12 January 2008
The South African Communist Party would like to wish the African National Congress a Happy 96 th Birthday. The SACP celebrates the reality that the ANC is turning 96 years on the 8th of January 2008 being a stronger, more democratic and revolutionary liberation movement, which we have been in alliance with for close to 8 decades now.
The SACP also takes this opportunity to congratulate the election of Cde Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma as President of the ANC in December 2007; and also wish to congratulate all the newly elected national officials and the National Executive Committee. As the SACP we commit ourselves to working together with the newly elected leadership of the ANC and shall continue to be a dependable ally, without at the same time compromising the independence of each of our formations.
A historic and successful 52nd National Conference!
The ANC has just emerged from a truly historic 52nd National Conference. It is a conference that has truly given hope not only to its more than 600 000 members, but to millions of South Africans who support and believe in the revolutionary leadership of the ANC. This conference also gave hope to us as allies, as we believe it marked an important shift that lays a foundation for rebuilding our Alliance into a force for deepening the national democratic revolution, and restore it to its past glory. We made it very clear in the run up to Polokwane that the manner in which the alliance has been functioning over the ten years or so prior to conference was undesirable, stifling and clearly unsustainable. To us the 52 nd National Conference was also a clarion call to rebuild a revolutionary, mass based and activist alliance, in daily contact and in trenches with the mass of the people of our country to create jobs, fight poverty and the HIV/AIDS scourge. It was also a call to rebuild an alliance whose leadership collectives respect each other, whilst not shying away from robust, but comradely debate.
The SACP was also deeply honoured for participating in the policy debates at the 52 nd National Conference, and engaged in the development and adoption of the many progressive resolutions adopted at conference. We also welcome the many convergences in a number of important resolutions with a number of those adopted at our own 12 th Congress, especially in relation to building a dev elopmental state committed to transforming the colonial-type accumulation path underway in our country.
Building a mass based, campaigning ANC
The SACP is particularly pleased and fully supports the theme for the 2008 January 8 statement, that of declaring the year as `The Year of Mass Mobilisation to Build a Caring Society, towards 2012`. When the ANC came up with the idea of working towards 2012 we were extremely concerned that this was just chasing an anniversary – important as it is – with no clear programme of action to mobilize its base and allies towards achieving certain strategic, programmatic and organizational goals by 2012.
But now the message is much clearer that we should use this period to mobilize our constituencies to lead a process of development and strengthening of our organization; including strengthening the Alliance.
Of particular importance to us as the SACP is that over the recent period we were getting concerned that this glorious organization, the ANC, was increasingly becoming reduced into nothing more than an election machinery, detached from daily leading mass struggles on the ground, which is what has built this ANC at least since the 1950s. We pledge to,mobilize the working class to be fully and consciously part of this mass mobilization, of a campaigning ANC rooted amongst the mass of the people of our country. For the SACP this will also ensure that the ANC, apart from its own specific campaigns, also become a visible part of the many campaigns that we have waged over the last few years, through amongst others, our Red October Campaign. In the recent past we had sorely missed the organized presence of the ANC in the many campaigns waged by the working class of our country, whether it be about job creation, building co-operatives, fighting the faceless credit bureaux, on land and agrarian campaigns, including mass mobilization on fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the struggle for an affordable public health system.
What is exciting about this theme is that it will concretise the reality that there is no contradiction between a mass based ANC, with its national liberation character intact, and being a ruling party. Instead it is only a campaigning ANC that is best able to sustain its government programmes. In addition we can only effectively fight patronage and other tendencies that are creeping in, only if the mass of our people are mobilized and remain vigilant about use of state resources for the benefit of the overwhelming majority of our people. Some, including the media, have tried to reduce the ANC to nothing more than a modern parliamentary party, satisfied only with campaigning for elections, thus detached from the daily struggles of our people. A caring society cannot be built if the ANC practically takes up campaigns and mobilize the people around issues that are closer to them. Caring is a mass task and not benevolence from the leadership!
We are also confident that a campaigning ANC will also re-establish the practice of holding people`s forums as ongoing mass work. In other words, much as government izimbizo are important, but izimbizo should not be left to government alone, the ANC itself must also hold its own izimbizo as part of taking up issues facing our people.
The SACP also welcomes the call by President Zuma to build street committees as part of a strategy to fight crime and strengthen community policing forums. The SACP further calls upon such street/area/village committees to become our revolutionary nuclei, to drive the mobilization of communities beyond dealing with crime, but to drive a developmental agenda on the ground.
Building a caring society, build a caring ANC-led Alliance
We also fully support the ANC`s commitment to build South Africa as a caring society. To us as communists this is the principal struggle not only facing South Africa, but the whole of humanity, to build a caring world. For the SACP of course a caring world can only be built if we roll back the barbarism of the capitalist market and its exploitative practices that creates a culture of `dog-eat-dog`. This is an important goal that needs to be at the centre and provide the glue for our revolutionary alliance.
Of course the ANC will not succeed in building a caring society if it does not build itself as a caring organization, where all its members feel equally important and valued in the organization. We are pleased that this is a message that has come out very clearly from Polokwane; that no member of the ANC must use his or her position or membership to give favours to some members or to marginalize those he/she doesn`t like or disagree with.
A caring society also requires a caring alliance, committed to defending each others` organizations and respect the collected elected leaderships of our formations.
The ANC can trust us that we shall not be found wanting in advancing these and other key objectives of our national democratic revolution.
We wish the ANC a happy 96th Anniversary!
Issued by the SACP.
Contact:
Malesela Maleka
SACP Spokesperson- 082 226 1802