YCLSA* Mpumalanga Press Statement* June 10, 2014
YCLSA Mpumalanga PILC Statement The Young Communist League of South Africa [Ufasimba] in Mpumalanga Province convened a plenary session of its Provincial Interim Leadership Core (PILC) on 08 June 2014 at eMalahleni. The meeting sort to among other things assess the state of the organization in the province as well as to prepare for the YCLSA Youth Day National Rally to be hosted in the province on 22 June in Ephraim Mogale District. *State of the organization* Noting the end of the election campaign, the YCLSA will be dedicating its energies towards the rebuilding of its structures. This process will begin with the convening of District Councils in Phillip Radebe and Harold Molobela Districts on 14 and 15 June respectively. Districts and branches will continue to be on the ground, implementing programs and campaigns of the YCLSA which seek to advance the day to day struggles of the working class youth. *General Elections* The PILC welcomes the overwhelming victory of the ANC in the recent National and Provincial General Elections. The YCLSA extends its gratitude to its structures and members who contributed to this important victory, in this most difficult time in the life of our struggle. As the YCLSA, we reaffirm our commitment towards the ANC and its noble goals, and wish to commit our energies towards protecting the hard fought gains from its enemies from outside and within. It is our experience that this is view shared by many, communists and non-communists, in the movement. As a result of this view, those who seek to benefit from the weakening of our ANC, for their own nefarious interests, will continue to find an enemy in the SACP and YCLSA. The YCLSA reaffirms its commitment towards the ANC and calls upon all those committed to the defense of its gains against the enemies of the revolution, both outside and within to rise in its defense. *Jobs for Youth * The PILC expressed concern over the unacceptable high levels of youth unemployment within the province. In this second phase of radical economic transformation, the YCLSA calls on the state, business and labor to cooperate in ensuring meaningful participation of young people in the economy. The YCLSA holds the view that the casual factors of youth unemployment are structural, and therefore calls on the ANC to hasten the implementation of its program of economic transformation as adopted at the 53rd National Conference. As an immediate response to this crisis, the YCLSA will be hosting a Career and Business Fair on 21 June 2014 in Siyabuswa. All young people are invited to make use of this opportunity. We call on the support of business and the Provincial Government; in particular the MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, to lead the process of developing a program to support young entrepreneurs in general and those in the cooperative sector. As part of the Youth month program the YCLSA will host a National Rally, which will also speak on the issue of Jobs for youth, on the 22 June 2014 in Ephraim Mogale District. Details of the event will be communicated in due course. *“Se grand ngePUTCO”* The YCLSA will lead a march against the Public Utility Transport Corporation (PUTCO) and the Ministry of Transport. This will be the launch of the *Bus Boycott and Blockade (Äzikhwelwa) campaign. *The YCLSA has resolved to wage a campaign against the PUTCO bus company. PUTCO is the single largest provider of transport for working class communities in the Mpumalanga and some part of Limpopo and Gauteng. Faced with no other options, working class communities are faced with no choice but to make use of this unsafe and unreliable mode of transport. Countless lives have been lost with the recent major accident being in November 2013, when 33 people died in a tragic accident on the Moloto Road (the R357 north of Pretoria). PUTCO was coincidentally established in 1945, coincidentally after the bus strike of 1944. This privately held company enjoys huge subsidies from the state and only public passenger company to have been listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE: Larimar). The company is now the biggest commuter bus operator in the country, operating 1600 buses, employing just over 4 200 people, transporting more than 230 000. It is precisely because of the monopolistic dominance, aided by the apartheid and post-apartheid government subsidies, that this organization has been able to take the lives of working class men and women for granted, failing to appreciate that the commuters they transport are hard working men and women and not expendable “stock” As the YCLSA in Mpumalanga we will be working together with our YCLSA structures, in particular the District of Ephraim Mogale, those in adjourning provinces, commuter associations and other progressive organizations as we fight for a safe and reliable mode of transport. We will place at the center, the call to re-commission of the Moloto Rail Corridor Project. This notorious stretch of road carries more than 50,000 commuters on a daily basis. A pre-feasibility study was conducted in 2004 by the Mpumalanga provincial government. This was followed by a full feasibility study reportedly costing R30 million conducted between 2006 and 2007. According to the national Department of Transport, the study found the rail option “feasible and economically viable”. In 2008, the cabinet endorsed the study findings and approved R8.6 billion to proceed with the construction of a 140km railway to run between Pretoria to Sekhukhune in Limpopo, through the area formerly known as KwaNdebele. In 2010, the Department of Transport stopped the project siting the “economic recession and fiscal constraints” as a result of cost overruns in the Gautrain project, a project which has benefited a hand full of middle class communities who already have access to a safe mode of transport. The Gautrain project cost four times more at R32 billion for a line half the length of the proposed Moloto Corridor (75km). In spite the countless lives lost along this stretch of road, it would seem that there is no appetite to proceed with this project. It is high time Moloto Rail Corridor Project is implemented. Issued by YCLSA Mpumalanga Enquiries: Mandla Tibane – Acting Organising Secretary Mobile: 079 406 2099 Kabelo Ben Monepya - Provincial Spokesperson Mobile: 083 662 8091| 071 005 8822 -- -- 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. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
