the poor of our country, can make and claim the second decade of freedom as their decade even in economic terms. This perspective is the primary goal of the SACP's Medium-Term Vision. The Political Report of the SACP Central Committee will focus on:
Know Your Neighbourhood: Access to basic and essential services for all
We have decided to hold this Congress on a weekend that is very important to our Party, the commemoration of the 12th anniversary of the assassination of our General Secretary, Comrade Chris Hani. Our Congress will be devoted to his memory. In honour of Chris Hani, we shall use the actual date of the 12th anniversary, the 10th of April, to launch the 'Know Your Neighbourhood Campaign'. This campaign is part of the Alliance programme of action for 2005. Its aim is to undertake door-to-door visits to our communities, seeking to understand the problems facing each household, and acting together to try and address these challenges, not least access to basic and essential services for all. The recent spontaneous social and civic uprisings in various townships and informal settlements are an expression of suffering by poor communities. Party branches will mobilise communities through local campaigns and struggles based on the information and problems received, building local organs of popular working class power, engage municipalities and government departments, and undertake many other local interventions (including working with ANC branches, ward councillors, civics and existing local organisations). As communists, and acting together with our allies, we shall seek to understand our neighbourhoods, learning from the lived experience and struggles of our people and taking forward local struggles and demands for access to basic and essential services for all. This campaign will include a focus on evictions, cut-offs and problems our people face in accessing services. There is no better way to honour Cde Chris than to undertake, on an ongoing basis, intensive interaction with our people. The Campaign launch will take place through a mass rally as follows:
Our Campaigns
We are going to this Congress satisfied about some of the major achievements of our Party since our 11th Congress. Some of our major successes include leading the financial sector campaign, which has notched some major victories. Some of these include the commitments in the Financial Sector Charter towards supporting SMEs, broad-based BEE, new legislation on co-ops and consumer credit, and most significantly the Umzansi account. Of particular interest about Umzansi is that 840 000 accounts have been opened since October last year, 57% of whom by women, and 24% by young people. Almost all of these are new entrants into the banking sector. This goes to prove our point that the poor are indeed bankable, contrary to the initial counter-claims by the banking sector. These are the fruits of the struggles by the SACP-led Financial Sector Campaign Coalition (FSCC). The Special Congress will evaluate this campaign and decide on further actions to take it forward. We think the next important phase of the campaign is that of working towards effective worker say over investments of their retirement funds to create jobs and fight poverty. In addition, we need affordable insurance products for the workers and the poor. Our Special Congress will also be discussing concrete steps and further actions to mobilise our people around accelerated land and agrarian transformation. In particular Congress will focus its attention on how to build local People's Land Committees, bringing together workers and the landless poor to fight for accelerated land and agrarian reform in their respective localities. We specifically call on the landless to realise that the only guarantee to accelerated land reform is mass pressure on current landowners and in support of state-led land and agrarian reform instead of the current market-based land reform programme. Through our campaigns, we have managed to build a coalition of progressive forces around particular issues, thus laying a very strong basis for rebuilding a working-class led mass movement for socio-economic transformation. This has been done not through boardroom meetings or declarations, but concretely in struggle. SACP campaigns are now attracting a number of social and class forces, ranging from traditional leaders to church organisations. It is for this reason that the Special Congress will be discussing our approach to these new challenges, where the SACP is providing leadership to a range of social forces. It is for these reasons that since our 11th Congress our Party has witnessed a 30% growth in membership, and increasing support and standing amongst the workers and the poor of our country, and other class forces.
The SACP Cadre we need
Of particular significance the Congress will also be discussing the kind of SACP we need to be building, and the type of communist cadre we need, reflecting on our experiences over the last ten years. We do indeed believe that we have been building an increasingly sophisticated party, located within the alliance, but having its own independent programmes, and taking up campaigns and issues that affect the daily lives of the workers and the poor. Our increasing political sophistication lies in the fact that we have undertaken these campaigns not in an oppositionist fashion to government, yet having an important impact on some of government policies whilst building broad based coalitions, as is the case with financial sector and land campaigns. Special Congress will reflect on this and the lessons therefrom. Congress will have a very frank discussion on the kind of communist cadre we have and the cadre we need. It is for this reason for instance that our last Central Committee, amongst other things, took a very important decision; that all leadership collectives from branch executives to the central committee, will from now onwards be required to declare interests they have either in business or boards of organisations and institutions they serve in. These will be lodged with the office of the General Secretary. This is to avoid conflicts of interests between Party responsibilities and personal interests. Ordinarily as the SACP we would not expect communist leaders to be business people (here we are not talking about ownership of spaza or corner shops for retrenched party leaders trying to have sustainable livelihoods), but the bigger stakes of business. Many of our Party leaders also occupy positions of responsibility, in the Party itself, in the trade unions and in government and they need to behave in an exemplary fashion. We are also deeply concerned about the temptations prevalent in any capitalist society, so this is to protect our leadership and our Party. These and other qualities required of Party cadres will form a substantial part of discussion at Congress.
Contact
Mazibuko Kanyiso Jara (surname Jara)
Head of the Office of the General Secretary
South African Communist Party
P.O. Box 1027,
Johannesburg,2000
3rd floor COSATU House,
1-5 Leyds Street,
Braamfontein,
2017
Tel - 011 339 3621,
Fax - 011 339 4244/6880,
Cell - 083 651 0271
Email - mazibuko@sacp.org.za (office),
mazibuko@mail.ngo.za (alternate)
Website - www.sacp.org.za