*Young Communist League of South Africa * *2nd National Council Declaration*
*25—28 July 2013* * * We, delegates from branches, districts, provinces and the National Committee of the Young Communist League of South Africa (YCLSA), representing 53 017 members from across country, convened in our National Council from 25 to 28 July 2013 in Kimberly. We convened under the theme ‘Youth for Socialism – Work, Health and Education’, capturing our strategic goal for the universal emancipation of both human society and nature from capitalist exploitation, and three of the five key priorities facing our democratic revolution in the unfolding historical period. Progress in these priorities is crucial, in particular to young people as they make up the majority of the unemployed and need quality health care and education. Our National Council was graced by the presence of Central Committee members of the South African Communist Party (SACP), including the 2ndDeputy General Secretary and the General Secretary who addressed us, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) President who addressed, and representatives from Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) formations, Congress of South Students, South African Student Congress and the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL), who presented messages of support and participated in our deliberations. We received messages of support from a number of local and international solidarity organisations, among others the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against apartheid Israel, and were addressed by the Minister of Health. Our major task was to reflect on the conditions facing young people in our country and develop policy responses to the challenges and opportunities that they face. Being the 2nd National Council since the reestablishment of the YCLSA in 2003, and the highest decision making body in between national congresses, we concluded all matters referred to us by our last, 3rdNational Congress held in December 2010. We assessed the state of progress in building the YCLSA and in advancing its aims and objectives since reestablishment. We convened at the time when, in our country and abroad, the multiple crises of capitalism are deepening and the impact is reaching its zenith, severely affecting young people. Problems such as the crises of the balance of payments which hit many countries in the global South in the 1980s have resurfaced, posing serious challenges and driving the affected economies in the yoke of global loan sharks such as the International Monetary Fund which do no good than harm through conditionalities they attach to borrowings. Negative consequences to democracy have partly as thus arisen, as the anti-democratic nature of conditionalities from global loan sharks lead to people losing sovereignty over economic policy making and directions in their own countries. Coupled with imperialist sponsored conflicts and wars, this is one of the sources for undemocratic changes of governments, as they are driven to act against, if not to disregard, the will and plight of the people through austerity measures. In our country, millions of young people are unemployed, and suffer from class inequalities, exploitation and poverty. This reflects a toxic interaction between the endemic crises of imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism and the persistence of the legacy of colonial and apartheid capitalism. Many young people have no access to skills development opportunities, such as apprenticeships, leanerships, internships and experiential training, because our economy is dominated by private enterprises which have a single motive, profit making. Accordingly, opening the workplace as a training space is considered a cost in aggressive management strategies that continuously seek to “cut cost” as one of the measures pursue profitability. Private enterprises, including the unscrupulous training providers, have been involved in exploiting the grants available from Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs). The looming legal challenge by Business Unity South Africa on the new grant regulations is therefore nothing, but a ploy to defend the exploitation of SETA grants in which multi-millions in Rand value terms went down the drain since the late 1990s without a dent on the persisting challenge scarce and critical skills and the so-called skills mismatch. Meanwhile, since the 1994 breakthrough our democratically elected government has made tremendous progress in expanding access to education through schools, colleges and universities, and policies such as the policy of no fee paying schools, schools nutrition programme and the reform of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). We convened at the time when, there are mushrooming political parties on the door steps of the forthcoming elections in 2014, reflecting a trend of growing political opportunism. Among the founders of some of these parties, are corrupt and consumerist elements who, seek to achieve nothing other than personal aggrandisement and recovery from a variety of crimes including tax evasion and unexplained wealth accumulation. These, and other existing opposition parties, coalesce around attacks over the African National Congress (ANC), the SACP and the alliance these primary political formations of our liberation movement have with COSATU. Internationally, there are a number of significant and interesting developments, among others the forthcoming elections in Zimbabwe, to be held in a few days’ time, and Swaziland, next month. Growth in China has slowed down to successive single digits, among others affecting economies such as ours which are still largely reliant on export of raw materials that are processed in other countries into finished, high value added manufactures. Reaffirming our dedication towards the national democratic revolution in its historical connection with socialism, we therefore declare our fifteen-point minimum programme arising out of our deliberations, as thus. 1. As part of the measures to confront youth unemployment and skills deficit, we shall engage with the government to adopt compulsory skills development targets for apprenticeships, leanerships, internships and experiential training for the youth, binding on both the public and private sectors. 2. The private sector has evaded responsibility in both the National Skills Accord and the Youth Employment Accord. This must come to an end as a matter of urgency. We shall embark on mass mobilisation to confront the private sector to exert pressure for skills development targets, of at least three apprenticeships for every artisan, three internships and experiential trainees for every technician and engineer and all other professions; if need be we shall take radical measures that affect production. 3. There is a looming legal challenge by BUSA against new skills development grant regulations. We call on all SETAs to join and support government in legally opposing BUSA’s intentions, coupled with mass mobilisation which we shall lead to expose BUSA for what it is, an association of the greedy and exploiters. 4. We shall mobilise for the implementation of the youth employment targets as enshrined in the Youth Employment Accord, and the expansion of these targets with special focus on the private sector which, again, has by and large averted responsibility on youth employment targets in the accord 5. We will engage with the government and progressive social forces for the centralisation of the NSFAS and for the fat tracking of the establishment of the Central Applications System for universities. We will defend this noble objectives from negative forces whose ideology and vested interests in the higher education sector serve to retard and derail transformation. 6. We will engage with the government to establish provincial offices of the Higher Education and Training Department in order to improve effective interaction with stakeholders and in particular students and communities. 7. We will engage with the government about the challenges in the basic education sector and on matters relating to the finalisation and public release of the norms and standards for schools which we believe must reflect the best model that the national democratic revolution seeks to achieve. 8. We shall intensify our Joe Slovo Right to Learn Campaign which has become a standing campaign to expand access to education, transform curriculum and improve the quality and outcomes of learning and teaching. 9. We shall continue to engage in the discourse of policy development, among others on policies such as the National Development Plan (NDP), New Growth Path, Industrial Policy Action Plan and the Infrastructure Development Programme. We shall advance the last SACP Central Committee resolutions which we endorsed in relation to the NDP. Similarly, we shall advance and enhance the recommendations in our discussion document in relation to NDP, including the need to industrialise our economy, to detenderise the state and the provision of social services among others such as scholar transport. 10. We shall campaign for an overarching strategy and long term vision on youth development, as we believe this is one of the areas where the NDP lacking. The National Youth Development Agency must engage in fresh, and this time meaningful, consultation with young people aimed at developing an Integrated Youth Development Strategy and reviewing the National Youth Policy which term of office is coming to an end. 11. We amended our constitution to increase the *minimum* quota for females from 30% to 40% in all our structures and decision making bodies, coupled with a league building resolution to embark on a qualitative programme of change towards achieving a quantitative target of gender balance. 12. We shall intensify mass recruitment, organisational expansion through the launching of new branches coupled with a thoroughgoing political education and ideological training, paying a particular attention on colleges and universities which we regard as part of the key sites of struggle and the battle of ideas as it is with other centres of knowledge production. 13. It is part and parcel of our duty to build the PYA strong, and as thus contribute meaningfully the rebuilding of the ANCYL. The best suited of all contributions requires all Young Communists to join the ANCYL, and in their own right as its members to take active involvement in defending the organisation and carrying forward its historical mission as entrusted by the ANC. Other contributions shall be left to bilateral relations to define as well as joint programmes. 14. We shall in the forthcoming elections campaign for an overwhelming victory for the ANC as the leading formation of our liberation movement and alliance, and as our own organisation in our own right as its members. We will engage with our movement to ensure that the election campaign towards the youth is adequately resourced and that youth presence in public representatives is enhanced in recognition of the realignments that have occurred in the political landscape of youth politics. 15. We shall encourage the working class of Zimbabwe and the youth in particular those who are in South Africa to participate in the forthcoming elections. We shall strengthen the Swaziland Solidarity Network, intensify the campaign for the release of Amos Mbezi, unbanning of political parties in Swaziland and democratisation in that country. We shall adopt Israel apartheid week and use this as a platform to intensify international solidarity for the freedom of Palestinians. We will build a left youth movement in the continent, aimed at achieving complete decolonisation, and the mainstreaming of youth development in the African democratic revolution as a basis of an advance towards socialism. We will intensify our work in the world youth anti-imperialist movement. These measures are about deepening, advancing and taking responsibility for the national democratic revolution in line with one of the principal tasks of the Communists, which to press for the achievement of the immediate aims and the enforcement of the momentary interests of the working class. Aware that until capitalism is defeated there can be no sustainable solution, and recognising the national democratic revolution as the shortest route to socialism in our specific conditions, the measures in our minimum programme shall be coupled with another principal task of the Communists, which is to take care for the future of the working class, i.e. communism to which socialism is a transitional path. We would like to experience and live in this future, which is why we say: ‘Socialism in our life time!’ -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. 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