SACP Eastern Cape PWC Statement 25 April 2016
SACP Communications
South African Communist Party
Eastern Cape, 24 April 2016
Press statement:
The South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Eastern Cape convened its Provincial Working Committee (PWC) meeting at Alfred Nzo District, 24 April 2016. The PWC was convened for the party to assess the state of our party in the district and to engage with the structures about the challenges they are confronted with.
The PWC meeting was preceded by a successful Special District Council of Alfred Nzo District, convened by the directive of the Central Committee (CC) for the Party to engage with its structures on the current political situation and matters affecting the direction of our national democratic revolution. There were four other successful Special District Councils similarly convened in the Province, in Skenjana Roji (Buffalo City), K.K. Chule Papiyane (Sarah Bartmaan) and Ncumisa Kondlo (Amathole) districts.
The Central Committee Report:
The CC report was tabled by SACP Provincial Secretary, Cde Xolile Nqatha at the Alfred Nzo Special District Council. The report focused on CC discussions relating to the challenges confronting our movement and alliance, as led by the ANC, and our country, including the problem of corporate capture and the Constitutional Court judgement on the Nkandla saga.
The report gave a clear direction in line with the Party’s Political Bureau’s decisions, on what we are confronted with and needs to be done. The Council discussed and welcomed the report as a revolutionary guide in resolving these challenges. If left unattended, problems such as the wrongdoings that were committed in the Nkandla project, including corruption; the subsequent handling of the remedial action inconsistently with the constitution, as found by the Constitutional Court; and corporate capture, will adversely affect the capacity of the movement to focus on strategic objectives.
The Council urged all of us as a movement to put the organisation above any individual, including the President of the ANC and the Republic, and that our people must always be at the centre of all our actions as the ANC-led movement.
On the posture of those who throw insults at the veterans and the church, the PWC called upon them to be more tolerant of different views and beware of the fact that if you shout at people they will shout back. The best way of providing leadership is to engage them constructively with all the due respect that they deserve. It should not be that those who are allowed to shout are those who are agreeing with us as a movement.
Challenges in the functionality of the alliance:
The PWC received reports from Party structures on the challenges confronting the functionality of our alliance, including manipulation of councillor candidate selection process and corruption in local government.
It is important to note that the Provincial Alliance Summit discussed the challenges of the functionality of the alliance in Alfred Nzo, Buffalo City and Amathole districts, and resolved that the Provincial Alliance Secretariat must attend to all the identified hot spots and that regional alliance summits must be convened in all the regions before the local government elections.
On 18 April the Provincial Alliance Secretariat visited Alfred Nzo to attend to the challenges in line with the resolutions of the summit. The meeting was a success and crafted a way forward on resolving those challenges including through visiting all sub-districts/sub-regions and creating alliance-inclusive local government election processes including selection of candidates. We agreed to work together as the alliance for an overwhelming victory of the African National Congress (ANC) in the forthcoming local government elections.
The challenges in Alfred Nzo District, in particular in the area of Mbizana where there is a persistent anti-communist agenda and corrupt activities, must be resolved.
The SACP in the district clarified the widely reported matter that it is contesting the 2016 local government elections separately from the alliance. The SACP is NOT contesting local government elections outside the agreed process of an ANC-led alliance electoral strategy. This is a matter of the Party’s central political policy, and cannot be varied by or any lower level.
In the same vein, as the SACP we will not support any candidate who is imposed, who emerged out of corrupted or manipulated processes contradicting ANC policy guidelines on the selection process.
The PWC meeting:
The PWC meeting congratulated the South African Students Congress (SASCO) for the electoral victory in the University of Fort Hare SRC elections.
This victory is an important revolutionary gain as the students affirmed SASCO as the only student organisation capable of carrying forward their aspirations.
The students rejected the DA and its student organisation as they have seen it for what it is; a party essentially of the privileged elite and for the preservation of white supremacy despite the masks it applies on its face to disguise the content of its real character.
We trust that the Progressive Youth Alliance will continue working together in all the institutions of higher learning and training to ensure greater service to the students. We are fully behind the decision of SASCO to now focus on servicing students and desisting from pre-occupation with bashes and other niceties. There is nothing wrong with young people being young and partying, but all responsibly; what is decisively important, however, is that priority in student leadership must be placed correctly on studying hard to succeed, on academic support programmes to other students to help them succeed and on record time, on fighting academic and financial exclusions, on transformation, on important areas of focus supporting the learning process – the primary reason why in the first place students enrol in those institutions.
ANC Manifesto Launch Rally:
The PWC saluted the ANC for holding the Launch of the Local Government Elections Manifesto in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality. As the SACP having interacted with the people working independently and as part of the ANC led alliance, we are confident of the ANC victory in the coming elections.
We are of the firm view that the rally represents one of the political moments that require deep reflections within the movement, as the attendance was not what it historically used to be. A moment like this underline the abnormality of the situation. We are of the view that there are some internal dynamics that continue to undermine our collective effort to rebuild the region and defend our movement. Those among others are things we need to confront in the Nelson Mandela Region.
We welcome the pronouncement on prohibiting councillors and their relatives to do business with the local state. We are of the firm view that we should also be clearer at the Provincial and National Level as some of our leaders and deployees (with their relatives) are doing business with the state, some through their families. We have always argued that leaders or their relatives who are doing business with the state have an unfair advantage compared to other genuine small businesses with no such connection.
Public Protector report on the Nelson Mandela Scandal.
As the SACP, we are on record having called for the Public Protector to release the reports on the Nelson Mandela Memorial Fraud investigations as soon as possible. This we were raising out of our experience with the Office of the Public Protector which in many occasions releases reports on the eve of elections. That wittingly or unwittingly puts the Public Protector in the political game.
We have noted that as we get closer to the Local Government Elections, the reports on the Nelson Mandela Fraud is said to be ready soon. It is in this context that we are once again calling upon the Public Protector to release the report on the Nelson Mandela Memorial Fraud and not wait until the eve of the elections as that will continue to erode public confidence on the office of the Public Protector even beyond the incumbent, as it would appear to be not impartial.
The meeting was closed in high spirit recommitting ourselves as the party to be faithful to the people and loyal to the organisation in our daily work.
Issued by the SACP Eastern Cape.
Contact:
Siyabonga Mdodi
SACP Provincial Spokesperson
Mobile: +2783 358 8070
Office: +2740 635 1042/46
Email: sim...@gmail.com
Facebook: SACP Eastern Cape
Twitter: @SACPECmedia