29 September 2002
The South African Communist Party (SACP) calls on all its members and structures to support the COSATU-led protest actions on October 1st and 2nd. The SACP’s 11th Congress in July this year mandated the SACP to prioritise intra-alliance discussions to find effective ways of unifying the ANC-SACP-COSATU alliance on our approach to restructuring state-owned enterprises within the context of consolidating a democratic, developmental state.
Unfortunately, we have failed collectively to achieve sufficient unity within the alliance, and between alliance partners and government, on how to approach state-owned enterprise (SOE) restructuring. The SACP remains convinced that substantive agreement already exists in some sectoral areas, and is eminently achievable in all other cases. The SACP will support the worker protest actions precisely in order to highlight the importance of prioritising effective alliance discussion and review of SOE restructuring.
It is very important, in this regard, to underline that restructuring cannot, and should not be reduced to privatisation. The SACP supports a restructuring of SOEs aimed ensuring that these important public assets are harnessed effectively to our overall growth and development objectives. Continued public ownership in which, however, SOEs are simply run on a commercial basis is equally unacceptable.
The protest actions of the coming week will also be used to highlight the general plight of workers and the poor in our country. Escalating food prices, and massive job losses all impact with particular severity on the workers and poor. These realities are not necessarily nor primarily the consequence of government policies but of the heartless, profit-maximising capitalist-dominated economy in which we find ourselves.
In this context, the challenge confronting the alliance is how to ensure strategies, policies and programmes that most effectively address the crisis of underdevelopment that afflict our country.
The alliance April 2002 Ekurhuleni Summit charted a vision and broad programme for a Growth and Development Summit. It is imperative that we revive the spirit of Alliance unity that emerged from the Summit.
Given the hostile global capitalist environment we need maximum unity of our Alliance formations. None of us should be doing anything that is reckless or that involves labeling of each other. We call on all our cadres not to factionalise our alliance, or any of its components.
More than ever, bold and collective leadership is essential to take forward the profoundly anti-neo-liberal agenda, implicit in the core vision of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, of the New Partnership on Africa’s Development, and of our own emerging South African Growth and Development Strategy. In this regard, the SACP strongly endorses President Thabo Mbeki’s categorical rejection of neo-liberalism, as an ideology which has nothing to offer our country in the struggle against the crisis of under-development.
CONTACT
Mazibuko Kanyiso Jara (surname Jara)
Department of Information, Media and Publicity
South African Communist Party
Tel – 011 339 3621; Fax – 011 339 4244
Cell – 083 651 0271
Email – mazibuko@sacp.org.za