24 July 2007
The South African Communist Party Has Seen With Shock Pictures Of A Policeman Throwing A Stone To A Protesting Crowd On The Edition Of Today`s Sowetan And Police Shooting The Crowd In The Citizen And In The News On SABC Last Night.
It is really a growing concern that thirteen years into our democracy, there is growing trend to turn our country into a police state. Week in and week out, when communities take to the streets to raise genuine issues around service delivery we learn of this appalling conduct from our service men and women.
Whilst we remain opposed to violent protests and are appealing to our communities to raise their concerns in a peaceful and constructive way, we find it unacceptable for our police to resort to the notion "of meeting fire with fire so as to end fire". This is reminiscent of apartheid era style policing and leadership. Our leaders should not throw bullets and police at protesters but come out to address their problems, a practice that has come to differentiate our liberation movement from other organisations.
The SACP will continue to work with these communities to provide leadership to their struggles and always encourage them to conduct themselves in a dignified manner. In line with our 12th Congress commitment to build working class hegemony in our communities, we urge our branch, district and provincial structures to constructively engage with our communities and `flash points`, in order to constructively direct these towards effective engagement with local government.
We call on government to urgently find measures to address the issues of lack of housing, water, electricity, access to health and many other services which continues to characterise our society. Screaming anarchy at every protest and throwing statistics at these problems to justify delivery surely does not help.
Issued by the SACP
For information Contact:
Malesela Maleka
SACP Spokesperson
0822261802