Comrade President, the General Secretary, the national and provincial leadership of SADTU, and comrade delegates, the SACP is deeply honoured for the invitation to address this National General Council. On behalf of the Central Committee and the entire membership of the SACP, I bring you fraternal greetings.

For the SACP the key political and strategic challenge for any progressive public sector union is that of defending and strengthening the public sector to play a leading role in the overall transformation of our society. This task becomes even more pressing in the current global context whereby the state has been targetted by neo-liberal policies for downsizing and its role being limited to the creation of a climate for private sector expansion. The overall political and revolutionary task of public sector unions in particular, and the working class in general, is the defence and extension of the public sector in the provision of quality services to the overwhelming majority of our people.

This overall strategic task has a number of key critical challenges within it, whose outline is going to form the major focus of my input today.

1. The global challenge

You are holding your meeting at a time of not so insignificant international meetings and forums. The IMF is holding its meeting in Washington, immediately after the G77 countries have been holding a summit in Cuba. At the same time there is a renewal of mass, albeit widely dispersed, activity on the international front around the creation of a just economic world order. These would include the massive demonstrations at the WTO last year, the increasing momentum around the cancellation of debt for poor countries, spearheaded by amongst others the Jubilee 2000 movement, mass struggles in various countries around land, housing and access to resources for the poor, the impending general strikes in South Africa and India on 10 and 11 May 2000 respectively, and the current struggles around the IMF meeting in Washington.

In all these resurging mass struggles there is a common thread and potential emerging platform for the left and working class forces in the world today. The key to this platform is the need to intensify the struggle against poverty, as well as the struggle to defend the role of the public sector in the delivery of services in the light of widespread privatisation and liberalisation spearheaded by a neo-liberal offensive serving the interests of Transnational Corporations (TNC’s).

It is to the issue of the role of the state and the public sector as well as the threat of neo-liberal offensive to roll back the state and transform provision of services into havens for capital accumulation, greed and profit-making, that I would like to highlight a little bit more. This is where a key component of the global challenge lies. This reality and challenge is aptly captured by a recent article on the IMF and the World Bank:

This agenda of the TNC’s, which is the sole mission of the IMF and World Bank is also captured by a little publicised but very instructive speech by the Vice President of the World Bank for Africa, Jean-Louis Sarbib in Abidjan on 21 May 1997. In this speech where he was assessing privatisation on the African continent, Sarbib opens it with joy that Africa at last has embraced privatisation and has realised that the role of the state should be limited to creating the climate for the private sector to operate freely and unfettered.

It is important to quote liberally from this speech in order to illustrate the extent to which the role of the state and the public sector in the provision of basic services is under threat in the current global situation, particularly on the African continent. He opens his speech by pointing out that "… it is my pleasure to address you on the subject of the present and future trendes in privatisation in Africa. I deliberately use the word pleasure because, after a slow, faltering start, privatisation has truly taken off across Africa… (M)any countries have embraced modern market economics and are deepening their reform to make the private sector the engine of growth" (p.1)

From this opening he then arrogantly points out that "Today, there is widespread agreement that the primary engine that can pull the African economies to (higher) levels is the private sector – both domestic and foreign direct investment. And that there must be a public-private partnership. This is where privatisation comes in" (p.2). Of particular interest to note here is the fact that according to the dominant neo-liberal ideology, public private partnerships are seen as nothing more other than a means to get the private sector to set the agenda for growth.

However, Sarbib, despite these arrogant assertions, he has to deal with the reality that there is indeed very widespread public concerns about the real effects of privatisation, particularly on the poor and the working people. To this extent he notes with discomfort that "Because of the concerns expressed about possible negative effects of privatisation, there has been a strong tendency to shy away from the difficult issues which privatisation has brought to the surface… As a result there is still a virtual absence of policies on retrenchment and related benefits, social safety nets, land ownership reform, the retirement of enterprise debts, and anti-trust legislation". He then continued to state it bluntly that "…the influence of state –owned holding companies should be neutralised at an early stage – either through privatisation or dissolution (whichever is the more appropriate) – since they invariably delay or obstruct the privatisation process" (p.3). In short what this means is that the explicit agenda of neo-liberalism, led by the IMF and the World Bank is to neutralise and destroy the capacity and role of the state in economic development and social transformation.

The arrogance and cynicism of this agenda lies in the fact that there is acute awareness, as pointed out above, that privatisation is going to lead to retrenchments, yet this is of less concern other than the fact that governments have to boldly explain this to the populace and devise means to convince ordinary people about supposed long-term benefits of the rolling back of the state. In addition, the world economic elite is also aware that privatisation of public services only benefit a small elite, as Sarbib himself notes that "More needs to be done in every country to reach out to the majority of the people, who are poor, have little or no savings, and are therefore unable to participate in privatisation…". He later adds in his speech that:

What the above clearly points to is that the state – as the major implementing agency for erosion and selling off of public assets and services must be turned into a public relations agency to try and making privatisation acceptable. In other words the state must be weakened and be rolled back in the delivery of public services, but be strengthened as the manager and public relations officer to justify the cutting back of services to the majority of Africa’s population.

What is even more startling in this speech is an open admission by the World Bank that "… despite concerns about the social effects of privatisation, little has been done to monitor employment or to gauge the welfare consequences on the families of retrenched workers" (p.10). Therefore the IMF, the World Bank, and the TNCs are imposing all these conditions to the developing countries, in particular Africa, without even bothering to study the social consequences of their measures. Yet we are expected to continue with this liberalisation, the cutting back on public services by the state, and privatisation and the consequences are not even being studied! However we know, as the World Bank does, that the consequences of their policies have been a wholesale failure and led to disastrous social consequences for the working class and the poor.

Even more frightening about this agenda is not just that it is parastatals that should be sold but the next target are the very essential services like education and health. This is what Sarbib says in this regard:

The most shocking and revealing aspect of this statement is the fact that the aim of the neo-liberal agenda is to extend beyond the privatisation of parastatals, but to key social services like education and health. Even more striking is the arrogance that the aim would be to get the public sector to fund and finance privately run institutions – in other words using taxpayers’ money to ensure the profits of the private providers! The above statement by Sarbib should also serve another important lesson; that there is nothing scientific nor objective about division of functions into "core and non-core functions", but that this is largely ideologically driven by neo-liberal and profit considerations of the powerful in the world today.

Cde President, I have quoted at length from this statement because it puts the challenge for public sector unions very clearly: the need to defend and extend the public sector to meet the basic needs of the ordinary mass of our people. That unless we locate all our struggles, whether it be wages or conditions of service, within this framework we would lose the opportunity to advance and deepen the national democratic revolution in a manner that truly creates a better life for all. It is therefore important to use this NGC to focus on practical steps and actions to wage a struggle for the defence of the public sector as a necessary component for defending and advancing the interests of the working class and the poor.

In the South African context, we are all agreed that we need to restructure the public service so that it is transformed from a service that served the interests of the white minority to one that serves the interests of the overwhelming majority of our people. Public sector unions like SADTU should be in the forefront of this transformation. However this should not be an ideologically driven transformation that mechanically assumes that the current state is bloated and therefore needs to be cut as a matter of principle. In fact evidence shows that the major problem with the our public sector is inefficient management, including wasteful management practices, as well as deployment of civil service workers in not so optimal a manner. That is why the SACP supports a proper and thorough audit of the service, with the view to redeployment and training, rather than retrenchment as such. We are also concerned that retrenchment in the public service will hit low-level workers, and in many instances may leave the inefficient management intact.

We are pleased that the Alliance Task Team is dealing with these matters and we are hopeful that a progressive solution will be found to the restructuring of public service that will not add to the already highly unacceptable job loss bloodbath. The challenge therefore is to what extent are our public sector unions, like SADTU, adequately prepared at all its levels, to engage in this process? This NGC will have to reflect on this and come out with concrete measures to ensure that the entire membership participates and engage with this process.

3. The challenge of creating a new work ethic in the public sector

Cde President, and comrade delegates, it is upon public sector unions and workers to set an example that the public sector is a better deliverer of services than the private sector. This requires that we create a new work ethic amongst our members, that of hard work and dedicated service to our people. In fact the public sector unions should be taking a lead in the Batho-Pele campaign and ensure that, in the context of education, teachers teach and our schools are functional. I know that SADTU has taken many resolutions on this question, but a concrete programme of action, together with other public sector unions, is needed to inject new thinking amongst our members.

Failure to do this will, amongst other things, serve to strengthen the neo-liberal agenda of a mean, downsized state and the rapid encroachment of private capital, as Sarbib and World Bank are dying to do, into the provision of public services. However the development of a new work ethic of hard work, should not just be seen in defensive terms to roll back the market in provision of basic social services. It should be seen as an important ingredient and imperative for deepening the NDR through quality public service to our people. Lazy teachers are a danger to the revolution, as well as public servants who are not serving our people in a dedicated manner are a threat to the attainment of a better life for all. Part of this new ethic should involve an understanding that the public service is a service and not a means of accumulation. This will also require that the state should aim to pay public servants decent wages in order to ensure a satisfied and hard working public service corps.

I had earlier dwelt on the issue of the neo-liberal ideology on the respective role of the state and the private sector, in order also to make the important point on the need to mobilise all our resources to challenge this ideology. Teachers, by virtue of their location and role as intellectuals, are very well placed to begin to teach differently and impart values that are caring and for social solidarity in order to counter neo-liberal ideology. In the light of these challenges it cannot be business as usual. We need to use the new spaces provided by the 1994 democratic breakthrough and Curriculum 2005 to challenge neo-liberal ideas in the classroom. The reviewal of this curriculum should also be used to contest space for a progressive, socially oriented syllabi aimed at producing a new kind of student and not capitalist robots and ideologues. For instance, how many of you here are teaching about the current job losses in the classroom, and the meaning of this for working class families in our country? To what extent do we reflect and analyses the ideological messages we are imparting in the classroom.

Once more, I would like to reiterate what I have said before. If capitalist ideology and values are taught in our schools, let socialist ideas be equally spread so that our children can see and choose for themselves a more humane system for our future. But this is not going to happen on its own. I would therefore like to repeat a call I made at the Northern Province SADTU General Council, that it is time that SADTU, perhaps acting with its international partners, to set up a centre for curriculum transformation in order to equip its members with a different kind of approach to the syllabi, and the teaching of new humane and caring content.

Similarly we should also campaign to ensure that teacher education incorporates alternative view of society, rather than being a transmission belt for neo-liberal and capitalist education. The SACP is willing to engage SADTU further and concretely on this particular matter. This is the educational and ideological challenge that SADTU needs to take up as a matter of strategic priority.

Cde President and delegates, it is important to also use this NGC to reflect on the state of the Alliance and how the trade union movement needs to play its role in this regard. As the SACP we are of the view that South Africa still needs the Alliance as the main driving force for transformation. The ultra-left is wrong to say we must abandon the Alliance because the ANC has become a right-wing organisation. Who is the ANC if not us. The challenge is how do we ensure that the working class voice continues not only to be felt but to be the dominant voice in the Alliance. To seek to break the Alliance is a typical ultra-left shortcut, instead of hardwork to ensure the progressive hegemony of the working class in the Alliance. How many of the SADTU cadres for instance are active in ANC branches? This is the challenge.

At the same time we also need to look at ourselves quiet hard. One of the dangers of this period is careerism, power-mongering and opportunism. This is a tendency we need to combat, otherwise it is going to erode our organisations. The ANC NGC in July is going to focus on this all-important question: the need to continously cultivate self-less, independent-minded, loyal and revolutionary cadre. Frankly this is an issue that needs to be taken up by all our organisations. Opportunism and careerism is to be found in the ranks of all our organisations, and we need a huge effort to combat this.

Once more let me use this platform to call on the workers of this country to redouble their efforts in building a strong SACP. We are steadily but surely rebuilding this precious organ to be the prime political representative of the working class. But we need more workplace units, we need more support from the workers to realise our dream of deepening democracy as a foundation for socialism. As Cde Chris Hani said in his own words:

In a kind of society that the IMF and the World Bank is talking about, as illustrated earlier, there can be no sustainable provision of any of these things. Let us mobilise and unite the working class for democracy and socialism.

With these words I wish you a successful NGC.

Blade Nzimande
General Secretary, SACP