June 1996
COMMUNISTS SALUTE THE NEW CONSTITUTION
The SACP salutes the new Constitution. It enshrines basic democratic
values for which the Communist Party in SA has fought over the last 75
years. It is one of the most progressive constitutions in the world. As
South Africans and communists, we are proud of this achievement.
The new Constitution establishes a constitutional state, where no authority
is higher than the constitution itself. It establishes full majority rule,
which will come into effect from 1999. It also introduces a creative way
of approaching different levels of government.
The SACP has always rejected the hypocritical attempts by reactionary
forces to impose a federal dispensation on our country. Federalism is not,
in itself, a bad thing. But federalism in SA has usually been an attempt
to weaken the powers of a future democratic national government, including
the national redistribution of resources.
However, we have always recognised the value of having different levels
of government, and of bringing democratic governance close to the people.
The Constitution introduces an innovative "co-operative governance"
approach. While upholding a unitary national state, it also strengthens
other levels of democratic government.
It replaces, for instance, the present senate with a National Council
of Provinces, which will ensure that provinces are dynamically represented
at national level, and that they are encouraged to co-operate among themselves
in order to have an impact on national law-making.
The second chapter of the Constitution is a Bill of Rights, enshrining
all the basic liberties, like equality of everyone before the law. It makes
human dignity one of the most basic rights of all. It guarantees freedom
and security of the person, the right to privacy, freedom of expression,
religion, belief and opinion.
The Bill of Rights goes beyond these "individual" liberties
into the social and economic spheres. It highlights the basic right to
adequate housing, health care, food, water, social security, and education.
While it recognises that there may not be resources to meet all these rights
at once, the Bill of Rights compels the state to "take reasonable
legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to achieve
the progressive realisation of each of these rights".
As citizens we must monitor progress on these fronts, and continuously
ensure that everything is done to meet these rights. As socialists, we
shall certainly be arguing that using "available resources" to
meet these social needs surely implies, among other things, the preservation
and consolidation of a powerful public sector.
On a number of thorny issues, the new Constitution consistently comes
down on the side of progressive democratic values. It upholds individuals'
rights to make decisions for themselves concerning reproduction, outlaws
discrimination against people for their sexual orientation, and sees a
safe and healthy environment as a right that has to be entrenched.
The Constitution upholds the right of individuals not to be deprived
arbitrarily of property, but is careful to ensure that land reform is not
blocked.
The Bill of Rights has a special section on labour relations, upholding
the right to fair labour practices, the right to form and join trade unions,
to participate in union activity and to strike.
The bosses, the NP, and DP fought hard to have a right to lock-out entrenched
in the Bill of Rights. Thanks to the principled stand of the ANC negotiators,
and thanks to nation-wide mobilisation led by COSATU and supported by the
SACP and ANC, this attempt failed.
But the bosses, the NP, and DP have signalled their intention to challenge
this in the Constitutional Court. This underlines an important point. The
new Constitution is not yet over the final hurdle. It still has to have
certification from the Constitutional Court. More struggles lie ahead.
Nevertheless, we are confident that what is most important has been achieved.
IS THE NEW CONSTITUTION SOCIALIST?
Some comrades complain that the new Constitution is "not socialist".
Obviously it is not, but nor is it anti-socialist. As the SACP we have
consistently argued that we do not expect socialism to be entrenched constitutionally.
The choice of social and economic dispensations should be subject to democratic
debate, electoral contest and majority support.
It is up to us, as communists, with the greatly broadened democratic
space now opened up by this new constitution, to win the struggle for socialist
transformation. Many of the basic rights now enshrined in our Constitution
(adequate housing, food, water, social security and education) are only
realisable through the rolling back of capitalism and an advance to socialism.
As communists we must popularise the new constitution in our branches,
in mass democratic structures in which we are active, in our places of
work and study. A constitution only becomes a living document when it is
understood and used by millions of ordinary citizens. It is up to us to
take forward the new constitution in the spirit of our 9th Congress slogan:
Advance, Deepen and Defend the Democratic
Breakthrough!
LET'S KEEP CONTROL OF OUR MOST PRECIOUS RESOURCE
The Chris Hani Water Scheme is a partnership between central government
and the Cofimvaba community. It should be a model for future schemes for
rural communities. The Department of Water Affairs has laid water on to
within 200 metres of every household; the community is now responsible
for maintenance, and has elected a committee to take care of it.
As new schemes are established, a national water grid would make clean
water as freely available in the Karoo as on the KwaZulu-Natal coast, and
at the same price. It would mean that, in places like Cofimvaba, even if
there was a drought in the E Cape, there would still be clean drinking
water coming out of the taps.
Central control is essential, and the Department of Water Affairs is
best placed to exercise it. We would have to find ways to make the Department
accountable to each community, but while central government is in charge
of distributing water, the door is open for the people of the country to
have a say in the distribution.
A French transnational water company, Lyonnais des Eaux, is bidding
for water contracts in SA. The arrangement being discussed is some form
of "partnership" with the government. This partnership is likely
to give the water company authority to distribute water, and to take the
profits - which means it may have the authority to set the price.
All South Africans know how careful about water we have to be. We will
always have to be careful. Our population is increasing, while the supply
of water stays the same. As water is piped to rural communities and informal
settlements near the cities, people will start using more, because they
will be freed from the work of carrying every drop. We are soon going to
have to look carefully at the water-using habits of the rich.
A transnational company, based overseas, cannot be answerable to the
people of South Africa in the way the government is. Transnationals have
often ignored the wishes of the people, and even government regulations,
in countries they work in.
Without water, there is no life. We cannot afford to let go of our control
over this most precious of all natural resources. We ourselves must decide
how South African water is used.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
SUICIDE AFTER GENOCIDE
Dear Comrade,
After many years of genocide, the National Party decision to withdraw
from the Government of National Unity is suicidal.
For many years, the National Party was a whites-only party. During its
rule, whites, particularly Afrikaners, were economically privileged, through
their policy of affirmative action. In 1994, they went to the polls, promising
whites they would protect and advance their privileges, but they lost that
battle, as democracy is irreversible.
Only after President Mandela made it clear that the ANC was prepared
to draw up the constitution alone, did the National Party adopt it. This
move divided them, and they realised they had shot themselves. So, attempting
to re-unify and heal the wound, they shot themselves in the chest by withdrawing
from the GNU, leaving those they had promised to protect in a vacuum.
Their departure from the GNU is much welcomed. Now they must quit the
civil service, as their civil servant allies have no political agenda.
They must also vacate local government, as that is a tail without a head.
Abdul Mogale
Gauteng
CALLING WEST AFRICA
MR UMEME, WHERE ARE YOU?
We received a fax in April from Mr Ingwevu MK Umeme in West Africa,
asking the meaning of the word, "Umsebenzi." We prepared a fax
in reply, but have been unable to get through to him on the number given.
We are printing the reply here, in the hope that he will see it.
Dear Mr Umeme
We were most interested to get your enquiry about Umsebenzi, and wonder
how the paper came to your attention - on the Internet, perhaps?
The word "Umsebenzi" is an Nguni word, existing in both Nguni
languages, Zulu and Xhosa. It means "The Worker", and is derived
from the verb, "ukusebenza", meaning to work.
We hope that answers your question.
GOODBYE, NATIONAL PARTY!
The SACP issued the following press statement
on May 9th:
The SACP welcomes the decision of the National Party to leave the Cabinet
from the end of next month. All along, the SACP has believed that a normal
majority government is the sensible and most democratic arrangement. The
present power-sharing GNU was a generous concession from the side of the
ANC-led Alliance to the pleas of the NP and its allies.
The conviction about the desirability of a normal majority-party Cabinet
has been reinforced powerfully by the actual performance of the NP over
the last two years. FW de Klerk's deputy presidency has been all but invisible.
In other cases, NP ministers have blocked transformation, or, as lacklustre
performers, they have coasted along, relying on the heavy work schedule
of ANC deputy ministers.
The place of the NP is on the opposition benches. As for the Cabinet,
it is with a sense of relief that the SACP says, "Goodbye, NP."
RURAL ECONOMIC GROWTH
WHAT CHINA CAN TEACH US ?
Comrade Charles Nqakula, SACP General Secretary, led a delegation
to China in March. He was particularly interested in the development of
the Chinese countryside, and describes it here.
Towards the end of 1993, the Central Committee of the Communist Party
of China adopted a series of resolutions around their concept of a socialist
market economy. The socialist market economy has emerged in China as part
of the reform process unfolding in that country.
Rural economic structural reform has been placed high on the agenda
of transformation, and the Central Committee says it has brought "historic
changes to the socio-economic outlook of rural areas."
The Party is deepening rural reform, to accelerate rural economic growth,
increase the income levels of farmers, and consolidate the role of agriculture
as a cornerstone of the national economy.
The Party hopes that, by the end of this century, the living standards
of the masses of farmers will have been raised substantially. The plan
is to transform them from subsistence farmers to people of "moderate
prosperity."
Following the adoption of the reform programme, some provinces targeted
land property rights. Subsequently, close to 200 pilot plots participated
in a sharholding co-operative system, using land as shares. The rural collective
land belongs to the state, and is leased out to the co-operatives on a
long-term basis.
The shareholding system is strongly biased in favour of the co-operatives,
where the ratio is 30:1.
The co-operatives sell their produce to rural collective enterprises
and township enterprises.
Chinese townships are not like ours, which were designed by the apartheid
regime as reserves of cheap labour. Many have developed over many years,
as viable township industrial systems. Many of the villages are connected
by highways and automatic telecommunications systems. They have clean water
taps, road lights, and cable broadcasting systems.
Not all farmers are involved in the co-operative structures. Others
are involved in the contracted responsibility system, based on the household.
Remuneration, in this system, is linked directly to output. The more you
produce, the more you benefit.
There is a well-co-ordinated system of administration and management
accompanying rural activities.
The farmers are connected to other residents in China through a system
of local government. The Party seeks to "reduce the separation of
city and countryside."
Comrade Derek Hanekom, who is now in charge of both land affairs and
agriculture, would find it useful to study the Chinese experience of rural
development.
WORKING CONDITIONS TO BE REGULATED DISCUSSIONS AT NEDLAC
A code governing conditions of employment is at present being discussed
by the National Economic Development and Labour Council. NEDLAC intends,
finally, to produce a parliamentary bill called the Employment Standards
Bill. We spoke to Khumbula Ndaba, COSATU negotiations officer, about the
issues being considered.
How many hours a week should a worker have to work? This is a contentious
issue, for labour organisations want to limit the hours, while business
wants to extract as much time as possible from each worker. At present,
hours vary from 40 to 48 in most industries. The longest are in the security
industry (where employees in a dangerous job often work seven nights a
week), and in agriculture.
At NEDLAC, business is pressing for a 48-hour week, with a 60-hour week
in the security industry.
Labour organisations are demanding a 40-hour week across the board.
They claim that this reduction in hours will produce sharing of jobs, and
creation of more jobs. This will mean more spending (those who are at present
unemployed will buy more, if they have jobs) and the increased demand for
goods will mean more production, more jobs, and an increase in the gross
domestic product. They point to the fact that Germany has reduced the working
week to 35 hours.
Labour is prepared to look at the possibility of a gradual reduction
of working hours, sector by sector, but insists that government must set
itself a firm goal, by committing itself to the 40-hour week, and legislating
for it.
Another area of disagreement is that of part-time and temporary work.
Labour insists that discrimination against part-time and temporary workers
is unconstitutional and unacceptable, and that these workers should enjoy
the same benefits as those in full-time and permanent employment - paid
annual leave, sick leave, maternity leave, family responsibility leave,
and so on.
The government position is that these benefits should apply after a
year's work in the same job.
The negotiations committee is agreed on the need for a clear definition
of "part-time work" and "temporary work". At present,
it is too easy for an employer to avoid paying benefits by designating
jobs as temporary, or by dividing one full-time job into two part-time
jobs.
It is also easy for an employer to sack and re-hire after a year, so
that some workers never become eligible for benefits. The labour side at
NEDLAC is looking for a way to make retrenchment more difficult.
On the question of child labour, Government and business agree that
the minimum age should be 15, but labour is holding out for 16 years, with
a gradual move towards a threshold of 18 years.
Other difficult questions remain. Labour is concerned about areas where
there is casual labour, hard to check on, and little union organisation
(flea markets are an example). There are fears that the Maputo Corridor
could become such an area.
Domestic workers are also an exploited group, difficult to organise.
There is a suggestion that local government structures should set up advice
centres to help them, but this would only be a partial solution to the
problem.
Once legislation is passed, how is it to be enforced? - there are several
suggestions. When the law is broken, what penalties should apply? Company
policy (as in the case of Thor Chemicals) has sometimes caused death and
disablement - what price can be put on human life?
Comrade Ndaba says that, while there is room for agreement between labour
and government on a number of issues, labour and business are "almost
at loggerheads." He says there is the possibilty of a major battle,
which will engage the democratic forces as a whole.
THE POLITICIAN
AK 47
Petrol bomb
Sticks and stones
Placards and pamphlets
"Aaktion kille
man Station Commandant"
Tombstones for the
murdered revolutionary.
Like the birth of
an eclipse
The interregnum spawns
the avarice animal,
Comical caricature
of a new look executive,
An apostle of lies
and false expectations,
A king of new mansions.
Remember! the conscience
of history;
because, like Solomon
Mahlangu's prophetic hymn,
it will haunt you
forever.
For those who died
For those who died
For those who died
VS
EASTERN FREE STATE
Willy Tshabalala, who lives in Harrismith, is a member of the
SACP Provincial Executive Committee in the Free State. Here, he raises
the question of which should be at the top of our list of priorities -
the welfare of human beings or the welfare of the motor vehicle.
Why is the Ministry of Transport and Roads continuing with the strategy
of the National Party regime, of killing the towns of the Eastern Free
State?
The eastern part of Free State province has experienced a lot of unemployment,
due to construction of national roads, which bypass a lot of towns, like
Cornelia and Vrede. In a few years, when the road through De Beers Pass
is completed, Warden and Harrismith, where more than three-quarters of
the population is now unemployed, will be bypassed as well.
The new road is a controversial question in the eastern Free State,
and was an issue in the local government elections. There is opposition
to it among all sectors of the people who live here, but, as it is to be
a toll road, it is clear that powerful financial interests are involved.
It seems, from the approach of the Ministry, that it is more interested
in destroying towns than in developing them. I'll be very happy if the
Ministry can tell the country who is going to invest in Harrismith, if
it continues with its plan of building a road through De Beers Pass.
Four years ago, Holiday Inn in Harrismith was one of the biggest hotels
in the country. They decided to close it down. Why? Their argument is that
the town has no future. They must have known about this road. Quite a number
of companies were intending to invest in Harrismith, but they are sceptical.
Yes, indeed, they should be. How can you invest in an island that hardly
anyone visits?
Maybe it should be noted that the Ministry of Transport should preserve
nature. The envisaged road is going to destroy nature.
Economically, it is expensive: building the road is going to cost taxpayers
R1.5 billion or more. It will destroy the lives of thousands of people,
who will lose their jobs, and the lives of those who are already unemployed,
who will remain unemployed for the rest of their lives.
We expect the ANC-led government to change the lives of South Africans,
particularly the lives of communities that have been disadvantaged for
hundreds of years. I think Harrismith can be turned into a pillar of the
Free State economy, Eastern Free State in particular.
Let me make my humble plea to Comrade Mac Maharaj to stop killing towns.
We South Africans have had enough. Please stop it now. Let the ANC-led
alliance deliver its promises to people.
I hope this will provoke discussion in our structures around the issue
of developing towns, and that MPs and MECs will take up the question in
the provincial and national legislatures.
NEW PROVINCIAL STRUCTURE IN THE FREE STATE
The SACP provincial structure in the Free State was launched at the
end of April, when the districts of Bloemfontein and Welkom were merged.
Itumeleng Segalo is the provincial chairperson, and his deputy is Francis
Sello. The provincial secretary is Tutu Ralane, and Thandi Gulwa is deputy
secretary. Thabiso Mphale is provincial treasurer.
NORTH-WEST PROVINCIAL CONGRESS
The SACP in the North-West held its provincial congress on April
21st.
The congress noted, among other things, that the Alliance secretariat
is now meeting regularly. The PEC intends to strengthen its links with
labour by forming a Working Class Struggles Commission "to facilitate
formal meetings with COSATU and its affiliates."
Chairperson for the coming year is Lungile Dantjie, with Zolile Kolweni
as deputy. The provincial secretary is Howard Yawa, and his deputy is Godfrey
Sehlare. Poppy Seduku is the treasurer.
Comrade Seduku is one of five women comrades on the Provincial Executive
Committee of twenty members. The congress noted that, "more attention
needs to be paid by our province in gender, with real working class struggles,
especially among our female comrades."
THE STRUGGLE FOR THE RUSSIAN PRESIDENCY
A few months ago, it was reported that Boris Yeltsin, at present president
of the Russian Federation, was promising to compensate all who had lost
their savings as a result of the massive inflation that followed on the
collapse of the Soviet Union.
Nothing more has been reported about this scheme, which was plainly
meant to be a vote-catcher. There was only one way Yeltsin could have raised
the money: by using funds from an IMF loan. The interest on the loan would
have to be paid later, from the taxes of the people, including those people
whose savings had been replaced. Eventually, the loan would have had to
be repaid the same way.
A dozen of the richest men in Russia recently signed a letter to the
newspaper, Izvestia, recommending that Yeltsin and the Communist candidate,
Gennady Zyuganov, sit down and work out a common programme, for the sake
of a stable government.
Some Russian political commentators see this as impossible to put into
practice; even as an attempt "to buy out the Communists, to bring
them on board on the crucial issue of private property." Others, who
believe that Yeltsin is likely to win the elections, believe that he is
likely to have to reverse his privatisation policy, because it isn't working.
In the opinion polls, Yeltsin seems to be ahead, but the Moscow correspondent
of the London Morning Star wrote recently: "other pollsters say the
extent of voter anger with the Yeltsin government is greatly underestimated."
The serious poverty now suffered by large sections of the Russian population,
and the wealth accumulated by a few, are not the only cause of voter anger.
Unemployment is rising. The foreign debt is enormous. There are massive
corruption scandals that sometimes surface at government level: during
privatisation programmes, huge sums disappear.
There is also the war in Chechnya. Chechens are fighting for their freedom,
and the Russians, who have suffered heavy casualties, don't want to go
on fighting. In a survey of Russian opinion at the end of March, 62% said
that ending the war was the first demand they would make of their candidate.
Zyuganov has promised to end the war. He has also promised - among other
things - to bring wages and grants into line with the cost of living, and
to take measures to fight corruption.
He is supported by Alexander Rutskoi, former Russian vice-president.
Another of his supporters is Aman Tuleyev, a powerful miners' leader from
Siberia, who says the miners' lives are "hellish," that they
wait months for their wages, and their families go hungry.
Tuleyev is also running for president, and with the support of the Communist
Party. He says that, before the elections, he will withdraw from the contest,
and encourage his supporters to vote for Zyuganov.
MIXED VICTORY
THE ITALIAN ELECTIONS
The good news about the Italian elections in April is the victory of
the left-of-centre Olive Tree Alliance, led by the Democratic Party of
the Left (PDS), the former Communist Party. The Alliance won a majority
in the Senate of 315 seats, and a near-majority in the lower chamber of
630 seats.
More good news: the fascist Freedom Alliance, which had been in power
since 1994, was defeated.
It won't be easy for the Olive Tree Alliance, though. In the lower house,
it will be able to form a governing majority in alliance with Greens, Republicans
and former Christian Democrats, but, to maintain this majority, the PDS
may be forced to dilute its principles.
The Alliance is committed to defending the social welfare programme
that exists in Italy, and, at the same time, to enforce European Union
guidelines about privatising public-owned industry, and "dowsizing
government." Pursuing both these policies at once will be difficult,
and may be impossible.
Another factor in the situation is Reconstructed Communism (RC), a party
of Marxist-Leninists, who broke away from the Communist Party when it became
the PDS. The RC has said that it will oppose any attack on people's living
standards, and any attempt at an economic merger with the European Union.
The RC has 10 seats in the Senate, and 35 seats in the lower chamber.
