SACP 2009 End of the Year Statement
29 December 2009
The SACP takes this opportunity to wish all South Africans especially the working class and the poor a restful and enjoyable festive season and a happy new year. The toiling masses of our people deserve this rest as they are not only the backbone and engine of the South African economy but also the backbone of the struggle to deepen our democracy. Without the decisive leadership of the working class our democracy will forever remained threatened.
As we go into the New Year, the working class, like it did during the struggle against apartheid, must ensure that it remains at the head of the struggle to consolidate our democracy. To this end the workers and the poor of our country have a duty to remain vigilant and fight against all the threats to our hard earned democracy. Just like there would have not been victory against apartheid without the working class being at the head of our struggle, there will be no deepening and consolidation of our democracy without the working class and the poor of this country playing a leading role in that regard.
One of the key milestones for the working class in 2009 has been the phenomenal growth of the SACP and its youth wing, the Young Communist League. The SACP membership is now close to 100 000 members and that of the YCL has grown by more than 10 000 members this year alone, reaching about 50 000 members. This, amongst other things, shows young people’s attraction to socialism as the only sane and rational alternative to capitalist barbarism. We shall use the year 2010 to seek to double our membership, and call upon the workers of our country to join the SACP in their numbers.
One of the key challenges for the working class going into the New Year is to defend the unity of our liberation movement, especially the ANC and the tripartite alliance of the ANC, SACP, COSATU and SANCO.
It is clear to us as the SACP that there are vultures that are encircling our democracy whose sole mission is to capture the liberation movement for their own narrow selfish and greedy interests. It is the task of the working class to unite all the progressive components and classes that constitute our movement and isolate all those whose mission is to ultimately weaken and destroy the liberation movement as we know it.
The year 2009 has been marked by important milestones upon which we must build the unity of all progressive forces at the head of deepening our democracy. One key milestone was the April 2009 ANC electoral victory which confirmed the continued confidence that the overwhelming majority of our people have in the ANC led alliance. This is a victory we dare not squander; we have to accelerate the implementation of the five key priorities contained in the ANC Alliance Manifesto - decent work, health, education, fight against crime and corruption and Rural Development.
However these advances are threatened by the current capitalist crisis and recession. The current crisis confirmed our long held view that capitalism as a system based on greed and self enrichment will always be a system prone to crisis. In other words, capitalist crises are not accidents but are inherent in the capitalist system itself. This underlines the necessity for socialism as the only humane alternative to meet the basic needs of the world’s population. Let us use our energies in overcoming the current recession also to intensify the struggle against capitalism. In fact those who are hell-bent on breaking the unity of our alliance are the very same beneficiaries of this crisis prone capitalist system. Therefore to us as the SACP the struggle against capitalist greed and corruption is the necessary condition to realise ANC led election manifesto commitments.
It is for this reason that the SACP this year has launched its campaign against corruption as part of our annual Red October Campaign. As we enter 2010 we therefore call upon all South Africans especially the workers and the poor to intensify the struggle against corruption, both in the private and public sector. Corruption is theft from the workers and the poor. Let us use 2010 to break the back of all forms of corruption.
We ended a year on a high note as the SACP by holding our 2nd Special National Congress which took far reaching resolutions in the areas of economic development which includes fundamentally changing our current growth path and creation of decent jobs, including the outright banning of labour brokers, affordable access to education and health, transformation of local government, fighting against patriarchy and women abuse and most importantly to build a strong SACP, entrenched in communities and workplaces. Congress further underlined the urgency of finalising discussion within the alliance on the alignment of our micro and macroeconomic policies, as well as reviewing the mandate of the Reserve Bank to move away from inflation targeting, but to prioritise job creation in line with the ANC manifesto objectives. Congress further called on the SACP, working together with our communities, to lead the call for the convening of Land Summit 2, given the slow pace of land and agrarian reform and the urgency of rural development.
The SACP Special Congress also declared 2010 the year of the SACP branch and committed itself to struggle for a FIFA World Cup for all, and not a soccer world cup for elites. As we enter the new year let us continue with our struggle for decent jobs and sustainable livelihoods, the struggle for access to quality public education by all and reaffirm a primary healthcare driven National Health Insurance Scheme.
As the SACP we call on all our communities to support the YCL’s “Joe Slovo Right to Learn Campaign” whose primary objective is to ensure that all young people are in school and that we make education fashionable, and that it is cool to go to school.
Happy New Year!
Issued by the SACP
Contact: Malesela Maleka, SACP Spokesperson, 082 226 1802
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