Monday, July 02, 2018

Outcomes of the SACP Provincial Executive Committee Meeting Held on 23 - 24 June 2018
26 June 2018

The South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Eastern Cape convened a special plenary session of the 8th Congress Provincial Executive Committee on the 23 - 24 June 2018 at the ANC Caucus Boardroom in the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature. The SACP special plenary session was convened for the leadership collective of our Party to assess the strengths and weakness of our party organisation, develop an implementation plan of the SACP 8th Provincial Congress Resolutions and to assess the socio-economic conditions facing the working class here at home and abroad.

The meeting received, discussed and adopted organisational report and the draft congress resolution implementation plan. The 8th Provincial Congress implantation plan is focusing more on having a clear achievable plan anchored on repositioning the SACP as the vanguard of the working and in leading the popular struggles of the people.

The meeting wished our veteran Tat` uMfengu `Ndlovu` Makhalima a speedy recovery as he is recovering in hospital. The SACP Provincial Leadership has been visiting him at the hospital and offering support to the family. Tat` uNdlovu is one of unsung heroes of the movement who sacrificed a lot for the liberation of the people of South Africa. As the SACP, we still enjoy his teachings as he is passionate Marxist scholar who always seeks to produce more leaders than followers.

Internationally:

The meeting reaffirmed the unwavering solidarity of our Party with the oppressed people of Palestine, Swaziland, Western Sahara and other parts of the world. In the course of the year we will have many actions to demonstrate our solidarity with the oppressed people.

As we are strongly opposed to the illegal occupation of Palestine by the apartheid Israeli, we welcome the decision of the South African government of downgrading the Israel Embassy and recall our ambassador to Israel. We are calling upon our government, including the Eastern Cape Province to cut all ties with the Apartheid Israeli until it recognise and respect the rights of Palestinians.

The SACP in the Eastern Cape is of the firm view that the United Nation (UN) is not intervening properly in the Israeli oppression of the Palestinians. The UN intervention are always elevating the Apartheid Israeli even though it continues to mercilessly kill Palestinians. The UN has been operating as the desk of the US led imperialism. The current developments there makes the realisation of the proposed two state solution impossible as the Apartheid Israeli continues to aggressively occupy Palestine, the two state solution may wittingly or unwittingly aid and legitimise the invasion of Palestine land by the Apartheid Israeli. There should be due recognition of the rights of the people of Palestine by all and establishment of the Government of National Unity.

Nationally

The meeting noted that the PEC occurred during a promising but unpredictable period in our country. We note and welcome the progress registered in dismantling the corporate capture of the state network and the clampdown on corruption and rent-seeking.

This includes plans to turn around the highly compromised State Owned Entities (SOEs) and the plan to rebuild the integrity of the State Security Agency. As we welcome these actions, we should also be careful of travelling the same road we have traversed before, for instance we should critically analyse the tenants of the `new dawn`, its class content, its class drivers and in whose class interests is it driven.

It is our firm view that the period which is characterised by the renewed sense of hope on South Africans after the 54th National Conference of the African National Congress (ANC) requires that we affirm the independent profile of the Party by building a strong party that is always relevant for all critical moments.

Strike at Eskom

As the SACP, we pledge our unwavering principled support to the striking workers at Eskom in their fight for better wages. The arrogance showed by the bosses in this case proves how the rich is detached from the realities confronted by the working people of our country, such as increased VAT, rising commodities, rising petrol prices, etc. It is important that the renewal and repositioning of Eskom is not done at the expense of the workers, that workers are not punished for the blunders of the Molefe regime and some unscrupulous administrators whilst bosses continue to pay themselves fat bonuses. We wish to applaud the unity of purpose between various unions at Eskom despite their political differences and affiliation. The unity of purpose demonstrated by unions at Eskom validates what we have been raising that the workers in various unions should not view each other as enemies, and that they should seek to find a unifying platform where they will fight for issues of common interest.

As the SACP in the Eastern Cape, we are calling for the review of the contracts between Eskom and the Independent Power Producers (IPP) to give space for due diligence to avoid travelling the same route of corporate capture of the state.

WSU and University of Fort Hare strikes

The SACP fully supports the striking workers on both the Walter Sisulu University (WSU) and the University of Fort Hare (UFH) and urge employers to come closer to the demands of workers for teaching and learning to ensue.

We are concerned by the arrogance, bully tactics and the divide rule that is displayed by the WSU management which issued a circular that was divisive and undermining the hard won Labour Relations Act. It is important that the management respects the bargaining process and avoid pitting workers against each other. As we support the workers, we are calling upon them to avoid any acts of violence or intimidation as they can only serve to delegitimise their genuine demand and immobilise the workers.

State of Local Government in Eastern Cape.

The meeting raised its deep concern of the dilapidating state of the Local Government in the Eastern Cape. This was evidenced by report on municipalities the Auditor General on Wednesday 23 May 2018, where an amount of about R28 billion was spent on irregular spending. In most instances this was related to non-compliance with procurement process requirements.

Part of the challenges in the Local State are as the results of bad decisions made in deploying councillors after the 2016 Local Government Elections. As the Party, we are on record having raised an issue of marginalisation of capable and genuine cadres of the ANC, SACP and SANCO which denied us quality because of factional considerations in many municipalities. The lesson which should be taken to heart out of this glaring failure should be that factions should not govern how skills and capabilities are deployed in various levels of governance, otherwise history will judge us harshly.

Another contributing factor to the challenges in the local state is the deep seated challenge of corruption network in the municipalities. There is also an emerging phenomenon of the corporate capture of the municipalities by some of the leading sections of the movement. We should work together to rid the movement and the state of this despotic elements in favour of clean governance and increased service delivery to the people.

The meeting also raised its concern on the challenges engulfing the Great Kei Local Municipality which has led to non-payment of workers. The workers and their families should not carry burden of bad decisions made by those in power. We are calling upon the provincial government to urgently intervene in the municipality for workers to get what is due to them. Workers and their families should not be subjected to abject poverty by unscrupulous leadership, as in South African realities a worker is one salary away from poverty. It is in this context that the provincial government should also pull together many efforts to ensure that workers at Amathole District Municipalities do not lose their salaries or jobs as the municipality is facing financial difficulties. A major contributor to the financial challenges of Amathole is the Siyenza Toilet saga.

It is our firm view that the situation requires the strategic leadership at the provincial level to turn things around and put in place a decisive turnaround strategy. It is in this context that we believe the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Honourable Fikile Xasa has not been providing such desired leadership. In our view he has not risen to the task to deal with the rot in the local sphere, as the result 23 municipalities are at the rock bottom.

COSATU 13th Provincial Congress

The SACP wishes our ally, the Congress of Trade Unions (COSATU) a successful 13th Provincial Congress which will be held on 30 June 2018 - 1 July 2018 at the Orient Theatre in East London. We wish COSATU will use its 13th Provincial Congress as a platform to defend, advance and deepen the workers` gains and most importantly to unite the federation. The conditions confronting the workers in South Africa requires a strong fighting COSATU to lead the struggles of the workers and take the battle to the doorstep of the bourgeoisie.

Conclusion

The meeting was closed in high spirit, recommitting ourselves to put more efforts in leading popular struggles of the people and to build a strong party that is ready for any eventuality.

Issued by the SACP Eastern Cape.

Contact:

Siyabonga Mdodi
SACP Provincial Spokesperson
Mobile: 0833588070
Email: simdodi@gmail.com
Facebook: SACP Eastern Cape
Twitter: @SACPECmedia
Website: www.sacp.org.za

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