[SACP with Red, 3.png]
29 May 2017 South African Communist Party Political Bureau Statement The SACP Political Bureau (PB) met today in Tshwane in preparation for the coming weekend's Central Committee (CC), our last regular CC before the Party's July national congress. The PB noted that given the current deep political malaise, our forthcoming national congress has major responsibilities, which go way beyond the SACP and our active membership. Accordingly, we hope to broaden engagement at our Congress and build on the momentum of our recent Imbizo. The PB agreed that our hard-won democratic dispensation is under serious threat, not least because of the ANC's declining moral standing within the broad public and its apparent leadership paralysis in the face of its own accelerating decline. The major opposition parties may well see the removal of President Zuma as simply a first step in the electoral removal of the ANC itself (why wouldn't they?). However, that, emphatically, is not the SACP's objective. Once more, we call on President Zuma to step down in the interests of the ANC, in the interests of the Alliance it should be leading, and of our country as a whole. Over the past week a barrage of fresh information and analysis has emerged underlining what we have long argued, that a parasitic-patronage network linked to the Gupta family has effected a significant level of state capture, with certain Cabinet ministers being little more than Gupta functionaries. Billions of rands of public money are being siphoned off. The PB saluted the work done by the South African Council of Churches in their Unburdening process, and we hope to continue engaging with the SACC and all other patriotic and democratic forces who are gravely concerned at the hollowing out of our constitutional democracy. Our democratic national sovereignty is being auctioned off to petro-dollar feudalists in Dubai, to Nasdaq listed companies like Net1, and to the Russian nuclear moguls. The PB noted this past weekend's ANC NEC statement. We welcome the decision to call on the President to institute an independent judicial commission of inquiry into state capture by private business. This is a call first made by the SACP, long before the former Public Protector's 'State of Capture' remedial requirement. We agree that such a commission should not be confined to the issues raised in the Public Protector's report. As the SACP we certainly have many other matters we would wish to table. Of course, in welcoming this NEC decision we remain extremely circumspect. We have the precedent of the Seriti Commission which to all intents was a white-wash. Since President Zuma is deeply conflicted in the matter of state capture, the Public Protector's remedial requirement that the Chief Justice should be allowed to select the appropriate judge to be constitutionally appointed by the President makes eminent sense. Without such a step, the credibility of any commission will be damaged from the outset. The PB welcomed the ANC NEC's call for the reversal of Brian Molefe's re-appointment as Eskom CEO. While the struggle needs to be taken forward in all key sites of power, the danger is that we will become obsessed with palace politics and forget about the plight of millions of South Africans, not least women, particularly those living in working class and rural communities. While state capture has contributed to the gutting of the criminal justice system, the pandemic of gender-based violence continues unabated. In settlements around the country, people do not feel safe, the most basic of citizenship rights. We welcome therefore the ANC's call for the establishment of community-based street committees in our townships and villages. Other programmes, like government's Community Work Programme, with a proven record of contributing significantly to community cohesion and a sense of collective community ownership and responsibility for neighbourhoods must be significantly expanded. If the ANC-led alliance is to rebuild unity and recover our connection to a popular base, then it must be done, above all, on the basis of active and selfless community work. Issued by the South African Communist Party Contact: Alex Mashilo, National Spokesperson, 076 316 9816 __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of detection engine 15495 (20170529) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com ________________________________ [http://imageshack.com/a/img32/381/6b28.png] E-mail Disclaimer: The information contained in this communication is confidential and may be legal privileged. It is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed and others authorised to received it. If you are not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or taking action in reliance of the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. The views and opinions expressed in this e-mail are those of the sender unless clearly stated as those of South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU). SADTU accepts no liability whatsoever for any loss or damages incurred or suffered arising from the use of this e-mail or its attachments. SADTU does not warrant the integrity of this e-mail nor that it is free of errors, viruses, interception or interference. -- -- 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]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/yclsa-eom-forum/533A2CE396AEAF46A12C809E9F98070501D11E8CA3%40sadtuex01.SADTU.org.za. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
