Friday, March 18, 2016

Joint Statement of the Limpopo Alliance summit
15 March 2016

On the 13thand 14th of March 2016 at the Bolivia Lodge in Polokwane, African National Congress (ANC), Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), South African Communist Party (SACP) and the South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO), Convened a Provincial alliance summit. Gathered in the summit were 300 delegates from across the length and breadth of our Province, united in our socio-economic transformation program to improve our people's lives, under the theme "The Year of Advancing People's Power."

We are inspired by the Unity of Purpose, displayed by the comradely spirit, honesty, frankness and robustness of the discussions by the Alliance Partners that prevailed in the Provincial Alliance Summit.

In order to fulfil the responsibility of developing the lives of our people, the current phase of our revolution demands that political, technical and strategic capacities of the Alliance components be developed with a view of strengthening them to be able to manage and resolve contradictions within the organisations and society at large.

The Provincial Alliance Summit met under the tutelage of the rich traditions, culture and values of our national liberation movement, committed towards Unity and Cohesion of our movement and our people, towards the radical socio-economic and political transformation of our society.

We acknowledge that the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality still persist and that there is still much to be done to transform our province. We confirm that white monopoly capital is still the strategic enemy of the working class as they are still of the commanding heights of the economy.

Having gathered in the summit over two days, and taking queue from 2015 National Alliance Summit held at Irene, Tshwane on the 27 June - 1st July 2015, over and above the strengthening of the relationship amongst the Provincial Alliance Partners, the Summit deliberated on the following:

Strengthening the relationship between the Alliance partners.

The summit reaffirms the necessity and relevance of the Alliance in the current political juncture and beyond. It is our firm view that the Alliance is the most suited formation to advance the historic mission of realising a society as envisioned in the Freedom Charter and the National Democratic Revolution;
Further that in order to strengthen the unity and cohesion of the ANC and Alliance partners in the province, there has to be improved communication between and amongst the Alliance structures, joint political programmes, frequent Alliance meetings and summits to monitor and evaluate progress in implementing resolutions;
To further enhance the unity and cohesion of the Alliance, political education and training of members and leaders of the Alliance components remain crucial at all levels of the organisations as the strength of a revolutionary movement depends of the quality and conduct of members and leaders;
The ANC and its Alliance partners have committed ourselves to jointly combat the tendencies of greed, corruption, selfishness, crass materialism, factionalism and attempts of state capture by capital as they seek to sow seeds of division that will ultimately weaken the movement;
The Alliance Summit agreed that the Provincial Alliance Secretariat should meet once every month to share developments amongst our structures and process matters of the Alliance.

We also agreed that the Provincial Political Council must meet every quarter to provide political oversight and direction, and that a Ten a Side Alliance meeting must meet every six months to discuss broader political programmes. The Alliance Summit also agreed that a Provincial Summit will be convened annually at the beginning of each year to receive reports and develop a common minimum Alliance programme.

That the Alliance Secretariat must develop a programme to enhance Alliance at the regional level as a matter of extreme urgency

Oiling the state machinery to improve delivery of basic services -

The Summit reaffirmed that the ANC-led government is better placed to be the only vehicle that will improve the quality of lives of our people;
The capacity of the state should continue to be enhanced and strengthened to be able to deliver quality services to our people;
The Alliance will work together to ensure our people are meaningfully consulted, consistent with the legislative architecture of local government level and also to ensure that the Local Government is better capacitated to deal with community issues;
The summit agreed to strengthen the monitoring and evaluation in the Office of the Premier in order to improve and fast-track service delivery to our people.
Solidarity with Palestinian People.

The Summit called for the Alliance Partners in the province to strengthen the solidarity work with the people of Palestine by waging sustained and visible campaigns to highlight the plight of the Palestinian people.

The Summit also called for an immediate end to the illegal occupation of Palestinian land by the aggressive and arrogant Israel regime.

The dangers of racism and tribalism in the province.

The Alliance has a moral and legal duty to demonstrate leadership and the responsibility to prevent racial and tribal conflicts in the province;
The ANC-led Government should take a lead and develop programmes and campaigns against racism as a matter of urgency, it is critical to note that the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality continues to thrive within the context of apartheid legacy of structural racism. It is thus important to speed up the programme of radical economic transformation so as to rid the society of structural racism.

Strengthening of the PYA in the province.

The Summit committed alliance partners to working together in strengthening and supporting PYA structures in the development and implementation of their programs as well as ensuring that PYA components convene a PYA summit so as to strengthen youth development programs.
Affirm the civic role of SANCO.

The Alliance summit affirmed the centrality of SANCO in championing community struggles for socio-economic development.
2. Local Government Elections.

The Summit resolved to embark upon joint and visible programmes to mobilise society to vote for the ANC as the only viable vehicle for community development and service delivery improvements.
3. The state of Education in the province.

The summit noted that although the Education Department in the province has been declared as apex priority, it is beset by a number of challenges; and
The summit therefore calls for an education summit to be convened to tackle the challenges which are prevalent in the education sector and develop a clear programme towards ultimate education transformation.
4. Radical Economic Transformation

Noting the slow economic growth of 2.4% in the Province and re-affirming the strategic thrust of the Limpopo Development Plan; the summit resolved to accelerate growth and development through specific focus on growing agriculture, agro-processing, beneficiation in mining, the land reform programmes and manufacturing.

Within the next six month, an Alliance Economic Summit will be convened to discuss factors that could enhance the economic development in our province to ensure that the economy belongs to the people of the province, and alter its classical colonial character.

The alliance summit recommitted ourselves, as the Alliance Partners in our Province, to safeguard the true character, principles, values and traditions of the movement as espoused by the founding leaders of the Alliance.

Issued by: Alliance secretariat

Enquiries :
Gerald Mkhomazi Twala (Provincial Secretary)
COSATU Limpopo Province
Polokwane

Tel: (015) 291-2981/2/3
Fax: (015) 291-3232
Cell: 071 587 2872
E-Mail: gerald@cosatu.org.za

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