YCLSA National Committee Lekgotla Declaration Held in Pietermaritzburg, 4-7 February 2010 The National Lekgotla of the Young Communist League of South Africa, constituted by District representatives, Provincial Representatives, National Committee, South African Communist Party, Cosatu, ANC Youth League, Swaziland Youth Congress and other alliance partners; concluded our successful strategic plan session today. We are excited about the level of robust and frank debates within our lower structures and hope that this energy will be extended throughout the body-politic of the organisation. The National Lekgotla received a Political and Organisational Report, and was addressed by the General Secretary of the SACP and the President of the SWAYOCO. The Lekgotla began with a Memorial Lecture in Memory of Joe Slovo, delivered by the National Secretary of the Young Communist League, which was a resounding success. 1. In Memory of Joe Slovo: In Praise of Communism The theme for the National Council was In “Praise of Communism”. This is a title of a poem by Bertolt Brecht, which was Joe Slovo’s favourite. We are inspired by the last line of the poem, “It is the simplest thing so hard to achieve”, remains instructive and a clarion call for communists at this time, to march forward and destroy the citadels of capitalism and on their ruins, build socialism. Slovo represents for us a white man who, irrespective of the privileges of his colour, dedicated his life for the liberation of South Africa. He could have easily, like many white South Africans of his time, looked the other way and let life goes on. But like Braam Fischer, Beyers Naude, Ruth First, Rusty Bernstein, Jeremy Cronin, Brian Bunting and Michael Harmel and many more suffered the most in the hands of apartheid South Africa as they were regarded as sell-outs within the white community. We respect Slovo and many of these white South Africans for their struggle against racism, sexism and class exploitation. We will forever draw inspiration from their gallantry and advance their ideals to the end. We also chose the theme “In Praise of Communism” to give inspiration to our youth that despite the crises of capitalism, poverty, unemployment, widening gap between the rich and the poor, there is hope in socialism and communism. Despite the propaganda that has been meted against the ideals and goals of socialism, and that it is a dream and utopia, it remains the only system that will take us out of the nightmare of capitalism. Joe Slovo is one of the cadres of the movement who insisted that socialism never failed, but it is the people who were in its helm in the Soviet Union, who failed the system. Socialism represents hope for the majority of our people, and thus, the National Lekgotla committed the structures of the YCL to mobilise young people behind the ideals of socialism. We also chose this theme, in the light of the onslaught against communists within the National Liberation Movement, to show that we will never be intimidated into silence or out of the ANC solely because we are communists. The Alliance between the SACP and the ANC is far bigger than individuals, and as the future, we are prepared to lay our lives in defense of the Alliance as the vehicle for the total emancipation of the ANC. We are shocked that people are talking about a “communist takeover” of the ANC because the ANC is equally our home. Although leadership of the ANC will be determined by the members and structures of the ANC, we will not stand by when communists are persecuted solely because of their membership to the SACP, and insinuations that they will never lead because of this. For us, this is equal to “McCarthysm”. 2. Youth and the Economy The National Lekgotla decided that we engage into a Jobs for Youth Campaign, which we will launch in the next few months and will address the crises of unemployment amongst the youth. We estimate that there are more than 3 millions young people who are unemployed. This means that we are sitting on a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. Most of the social injustices that we experience, service deliver protests, crime, prostitution and many other social ills are a way of the youth to generate an income. We believe that the greatest threat to civil instability, and even worse to the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup, is constituted by the unemployed youth who are waiting to explode. The National Lekgotla proposed the following actions in addressing some of the issues in the immediate:
We are worried as the YCL on the relationship between business and government, facilitated in a broker-fashion by what has become known as the tenderpreneurs. The weakness in this relationship is that it reduces BEE to those who facilitate business between white capital and government, instead of promoting entrepreneurs. There are young people all over the country who have ideas on a whole range of enterprise whose multiplier effects will include more jobs for in the economy. Entrepreneurial initiatives should be at the heart of transforming our economy, truly empowering black people, creating jobs and growing the economy. If we do not fight the tendency of quick-buck capitalism, or capitalists without capital, we will be far off the mark of fighting white monopoly capitalism. In fact, those who accuse us of not fighting white monopoly capitalism are the one’s who are entrenching it by promoting Broker Economic Empowerment, who sell their tenders to the highest bidding white monopoly capitalist. 3. Youth and Nationalisation The YCL supports the Nationalisation of mines; there has never been ambiguity in this regard. We have always called for not only the nationalisation of mines, but also that of steel, SASOL, and the key sectors of our economy. We will continue to work with the ANC Youth League in this regard. We will engage with them on the modalities for nationalisation, and point out areas where we disagree with them in order to take the debate forward. We believe that progressive nationalisation should ultimately lead towards the socialisation of the commanding heights of the economy. Any other call for nationalisation that seeks to consolidate state capitalism or make the economy worse, we will never support. We accept the word of caution by from the SACP on what we should consider in the process, and many other business people and government leaders. We will study carefully what Jeremy Cronin, Nicky Oppernheimer, Susan Shabangu and many others have said on the issue of nationalisation in general and mining in particular. We equally urge the leadership of the ANC Youth League to do the same. In the same vein, we want to discourage the approach of hanging individuals who disagree with this call high and dry, selectively for that matter, and engage with the points they are raising. 4. Youth against Corruption One of the dangers of this brokerage economic empowerment is its close linkage to corruption and greed. Because of its pursuit for quick-bucks, and absolutely no justification of capacity to deliver, tenderpreneurs are almost always quick to bribe the tender committee in exchange for the tender, and to pass over the tender to the highest bidder. This is not capitalism but parasitism. It does not contribute in any way to decent jobs, economic growth and in narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor as the same capitalists deducts the kick-back from the wages of workers. It brings into disrepute a credible economic empowerment programme in the form of BEE. We call on the president to highlight the problem of corruption in his State of the Nation Address, especially given the fact that there are more than 4000 government bureaucrats who are being investigated for corruption as per the Anti Corruption Unit. Importantly, in exposing this and fighting corruption, we need to ensure that we restore a new, alternative and progressive revolutionary culture that is opposed to consumerism, which rewards hard work, that shams corrupt individuals and isolate them, and that celebrates good entrepreneurial initiatives from young black South Africans. 5. Youth and Education, Health and Social Transformation The National Lekgotla agreed that we need to intensify our campaign in the following areas: (i) MAKE EDUCATION FASHIONABLE: In line with our Free Education Campaign, we are going to promote access to basic and higher education through campaign through school and university visits. We will also encourage greater co-operation and collective work amongst parents, teachers and learners in order to promote people’s education for people’s power. We call for uniform fees and academic access points in universities. We believe that principals of universities encourage violent protest by forcing students to demand access to education in these institutions. No student should be denied the right to education. We will continue with our call for a University in Mpumalanga and Northern Cape as a way of easing access in these provinces. We will work together with government, SASCO, COSAS and the ANC Youth League for the realisation of Free Education. (ii) FREE SANITARY TOWELS FOR WOMEN: We held discussions with the Minister of Health and of Social Development and they have agreed that this is a major need in rural areas and poverty stricken communities. We will continue to advocate for these demands until we realise these goal. We are of the view that the food-parcels provided by government should also include free sanitary towels for women. In this regard, we will work together with our ally, the ANC Youth League, to ensure that this happens. (iii) CIRCUMCISSION OF YOUNG BOYS: In line with our work on HIV/AIDS, we call on government to provide free and compulsory circumcision for young boys. We believe that this will go a long way in reducing the contraction rate amongst boys, and thus impact on the spread of HIV/AIDS. (iv) CONDOMS CORNER TO CORNER CAMPAIGN: We believe that as part of promoting prevention, the provision of male and female condoms should be spread throughout shebeens, restaurants, universities, schools, churches, spaza-shops, supermarkets and all public places. This is part of awareness. We call on private producers of condoms to include messages in the condoms pack on HIV/AIDS. (v) KABELO THIBEDI ID CAMPAIGN: So far, this campaign has reached out to more than 40 000 people who in the past did not have Identity Documents. We will continue with this work and are in discussions with Kabelo Thibedi to ensure that he remains an integral part of the campaign. Issued by the YCLSA National Committee For more information National spokesperson (YCLSA) -- Gugu Ndima +27 76 783 1516 -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. 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