Blade Nzimande, General Secretary
As the SACP we have had lots of practical political experiences of concrete struggle over the nearly 86 years of the existence of our Party. We have grown as a Party because we have learnt a lot out of this. We have also grown because we have not allowed ourselves to be distracted from our goal, that of building a socialist South Africa.
It is interesting that looking at some of the newspapers this last weekend, they were full of the many achievements of our SACP-led campaigns, but obviously not acknowledged as such. What are some of these? They include the establishment of new insurance and pension products for the workers and the poor. These are a direct product of the struggles led by this South African Communist Party for the transformation of the financial sector for the benefit of the workers and the poor.
Indeed as the SACP we should be proud of the fact that we have waged many high profile and highly successful campaigns. Our most successful campaign thus far has been that on the transformation of the financial sector, which has notched many important victories, including the Umzansi and Zimele products, the passage of the National Credit Act, 2006, the holding of the National Land Summit in 2005, and so on.
One of the major lessons out of our campaigns over the last 7-8 years has been that policy development and implementation not accompanied by mass mobilization and activism is liable to falter, including vascillations in implementation of those policies. At the same time it is important to reflect on the policy implications of the many campaigns we continue to wage, and this is partly the reason why we are holding this Policy Dialogue.
1. Who is ''us'' and ''them''?
One theme that should run through all our struggles and in discussions at this Policy Dialogue is, ''We want to build ours, and not be appendages to theirs''. Who is ''us'' and who is ''them''? By ''us'' we refer to the overwhelming majority of our people, the workers and the poor of our country. By ''them'', we refer to the predominantly white capitalist class of this country. And to them we say we do not want to be appendages of your so-called generosity, but we want to create our own institutions, controlled and serving the interests of the overwhelming majority of the workers and poor of our country. We want to transform the financial sector such that it serves the developmental objectives of our country, rather than receive crumbs from the table of the banks and insurance companies. Our objective is not to ''lower the costs of doing business'' in this country, but to lower the cost of living so that the workers and the poor of our country are in full control of their future and destiny!
Therefore when we say we want to create ours, we mean we want institutions controlled by the workers and the poor of our country, serving their interests and not those of the capitalist class. When we say we do not want theirs, we mean we do not want institutions of the capitalist class, which are serving the interests of that class.
Ours is a socialist future, theirs should be a capitalist past!
Therefore the challenge of this Policy Dialogue is that of contributing towards a new path for the most thorough transformation, rather than managing, of the white dominated, colonial capitalist economy.
2. Locating the Policy Dialogue: Our Medium Term Vision (MTV)
It is important to properly locate this Policy Dialogue against the background of the SACP''s broader objectives, strategy and tactics. We are holding this Dialogue as per the decision of our augmented Central Committee meeting of November 2006.
Our point of departure is that ours is a struggle to build socialism in South Africa. A socialist South Africa, in which the priority of meeting social needs is dominant, will enable us to more effectively engage with the greatest challenge of human civilisation in our epoch - the rapid destruction of the physical and biological material conditions for human survival.
We are however not waging a struggle for socialism in isolation or from an abstract position, but we are waging it under concrete conditions and in the terrain of the national democratic revolution. Therefore our road to socialism is by consolidating, advancing and deepening a working class-led, socialist oriented national democratic revolution, whose immediate programme is guided by the emancipatory values of the Freedom Charter.
Ours is also a struggle for socialism in the absence of the countervailing global balance of the Soviet bloc of socialist states, but in which over the last decade a wide range of other countervailing forces have emerged -including wide-spread social movement mobilisation against neo-liberalism and imperialist militarism; a growing wave of electoral rejection of neo-liberalism (not least, but not only in Latin America); the powerful economic emergence of "middle ranking" powers (India, Brazil, Russia) that are not part of the traditional imperialist bloc; the economic rising star of China, and, here domestically, a political context where the liberation movement, of which we are a part, has ascended to state power.
Our immediate objective is the achievement of our Medium Term Vision (MTV), that of seeking to build working class hegemony in key centres of power and influence. Our Special National Congress (SNC) in 2005 enriched our MTV by identifying 5 key sites of power and influence in which we must immediately seek to build the hegemony of the working class: the state, the economy, the community, the workplace and the cross-cutting ideological struggle.
The state - Our Central Committee Commission discussion document did attempt to identify key elements of the state we have built since 1994. The analysis of this discussion document has generally been accepted by our membership. What our document said, which has now been accepted by the general membership of our Party, is that despite the many achievements we have made, the state we have built has been characterised by the following:
The key challenge therefore, which must be part of the discussions at this National Policy Dialogue, is how do we build working class hegemony within the state in order to ensure that we have a working-class led state, driving a socialist-oriented national democratic transformation programme. Part of the challenge in this regard is to defeat patronage, corruption and parasitic capitalism at all levels of the state.
As part of this struggle we need thorough transformation of our criminal justice system, including the judiciary, and also to ensure that such institutions do not act in a partial and selective manner in the performance of our duties. For example, there is a case of gross corruption in one of our municipalities. Amongst other things some councillors have managed to get the municipality in question to approve budgets of millions of rands for community projects. The money has been approved and spent, but there are no such projects or development in existence. The Scorpions have all the information, and there are such clear instances of corruption, and the evidence so overwhelming that it shouldn''t even take a week to charge and prosecute successfully. But the Scorpions have been sitting with this information for months, the relevant communities are aware of this matter and it has the prospects of creating instability. The Scorpions know very well what I am talking about!
It is also from the standpoint of our MTV as a whole, to build working class hegemony in all sites power, including the state, that we should subject our debate on the SACP''s relation to state power and its electoral options. We must not make the mistake of isolating the debate on the SACP and a possible electoral route, from these broader strategic considerations.
The economy - Whilst we have gone a long way in transforming the state, including government impressive transfers to the poor, the colonial character of our economy remains intact, and in fact unchanged. Not only is the colonial character of our economy substantively unchanged, but in many respects the white capitalist class has become even richer since 1994. This is the fundamental problem we have to confront.
The key challenge here is that of building working class power and hegemony in the economy in order to transformation the current growth path underway in our country. In particular we need to take forward the debate on an overarching industrial policy, and effectively engage with government processes underway. One key feature of such an industrial policy should be to develop the productive capacity and increase investment into our economy.
The workplace - The third key area in which we need to build working class hegemony is the in the workplace. In particular we need to work together with our ally, COSATU, and generally the progressive trade union movement to challenge the racial and gender division of labour in the workplace, and challenge management unilateralism, and fight for more resources to be put into the skills development of the working class.
The community - We are gathering at this Dialogue in the wake of a very serious crisis facing an organisation like SANCO, at a time when we do need a progressive civic movement, capable of taking up the daily challenges facing our communities as residents in both the urban and the rural areas.
We are however pleased that the Alliance has set up an Interim Leadership Core, made up of leaders from the ANC, SACP and COSATU to try and assist the rebuilding of SANCO and preparing for its Congress in September this year.
However it is imperative for the SACP to ensure that working class activists and cadres actively participate and lead civic struggles, and to also ensure that our own SACP mass campaigns relate firmly to community struggles.
The ideological struggles - The fifth pillar of our MTV is that of building the ideological capacity of the working class, and actively struggle for the hegemony of working class perspectives in society.
Indeed ideological struggles are wide and varied and take place in every site of power. One matter that I feel is not being given the necessary attention which is a critical terrain in waging working class ideological struggle is the promotion, advancement and use of African languages both in schools and in broader South African society.
At the rate at which our society is being increasingly ''colonised'', as it were, by the English language, a decade from now we might be having a completely different South Africa in terms of language, and a further relegation of African languages. The biggest danger in this is a possible communication distance between government, our political formations and the mass of the people of our country. Although this is not a main theme for discussion at this Policy Dialogue, it may be necessary for the SACP to seriously reflect on this matter. We perhaps need to throw our weight behind building a mass movement to drive the struggle for the use and promotion of African languages.
We must also start with ourselves. We need to encourage our cadres to put down their views and thoughts in African languages, produce political education material in our various languages. I am deeply concerned about what seems to be a rule, albeit unwritten, that to be a true cadre it means you must speak English, write in English, think in English, and even act in English. English is an important language, but we need to promote usage of African languages, the languages of our constituency, the workers and the poor.
We are also calling upon academics, researchers and others working in African languages departments and other institutions to come together and be part of this broader movement to promote African languages. We need to also pay particular attention to what is happening in our schools, and the YCL has an important role in this regard. We also need to engage more with what the Pan SALB is doing, and it is of concern that most of the work of this very important institutions is happening behind the scenes, and it is not in the public arena. However, this is a matter that cannot be solely blamed on this board, but it requires placing these issues in the public arena.
It is also important for the SACP and the working class as a whole to play a leading role on the language front as this is a very critical dimension of the national question. We need to take it up from a consistently revolutionary perspective, as we know that if revolutionary forces are not in the forefront in such a question, language can be a very powerful weapon in the hands of ethnic and tribal entrepreneurs, and other reactionary and counter-revolutionary forces, to undermine unity in our formations and broader society.
Related to the above and of fundamental importance in our ideological work is the use of our own internal media, especially Umsebenzi. This publication has a long history and commands immense respect especially within the ranks of the organised working class. But we are concerned that due to a lack of active interest especially by our district leadership, we are unable to fully use this publication to project and share experiences on what our branches are doing for instance. We need writers from provinces, districts and branches, in whatever language they choose. We need to discuss this matter at this Dialogue as part of consideration of the issue of building the policy and ideological capacity of the SACP, and come up with a concrete plan.
3. Overall aim and specific objectives of the National Policy Dialogue
It is against this above background that the overall aim of this national policy dialogue os to elaborate on some of the key policy issues for a working class-led, socialist oriented national democratic revolution, guided by the emancipatory vision of the Freedom Charter. The specific objectives include the following:
4. Priority policy issues for this Dialogue
Unfortunately, this Policy Dialogue will not be able to deal with all the pressing issues we would have liked to have dealt with. Instead we have chosen to focus on what we regard as some of the pressing developmental issues primarily, but not exclusively, arising out of our current and ongoing campaigns. We are however convinced that taking forward these issues and developing appropriate policy perspectives will take us a long way in also impacting on many other areas that are of fundamental concern to the workers and the poor of our country.
Industrial Policy - As outlined above, we will be engaging with emerging government perspectives and our own approach to industrial policy. The question of an overarching industrial strategy is of fundamental importance in transforming the current growth path in to one that creates jobs, poverty eradication and sustainable livelihoods.
Gender and Social Development - We also want to use this Policy Dialogue to discuss some of the pressing social development issues through the perspective of gender transformation and tackling patriarchy in society. We have consistently argued as the SACP that looking at any issue from ''gender neutral'' or gender blind perspectives will lead to vastly different conclusions than if deliberately looked from a gendered perspective.
We have also structured the Policy Dialogue such that the issue of gender is not only going to be discussed by the Gender and Social Development Commission, but by all the commissions. But we want the Gender Commission to tackle the issue directly, also as a way of assisting the Party to deepen its theoretical and programmatic perspectives on the matter.
However one of the most pressing challenges for our country on the question of gender, is that of rescuing the gender and women''s emancipation discourse from an elitist approach and paradigm. If we are to create ours and not be appendages to theirs, it is important that we ground our gender analysis on class and class struggles underway in society.
Our task is that we must not allow the victories and advances made by ordinary working class and poor women in the national democratic revolution to be hijacked by elites.
As the SACP we generally agree with the principle of 50/50 representation in all our structures and public institutions. However, this argument so far and its results have been very elitist. What is the use of having 50/50 representation when the women 50% is by elite women, advancing the interests of the elite?
As we discuss in this Policy Dialogue the reality is that many of the women (and men) that we appoint, for instance in the boards of public corporations and other public institutions are not necessarily ''champions'' of working class interests. WE MUST SIMPLY SAY NO TO 50/50 OF ELITES! The question is how does this 50/50 change the conditions of Mme Manamela in Sekhukhune, Ma Mphodo from Tshirolwe in Venda, MaMhlakaza from Qumbu, kanye noMaMkhize wase Mbumbulu.
The challenge therefore is that we must broaden the concept of representation beyond just gender and include class representation, such that the majority of the women in the 50/50 must be women representing the interests of poor and working class women. Let this policy dialogue come out clearly on this matter.
For gender transformation ''to be ours and not appendages of theirs'', it must be gender transformation principally for the benefit of, and driven by, women workers and the poor!
National (and local) strategy for co-operatives development
Whilst the SACP has succeeded in placing the question of the building of co-operatives on the national agenda, there are hardly any national or local strategies and coherent policy perspectives to build, support and strengthen co-operatives and a co-operative movement. Partly as a result of this our own achievements are being appropriated by the BEE discourse and practice, leading to a wide variety of business consultations getting government tenders on supporting co-ops, without any knowledge, experience nor interest in building progressive co-ops and a progressive co-operative movement.
In addition, as we speak the progressive co-operative movement, mainly around NCASA is facing extreme difficulties, if not completely collapsing. The SACP has played a very crucial, albeit inadequate, role in fostering and strengthening the progressive co-operative movement over the last 7 years or so. It is our belief that there is a deeply dialectical relationship between building viable individual co-operatives and the building of a strong co-operative movement. We cannot have effective and functional individual co-operatives outside of building a progressive co-operative movement. Similarly, there cannot be a progressive co-operative movement without building individual co-operatives in various localities and settings.
This Dialogue will have to emerge with policy perspectives on a national co-operatives strategy, driven by a progressive co-operative movement.
Transformation of the financial sector
This SACP-led campaign has scored a lot of important victories for the workers and the poor. We have won Umzansi account, now the Zimele insurance product, the National Credit Act, and so on. However the fundamental challenge still remains that of building a financial sector that is ours, and not an appendage to theirs.
We are meeting in the wake of what may perhaps become the biggest scandal if not theft of workers'' retirement funds in the unfolding Fidentia fiasco. This underlines what is perhaps one of the critical challenges for this Dialogue, that of coming out with strategy, tactics and policies to ensure that workers have complete control over their retirement funds, including full control over where and how these funds are invested, for the benefit of the workers and the poor of our country.
Five years ago at NEDLAC we agreed to a five percent investment of these funds for investment in infrastructure in poor areas and for job creation. We need to review this, as it is clear that the retirement funds industry is just not prepared for this. Let us build what is ours and not be appendages to what is theirs, though what they claim is theirs is actually ours.
The retirement industry for instance is said to be worth about R1,3 trillion rands, but these amounts are further enriching the capitalist class, which lives like parasites on these funds. It is this industry that is principally oiling the capitalist system in our country. The next step for the SACP-led financial sector campaign is to intensify working class struggles on this front, as the principal platform on which to transform the financial sector as a whole.
Land and agrarian transformation
Our Red October Campaign of 2004 directly contributed to the holding of the Land Summit of 2005. At that land summit we correctly rejected the ''willing seller, willing buyer'' principle. The challenge for this Dialogue is to develop and refine an alternative policy that will accelerate land and agrarian transformation for the benefit of the workers and the poor in the countryside.
However, one of the biggest threats to our land and agrarian transformation campaign is the dominance of a rule of law in the (white) countryside that favours white farmers. Take, the recent case of a white farmer who shot and killed a black boy - claiming that he mistook him for a dog - but fined only R10 000. As the SACP we are deeply concerned at the announcement by the National Prosecuting Authority that it will not appeal against this obviously gross injustice. Unfortunately this only reinforces the reality that justice in the white dominated country side is justice in the hands of the farmers.
It is therefore important that, amongst other things, this Dialogue must look at measures that need to be taken to thoroughly transform the criminal justice system in the countryside. In our own campaigning as the SACP we have found that it is not unusual that in a particular rural area on white farms, the magistrate, the prosecutor, the chairperson of the local farmers'' association (in a number of cases simultaneously the local chairperson of the DA), the local police station commissioner, are all friends, they hunt together on weekends, and they populate the same pub. This needs to be seriously looked into, as part of our overall strategy for land and agrarian transformation.
We also need to take forward our debate on the nature and role of the Land Bank. Is this bank playing a developmental role or is driven by commercial imperatives like any other capitalist bank.
Another pressing matter is existence of evidence that not much agricultural activity is taking place in restituted land. In addition our people do not have access to affordable finance to undertake even minimal agricultural activities. We are also of the view that government must urgently do an audit of what is happening on land that our people have successfully claimed in terms of land restitution, and for appropriate measures to be taken to ensure building of sustainable livelihoods on that land.
5. Defend the Unity of our Party, defeat our adversaries and detractors and those wittingly or unwittingly supporting them within our ranks!
As the SACP we have also been accused, sometimes by some within our own ranks, of not understanding how to manage the ANC in particular, as if the ANC was there to be managed rather than to be strengthened to drive a national democratic transformation agenda. In some, not all, instances this refrain is used by who want to use the SACP as a platform to access positions in government and business opportunities for themselves. That is why we are today saying, let us build what is ours and not be appendages to what is theirs. This is an important challenge for this SACP Policy Dialogue.
In other instances, especially since 1996, we have been accussed of tailing behind, rather than leading the working class in general, and particularly its organized sections. Obviously this is a blatant lie, but nevertheless, if we do tail at all, we would rather tail behind the workers than hang by our necks on the apron strings of the white bourgeoisie. Why? Because we want to build what is ours rather than to be appendanges to what is theirs.
Perhaps the main reason why we are being falsely accused as South African communists of tailing behind the workers is precisely because we have led successful working class struggles that are a threat to the current economic growth path and to significant sections of both the black and the white elite.
Interestingly, when we launched most of the campaigns we have referred to here, we were also sometimes disparagingly referred to as populists, for instance wanting to destabilize the so-called ''our first world financial sector''. Now that we have Umzansi account, the Zimele account, and preparations for a state-led retirement fund, all those (both in government and in the private capitalist sector) who had called us populists are now the first ones in the line to claim, for themselves, that they are the architects of this transformation, having conveniently forgotten about the so-called ''populist'' origins of these products.
As the Tripartite Alliance Secretariat we visited Bolivia two weeks ago. We had the honour and privilege to, once more, meet with President Evo Morales of Bolivia, the first indigenous of that country, despite the fact that that country has a 72% majority of that country made up of indigenous people. He was indeed very proud of the achievements of his government. He then told us that the reason why his government has been successful is that it has governed and not stolen the people''s money and resources, as many Bolivian governments had done for generations.
In essence what Morales is saying that in Bolivia, just like our own intentions, they are honestly building what is theirs and not being appendages to what is theirs!
It is also now Congress season. We are beginning to see unprincipled and opportunistic use of the media by some to try and discredit others or try to enlist the assistance of bourgeois media to punt for being elected. We must expose and condemn this, as in many instances it does not require rocket science to see who the culprits are, collaborating with bourgeois media essentially to serve their narrow personal interests and undermine the unity of our Party.
One of the immediate challenges we face is that of ensuring that we protect this SACP from unnecessary stresses and strains, and seek to keep it united at all times, especially as we approach the 12th Congress, without suppressing the internal democratic processes of debate and democratic election of leadership.
This is part of building what is truly ours, in this case our SACP, and not be appendages to what is theirs, in this case bourgeois media! There is no better way of doing this than to focus on matters that have popularized and rooted our Party amongst the masses of the workers and the poor: Mass activism and open policy dialogue and debate! Let us also use this dialogue to critically and frankly reflect on the strengths, weaknesses and challenges facing our Party.
Let us not allow our detractors to succeed in their intentions, and let us expose those in our midst who collaborate with our class adversaries and our detractors.
Ours is a just cause. There is no more noble a cause than that of fighting with and for the workers and the poor for a socialist South Africa!
Ari ambe
A hi vhulavuleni
Are buwe
Asikhulume
Asithethe
Laat ons praat!
Let us build what is ours, and not be appendages to what is theirs! With and for workers and the poor!