9 February 2007
The SACP has noted a number of positive measures and announcements made by President Mbeki in his state of the nation address today.
We welcome the emphasis the President has put on poverty eradication as the central platform through which we can build a better South Africa and solve many other problems we face as a country, including crime, violence against women, and the many persisting colonial features of our society.
We also note with satisfaction the increasing reach of social grants to the poorest of our people, as well as the government’s commitment to review the situation of poor children above the age of 14 years.
We however wish to reiterate our stance that a more comprehensive approach to our social security system requires provision of a Basic Income Grant. We hope that this matter will be revisited and thoroughly debated in the forthcoming ANC policy conference in particular.
We also welcome what seem to be elements of a co-ordinated and overarching anti-poverty strategy, including defining the poverty matrix of our country, and the development of a proper database of households living in poverty, including monitoring progress in such households. The SACP will also play its part in supporting such an initiative by ensuring that all its structures and cadres drive the Alliance’s ‘Know Your Neighbourhood Campaign’.
However our biggest disappointment with the State of the Nation Address is its failure to commit government to a thorough review of our economic policies. This is basically the most serious problem our country faces. Just as the President is correct in saying that we will not be able to address many of the other problems we have in society unless we place poverty eradication as a priority in our country, however at the same time we will not be able to address poverty unless we review our economic policies in order to transform the current growth path in our country.
We are concerned that in so far as the economy is concerned the President simply reiterated policies that are reinforcing the current growth path, which is responsible for persisting high levels of unemployment, continuing retrenchments, creation of minimal and poor quality jobs, as well as empowering a tiny elite of black and whites. Simply pursuing a strategy of restoration of capitalist profitability (‘lowering the cost of doing business’) can only lead to an ever drying up trickle to the overwhelming majority of our people.
As the SACP we are firmly of the view that there is a fundamental contradiction between pursuing an economic strategy of restoration of capitalist profitability (‘lowering the cost of doing business’) and poverty eradication.
Whilst we obviously welcome the intention to make some key interventions in particular sectors of the economy, like in mineral beneficiation, assisting rural people with seeds and implements, and focus on creative industries, community and social services, we need to factor these into an overarching industrial policy as planned by government. We hope these important initiatives are also not going to be held hostage, and ultimately undermined, by a narrow BEE framework.
As the SACP we will use this year, the ‘Policy Year’ to engage in both the ANC Policy Conference, as well as using our own 12th Congress in July, to argue for a comprehensive review of our economic policies, especially in order to transform the current growth path for the benefit not only of a small black and white elite, but for the overwhelming majority of our people.
We welcome government’s commitment to improve public transport, including investment into Metrorail and continuing commitment to the recapitalization of the taxi industry. Whilst we agree with the President that we should not allow lawlessness to undermine taxi recapitalization, a ‘law and order’ approach to this matter will not address the many legitimate concerns that have been expressed by both the taxi industry and the Transport Portfolio Committee. We need a much more effective engagement strategy on this score.
We are happy with the fact that government’s housing programme has reached close to 300 000 new subsidies over the past two years. The SACP is of the view that government needs to pay more attention to the contribution of the banks in this sector. To this end we reiterate our call for a new model of financing low-cost housing and to force the banks to move away from 20-year mortgage bonds, calculated on the basis of compound interest, in so far the poor is concerned. Unless government becomes decisive and firm with the banks in this regard, we are not going to meet our objectives of expanded provision of housing for low and middle income earners.
We commend the President for continuing to acknowledge that there is little progress on land redistribution. This is indeed an indictment, 13 years after the 1994 democratic breakthrough. Government needs to move speedily to develop and implement an alternative model to the ‘willing buyer, willing seller’ method, as agreed to at the Land Summit. The SACP also wishes to reiterate its call for the land restitution programme to be re-opened as thousands of families were unable to lodge their claims, as the four year period given in 1994 was not enough.
The SACP also welcomes the very concrete and practical measures announced by the government on questions of safety and security, especially looking into the conditions of service of the police, as well as intention to pay more attention to the regulation of the private security industry, including the question of wages and conditions of service for workers. The SACP will continue to make its contribution towards the strengthening of community policing forums in order to build a grassroots mass movement to defeat the scourge of crime.
In addition, government’s commitment to look into the salaries and training of teachers is something that must be applauded, as part of improving the overall conditions of public sector workers. A well remunerated public service is of fundamental importance in building a democratic, accountable and efficient public service. This is a critical dimension in building the capacity of a developmental state.
The SACP appreciates focus on the continuing transformation of the criminal justice system, including the judiciary. Given the imperatives of fighting crime and corruption, the SACP however wishes to reiterate its stance that the ambiguous location of the Scorpions can only disperse the capacity of our institutions in this regard. We therefore reiterate our call for the Scorpions to be merged with the police.
The SACP also appreciates the President’s admission about the problems of capacity at local level. The SACP believes that the many challenges and problems identified by the President will not be addressed unless we built such capacity in the locality. Of fundamental importance in this regard is the mobilization of all our people to be the principal drivers of transformation in society.
The SACP is also firmly of the view that local mobilization must also include a persistent struggle against patronage and practices of parasitic capitalism, where government office is used to create a network of patronage and access to business opportunities for private personal gain. These practices undermine our struggle to eradicate poverty. Our communities must mobilize to fight against ‘patrons’ expose and eliminate all forms of parasitic capitalism.
The SACP can be counted as a dependable partner and ally in the struggle for the mobilization of our people to change their own conditions for the better.
Issued by: SACP
Contact:
SACP Spokesperson
Malesela Maleka
Tel: 011 339 3621
Fax: 011 339 4244
Cell: 082 226 1802
Email: Malesela@sacp.org.za