September/October 1998 

  Contents

The Global Crisis of Capitalism The Failure
of neo-liberal Prescriptions

Playing politics with the Unemployed

Tribute to Comrade Ntela Sikhosana

In the name of Workplace Restructuring

Recipiets of the Moses Kotane Award

Political Education - Understanding Imperialism

Struggling against the Banks

Left Laugh - Business Wisdom

Phantsi ne Privatisation

The 4th Congress
of the SA Deomcratic Teacher's Union (SADTU)

Capitalism's Inheritance

SACP Secretariat
Statement on the Lesotho Situation

SACP Statement Condemning
attacks on Non-Nationals

Fidel Castro - "Great Crisies always deliver great
solutions"

The
Global Crisis of Capitalism

The failure of neo-liberal
prescriptions

The current crisis of capitalism and the parallel possibilities for our
struggle for socialism is the main theme of this special double issue of
Umsebenzi. SACP General Secretary, BLADE NZIMANDE outlines the nature of the
crisis and the necessary steps needed to spearhead the transformation of the
global economy towards socialism.

The bourgeoisie and their spokespersons have
been grappling with the current global crisis that began in the financial
markets and have come to some rather unremarkable conclusions: that

1.  the excessive deregulation of financial markets that has been
   championed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in particular is the
   source of much of the volatility in the markets
2. the huge disparities between developed and developing countries is
   distorting the global market;
3. privatisation has not brought the growth, efficiency and cost
   effectiveness it was supposed to, and
4.  most amusingly, the current collapse is not a good thing!
5.  

Of course these "experts" are less vocal about the fact that not so
long ago they and the bourgeois economists of the neo-liberal persuasion were
arguing that globalisation was a success. They were also convinced that the less
the market is interfered with the better it would perform and ensure growth and
development the world over.

The reality is the exact opposite of course. Not only has the global bubble
burst, but in the decades since the ascendance of the prescriptions of
neo-liberalism the living standards of the majority of the world's population
has declined considerably. The gap between rich and poor, high and low paid,
employed and unemployed is wider than ever before. Governments, the world over,
are beginning to debate the merits of interventions in their domestic economies,
as well as internationally, to stave off a repeat of the Great Depression of
1929. The extent of this crisis and its contagious nature is due to a
combination of the overproduction of capital and commodities and extensive
financial deregulation that has left many developing countries highly exposed to
speculative foreign exchange movements. The neo-liberal dogma told governments
to stop borrowing while individuals and private financial institutions were
encouraged to do so. The current crisis only serves to underline our 10th
Congress programme and resolutions that privatisation, deregulation and
unregulated market forces are no solution to the problems facing humanity,
particularly the poor.

The measures being proposed by many of the world's leaders are hardly up to
the task of dealing with the magnitude or nature of the problem that confronts
us as humanity. There are those who are insane enough to be proposing more and
bigger doses of the same medicine that has brought on this very crisis, such as
greater deregulation, for instance. In our own country such forces are calling
for "more GEAR" or "GEAR II". But such calls for
interventions to provide some interim relief, or for a "Post-Washington
consensus" in order to stave off the imminent disaster, are all made in the
name of saving the capitalist system. The futility of this approach is obvious.
All attempts, global or otherwise, to prop up the ailing capitalist system,
offer no future, no answers, and no relief to the millions of starving
inhabitants of our planet, to the unemployed, and those with little or no health
care, education, and other basic necessities.

Instead of measures that amount to little more than tinkering, real steps
need to be taken to spearhead the transformation of the global economy from a
capitalist one to a socialist one. There is a clear need to link calls for the
transformation of international political organisations such as the United
Nations (UN), which have been made by the President of our country, to the
transformation of other institutions such as the IMF and World Bank. The setting
up of a World Finance Organisation should not be a repeat of the relationships
in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), where developing countries are told to
reduce tariffs while the wealthier countries still protect their economies.

The central issue for the world economy is to ensure that the basic needs of
all people are met first and that opportunities and services are extended to
all. This cannot be achieved without greater planning and co-ordination and
through the ending of the system of private ownership of the means of
production. Such measures need to be led by encouraging collective development
efforts, such as labour intensive mass infrastructure and housing schemes and on
the creation of co-operative economic opportunities where the maximum may
participate and enjoy the rewards of work. The regulation of the financial
markets, internationally if possible but nationally if nothing else, should be a
priority, along with government intervention in the key sectors of the economy
that deliver public goods, such as transport.

This does not mean that there is no role for the private sector in the
current period capital. Public-private partnerships, with an emphasis on the
relationship between the public (the people) and government, that ensure the
interests of the people and not business are put first are key to launching the
growth necessary for sustainable development. But this must be in a context
where the market is problematised and transformed to being a place where real
rational decisions are taken on behalf of the majority. Of crucial concern must
also be the rapid upliftment of the skills base of the economy through a
comprehensive human resource development programme. Socialism is the only answer
to the current world economic crisis and as South Africans we must play a
leading role in developing and implementing the policies that will bring about
the much needed qualitative change in the conditions of the vast majority of the
worlds people.

Cynics may scoff and say, "what is the Party's vision of
socialism?" or that the SACP does not have a coherent idea of what to do to
transform the economy. Our reply is simple. The bulk of the wealth of the
country must be in the hands of the people. Economically, socialism is the
democratic ownership and control of the economy and involves more planning and
regulation by the government in consultation with the people. Politically,
socialism will involve greater democratic governance, where the masses of our
people are given the right to participate in the planning and implementation of
policies that lead to a more just and humane society with no extremes of wealth
and poverty.

If that is not clear enough then we can only say to our detractors that the
ideological blinkers they wear do not allow them to see the logic and wisdom
inherent in such a simple approach. No amount of protestation about the lack of
alternatives to the current neo-liberal world disorder will fool the masses.

It is the sound of the hungry stomachs of these very masses
which calls for humane and rational alternatives to capitalism. This is one more
reason to build a strong SACP.

That is why we say, socialism is the future, build
it now!

Tribute
to Comrade Ntela Sikhosana

Major Ntela Sikhosana was born in Escourt on 23rd August 1964. He
matriculated at Wembezi High in 1983. During December 1983, as a young activist,
he was forced into exile in Mozambique, where he was arrested and imprisoned for
six months. An intervention by comrades JG Zuma and Joe Slovo secured his
release. Cde Nkela proceeded to Zambia and then to Angola where he received
military training and appointed as a Commissar.

He subsequently went to Cuba, where he received training in military
intelligence and international politics.

When he returned to South Africa he joined the underground ranks of MK in the
Natal Midlands Region. In 1987 he was arrested for the Empangeni Operation and
sentenced to Robben Island for 12 years in 1989. Due to the special amnesty, cde
Nkela was released in 1991. Upon his release, he was promoted to the rank of
Commander of MK for the Natal Midlands Region until 1994.

As a tried and tested soldier he was promoted to the rank of Major in the
SANDF, and was the head of the Integration and Demobilisation process. As a
Major, he was responsible for the military intelligence office at Group 9 in
Pietermaritzburg where he acquitted himself with great distinction under severe
pressure.

Although cancer robbed cde Nkela of a long life, his was a
life filled with revolutionary meaning. He was an outstanding intellectual and
soldier. When some sought high office in government he chose to remain a soldier
and he did so with a communist consciousness. One of his greatest dilemmas was
that as a member of the SANDF he could not openly be an activist of the SACP, an
organisation which shaped his character and intellect. Cde Nkela's life was an
example of a quiet and unassuming physical embodiment of the values and culture
of the SACP and of the international communist movement even when it was no
longer politically fashionable to be a communist. Through these universal
values, cde Nkela became an intellectual force and touched everyone as a simple,
humble and yet a sophisticated new human being.

Hamba kahle, mkhonto

We pick up your spear, flowering with
peace

Recipients
of the Moses Kotane Award

 

Billy Nair

At the SACP 10th Congress a resolution was passed instituting the Moses
Kotane Award, to be given to SACP cadres who have made an outstanding
contribution to both the struggle for national liberation and socialism.The
resolution noted that such contributions are reflected in terms of quality and
length of service.

As a result of the passing of this resolution, two SACP cadres
were presented with the Moses Kotane Award by the General Secretary; These two
comrades are:

Brian Bunting and Billy Nair.

Between these outstanding cadres, there is over 100 years of service to the
Party at all levels of leadership. Umsebenzi congratulates both comrades and
celebrates their commitment to the SACP and their revolutionary courage. 

Poetry



In the name of the Workplace Restructing

By Matserane Chimureng wa-Mapena

Years ago it was training

Yesterday it was multi-skilling

Today is multi-tasking

Oh! why workplace restructuring?

Cost cutting became the name of the game

Retrenchments became the order of the day

Severance packages became christmas boxes

Yes! all in the name of workplace restructuring.

Economies collapse - in the name of the New world order

Globalisation became the world's language

and Revolutionary words are becoming entertainment.

Capitalists new story became restructuring

Productivity becomes their red wine

Job losses became workers' graves because of flexibility

Competitiveness is the order of the day

Downsizing and Rightsizing remain capitalist core business

Casuals and part timers - sub contract workers and seasonal

workers are now flexible cheap labourers.

Sub-contractors are now prostitutes of industries

Just-in-time became a call to retrench workers for profit

International competitiveness a guillotine for workers

Job security a dream of the past

This is because of flexibility.

Low wages becomes International disease

Laws change to suit the capitalist

Capital intensive substitutes labour intensive

Yes! all in the name of flexibility

Yes! all in the name of workplace restructuring.

Political
Education

Understanding Imperialism

In the second part of our 'Understanding the Basics of Our Struggle'
series, Umsebenzi takes up a discussion on the key area of imperialism in the
context of colonialist history. While many on the left have stopped using this
term, communists understand that the fundamentals of imperialism are still very
much with us on a global scale. The present crises of capitalism reveal, more
then ever, the theoretical relevance and strategic importance of understanding
and unmasking imperialism in our struggle for socialism. As we noted in our last
issue, most of this material is taken from the soon-to-be-released joint
SACP-COSATU Political Education booklet.

Imperialism is an advanced stage of capitalism. Imperialism is associated
with three main features:

1. The growing monopolisation of the economy by a handful of major
   corporations
2. The increasing export of productive capital to undeveloped parts of
   the world, extending capitalist exploitation and oppression globally
3. The growing integration of finance capital with productive
   capital, leading increasingly to the dominance of finance capital

Monopolisation

Capitalism is associated with an accumulation process. By the end of the 19th
century this process resulted in a growing concentration of power and resources.
Concentration occurred at two levels: 

• At the level of the production unit. Instead of scattered small and
  medium-sized workshops, increasingly production was organised into large,
  integrated units. For instance, blast furnaces, coking plants, steelworks
  and rolling mills were now combined into one huge factory. To start up
  production, it now required millions, instead of a few thousands. (While
  small capitalist enterprises have continued down to the present, their
  sphere of activity has become more and more limited.)
• At the level of the firm or company. Precisely because
  production was now organised on a large factory, production line basis,
  there was also the coming together of many distinct capitals in the modern joint
  stock company or corporation.

The earlier period of capitalism was a competitive stage of
capitalism.Thousands of small firms competed with each other on the same market.

Competition drove down prices, as each small firm competed with the others.
Capitalist propaganda still presents capitalism as a "competitive"
system operating on a "free market". In fact, competition and free
markets have long since ceased to be the dominant features of capitalism. Huge,
global transnational corporations dominate and manipulate the markets. They set
their own prices, and they suppress competition as much as possible.

The Export of Productive Capital

In the last quarter of the 19th century, the growing accumulation and
concentration of capital resulted in over-accumulation. In the main capitalist
countries, like Britain, there was a need to find new markets and new investment
opportunities. In the last decades of the 19th century, there was
suddenly a vast movement of capital into Africa, the East, the Middle East and
Latin America. This was the period of the "scramble for Africa". In
the space of little more than 10 years, the leading capitalist powers carved out
almost all our continent as exclusive colonial territories for themselves.

There had been European colonial settlements in Africa before this period.
The earlier European colonial settlement was mainly associated with mercantile
capitalism. Mercantile capitalism was linked to long-distance trading.
Companies, like Jan van Riebeek's Dutch East India Company, used sailing fleets
to travel thousands of kilometres to purchase in the East goods that were scarce
in the West - spices, cotton and silk. These could be sold at huge profits back
in Europe. The early European colonial settlements in Southern Africa (like Cape
Town and Lourenco Marques/Maputo) were designed to protect and service these
valuable trade routes.

The colonial domination of Africa (and other parts of the globe) from the
late 19th century had a different character. Now it was not just trade, but
millions were actually invested in plantations, mines, railways and harbours,
and later in manufacturing. By 1914, between a quarter and one-third of British
capital was now invested overseas.

Of course, this was less about "developing" these colonised or
dependent countries. It was more about profiting from the vast natural wealth
and from "cheap" labour. Although vast sums of money were invested, it
was always in a very skewed way. Infrastructure was built not for the all-round
development of the society, but to ensure the most rapid plundering and export
of minerals, for instance.

It was precisely in this period that South Africa, as a politically unified
country, came into being. By the end of the 19th century, what was going to be
"South Africa", was still a cluster of feudal Boer republics,
independent African tribal states, and two British-controlled colonies centred
on three ports (Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban).

The imperialist development of diamond and gold industrial mining in the
interior, in the last 30 years of the 19th century, created the need to
"unify" these huge investments with the ports. This is what
underpinnedthe Anglo-Boer war (1899 - 1901). The ultimate victory of the British
Colonial army created the conditions for the Union of South Africa (1910).

The scramble for Africa, and other imperialist attempts to control the
undeveloped world, led rapidly to intra-imperialist rivalry. The major
corporations in the developed capitalist countries scrambled to extend their own
control over the resources of the rest of the world. This was the major cause of
the First World War (1914 - 1918). In the middle of this First World War, Lenin
underlined the imperialist nature of the war.

In his famous work, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, Lenin noted
all of the main features of imperialism. He noted how:

•  capitalist over-accumulation in the developed capitalist countries
  had led to increasing export of productive capital;
•  this had required larger companies; which had led
•  to growing monopolisation; and
•  to a scramble between imperialist powers to control the world's
  resources

There was one more important feature of imperialism that Lenin also
underlined:

Finance Capital

The development of imperialism just over 100 years ago brought with it the
need to assemble vast financial resources. There was a need, for instance, to
float huge, multi-national corporations, capable of investing millions in the
development of infrastructure for deep-level gold mining on the Rand. In the
earlier phase of capitalism, small productive capitals borrowed money from banks
when they needed to set up a new workshop. But productive capital and finance
(or banking) capital were largely separate operations.

Now, increasingly, productive and finance capital inter-mingled. Control over
finance capital provided strategic information. Bankers were no longer content
just to lend money, when strategic knowledge about new gold-fields opening up in
South Africa, for instance, could be used to reap millions through direct
investment. For their part, the captains of industry were no longer just
engineers or geologists or former artisans who understood production.
Increasingly they were experts in putting together vast monopoly consortiums.
The separation between banking capital and productive capital began to
disappear.

In the course of the 20th century this tendency, noted by Lenin in 1915, has
gathered speed. Indeed, more and more finance capital has started to dominate
capitalism. As Richard Barnet, an American writer notes:

"The Global Financial Network is a constantly changing maze of
currency transactions, global securities, Mastercards, euro-yen, swaps, and an
ever more innovative array of speculative devices for re-packaging and
re-selling money. This network is much closer to a chain of gambling casinos
than to the dull, grey banks of the past. Twenty-four hours a day, trillions of
dollars flow through the world's foreign exchange markets. No more than 10
percent of this staggering sum has anything to do with trade in goods and
services."

The trillions of dollars that move around the globe each day (as blips on
computer screens) completely dwarf the international flows of more stable
foreign productive investment. The blood-sucking, financial tick that once lived
on the back of the productive cow has now completely overgrown and overwhelmed
its host.

This situation lies at the heart of the latest phase of imperialism, which we
often call globalisation. We will deal in more detail with this
"new" form of imperialism in the next issue.

Struggling
against the Banks

One of the key areas of social delivery that has been negatively affected
by the profit agenda of capital has been housing. In most cases, communities are
struggling against private banks, that have responded to their self-generated
crisis by hiking interest rates and foreclosing on 'defaulters'. SACP activist,
TEBOGO PHADU, relates how the Community Housing Forum in Tembisa is taking up
the challenge.

At a recently held Tembisa community meeting
there were hundreds of residents in attendance, dominated by the affected
bond-holders, and politically charged from the beginning. Many residents who
attended came with their letters from SERVCON (a body established to deal with
the "historical problems" of bond-payment in the townships), warning
them of imminent evictions and conversion of their properties to rental (market
related) housing. There are about 2500 residents who are in bond-default in
Tembisa.

The main item on the agenda was a community response to SERVCON's
"payment normalisation programme" and its threat of mass evictions. It
understood its mission as "persuading residents to pay their bonds".
But, as one comrade said at the meeting, "the problem is not the community
but the banks".

It was clear to residents, after a lengthy account by Comrade Malahlela,
Chairman of the Community Housing Forum (CHF), of the three year negotiations
they had with SERVCON, that the conditions which necessitated the bond boycott
in the late 1980s have not changed.

Residents talked about "the Four Conditions for Resolution"- lower
interest rates, independent evaluation of the properties, the plight of the
unemployed and pensioners and their right to housing.

Throughout these negotiations, SERVCON kept offering various packages for
rescheduling, warning of future evictions and leaving out the social concerns
raised by the community. Various speakers expressed their frustrations with
SERVCON and the manner in which it failed to honour agreements with the
residents.

One example is the property evaluation report by CSIR that showed most houses
were overpriced. Houses priced for R50 000, for example, were educed to less
than R20 000, the average being R15 000, by the CSIR report. But the report was
never released to the community. One comrade managed to "grab" a copy
before SERVCON got their hands on it (earlier evaluation reports were allegedly
manipulated by SERVCON before being released to the residents), and it was used
as negotiating weapon by the CHF. SERVCON and the banks, however, have denied
the existence of such a report.

The latest SERVCON move to "rightsize" and rent the houses, was
viewed as provocative - a return to a Tembisa of the past, where most township
match-box houses were subdivided into one or two rooms for different tenants.
According to SERVCON, about R50 million has been allocated by the national
government to rightsize residents "within existing properties", or
through "relocation grants" to unvezanyawo (meaning "where your
feet show") houses, which have mushroomed all over Gauteng.

In response to these moves, residents have called for:

• continuing social appropriation of the houses (a call for "social
  housing")
• more developed forms of organisation for the defence of the
  "properties in possession"
• the closure of SERVCON
• adding another "condition" to the Four Conditions for Resolution
  - an end to the "redlining" of Tembisa
• the Community Housing Forum negotiation team to develop a clear proposal
  for a social housing programme
• forging links with other local struggles and alternatives With regard to
  the threats of evictions, which are not new, but are taken seriously,
  residents agreed that SERVCON does not have capacity to evict 2500 people
  from their houses, and have instead chosen the following route of
  mobilisation and action:
• embarking on community-wide support for the positions they have adopted
  gainst the banks and SERVCON. This will involve residents associations, taxi
  associations, the ANC, COSATU locals, burial societies, housing
  co-operatives, church organisations and street and ward committees
• to collaborate with those who share our concerns and desires (for example,
  Meadowlands in 1997)
• Zonal meetings (group of sections) to exercise community vigilance and
  defence of properties in possession.

Many of the links established so far are not "bureaucratic"
alliances but rather steadfastly organic. The bondholders' call for social
housing echoes, in different tone, the struggle of homeless Tembisans
(e.g.,backyard and shack dwellers). The homeless have been engaged in the their
own struggle against developer driven housing in places like Temong section.
They have kicked out notorious developers like Vieptro, and in its place, they
are constructing housing co-operatives. They utilise both their own resources
and source support from government for subsidies and land. Hit by the banks and
developers, communities are coming together, sharing ideas and strategies on
building alternatives to market dominated housing. One could actually say
residents are rolling back the market expansion in housing.

The community struggles against the banks should be understood in the current
context of the financial assault on the working class by financial capital. This
is an attack on their credit and purchasing capacity - whether as workers and
consumers. That they are now reaching out to the general community is an
indication of their understanding of the full impact of bank policies,
particularly high interest rates, on working class communities.

Activists in the Community Housing Forum have extended links to other
formations and have addressed different forums and structures such as the
Tembisa and East Rand Taxi Associations, small business people and so on.

In turn these organisations have called their own meetings to discuss the
problem of the banks and the kind of actions they might take, particularly
against high interests rates.

While prepared to take on the banks on this issue and other issues such as
red-lining, the Tembisans are exploring the possibility of creating their own
micro financial institution to protect their communities from loan sharks of
various sorts (including "cash loans" mashonisas). The creation of
this new space is being pioneered by burial societies in Tembisa ( Tembisa has
about 200 burial societies and 80 of them are under one umbrella body).

However, the struggle of the bank debtors in Tembisa could find itself
neutralised or crushed if other struggles like those of COSATU, consumer
organisations, Meadowlands 1997 and concerned taxi associations do not
communicate to them. It is only when these struggles speak to each other that
banks can go downwards. Last year, COSATU initiated a partially successful
campaign against the bank's interest rates that was able to mobilise cross-class
alliances against the banks. Is it not time to revitalise such initiatives, with
the SACP and COSATU paying an ative role?

Left Laugh

Business Wisdom - what to do with a 'Dead Horse'?

Tribal wisdom among North American Indians says that when you discover hat
you are riding a dead horse, the best policy is to dismount and eave it. In
business management however, a different kind of wisdom seems to prevail - a
wisdom that sectors in SA government circles appear, unfortunately, to have
taken to heart. (*Editors note - although Umsebenzi has a clear idea, we leave
it up to our readers to decide what the 'dead horse' represents)

• Buy a stronger whip
• Appoint a committee to study the horse
• Take trips to far-flung places to see how they ride dead horses
• Hire consultants to manage a change in requirements and declare that
  "this horse is not dead"
• Hire casual labour to ride the dead horse
• Harness several dead horses together for increased speed
• Provide additional funding to improve the dead horse's performance
• Form a quality circle to find uses for dead horses
• Promote the dead horse into a managerial position

Phantsine ne Privatisation!

A central element in the neo-liberal, capitalist agenda for countries such
as South Africa, is the privatisation of public enterprises and essential
services. Although the scale of privatisation has, so far, been limited as a
result of widespread popular resistance, there are signs of an increasing
tendency towards 'fast-tracking' the privatisation process as a component of
GEAR. The union movement has been at the forefront of organised opposition to
privatisation, particularly the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU).
Here, SAMWU's Media Officer, ANNA WEEKES, and Legal Officer, JOHN BROWN detail
the ongoing struggle.

NEDLAC negotiations to avert a COSATU
nation-wide strike brought the struggle against privatisation of essential
services to a head in mid-September with the declaration of a deadlock. In his
harshest attack yet on SAMWU, Minister of Constitutional Development and
Provincial affairs Valli Moosa said after the deadlock that COSATU opposition to
privatisation was merely the work of a few ultra-left elements within SAMWU. He
went on to accuse the union of "blocking the extension of services to poor
communities without even consulting them."

Both SAMWU and COSATU's opposition to privatisation can in fact be traced
back to the launches of the organisations in the eighties. At that time,
opposition to privatisation was not unique to the trade union movement, but was
built into Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) provisions for a
strong public sector along with the call for 25 litres of water per person per
day free of charge.

Union opposition to privatisation has taken the form of mass action in recent
years out of the necessity to act against the imminence of this key component of
GEAR. Nelspruit TLC plans to privatise its water on November 1st this year to a
British transnational for 25 years. The implications of this for other
municipalities and the constant supply of horror stories streaming into the
SAMWU offices from public sector workers and communities in other countries have
helped bring extra urgency to the efforts of the union.

"We do not hide from the fact that our opposition to privatisation is
ideological," says SAMWU General Secretary Roger Ronnie. "But it is in
the day to day privatisation experiences of communities across the world where
the correctness of our position is substantiated."

One such horror story is that of Manila, Philippines. The privatization of
the Manila Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), along with state
owned water, power, food, postal services, seaports, hospitals and education
came about late in 1996 as part of an IMF-World Bank dictated Structural
Adjustment Programme (SAP).

Although the ANC spends much energy these days insisting that GEAR is the
economic framework for delivery of the RDP, it was a surprise to SAMWU that
Minister Moosa lauded the Manila example in particular. SAP's are generally not
praised by the South African government, if only for the reason that they
undermine the African Renaissance concept. "Equating globalisation and GEAR
with service delivery is nothing more than one of the biggest con tricks in
history and totally disrespectful of those who sacrificed their lives in the
cause of a better life for all," said SAMWU General Secretary Roger Ronnie.

The IMF and the Philippine government could very well be sacrificing the
lives of Filipino community members through the SAP. In the run-up to
privatisation, the MWSS was forced to pay the private financing arm of the World
Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the hefty sum of US$ 6.1
million to prepare the bidding documents and agreements for the privatisation.
Raining down scarce financial resources on consultants could very well reach
this level in South Africa soon.Already consultants have drained more than R11
million in the tender process for Nelspruit alone.

In Manila, the IFC also got to make the rules - one of these was that no
local private company would be allowed to bid without having a foreign company
as a strategic partner. It was therefore no surprise to public sector unionists
when two consortiums bought the MWSS. The east was sold to a US/UK transnational
consortium and the west to a consortium dominated by the notorious French-based
water transnational, Lyonnaise Des Eaux.

The Lyonnaise trail of chaos not only encompasses countries on four
continents around the southern hemisphere, including South Africa, but has also
wrecked many lives in the north. The water of Fort Beaufort, Eastern Cape was
privatised several years ago to a Lyonnaise subsidiary.

Last month dead dogs, cats and bottles of industrial cleaner were found
floating in the local reservoir after the community complained that the water
was undrinkable. In a coincidence that would be startling were it not that
Lyonnaise is one of the three most dominant water transnationals in the world,
over one million households in Sydney, Australia were left without water for
several days after the Lyonnaise water system was contaminated by biological
parasites! In typical style, executives in Fort Beaufort and Sydney have denied
that they bear any responsibility for the contamination.

The effect Lyonnaise had on Manila's water was predictably disastrous,
although a lot more immediate than anyone expected. According to a report from
public sector federation, COURAGE, it was mere months after the MWSS
privatisation that the consortium tried to hike up tariffs by a massive 196%!
Water has been privatised for almost two years, yet seven million Metro Manilans
remain without a regular supply - 60% of the city's water continues to leak out
of old pipes. In desperation, citizens have made illegal connections into the
water supply. Illegal connections have their own problems. A recent outbreak in
typhoid fever in Malabon, north of Manila, was traced to illegal connections.
Says Ferdinand Gaite, President of the Confederation for the Unity, Recognition
and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE), "We strongly see great
similarities in our conditions. GEAR is similar to our Philippines 2000 which is
based on requirements being set by the WTO and free trade agreements. Safety
nets are ineffective and futile in protecting workers' rights," says Gaite.
The track record of the handful of transnationals in their voracious search for
new markets could put the provision of basic services to the people of the south
in serious jeopardy.

It is indeed unfortunate, that the privatisation agenda of monopoly capital,
both domestic and international, could put at risk the RDP programme in regard
to the provision of affordable basic services to those in most need.

In this respect, the massive cuts in the public spending don't augur well for
local government which faces enormous challenges to uplift the standard of
living of their people. It is incumbent on the national fiscus to give an
equitable share of national revenue to local government. The procurement share
could be substantially increased by increases in company tax and the
introduction of a capital gains tax.

Municipalities like Nelspruit have been slammed, even by the mainstream
press, for continuing to implement apartheid style budgets disproportionately to
the white and township areas. Both white areas and businesses receive high
levels of service, yet in many towns business does not pay rates. No wonder
there is a shortfall in cash after all this madness! Can government really be
surprised that communities and the unions are suspicious of the selfish private
sector to save us all? In the Philippines, Ferdinand Gaite is asking the same
question: "How can the masses benefit from this cruel parody?" 

The
4th Congress of the S.A. Democratic Teacher's Union (SADTU)

SADTU held its 4th National Congress in Durban from Sept 6-9. HAROON AZIZ
attended the Congress and reports on some of the important discussions and
decisions.

As capitalism increases unemployment,
inequality and poverty, the SADTU Congress made a clear reaffirmation of its
commitment to socialism as the only means of transforming society. Congress
noted that there has been a lack of political and economic education within
SADTU, and this has resulted in an absence of political direction and socialist
understanding. Since a socialist vision necessitates an appropriate cadreship
development programme, Congress resolved to seek the assistance of the SACP and
COSATU to overcome this ideological gap. In noting the demonisation of socialism
by the mass media, Congress resolved to use community radio stations, newspapers
and other alternative media to propagate socialism Although women comprise over
63% of SADTU's membership, this is not reflected in its leadership which is
male-dominated at all levels.

Congress therefore resolved to elect not less than 40% women to leadership
positions and to subject this resolution to a three-year period of scrutiny. All
of SADTU's activities, structures and even school curricula are to be permeated
by a gender awareness.

Congress rejected GEAR and decided to assist in developing an alternative
economic set of macro-economic policies that are consistent with the RDP. It
called for the Reserve Bank to be made accountable to the government and to the
public and also rejected the wholesale privatisation of state assets and
essential services. Furthermore, Congress made a clear call for the cancellation
of the odious apartheid debt.

As education is the basis for social transformation, SADTU must be given full
assistance by the SACP. Our future depends on it!

SACP
Secretariat Statement on the Lesotho Situation

The military intervention of South African troops into Lesotho, in the
context of a SADC initiative, on Tuesday 22 September has provoked an outcry in
our own country. There has been widespread condemnation, ranging from the South
African Council of Churches, through the PAC, to right-wing parties. Newspapers
have described it as a "bungle", and theMail and Guardian in its
editorial of Friday 25th September apologised "on behalf of South
Africans" to the people of Lesotho.

In so far as all of this reflects a healthy and
broad based South African distaste for military actions beyond our borders, it
is, in principle, to be welcomed. Indeed, since 1994 our democratic South
African government has been extremely reluctant to deploy troops externally. We
need, as a nation, to think three and four times before we take military
actions, and whatever is done needs to be subjected to close scrutiny and public
debate. The SACP welcomes all of this.

But the condemnation of the SADC initiative in Lesotho has generally been
grossly unbalanced and unfair. With the blame being thrown at the SANDF and SA
government, the main culprits for the crisis in Lesotho have been getting off
all too lightly.

In the judgement of the SACP the burden of culpability must lie, in the first
instance, with the Lesotho political elite. The key Lesotho political actors,
drawn from all the main parties and institutions, emerge from this episode in a
very poor light.

The ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) party was the obvious
beneficiary of an extremely flawed election in May. Those elections were
characterised by widespread and apparently systematic irregularities.The Langa
Commission, which produced (perhaps appropriately) a very legalistic document,
found that it was not able to prove fraud, but it highlighted serious
irregularities in at least 41 of the 80 constituencies.

In a court of law it may be difficult to prove guilt, but since the LCD was
entirely the beneficiary of the irregularities, it does not take a rocket
scientist to figure things out. The irony is that the LCD would almost certainly
have won the elections in any case. The LCD has not helped its own case, since,
by being extremely arrogant about the elections and about its own right to rule.

The opposition parties clearly had a case when calling into doubt the
fairness of the May elections. But the opposition parties, and King Letsie, were
prepared to play a highly reckless game in pursuit of their various objectives.
The call for fresh elections, or at the very least by-elections in many
constituencies, was absolutely legitimate, as was mass mobilisation around such
demands. But the fostering of a creeping coup, the use of the junior ranks of
the LDF (historically a problematically partisan army with allegiances to the
BNP) to undermine the unity of the army, and to terrorise the police, went way
beyond the legitimate. In the days before the SADC intervention, the national
radio station had been closed down, some 50 senior officers in the LDF had fled
into South Africa and the police were paralysed.

None of the major Lesotho political parties or institutions emerge with
shining colours from this episode. There is some evidence that all were involved
in acquiring weaponry and setting up militias. In the week before the SADC
intervention, the LDC government had become invisible, and failed to appeal to
its mass base. The Prime Minister wrote two letters to SADC requesting a
military intervention, but was reportedly furious that the letters were made
public by the South African government after the SADC intervention had begun. He
had wanted to benefit from SADC troops, but he did not want to carry any
responsibility for their presence!

When the looting in Maseru spread to other towns (where the security
situation had not broken down), the LCD government failed to actively deploy the
Lesotho police, and begged, instead for SADC troops to move into other towns as
well.

The opposition parties were speculating on the break down of law and order in
Lesotho, and failed to condemn what was happening in the LDF. But they have now
also failed to assume any responsibility for the destruction of Maseru. The
connections that many of these parties have to right-wing and other dubious
forces in our country have also become more apparent in the last weeks, as they
make all kinds of naïve and ill-judged appeals to the likes of Tony Leon and
Roelf Meyer.

As for King Letsie, we should remember that he was active in attempting to
dissolve the 1994 elected government (the first democratically elected
government in 20 years). This time around he has played a similar game, hoping
that a melt-down in the multi-party electoral system would promote the political
role of the monarchy.

SADC dynamics have been another factor complicating attempts to ensure
democracy and stability in Lesotho. Many of the more conservative SADC heads of
state see mass protests in neighbouring states as a "bad example" that
needs to be suppressed robustly - before the habit catches on at home. This
often impedes a flexible and humane approach, so necessary to the resolution of
complex problems. There were, for instance, many disapproving raised eyebrows in
SADC circles when our Minister of Defence, comrade Joe Modise, was prepared to
engage junior officers in the Lesotho Defence Force, to ascertain the nature of
their grievances.

The tardiness of the Botswana Defence Force in making its way (at a speed of
40 km per hour!) to Lesotho is another reality that has received little public
attention. According to some reports, it was the BDF that was meant to secure
the safety of the city while the SANDF focused on the tougher military
objectives. The fact that the BDF arrived a day late, after most of the shooting
was over, contributed to the failure to protect the commercial centre of Maseru,
while military battles were raging at the LDF bases and the Katse dam complex.

All of this is not to say that there was not some serious clumsiness in the
SANDF side of the operation in Lesotho. The SADC troops are now a factor for
stability, and their continued presence in Lesotho for the present must be
supported. The courageous and generally humane and restrained way in which most
SANDF troops conducted themselves must also be acknowledged. There are still
questions about the timing and even advisability of the intervention in the
first place, but that is now water under the bridge. King Letsie (whatever his
own role and agenda) seems to have been side-lined in the period immediately
preceding the intervention. The SACP is sure that the events will be analysed
and debated in a balanced (and not point-scoring way) in the coming months by
our own relevant military, intelligence and political structures in government.

Clearly the operation, in its first days, was also a communications flop.
While the South African and the world's media portrayed the intervention as an
aggressive invasion, the real story was not emerging with any clarity, and the
ANC and its alliance partners were left with a sense of disempowerment in the
first days of the intervention. There are clearly lessons to be drawn from this
experience.

What is the way forward? The SACP agrees with its alliance partners and with
the SA government, that the way forward in Lesotho is essentially in the hands
of the people of Lesotho themselves. It is our view, however, that the following
elements are essential for any enduring democratic outcome:

• New elections must be held in Lesotho, preferably general elections, but
  at the very least by-elections in all constituencies in which there were
  demonstrable and serious irregularities. Clearly, the existing Electoral
  Commission cannot be entrusted with new elections, and a much more effective
  and reliable electoral management and oversight mechanism is essential;
• There needs to be a wide-ranging discussion within Lesotho on the most
  appropriate electoral dispensation. It seems to us that the present,
  Westminster electoral system, of constituency based elections in which the
  winner takes all, is a source of some instability. Consideration should be
  given to building in some element of proportional representation, fostering
  greater political inclusiveness.
• Punitive measures against rebel soldiers will only promote the
  possibilities of a lingering guerrilla war in Lesotho. The grievances of
  soldiers and the general restructuring and depoliticisation of the LDF must
  be handled sensitively in the context of an overall political settlement;
• The restoration of infrastructure and of humanitarian and welfare into
  Lesotho itself must be a priority of the Lesotho government, of SADC, and of
  all progressive civil society formations in Lesotho and in our region;
• While the King has a symbolic and nation building role, any attempts to
  politicise the monarchy further must be resisted.
• While it may be tempting to call for the immediate withdrawal of the SADC
  armed forces in Lesotho, we believe that this would be a serious mistake at
  this point.

SACP Statement Condemning attacks on Non-Nationals The SACP condemns in the strongest terms the train attack on 3rd September which led to the tragic death of two Senegalese and a Mozambican. According to press reports the attack was carried out by members of a grouping calling itself the Unemployed Masses of South Africa. UMSA speakers in the past have been guilty of making highly inflammatory xenophobic statements against non-nationals in our country. We call on UMSA leaders to condemn the actions that led to these deaths, and to draw the appropriate lessons about their own demagogy. Unemployment, as the SACP has stated on numerous occasions, is the most serious crisis afflicting our society. It is not caused, however, by the influx of poor working people from neighbouring countries or from elsewhere in Africa. Solutions to unemployment - currently a subject of constructive debate and discussion within the ANC/SACP/COSATU alliance in the run-up to the October 31 job summit - need to focus upon sustainable and coherent industrial policies. South Africans, more than most, have benefited hugely from the support and solidarity of poor countries in our region and in our continent. The peoples of our region are also the victims of apartheid war and destabilisation. To unleash popular frustrations against the poor of other countries is a dangerous and diversionary ploy that must be condemned by all. The present turmoil in the Great Lakes region of Africa should remind us of how dangerous demagogic xenophobic mobilisation can be.

FIDEL CASTRO

"Great Crises always deliver great solutions "

In early September, comrade President of Cuba, Fidel Castro, spent several
days in South Africa. He attended the NAM Summit, spoke to Parliament, visited
Soweto and held meetings with various leaders of the movement. In all his public
addresses, cde Castro's message was that capitalism has failed humanity and the
only solution to this latest of crises is socialism. Here, Umsebenzi presents an
edited version of cde Castro's speech to the SA Parliament.

I think about this country and its history. I find going through my mind all
kinds of events, facts, occurrences and realities that reflect the heavy
responsibility and the colossal historical task of creating the new South Africa
that you have proposed to yourselves. I hope that my presence in South Africa
leaves you at least with one essential recollection, namely, my fervent and
sincere desire to support your tremendous efforts in healing the deep wounds
that have been opened in this country throughout the centuries.

Today, there are still two South Africas, which I must not call black and
white. Such terminology should be banned forever if the aim is to create a
multiracial and united country. I would rather say it in a different way: Two
South Africas, one rich and the other poor, one and the other:

One where an average family receives twelve times the income of the other.
One where children who die before their first birthday represent 13 per thousand
children, another where those who die represent 57 per thousand. One where life
expectancy is 73 years old, another where it only reaches 56 years of age. One
where 100% of the population can read and write, another where illiteracy is
higher than 50 per cent. One where employment is abundant and almost reaching
full capacity; another where 45% of the population is unemployed; one where 12%
of the population owns almost 90% of the land; another where almost 80% of the
population owns less than 10% of the land. One South Africa which accumulated,
and now enjoys, all the necessary administrative and technical knowledge and
skills, another which was condemned to inexperience and ignorance. One that
enjoys its well-being and freedom; another which has only been able to attain
freedom without well-being.

This horrible inheritance is not going to be changed overnight. Nothing is
gained by disorganising the production structures or by misusing the vast
material and technical wealth, as well as the productive efficiency created by
the hands of noble workers, under an unjust and cruel system that is virtually
slavery. Effecting social change in a orderly, gradual and peaceful manner so as
to ensure that those riches are geared towards benefiting the South African
people in the best possible way is probably one of the most difficult tasks to
carry out in human society. It is, in the view of this intrepid visitor whom you
have invited to be here and say a few words, the greatest challenge facing South
Africa today.

While we are faced with deserts that are expanding, forests that are
disappearing, and soils that are being eroded, there is something else that is
horrifying. Old and new illnesses, including malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy,
cholera, the Ebola virus, parasites, and curable infectious diseases continue to
decimate the population of Africa's countries. Rates for infant mortality and
for mothers who die during childbirth are reaching record levels in comparison
to the rest of the world. In some African countries, life expectancy is starting
to be shortened. The horrible HIV virus is spreading at exponential rates. I do
not exaggerate, and you know that I do not, if I say that entire nations in
Africa are at the risk of disappearing. Every infected person would need to pay
ten thousand dollars in medicines each year only to survive, at a time when
health budgets can only allocate 10 dollars to be spent on the health of each
person. At current prices, it would be necessary to invest 250 billion dollars
in Africa each year only to combat AIDS. It is for this reason that Africa
accounts for 9 out of 10 people on this planet who die of AIDS.

Can the world simply stand by with indifference at the sight of this
catastrophe? Is man not capable of confronting this situation with the amazing
scientific advances that are available today? What is the point of telling us
about macroeconomic indicators and other forms of eternal deceit, such as the
recipes and prescriptions from the International Monetary Fund and the World
Trade Organisation? Why tell us of the miraculous properties of the blind laws
of the market and of the wonders of neo-liberal globalisation? Why aren't these
stark realities accepted once and for all? Why aren't other formulae found and
why isn't it recognised that man is capable of organising his life and his
destiny in a more rational and humane way?

An unavoidable and deep economic crisis, perhaps the worst in history, is
threatening all of us today. The world, which has become an enormous gambling
house, is seeing everyday speculation in the range of $1,5 trillion that has
absolutely no relation, nothing to do with the real economy. Never before did
world economic history see anything like this. The value of stocks in the US
stock market has been rising to absurd levels. It was only historical privilege,
associated with a set of factors, which made it possible for the wealthy nations
to be the only ones in the world to issue the reserve currencies of every
central bank in every country. The dollar stopped having gold backing when that
country suppressed the exchange rate established at Bretton-Woods. As was the
dream of so many alchemists in the Middle Ages, paper was converted into gold.
Ever since then, the value of the reserve world currency has simply become a
matter of confidence. It should be said that wars like that in Vietnam, which
was waged at a cost of $500 billion, paved the way for this enormous deceit. To
that we should add the colossal build-up without taxes, which raised the US
public debt from $700 billion to $2,5 trillion in only eight years.

Money became a fiction. Values no longer had a real and material basis. In
recent years, American investors purchased $9 trillion through the simple
mechanism of unbridled multiplication of the stock prices in their market. We
find this colossal growth of trans-national corporations' investments in the
world or even in their own country, the US, at the same time that they have had
unrestrained growth of domestic consumption.

This has been artificially feeding an economy that seems to grow and grow
without inflation and without crises. However, sooner or later, the world will
have to pay the price.

The most prosperous nations of south-east Asia have been ruined. Japan, the
second world economy, can no longer stop recession. The yen keeps losing value;
the yuan is being sustained not without great sacrifices by China, whose high
growth will be reduced to less than 8 per cent this year - a figure dangerously
close to the tolerable limit for a country that has conducted an accelerated
radical reform and an extraordinary rationalisation of its labour force in its
productive enterprises. The Asian crisis is coming back. The economic
catastrophe that is emerging in Russia, when that country is trying to build
capitalism, is the greatest social and economic failure in history. All that
despite enormous economic assistance and the recommendations and advice given to
them by the best minds in the West. And there is still another danger. At this
moment, the major political danger is that a situation has been created in which
a state with thousands of nuclear warheads has not paid the operators of the
strategic missiles their salaries for five months. The stock markets in Latin
America have lost, in only a few months, more than 40 per cent of the value of
their stocks. The ones in Russia have lost 75 per cent of their value. And this
phenomenon tends to expand everywhere. The basic commodities of many countries,
such as copper, nickel, aluminium, petroleum, and many others, have lately lost
50 per cent of their prices.

The US stock market has begun to shake. As you very well know, they have just
had what they call a black Monday. I don't know why they call it black, since it
actually was a white Monday. No one knows exactly when and how general panic
will be unleashed. Can anyone at this point be certain that there won't be a
repetition of the 1929 crash? Neither Rubin, nor Greenspan, nor Camdessus, nor
anyone can assure it. The tentativeness worries everyone, including the most
eminent economic analysts. It's just that between that time and now, there is an
enormous difference. In 1929, there was no $1,5 trillion involved in peculative
transactions and only 3 per cent of Americans had shares in the stock market.
Today, however, 50 per cent of the American population have their savings and
their retirement funds invested in those stock markets. It's not a fabrication
of mine. Neither is it a fantasy. Just read the newspapers. Add to that, if you
so desire, that the new world order is destroying in an accelerated fashion the
world in which we live, we the 6 billion people living on this planet now. This
is the same world thas hould provide a living for the 10 billion people that we
will be in only 50 years' time.

I have discharged my duty. You should not ask me for solutions. I am not a
prophet. I only know that great crises have always delivered great solutions.
Let there be more generosity, more co-operation, and more humanity. Let South
Africa become a model of a more just and more humane future. If you can do it,
we will all be able to do it.

 Thanks to Florencia Belevedere of FOCUS-Gauteng for the translation