SACP 103rd Anniversary Statement

Sunday 4 August 2024

As we commemorate the 103rd anniversary of the South African Communist Party (SACP), we honour our long-standing commitment to socialism and our unwavering dedication to advance the interests of the working class. This milestone is an opportunity to reflect on our proud history. It is an opportunity to reaffirm our strategic priorities and tasks, as we continue to advance the struggle to take our democracy to greater heights and achieve a breakthrough to a socialist future.

Our legacy, strategic focus and tactical tasks

Over the past century, the SACP has consistently upheld its role as a vanguard for socialism in South Africa. Our historical contributions are numerous and significant. The SACP has been at the forefront of theoretical and practical advances in pursuit of our National Democratic Revolution and socialism.

As the Communist Party, we were the first to adopt democratic majority rule as the way forward for our country. We were the first to embark on the struggle to establish South Africa as a democratic republic with equal rights for all, regardless of race, ethnic group and gender. At the centre of this struggle, we anchored our strategic objective to achieve liberation and complete social emancipation. This struggle involved, and continues to involve, advancing a revolution against the racist, sexist, oppressive, and exploitative capitalist system. Our goal was and remains clear. That is, to achieve a transition to a socialist society in which all forms of oppression, domination, exploitation, inequality, deprivation, impoverishment and poverty stemming from the capitalist system will be eliminated, altogether with the system itself.

As the Communist Party, we were the first political organisation in South Africa to be formed with a non-racial mission. Our commitment to non-racialism has been unwavering, laying the foundation for a society that values equality and dignity for all. The SACP has played a crucial role in building a progressive women’s and youth movements, seeking their empowerment to actively participate in the struggle for freedom and democratic transformation and development.

As communists, we have been integral to a democratic and militant trade union movement. We have a proud history of fostering trade unionism, advancing for workers’ rights and worker empowerment, and promoting community activism. We were and are still guided by the principle that every communist should be a community activist, and a most advanced and resolute working-class cadre. This legacy dates back to the founding of the Communist Party.

Today, our trade union movement faces the strategic responsibilities to unite workers across sectors and federations, reassert democratic worker control and strengthen workers’ power. The Communist Party will continue to be on the side of the workers as they organise and resist neo-liberal structuring, including casualisation, labour brokering and austerity measures, and as the workers organise and defend the national minimum wage, seek its improvements and pursue a living wage. We will strive to link this workplace or economic struggle with the broader working-class community struggle. Together, we need to build a robust, democratic and militant progressive trade union movement capable of addressing the structural and cyclical issues facing workers today.

Today, it is essential to develop a thriving local, community and popular democracy, including various forms of active participatory democracy, for the working class to assume a leading role in democratic transformation and development, rather than passive yet impatient “clients” awaiting top-down, state delivery. Social and economic programmes must make citizenship for all, especially the workers, unemployed and poor, a substantial reality. Otherwise, our electoral democracy will become irrelevant.

The Communist Party played a vital role in the formation of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the people’s liberation army, contributing to the armed struggle against apartheid. The so-called MK Party is an impostor organisation. It has served as a fifth column, against the ANC and our ANC-led Alliance electoral strategy. In this way, the MKP has effectively served the imperialist-sponsored anti-ANC regime change agenda, contributing to bringing the ANC under 50 per cent. Today, we continue to support efforts to protect the legacy of the MK from the renegades and counterrevolutionaries who have stolen its name, symbols and heritage.

The SACP has been instrumental in the political education of generations of activists and cadres within our broader democratic movement, ensuring a well-informed and ideologically grounded base of support. Today, this role of the Communist Party is more relevant than ever, to ensure that quantitative growth in membership is accompanied by and translates into qualitative growth.

Our legacy is also marked by the sacrifices we have made, including the ultimate sacrifice by many of our comrades. We honour our martyrs who laid down their lives in the struggle for democracy and freedom. Outstanding South African communists, including Joe Slovo, Chris Hani, Ruth First, Moses Kotane, and JB Marks exemplify the courage and dedication that have defined our Party's history. Their contributions and sacrifices continue to inspire us in our ongoing struggle for justice and equality.

It is now essential that we continue to grow the Communist Party, reflecting our enduring relevance and the trust that the working-class places in our leadership. We remain committed to deepen our engagement with communities and strengthen our organisational capacity to lead the struggle for socialism in South Africa.

Tackling the cost-of-living crisis

Working-class households across the country are in dire situations. In communities like Khayelitsha, people face widespread potholes, squatter camps, non-functional street lights and criminal activities, like extortion, drugs, robbery and theft. The absence of access roads and frequent electricity outages due to vandalism of transmission boxes by criminals exacerbate the already difficult living conditions.

Youth unemployment and the shortage of nurses, medical doctors and specialists at the Khayelitsha District Hospital further compound the daily struggles of our people, with many falling victim to floods and other preventable disasters. This grim reality is a stark reminder of the urgent need for a comprehensive approach to tackle these issues which makes the cost of living very high.

Today, the cost-of-living crisis is an urgent issue affecting millions of South Africans, hitting hard on the workers and poor, and increasingly on the middle-income sections as well. To alleviate this burden and ensure a more equitable society, we must take decisive actions across multiple fronts. The SACP says, let us:

Prioritise food security

Zero-rating Value Added Tax on more essential food items and services will lower the cost of basic necessities, making them more affordable, especially for low-income and poor households.

Food security is also about moving faster with land reform that ensures equitable land distribution, which is vital for addressing historical injustices and boosting local food production through agricultural support.

The Expropriation Bill has been passed by parliament, effectively ending the years squandered adherence to the “willing-seller, willing-buyer” approach to land reform, and empowering the state to accelerate the release of land now in a few private hands. The SACP calls on President Ramaphosa to sign this crucial Bill into law.

Food security also requires active promotion and support for the growing network of community and home gardening initiatives, which will empower people and their communities to produce their own food, fostering food sovereignty. The Communist Party salutes the work of the growing number of our districts in promoting community and home gardens in villages and townships. This work must be expanded.

The SACP calls for decisive action against price-fixing by oligopolies through the implementation of stringent regulations, ensuring fair food prices while supporting the development of community-owned stores and small-scale farming to provide safe food at fair prices.

Protecting and expanding school feeding schemes should be part of our efforts to ensure food security for millions of poor households. The current Minister of Basic Education must never be allowed to cut spending on our food feeding scheme.

Protect and expand subsidised basic services

Access to water, electricity and housing, through decent and integrated human settlements, is a fundamental right, reducing the overall cost burden on low-income families. In addition, we must ensure indigent policies are strengthened and expanded in municipalities to ensure all eligible households receive necessary support.

Strengthen public healthcare services

Through the immediate roll-out of the National Health Insurance (NHI), South Africa can provide comprehensive health services to all its citizens, ending out-of-pocket expenses for medical care. This will also require allocating adequate resources to public health infrastructure and more medical professionals training.

Investing in healthcare infrastructure like clinics, hospitals and other health facilities should not be compromised in favour of introducing for-profit-driven health facilities through so-called Private-Public Partnerships.

Training of more medical professionals, including specialists, and more community health workers, will enhance the quality and accessibility of public health facilities.

Fight for a living wage for all workers

The trade union movement needs to continue the demand for a living wage across sectors of the economy to protect and improve the standards of living 

workers and their families.

Part of the struggle for a living wage is to ensure full compliance by employers with the National Minimum Wage law.

Strict enforcement of the national minimum wage laws and increases will safeguard vulnerable workers from super-exploitation.

Introduce the universal basic income grant

Providing social security for the unemployed, caregivers and other sections of our people who are in need is essential. We must ensure that the government completes the Universal Basic Income Grant or UBIG Policy, including clear financing modalities, within the next two years, so that a UBIG is implemented from 2026.

In the here and now, we need the government to maintain and improve the Social Relief of Distress Grant to a minimum of the Food Poverty Line, and to extend its coverage to cover more applicants who are currently being unfairly excluded.

Advance the right to work for all

This involves creating work, particularly for the youth and women who make up the majority of the unemployed.

This productive work with income security should not necessarily depend on the capitalist labour market. Advancing towards the right of all to work requires support for productive activities, including support for co-operatives and self-employment initiatives.

Advancing the right of all to work also requires a massive expansion of Public Employment Programmes to provide meaningful work and skills training opportunities for millions of the unemployed. Such meaningful work includes work that protects the environment, supports basic education and early childhood development, and supports the rolling out of renewable energy programmes through cheaper and subsidised solar power for poor households.

Regulate rental prices

Regulating rental prices for student accommodation and those in social housing is critical. This will make college and university education, and housing for the middle-income sections, more affordable and accessible.

Advancing National Health Insurance

NHI has now passed the parliamentary stage after many years of struggle to ensure that this major transformative policy becomes law. It has been years of struggle against neo-liberal forces and others who prioritise profits over people’s well-being. These forces and their political representatives and agents want to retain the current two-tier health system characterised by inequality, gatekeeping and exclusion – healthcare for the rich and healthcare for the poor.

We now have the law. It is time to implement the NHI programme!

It is very clear that over the next five years, class battle lines will be drawn. The forces that prioritise profits over health are deploying all manner of resources, including legal warfare, to delay or even block the implementation of NHI.

Without any meaningful reorganisation of healthcare resources from the grip of the for-profit health sector, there can be no hope for universal health coverage in this country.

It is in this regard that we welcome calls for a people’s front – the Friends of the NHI Campaign – for the defence and advance the cause of NHI implementation. This campaign will work with the trade union movement, women and youth organisations, progressive professionals, people’s health organisations, small and large businesses, and more. This will also involve promoting popular education about NHI, amongst the workers and our communities.  We call on all progressive forces to join this Campaign.

We are fully aware that NHI implementation is a process, rather than implementation at a stroke. Over the next five years, the SACP, progressive trade unions, working with a range of social forces, will strive to achieve implementation of the following priorities:

Establishment of the NHI Fund: Work must begin now to establish the NHI Fund. This fund will play a critical role in pooling health funds to ensure equitable allocation of resources for healthcare services and progressive expansion of healthcare coverage for all South Africans.

Strengthening the public health sector: Building a strong primary health network that delivers primary health services free at the point of use is essential.

Investing in public healthcare infrastructure. Adequate resources must be allocated to public healthcare infrastructure, equipment, and professional training.

Ongoing popular education campaign on NHI.  We will work with our broader popular movement to deepen popular knowledge about NHI, and thwart the propaganda of anti-NHI forces.

Access to good health is a fundamental human right, just as access to water and food are universal human rights. However, these rights are daily violated by capitalists and neo-liberals around the world, who also influence treasuries.

Internationally, in Gaza, Palestine, the genocide and other atrocious acts by the apartheid Israeli settler regime deprive the people of basic health services, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. The SACP stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine and condemns these violations of human rights.

Fighting against neo-liberal policies, including austerity

Addressing the ever-rising cost of living cannot be accomplished under conditions of neo-liberal policies, including austerity measures imposed on the working class through budget cuts on social and economic development imperatives. The consequences of such policies are visible every day: overcrowded schools, clinics without medical doctors, other healthcare professionals and support staff, unemployed medical doctors, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals, and failing provision of government services, especially, but not only, at the local government level.

We reiterate our long-held position. Our fiscal and monetary policies must change. As they stand, these policies are not favourable for the policy commitments we have made in the ANC’s 2024 May elections manifesto, the economic and social challenges facing this country. This is why we must, among others, anchor the struggle to overcome the broader cost-of-living crisis and ensure NHI implementation as part and parcel of the wider struggle against neo-liberal policies and its austerity agenda.

Deepening financial sector transformation

The SACP reiterates its call for a radical transformation of the financial sector. Deepening the transformation of the financial sector is a strategic necessity for achieving democratic transformation and development in our country. The SACP remains committed to achieve financial sector transformation to end financial exploitation and build a financial system that truly serves the people. This transformation will lay the foundation for a people’s economy that prioritises human development and collective prosperity.

The SACP says, we must:

End illicit capital flows: Illicit capital flows undermine economic stability and development by draining resources that could otherwise be invested in public goods and services. These flows, often facilitated by tax evasion, money laundering, corrupt practices and political motives, represent a significant loss to the national economy. The SACP calls for stringent measures to combat illicit financial activities. This includes enhancing regulatory frameworks, improving the capacity of financial intelligence units, and fostering international cooperation to track and repatriate illicit funds. By curbing these outflows, we can ensure that more resources are available for critical investments in infrastructure, healthcare, education, and social services.

Implement exchange controls: To stabilise the economy and protect it from volatile capital movements, the implementation of exchange controls is essential. Exchange controls can help manage the flow of foreign currency in and out of the country, thereby reducing speculative attacks on the currency and stabilising exchange rates. Such measures are necessary to maintain economic sovereignty and ensure that financial resources are directed towards productive and developmental purposes rather than speculative gains. The SACP advocates for a balanced approach to exchange controls that safeguards national interests while maintaining the inflow of foreign investment.

Enforce prescribed assets requirements: Financial institutions, including pension and provident funds, play a pivotal role in the allocation of capital. However, their investment priorities often align with short-term profit maximisation rather than long-term developmental goals. To redirect financial flows towards critical sectors, the SACP supports the enforcement of prescribed asset requirements that are mandatory, not voluntary. These regulations would mandate financial institutions to allocate a certain percentage of their assets to investments in infrastructure, housing, agriculture, and other productive sectors. Such investments are vital for job creation, poverty reduction, and overall economic growth. Prescribed asset requirements would ensure that financial institutions contribute to the socio-economic development of the country in a meaningful way.

Advance the Freedom Charter’s vision of a public banking sector: The Freedom Charter envisions a financial sector that is in the hands of the people as a whole and serves the interests of the people. To realise this vision, the establishment of a state banking sector is imperative. State financial institutions, driven by developmental objectives rather than the profit motive, can provide affordable credit to co-operatives, small enterprises and underserved communities. This would enhance financial inclusion and support economic activities that are often neglected by commercial financial institutions. The SACP calls for adequate support for and an enabling institutional structuring of developmental public financial institutions, such as the Land Bank and IDC, as part of the wider effort to build a cohesive state financial sector.

Fostering a vibrant co-operative banking sector: Co-operative banking institutions are community or worker-based entities that prioritise the needs of their members over profit. They play a crucial role in promoting financial literacy, empowerment, and resilience among local communities. The SACP promotes policies that support the growth and sustainability of the co-operative banking sector. This includes providing regulatory support, access to capital, and capacity-building programmes. By fostering a vibrant co-operative financial sector, we can ensure that financial services are more accessible, affordable, and tailored to the needs of diverse communities.

Transformation of the financial sector, including addressing the problem of high interest rates, will lay the foundation for a people’s economy that prioritises human development and collective prosperity.

The 2024 elections outcomes: A major setback

Our May 2024 elections have significantly altered the political landscape of South Africa. From the perspective of the SACP, the loss of over 50 per cent majority status, a decline down to 40 per cent plus some insignificant fraction, is a major setback for our ANC-led movement and progressive politics in general. Also, the results reflected the lowest voter turnout from our historical working-class support since 1994 – over 11 million registered voters (who are overwhelmingly from working households in townships and villages) did not go out and vote. This reflects a growing disillusionment with the status quo and a yearning for substantial change in the face of mass poverty and high unemployment and income and wealth inequalities.

In other words, the outcomes of the May 2024 electoral politics reflect the crisis of working-class representation, among others, in the policy space, as a result of the rise to dominance of a reformist agenda, including neo-liberalism. The SACP programme, titled the South African Struggle for Socialism, analyses the rise of this reformist agenda, tracing it back, at least, to the early 1990s. The working class needs to unite to roll back this agenda and its influence. This is one of the key tasks facing the popular left front and the powerful, socialist movement of the workers and poor, which the SACP seeks to build as part of its programme to forge maximum working-class unity based on a revolutionary programme.

As the SACP, we acknowledge the challenges posed by the May 2024 elections results and the necessity for a strategic response to address the evolving needs of the working class. We are preparing a critical, constructive collective appreciation not only of the present, but also of the past three decades of our state of national democracy to draw lessons for the strategic tasks that we are facing.

Our May 2024 elections took place in a global context where we see the rise of right-wing forces. This has bolstered counter-revolutionary forces not only in our country but also in other countries. Counter-revolution refers to the actions and strategies employed to undermine and reverse revolutionary gains, often through economic, political, and or military means.

Venezuelan elections

We welcome the electoral outcome in favour of the 25-year-old socialist movement in Venezuela, otherwise known as the Bolivarian Revolution. The decisive vote for the incumbent President Nicolás Maduro in recent elections, is a vote for the continuation of the Bolivarian revolutionary process, which has faced extensive US-imposed unilateral coercive measures that amount to political and economic warfare. This warfare has been a key component of the imperialist United States’ counter-revolutionary strategy to induce regime change by crippling the Venezuelan economy and turning the people against their own government. In this election, as in previous elections, they have been defeated.

Government of National Unity

In light of our 2024 election outcomes, the SACP takes a critical but non-oppositionist stance towards the now-assembled Government of National Unity (GNU). However, we reserve our right to oppose, act and mobilise against any rightward shift in policy, which could find its way into government via the GNU composition. While the idea of a GNU is often presented as a means to foster stability and unity, its composition includes right-wing parties of the bosses and the historically privileged elitist sections of our society. This could countervail purposeful stability and unity, with negative implications for the working class. Our critical stance is based on several key considerations:

Avoiding the dilution of working-class interests and aspirations, as articulated in the 2024 ANC Manifesto: A GNU, by its nature, involves compromises. If not kept in check, this could negatively impact the interests of the working class. We must therefore ensure that our participation does not undermine our core principles and goals but serves as a platform to defend and advance working-class interests.

Challenging neo-liberal policies, including austerity: The current political environment is heavily influenced by neo-liberal policies that prioritise austerity and the interests of capital. The SACP will remain steadfast in its opposition to such policies. We call for a working-class empowering developmental growth path.

Ensuring true representation and accountability: Any government arrangement must genuinely represent the needs and aspirations of the working class. This requires the highest level of participatory democracy. We must be the first to hold the government accountable and push for transparency and inclusivity in decision-making processes based upon working-class interests and manifesto commitments.

The wealth of society must serve the needs of all its members

For the SACP, this struggle is not just about addressing immediate needs but about challenging the very foundations of capitalist-dominated society and building a progressive and socialist future. As communists, we believe that the wealth of society should be used to meet the needs of all its members, not just a privileged few. The fight against the high cost of living, and for NHI, is a fight for a society where everyone has access to the resources they need to live a dignified life. It is a fight for a world where the fruits of our labour are shared equitably, and where the well-being of the many takes precedence over the profits of the few.

Building a strong Party: The role of districts

Our districts play a pivotal role in carrying out key tasks and building a strong party. Districts must:

Mobilise and organise the workers and poor around the struggle to tackle the high cost of living and the struggle for quality healthcare for all through the NHI, ensuring their voices are heard and their needs addressed.

Foster strong community engagement, including progressive traditional leaders, churches and community groups in villages and townships. This involves supporting community and home food gardens, building community-owned stores, and other community self-reliant initiatives.

Strengthen political education, to ensure members are well-informed and ideologically grounded. This work includes building a women's commissariat and district-level political schools.

Strengthen organisational capacity, for effective leadership at all levels. This includes the building of strong and active party organisation in our voting districts, in the workplace and other key sites of the struggle.

On this 103rd anniversary of the SACP, let us build a powerful, socialist movement of the workers and poor and forge a popular left front.

Let us unite and wage a relentless struggle for a national democratic and socialist transformation of society. Only then can we vanquish the cost-of-living crisis, end the unequal health system, and build a future where food poverty is a relic of the past and every person can live in dignity and security.

In celebrating our 103rd anniversary, we reaffirm our dedication to these principles and strategic priorities. The SACP continues to be a leading force in the quest for a just and equitable society, guided by our enduring values and vision for a better future.

International solidarity

The SACP stands for peace on our continent, Africa, and integrated development.

We pledge our international solidarity with the people of Swaziland struggling for democracy, the people of Western Sahara against occupation by the imperialist-backed Morocco, and the people of Cuba against the United State-led imperialist aggression, economic, financial, trade, investment blockade and occupation of Guantanamo Bay.

We strongly condemn the apartheid Israeli settler regime for its colonial occupation and expropriation of Palestinian lands and for its genocide on Palestinian people and other atrocious activities and violation of human rights. The SACP stands with the people of Palestine for the freedom of historical Palestine and pledges its solidarity with the people of Syria and others in West Asia against attacks by the United States-backed apartheid Israeli settler regime.

We stand with the people of Bolivia and Nicaragua and others in South America and the Caribbeans against the imperialist United States-led aggression and machination.

We pledge our solidarity with the Kurds, call for clarity on the whereabouts and release of Abdullah Öcalan and strongly condemn United States imperialist machination in the Kurdish Question.    

The SACP says:

Tackle the cost-of-living crisis. Implement the NHI now!

Let us unite and combat corruption wherever and however it rears its ugly head!

Socialism is the Future – Build it Now!

Put People Before Profit!

Issued by the South African Communist Party,

Founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa.

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