March 1996

MORE JOBS! BETTER JOBS!

The facts

More than four out of every ten South Africans of working age are today
unemployed. This is the most serious of all the problems facing our country,
and is directly related to every other social and economic problem, including
poverty and crime.

Unemployment does not affect everyone equally. It has a race, gender,
age and locality bias. It affects more than 40% of Africans, and approximately
7% of whites. More African women (around half) are unemployed, than men.
Perhaps most critical of all, more than half our 16 to 24 year olds are
unemployed. Unemployment in the rural areas is almost double that in the
metropolitan areas.

Unemployment is a capitalist disease

Unemployment is not a "fact of nature". It is not some natural
event, like the weather. To waste, as we are, nearly half our work-force
is the height of economic folly. Only a warped free market ideology could
make it seem normal.

Before the advent of capitalism, in earlier tribal societies everyone,
who was old enough and fit enough, worked. That was natural. In the 20th
century, whatever their shortcomings, socialist societies like the Soviet
Union achieved near full employment. Many reformist, social democratic
societies also achieved full employment, at least for some years.

Left to itself, the capitalist market always creates mass unemployment.
Liberals like to give us sermons about the "inefficiency of socialism".
What could be more economically inefficient than a system which creates
millions and millions of unemployed world-wide?

Jobless growth

Last year the South African economy grew by slightly over 3%; an important
achievement. This is only the second year in over a decade that the economy
has grown. Last year's growth is testimony of the confidence that the ANC
election victory has generated.

But, sadly, this 3% growth was a jobless growth. Some jobs have been
created in the formal sector, but many have also been lost in textiles,
clothing and the appliances sector, amongst others. The long-term trend
of job losses in mining and agriculture continues. President Mandela, in
his state of the nation address to the 1996 opening of parliament, highlighted
the reality of jobless growth in our country.

This reality debunks the whole neo-liberal argument. According to the
ideologues of the SA Chamber of Business all we have to do is "grow,
grow, grow the economy, and all else will follow". We are told to
liberalise, privatise, and cut wages. We are told that this will make the
economy grow, and so produce jobs. If we didn't know before, then 22 months
of bitter reality should teach us different.

What is to be done?

We must never cease to note the apartheid and capitalist roots of our
present unemployment crisis. But we in the SACP have to contribute actively
to solve this terrible crisis.

We can only begin to do something about it if we confidently challenge
the grip of capitalist ideas about the economy. We might not be able to
abolish capitalism tomorrow, but we certainly have to start setting an
alternative agenda.

Some hard questions must be asked

Every aspect of economic and financial policy must be scrutinised from
the perspective of job creation.

• Are the Reserve Bank's present interest rate policies intelligent?
  Is defence of the currency the sole purpose of the bank? Shouldn't its
  policies be related much more effectively with our broader developmental
  objectives, including job creation?
• Can we afford to bring down tariff barriers without effective industrial
  policies in place? To what extent are clothing and textile bosses using
  liberalisation as an excuse to pursue their own agendas?
• Six hundred thousand new households have been electrified since 1994.
  The market for television sets has grown 14%. But at the very same time,
  TV assembly plants in SA are being shut down. Does this make sense?
• Are we approaching public sector employment levels simply as a cost-cutting
  exercise? Should employment levels in the public service not be approached
  from the perspective of the ROLE of the public sector? Shouldn't
  we exercise great caution in the poorest rural provinces, like the Northern
  Province and Eastern Cape, where civil service wages are virtually the
  only income within whole communities?
• Is there a clear South African (and southern African) industrial policy?
  How can we elaborate an effective, large-scale Human Resource Development
  programme without a clear industrial policy?

Some of the questions posed above don't have simple answers. But if
we don't ask the questions, we are liable simply to follow the fashions
of neo-liberalism. The question of jobs must be central on the agenda
AT ALL TIMES.

Forward to a Jobs Conference

The SACP supports fully the recent ANC decision to convene, within the
coming months, a major ANC/Alliance/MDM Jobs Conference. The SACP will
be tabling all the above questions at such a Conference, and, together
with all progressive forces in our country we shall work to develop clear
answers.

REVIEW

THE STRUGGLE REMEMBERED

The Rivonia Story, by Joel Joffe: Mayibuye Books, UWC

Memoirs of a Saboteur, by Natoo Babenia: Mayibuye Books, UWC

Thirty-two years ago, the Rivonia trial, the most famous political trial
in South African history, came to an end, when eight men were sentenced
to life imprisonment. At the time, we knew they would never come out of
jail till the government changed. The government did change. Now, one of
these men, Nelson Mandela, is President of our country; another, Walter
Sisulu, became Deputy President of the ANC, and a third, Raymond Mhlaba,
is Premier of the Eastern Cape.

Joel Joffe was instructing attorney for the defence, and he tells a
gripping story of the prosecution case, of the defence, and of the accused
themselves, who pleaded not guilty, saying the apartheid government should
be in the dock, and went into the witness box to make powerful political
statements.

Natoo Babenia has been a political activist all his life: first in India,
resisting British rule, and then in Durban. His story, too, is a gripping
one: of underground organisation in Southern Natal, and of his life on
the Island.

He was one of 18 MK men, who got sentences of between eight and 20 years.
Some of them, like Ebrahim Ismail, Billy Nair and Curnick Ndlovu, are well
known today.

The Mayibuye Centre at the University of the Western Cape is publishing
a series of these records of our past. It's a pity about the occasional
mistakes in editing, the spelling of names, and so on, because in every
other way, these books are interesting and valuable, and an important reminder
to us all, of how the new South Africa was made.

JM

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Dear Comrade

I am writing about a provincial Party school that took place on December
16th and 17th at Giyani College.

This event was a revival and appropriation of our energies to the issues
facing the Party and the province. To me, it was if I was rejoining the
Party - I became a serving Communist. Even more appreciable was the morale
amongst the comrades, and their participation throughout the sessions.

We met in a relaxed atmosphere, as comrades from all over the province,
and discussed matters of the Party and the province. It will help us to
build one coherent Party in the province and in the country as a whole.

I want to commend the way those who attended argued that negotiations
are a good weapon.

Speeches and contributions made by our comrades from the Political Education
Committee of the Northern Province, and from Comrade George Mashamba from
the Central Committee, were moulding, encouraging, and, at the same time,
soothing. They made me see the future as a challenge, but face it confidently
and positively.

Thanks to the PEC for organising such an event. I hope they organise
one every year.

Comradely greetings

Martin Manamela

Deputy Secretary

Matlala District

Northern Province

GENDER DEPARTMENT

BUILD WOMEN CADRESHIP

"We opened the way for you. You must go forward," Dora Tamana
told the opening meeting of the United Women's Organisation in April 1981.
The UWO was to become a leading organisation in the United Democratic Front,
the great federation for resistance in the 1980s. Nogolide Nojozi, national
gender organiser for the SACP, writes about plans for women to advance
further.

This year, at the end of July, the SACP will be celebrating its 75 years
of existence. The Party has always recognised that divisions of race, class
and gender were enforced by the regime, and has a history of championing
gender struggles.

This year, August 9th, will be the 40th anniversary of the great women's
march on the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

The SACP Gender Department will mark these anniversaries with a campaign
to remember, salute and honour our heroines and women stalwarts who fought
for freedom and paved the way in the struggle for the emancipation of women.
We pay tribute to them for the contribution they made in developing women
cadreship inside and outside the Party, their inspiration and encouragement
in building the new nation.

The focus of our campaign will be to ensure empowerment of women in
all political sectors, within family structures, in civil society, in government
and management, and in economic sectors.

We therefore call on all our Party structures to target recruitment
and cadre development of women, particularly working-class women.

Forward to a progressive women's movement, in this anniversary year!

HEALTH POLICY

THE COMMUNITY MUST PARTICIPATE

The recently-published national policy framework for a District Health
System for South Africa raises some interesting points about community
participation, writes Peter Owen, of the SACP Health Committee.

Community participation at all levels of the health system is a stated
objective of the National Health Plan of the ANC. The RDP base document
says, "Communities must be encouraged to participate actively in the
planning, management, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of the health
services in their areas." It also says, "All providers of health
services must be accountable to the local communities they serve, through
a system of comunity committees."

The National Department of Health has stated in its document, "Towards
a National Health System," that, among its goals is to involve communities
in planning, management, delivery monitoring and evaluation of health services,
to encourage accountability, dialogue and feedback, and to encourage communities
to take greater responsibility for their own health promotion and health
care.

The National District Health System policy document suggests the formation
of Community Health Committees, which will participate in needs analysis,
planning, implementation and education for primary health care in the area.
They will also elect representatives to the management structures of the
health facilities in their area, as well as to the hospital boards and
the district health authority.

How are these Community Health Committees to be formed? This should
be of interest and concern to all members of the Party, as it is important
that the voices and needs of the communities, especially the most disadvantaged,
be heard and be adequately represented.

Two methods have been suggested:

• From the Community Development Forum, which should include all interested
  community-based organisations: women, youth, civic, church organisations,
  and so on. It is suggested that this forum elect members to a Community
  Health Committee, and to other structures of the health system in the area.
  The representatives will be accountable to the Community Development Forum.
• A Community Health Forum be established, of individuals from relevant
  organisations, who have an interest in health. This would be a separate,
  independent structure, and so should be be represented on the Community
  Development Forum in the area.

There is room for debate in each area, as to the best method, and branches
of the Party should get involved in this. The issue is really: what is
the best approach to ensure accountability, and collaboration between different
sectors?

We recommend that branch members should get involved in their local
community forums, and encourage others to do the same.

Branch members should also take an interest in other social issues affecting
their health. Too often, health tends to be separate from other social
services. It is sometimes easy to forget that the social determinants of
health - housing, water, sanitation, education, employment, income, the
environment - can have a greater impact on improving people's health than
just the provision of health and medical services.

NO COMPUTERS FOR SOCIALISTS SAYS THE US

Enforcing the United States blockade of Cuba, US customs confiscated
nearly 300 computers from a 30-vehicle US-Cuban Solidarity Caravan when
it was stopped at the Mexican border at the end of January. When volunteers
tried to carry the computers across the border in their arms, the computers
were seized by riot police backing the customs officials.

The computers were part of a scheme of humanitarian aid for Cuba, organised
and donated by United States citizens.

During the Cold War, the US banned the export of computer technology
to the Soviet Union.

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY LINKS

• China: An SACP delegation to China in March will hold broad political
  discussions with the Communist Party of China; discuss strengthening of
  party-to-party ties, and study the role of the public sector and rural
  industrial co-operatives in the rapidly developing Chinese economy. The
  CPC is donating 3,000 books to the SACP
• Cuba: We welcomed the first batch of 120 Cuban doctors, who arrived
  at the end of February, and are being widely deployed throughout the country.
• France: The SACP helped organise tours of 2 groups of 50 members each
  from the French Communist Party, and supplied political briefings.
• Nigeria: The SACP is a founder member and participant in the Gauteng-based
  SA-Nigeria Support Group, which has worked to keep South African attention
  on the Nigerian situation. We are working with Nigerian democratic groups,
  and helping to facilitate a meeting of these groups, to be held in South
  Africa.