SACP Brian Bunting Statement, 23 September 2013 Special District Council Held on 21st September 2013, Ilitha Park: Outcomes The SACP in the Brian Bunting District convened its Special District Council on the 21st September 2013, in White House, Khayelitsha. The District convened at a very crucial moment and at an epoch where many events take place with direct and indirect impact to our strategic responsibility of defending, deepening and consolidating the NDR. The Special District Council took place on the eve of the SACP Western Cape 7th Provincial Congress to be held on the 27th-29th September 2013. It is a period when the leader of our strategic alliance (the ANC) is at work preparing for the upcoming general elections in 2014. This is a process that vigorously screen tried and tested comrades to represent our policies in the most strategic centres of power, government and legislatures. This period is also characterised by the political turbulences in one of our strategic allies, COSATU. We remain confident that this giant of the working class struggles will find a disciplined way of resolving its current challenges. This, if ignored has a potential to reverse our struggle to advance towards Socialism. We therefore welcome the ANC's willingness to assist COSATU to resolve this challenge. As SACP in the Brian Bunting District, we find ourselves in a space where both the province and the Cape Metro is led by neo-liberal Democratic Alliance with its aggressive onslaught against the working class and the deepening of the global monopoly capital interests. We therefore remain committed and resolute in our fight against all evils of capitalist dehumanisation for the working class. Therefore, it is not surprising that the numerous challenges that faced by our communities, including crime, lack of service delivery and shortage of public transport are not surprising are deliberately ignored by the DA led government. The interests of the working class are not in the DNA of Democratic Alliance, theirs is to deliver on the mandate of their funders "foreign oligopoly capital". Thus, the SACP Brian Bunting District Council as the Vanguard party of the working class analysed the current epoch of our politics with the view to unmask the social ills and propose realistic solutions based on our scientific analyses. Delegates from branches reflected on the following in ensuring that NDR as a direct route to Socialism remains and is not liquidated. On Public Transport Infrastructure The SACP in the Brian Bunting has learnt that the City of Cape Town and PRASA are planning to develop a Railway line to link Cape Town and the Cape Town International Airport (Chris Hani international airport). The Council believes that any prioritisation of infrastructure projects should be based on a need and not on a status. We believe that there is abundance of transport means that cater for the elite who use airports while the trains from the working class communities of Khayelitsha, Maccasar, Mfuleni, etc are overcrowded. While the City and PRASA plan for the air-conditioned trains, the people of Delft and Macassar are yearning for safe trains to meaningfully contribute to the economy of the city. As SACP we believe that we should all learn from our mistakes and not waste public funds for projects that are only made to maintain status. As the SACP we believe there is no demand that can necessitate the construction of Railway link to the Airport. Currently there is a My City bus system which barely transports five passengers to and from the Airport. We therefore call upon PRASA to reconstruct a new railway line that links Maccasar, Mfuleni and Delft to the Airport. We believe that the only people who need an accessible public transport to Airport are the working class who work in industries that surrounds Airport and airport itself. It is so unfortunate that up to now there are no plans to increase the number of trains particularly in the working class townships such as Mitchell's Plain and Khayelitsha. In addition, the SACP finds it unacceptable that the City of Cape Town has no plans in place to introduce Bus rapid transit system programme to Khayelitsha, Mitchell's Plain amongst other working class communities. As the SACP we call upon PRASA ride on apartheid spatial development pattern that seeks to exclude the working class from the development mainstream of the country. As the taxpayers themselves, working class are tired of investing in infrastructure that is only used by those with economic interest in our country. We call upon a development pattern that recognises working class human beings who deserve to be liberated from the structural and persistent underdevelopment that was engineered by apartheid. Human dignity must be restored through these development projects. Crime Statistics The Special District Council welcomes the national statistics as released by National minister Nathi Mthethwa. We view the continuous decrease on crime as a result of the ANC prioritising crime in its 2009 people's election manifesto. We believe that the implementation of this manifesto is in the right direction, symbolised by gains in many areas that were identified as policy priorities. These include health, education, crime and rural development among others. However it is worrying that the Western Cape has recorded a significant increasing pattern in the number of crimes. This can only be associated with weak policies of the DA, their attitude towards police service that resulted in police killings in our townships and their lack of prioritisation of working class areas. The question should be asked as to why Milnerton, Table View and Parklands (being few kilometres away from Table View) have police stations while DuNoon where the police station is needed the most has none. This is a scientific proof of disastrous DA policies. We view this as a clear indication that the advances made by the ANC are being reversed by DA led Government. The crime statistics has been released few days after the DA tabled its plans in fighting crime. As the SACP we view the DA's strategy on crime as nothing but a copy and paste of the ANC strategy in the form Bambanani Neighbourhood watch as pillar of that strategy. The new strategy of the DA which is driven by Community Police Forums, it is so unfortunate that the DA plan is a top down approach which might lead to a creation of vigilantism because it has been imposed unlike Bambanani which was genuine and organic community collective responsibility to fight crime and reclaim our streets from the ruthless criminals. As the SACP we call upon the MEC to prioritise police visibility in the working class areas. We demand the re-launch the Organic Bambanani Neighbourhood Watch as proven effective machinery to fight crime. Bambanani Neighbourhood Watch was the most effective community based forum in combating all forms of crimes and defended the vulnerable groups in our society. We see the copy-and-paste strategy by the DA as an affirmation of what we have been saying all these years, that there was no fundamental reason for the DA to drop the Bambanani Neighbourhood Watch strategy. On COSATU As the Brian Bunting District, we believe that the current challenges in COSATU can be solved internally and by COSATU assisted by other alliance partners. The ANC and the Party are not enemies of COSATU and do not benefit anything from the divided COSATU. COSATU remains a very strategic force in the left axis. The malicious assertion by some who proclaim themselves as a forces of correctness that the General Secretary of the Party comrade Blade Nzimande and the ANC's Secretary General Gwede Mantashe have a hand in COSATU problems should be condemned in the strongest terms. It is in fact childish and media seeking to even think about such a revolutionary attack, in fact this is an old campaign of anti-communism as started by Clements Kadalie. These sustained attacks on the leadership of our alliance are a direct attack on our alliance and our revolution. Our Special District Council have also noted the foreign tendency that started towards Mangaung of taking the organisation to court on both political and organisational issues that can be resolved internally. Our Special District Council described the current behaviour by NUMSA's leadership of anointing itself as defender of COSATU's General Secretary at the expense of the organisation as populist and extreme reactionary. We believe that COSATU's constitution and processes will defend Vavi not populist and demagogic individuals. On Upcoming Western Cape's SACP 7th Provincial Congress Our Special District Council has vowed to ensure that the upcoming provincial congress is characterised by unity, continuity and necessary change in leadership. We therefore believe the congress will also be characterised by high level of robust debates and discussions and at the centre should be the Party's approach in the forthcoming general elections in tilting the political balance of forces and ultimately reclaim political power in the Western Cape to the ANC led alliance. In addition, our Special District Council wants congress to also engage quite frankly and robust on the state of the alliance in the provinces and regions because if the current state of affairs is allowed to persist winning elections in 2014 will be a serious difficult task. On ANC List Process The SACP in the Brian Bunting has vowed to ensure that the list process of the ANC is not a stage where people are liquidating the organisation to the highest bidder. We also hope the list process will produce a list of capable comrades who understand the role of the organisation in the society. Our appeal is that continuity and change should be the principle and quality should be prioritised. We urge ANC members to ensure the unity of the organisation remains paramount. The list process should not be used as a job creation process. Our interest as the SACP in the Brian Bunting District is to ensure that quality in the process is not compromised. In addition, no individual should be nominated on the basis that s/he belongs to a strong lobby group but comrades must be nominated because they are prudent and modest, hard-working and committed to the cause. On State of Khayelitsha District Hospital The Special District Council received a detailed report on the state of Khayelitsha district hospital presented by the Hospital's board chairperson ZB Sogayise. The council warmly welcomed the report and adopted a principle that the SACP takes full responsibility of both the hospital's successes and of its challenges. The Party refuses to make this hospital a DA institution of some kind on the basis that the building of the Khayelitsha District Hospital is a product of our campaign a project that was launched years ago by the ANC led provincial administration under the leadership of our former Premier comrade Ebrahim Rasool. Moreover, the Special District Council believes that in order for the hospital to function efficient and effective and minimize complaints the following should be addressed namely: . End the agentification of doctors . Grant the hospital a regional authority so that it can perform a function similar to that of Tygerberg hospital; and . Build a supportive infrastructure for patience of substance abuse. For further information contact: Benson Ngqentsu - 082 796 6400 District Secretary Or Masonwabe Sonkoyi - 076 524 3242 Media Liaison -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. 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