SACP Western Cape Provincial Working Committee Statement Following its Meeting on 12 October 2019
14 October 2019
The main political organ of the South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Western Cape, the Provincial Working Committee (PWC), held its regular meeting on 12 October 2019 in Bellville to consider pertinent political developments which shape the changing character of our political terrain inside and outside the movement. The PWC reflected on the state of the SACP and our principal ally, Cosatu, noting that we have entered the period of congresses, a period which demands strengthening and renewal of the entire left axis.
As the PWC sits, we have witnessed reports of the closure of Green Tissue factory, which was allegedly sold to the Lion Match Company, in Bellville, resulting in job losses for over 150 workers. These workers were rendered unemployed with nothing despite working for over 20 years for the company. The Party pledges its solidarity with the retrenched workers.
Prioritise improved access to quality services
Organisationally, the PWC lauded the Brian Bunting (Cape Metro) District for heeding the call to prioritise agitating the masses to demand better quality service delivery from the City of Cape Town as constitutionally enshrined. In this respect, the PWC applauded the Philippi and Gugulethu sub-districts for embarking on an aggressive service delivery march, despite attempts at demobilisation by reactionary forces. The sub-districts also galvanised the respective communities to demand better sustainable and improved services.
The PWC reaffirmed its instruction to all structures to embark on sustained service delivery campaigns. Our people deserve better services to lead a dignified life. The message must be clear that all those who stand in the way of improvement of conditions of existence of the working class will meet communities, along with communists, on the streets!
Further, there are major problems concerning access to government services across our rural districts. For instance, in the Overberg District people cannot access services of the Department of Labour in their jurisdiction; instead, they access such services in Somerset West which is in the Cape Metro jurisdiction. Similarly, there is no regular access to SASSA services. These are issues that require a shift in focus from our government to prioritise access to services for the rural poor.
Gender-Based Violence and the crisis of social reproduction
The scourge of patriarchy leading to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is a cause and the manifestation of the crisis of social reproduction which has its roots in the inherent crisis of the capitalist mode of production. It is on this basis that we reassert that the struggle against the pervasive violence against women and children is part and parcel of the struggle against capitalist exploitation.
Within the context of mass mobilisation, the PWC also noted mass action in the struggle to defeat GBV conducted by our Overberg District leadership in collaboration with organs of civil society. These actions constitute an important part of the seeds for building the Broad Patriotic Front as directed by the SACP 14th Congress.
Renewal of the left axis towards forging class struggle
During this period, the majority of our District structures are due for their congresses to renew their mandate and deepen the mobilisation of the masses on the platform of socialist struggle. Also important to note is that most Cosatu affiliates in the province are also convening their respective congresses.
Recently, the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) held its congress whilst the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) is embarking on regional congresses across the province. Collectively, these processes require the entire left axis to renew themselves in order to emerge united in pursuit of the interests of the working class against the capitalist offensive. This process of renewal ought to reverberate across all levels of the organisations including the vanguard party of the working class.
In the wider political terrain, the PWC noted the impending implosion in the higher echelons of the [un]Democratic Alliance. The PWC noted the two issues that confront the DA; firstly, deeper irreconcilable ideological fault lines between the entrenched liberal tradition and conservative posture of the remnants of the old Nationalist Party; secondly, the DA suffers a challenge of appealing to the majority whilst protecting its historical white constituency. Thus, in essence, the fundamental problem relates to the DA’s loyalty to classes that harbour irreconcilable class antagonisms. On the one hand, the DA seeks to appease the affluent white minority constituency and, on the other, they seek to appeal to the black working class majority. Both traditions have inherent racist attitudes which thus far the DA has attempted to conceal through pretentious and hypocritical appeal to the black majority through their marketing gimmicks and divide-and-rule tactics.
The electoral decline of the DA, along with the dismal performance in recent by-elections across the province exacerbated Helen Zille’s desperation to claw her way back from the grave. The irony, however, is that it is arguably Zille’s racist attitude that continues to alienate voters from the DA possibly more than Maimane’s ineptitude and alleged corruption.
The DA’s cosmetic strategy of renting black leaders has become untenable hence the desire for its chief apologist of colonialism, Zille, to return primarily because of the failure to rule from the grave – and thus make a return to safeguard interests of the old liberal guard for advancement of the neo-liberal orthodoxy.
Forward to the Special National Congress
As we prepare for the SACP’s 4th Special National Congress, the PWC endorsed a programme for the roll-out of the Party’s discussion documents which were officially released through the Party’s publication, Bua Komanisi online, in September 2019. These documents make thorough analyses on the socio-economic, political and technological arenas. They provide an important lens to analyse the prevailing multiple socio-economic crises which in essence is a crisis of social reproduction as well as the impact of the notion of Digital or 4th Industrial Revolution.
The PWC also deliberated on proposed constitutional amendments which, in the main, seek to give effect to the necessity of renewal of the SACP in terms of the capacity of political leadership of the Party. This would serve to heighten the mobilisation and agitational capacity of the SACP in the face of the fight-back strategy of the parasitic networks as well as the neo-liberal onslaught from within and without the movement. All these efforts of bolstering the capacity of the Party are directed at placing the struggle for socialism on a higher platform.
Issued by SACP Western Cape Province
Contact:
Benson Ngqentsu- Provincial Secretary
Mobile: +2782 796 6400
ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY | SACP
FOR GENERAL ENQUIRIES ON SACP STATEMENTS CONTACT:
Dr Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo
National Spokesperson & Head of Communications
Mobile: +27 76 316 9816
Skype: MashiloAM
CIRCULATION & MEDIA LIAISON SERVICES
Hlengiwe Nkonyane
Communications Officer: Media Liaison Services, Digital and Social Media Co-ordinator
Mobile: +27 79 384 6550
OFFICE, WEBSITE, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, USTREAM TV CHANNEL
Office: +2711 339 3621/2
Twitter: SACP1921
Website: www.sacp.org.za
Facebook Page: South African Communist Party
Ustream TV Channel: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/sacp-tv
Editorial Contributions
Send editorial contributions to:
Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo
National Spokesperson & Head of Communications
Mobile: +27 76 316 9816
Office: +2711 339 3621/2
or to African Communist, PO Box 1027, Johannesburg 2000.
The main political organ of the South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Western Cape, the Provincial Working Committee (PWC), held its regular meeting on 12 October 2019 in Bellville to consider pertinent political developments which shape the changing character of our political terrain inside and outside the movement. The PWC reflected on the state of the SACP and our principal ally, Cosatu, noting that we have entered the period of congresses, a period which demands strengthening and renewal of the entire left axis.
As the PWC sits, we have witnessed reports of the closure of Green Tissue factory, which was allegedly sold to the Lion Match Company, in Bellville, resulting in job losses for over 150 workers. These workers were rendered unemployed with nothing despite working for over 20 years for the company. The Party pledges its solidarity with the retrenched workers.
Prioritise improved access to quality services
Organisationally, the PWC lauded the Brian Bunting (Cape Metro) District for heeding the call to prioritise agitating the masses to demand better quality service delivery from the City of Cape Town as constitutionally enshrined. In this respect, the PWC applauded the Philippi and Gugulethu sub-districts for embarking on an aggressive service delivery march, despite attempts at demobilisation by reactionary forces. The sub-districts also galvanised the respective communities to demand better sustainable and improved services.
The PWC reaffirmed its instruction to all structures to embark on sustained service delivery campaigns. Our people deserve better services to lead a dignified life. The message must be clear that all those who stand in the way of improvement of conditions of existence of the working class will meet communities, along with communists, on the streets!
Further, there are major problems concerning access to government services across our rural districts. For instance, in the Overberg District people cannot access services of the Department of Labour in their jurisdiction; instead, they access such services in Somerset West which is in the Cape Metro jurisdiction. Similarly, there is no regular access to SASSA services. These are issues that require a shift in focus from our government to prioritise access to services for the rural poor.
Gender-Based Violence and the crisis of social reproduction
The scourge of patriarchy leading to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is a cause and the manifestation of the crisis of social reproduction which has its roots in the inherent crisis of the capitalist mode of production. It is on this basis that we reassert that the struggle against the pervasive violence against women and children is part and parcel of the struggle against capitalist exploitation.
Within the context of mass mobilisation, the PWC also noted mass action in the struggle to defeat GBV conducted by our Overberg District leadership in collaboration with organs of civil society. These actions constitute an important part of the seeds for building the Broad Patriotic Front as directed by the SACP 14th Congress.
Renewal of the left axis towards forging class struggle
During this period, the majority of our District structures are due for their congresses to renew their mandate and deepen the mobilisation of the masses on the platform of socialist struggle. Also important to note is that most Cosatu affiliates in the province are also convening their respective congresses.
Recently, the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) held its congress whilst the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) is embarking on regional congresses across the province. Collectively, these processes require the entire left axis to renew themselves in order to emerge united in pursuit of the interests of the working class against the capitalist offensive. This process of renewal ought to reverberate across all levels of the organisations including the vanguard party of the working class.
In the wider political terrain, the PWC noted the impending implosion in the higher echelons of the [un]Democratic Alliance. The PWC noted the two issues that confront the DA; firstly, deeper irreconcilable ideological fault lines between the entrenched liberal tradition and conservative posture of the remnants of the old Nationalist Party; secondly, the DA suffers a challenge of appealing to the majority whilst protecting its historical white constituency. Thus, in essence, the fundamental problem relates to the DA’s loyalty to classes that harbour irreconcilable class antagonisms. On the one hand, the DA seeks to appease the affluent white minority constituency and, on the other, they seek to appeal to the black working class majority. Both traditions have inherent racist attitudes which thus far the DA has attempted to conceal through pretentious and hypocritical appeal to the black majority through their marketing gimmicks and divide-and-rule tactics.
The electoral decline of the DA, along with the dismal performance in recent by-elections across the province exacerbated Helen Zille’s desperation to claw her way back from the grave. The irony, however, is that it is arguably Zille’s racist attitude that continues to alienate voters from the DA possibly more than Maimane’s ineptitude and alleged corruption.
The DA’s cosmetic strategy of renting black leaders has become untenable hence the desire for its chief apologist of colonialism, Zille, to return primarily because of the failure to rule from the grave – and thus make a return to safeguard interests of the old liberal guard for advancement of the neo-liberal orthodoxy.
Forward to the Special National Congress
As we prepare for the SACP’s 4th Special National Congress, the PWC endorsed a programme for the roll-out of the Party’s discussion documents which were officially released through the Party’s publication, Bua Komanisi online, in September 2019. These documents make thorough analyses on the socio-economic, political and technological arenas. They provide an important lens to analyse the prevailing multiple socio-economic crises which in essence is a crisis of social reproduction as well as the impact of the notion of Digital or 4th Industrial Revolution.
The PWC also deliberated on proposed constitutional amendments which, in the main, seek to give effect to the necessity of renewal of the SACP in terms of the capacity of political leadership of the Party. This would serve to heighten the mobilisation and agitational capacity of the SACP in the face of the fight-back strategy of the parasitic networks as well as the neo-liberal onslaught from within and without the movement. All these efforts of bolstering the capacity of the Party are directed at placing the struggle for socialism on a higher platform.
Issued by SACP Western Cape Province
Contact:
Benson Ngqentsu- Provincial Secretary
Mobile: +2782 796 6400
ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY | SACP
FOR GENERAL ENQUIRIES ON SACP STATEMENTS CONTACT:
Dr Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo
National Spokesperson & Head of Communications
Mobile: +27 76 316 9816
Skype: MashiloAM
CIRCULATION & MEDIA LIAISON SERVICES
Hlengiwe Nkonyane
Communications Officer: Media Liaison Services, Digital and Social Media Co-ordinator
Mobile: +27 79 384 6550
OFFICE, WEBSITE, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, USTREAM TV CHANNEL
Office: +2711 339 3621/2
Twitter: SACP1921
Website: www.sacp.org.za
Facebook Page: South African Communist Party
Ustream TV Channel: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/sacp-tv
Editorial Contributions
Send editorial contributions to:
Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo
National Spokesperson & Head of Communications
Mobile: +27 76 316 9816
Office: +2711 339 3621/2
or to African Communist, PO Box 1027, Johannesburg 2000.
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