The SACP Central Committee met in Johannesburg on the 22nd and 23rd August. The CC received and discussed reports on progress being made in a number of Tripartite Alliance commissions and tasks groups in areas of critical policy development. This work is being carried out in preparation for the SACP's Special Policy Conference at the end of September, the Alliance Economic Policy Summit in early October, and the development of an ANC-led Alliance Election Manifesto for next year.
Support for Jacob Zuma
The CC also reviewed and re-affirmed our positions taken on the trial of ANC president, cde Jacob Zuma.
The SACP is firmly of the view that continuation with the trial of Cde Jacob Zuma is neither in the interests of our country nor that of justice. The manner in which the prosecuting authorities have handled the investigations and trial of Cde Zuma undermines all the basic precepts of natural justice, as also contained in our constitution. And we are therefore of the view that he will not, and cannot, get a fair trial.
The reasons for this are many and varied, but the most important ones include the following:
1. The holding of a secret 'off the record' briefing with senior media editors by the former National Director of Prosecutions, whose contents are now a matter of public knowledge, in which Cde Zuma's integrity was severely maligned
2. The Public Protector found that the manner in which the NPA had handled Cde Zuma's investigations violated his rights and dignity ('prima facie case but not winnable')
3. Judge Msimang, in striking the case off the court roll, further found that the NPA had been lurching from one disaster to the next in the manner in which they have handled investigations and charges against Zuma, including failure to charge him together with Schabir Shaik
4. Cde Zuma has been subjected to an almost unprecedented prejudicial and vindictive coverage by most of the media
5. Cde Zuma has now been investigated for a period of more than 7 years without being successfully brought before the courts
6. The highly irregular public pronouncement and the unilateral setting of a date by the NPA for re-charging of Cde Zuma, immediately after being elected President of the ANC in December, has further muddied the waters
It is for these and other reasons that a general perception has taken hold amongst the overwhelming majority of our people that, as the ANC says, 'Zuma is being persecuted rather than prosecuted', and the general reinforcement of the perception that he is a victim of a political conspiracy. Continuation with this case will certainly and unduly raise the political temperature in our country in a manner that can negatively affect the stability of our country and democracy.
Whilst re-affirming our commitment to the rule of law, and that no-one is above law, at the same time prosecuting authorities must act in a manner that is above reproach; and further that in the process the fundamental principle of 'presumption of innocence unless proven otherwise through a credible judicial process' must be scrupulously maintained by our criminal justice system.
Therefore in the light of all the above, the SACP is of the view that, without setting any legal or political precedent, this case must be reviewed with a view to dropping all the charges against Cde Zuma. To this end an urgent political solution needs to be found in order to arrive at such a conclusion. The case against Cde Zuma and its handling has for all intents and purposes ceased to be a legal matter but has become a key political challenge facing our democracy going into the future.
The SACP calls upon all South Africans and the relevant authorities and stakeholders to ensure that we do indeed find this political solution speedily.
The SACP re-affirms its support for Cde Zuma, and to this end, will continue to mobilise in his support and also to ensure that an urgent political solution is found to this matter.
The situation confronting Cde Zuma needs, of course, to be located within the broader context of a major challenge confronting our country - the need to ensure the thorough and sustainable transformation of the entire criminal justice system so that it serves the people of South Africa and builds trust and legitimacy. In suburbs, on public transport, in schools, in townships and informal settlements the criminal justice system is failing our people. It is failing to provide the most basic sense of safety and security in many situations.
The real threat to the rule of law lies with the hundreds of thousands of dockets thrown out by the courts each year, or with the early release on parole of criminals guilty of the most inhumane actions. The CC strongly condemned the short sentence and subsequent release on parole the 'lion murderer' Mark Scott Crossley as well as the judge's condescending comment justify the continued plunder of victims' fund from the Road Accident Fund.
We need to revamp the entire system and we need to empower ordinary citizens to work with the police to restore safety and security to their lives. The SACP, together with its allies, is working to build street committees, neighbourhood watches and community activism for safety and security.
SASOL's super-profits should be public property
The CC noted the massive response of workers to the recent COSATU-led protests and days of action around soaring food and energy prices. In this context, the CC reiterated the Party's congress resolution calling for the re-nationalisation of SASOL as an important measure to build national energy security and sovereignty. As an interim step and as a measure that can be introduced immediately, the Party calls for the imposition of a windfall tax on SASOL. According to sources in the financial media, the actual cost to SASOL of producing a barrel of oil is estimated to be somewhere between $30 and $40. Yet, SASOL sells its oil on our local market at the same price as a barrel of Brent Crude Oil (currently hovering around $120). The grotesque profits that SASOL is making out of this practice are scandalous.
It is all the more scandalous that SASOL was a public company, built with tax payers' money by the apartheid regime at a time that it was facing oil sanctions. The current private profits are even more scandalous considering that for decades, including after 1994, when international oil prices were below SASOL costs, the national fiscus subsidised SASOL to make up the difference so that it could compete on the national market. SASOL should be public property. A windfall tax on its super-profits must be introduced immediately. The SACP further proposes that the tax should be ring-fenced and used to develop alternative and sustainable energy sources and to reduce our dependency on foreign oil imports through increased public investments in, for instance, public transport.
Forward to a National Health Insurance system and a restructured government
The CC received a comprehensive report from the ANC Education and Health sub-committee (which also includes alliance representatives) working on policy proposals for the introduction of a National Health Insurance system next year. Like many other aspects of our society, the health-care situation in our country is dire and it has, in many respects, deteriorated over the past 14 years. We have one of the most inequitable health care systems in the world. Only 14% of our people (down from 20% in 1994) are covered by medical aid schemes. But this 14% enjoys the services of more than 60% of the country's doctors. Even for this privileged 14%, the cost of medical aids is soaring way beyond CPIX. Something has to change, and it has to change quickly.
The proposal is to phase in an NHI next year that will provide universal access to health-care for all South Africans. It will be based on social solidarity - those who are employed will contribute so that all can enjoy access. Ghana has already introduced an NHI system, beginning its roll-out in 2004/5. Already 60% of Ghanaians are able to access the system. Ghana is a much poorer society than ours and this is an inspiring example. Of course, it is not our poverty that will be our challenge, but the obdurate profit-based interests of the medical aid funds, the pharmaceutical industry and the private hospitals, all raking in billions of rands a year while the majority of our people and health-care workers in the public sector endure many hardships. The SACP agrees that if an NHI is to work, then simultaneously we need to re-build what was once a relatively impressive public health-care system, and we need to re-build morale, commitment and a sense of professionalism and public service amongst workers in the sector.
The SACP is also busy preparing for, and look forward to, the convening of the Alliance Economic Summit later in the year. One of the main issues that the SACP will be raising at the Alliance summit is the overwhelming dominance and control of treasury over key social policy decisions, and the proximity of some of our cadres in government to big capital. We need to restructure the functioning of the treasury vis-à-vis the rest of government. Treasury needs to implement government policies rather than government implementing treasury's preferences and policy outlooks.
The CC further expressed concern that whilst there has been significant improvement in the functioning of the Alliance at national level, there are still many problems at sub-national levels. The SACP will engage the ANC bilaterally on some of these problems, and continue to work for a programme to build the Alliance from below.
Running on empty - what's happening to our sport?
The health story and the sports story are not unrelated. As national despair settles in around the South African Olympic team results, it is time to take serious stock. As in so many other sectors, for the past 14 years we have been running on empty. Without being unduly reductionist, the sports story is, in effect, the story of GEAR (government's ill-advised macro-economic strategic of 1996). It is a story of relying on corporate-driven interests on the one hand, while propping up and de-racialising (and therefore often simply overburdening) the remnants of an erstwhile white welfare state.
In previous decades a white minority of 3 million managed to be internationally competitive in several codes (among them rugby, cricket, golf and to a lesser extent athletics, swimming and hockey). These successes were based essentially on a publicly funded comprehensive school based system of leagues and coaching, and also on excellent municipal facilities. These formerly whites-only local facilities still exist, although some have deteriorated badly. In some of these elite codes we continue to be internationally competitive. Some black learners and their families now have access to these formerly white minority resources, but little has changed in rural areas, in township schools and communities.
The SACP fully agrees that every effort should be made to ensure our national teams are representative. Our sports stars act as role models. But what is the point of having a black long jump role model if, for the great majority of young black children, a track, let alone a coach, let alone any kind of organised sport in school or community, are nowhere to be found?
Too much attention, including from our own comrades in Parliament, has been focused on national team selection and on the interminable palace politics of national sports administration and squabbles over elite sponsorships and slices of the 2010 pie.
Meanwhile our major soccer leagues continue to languish in the grip of tycoons and there are no junior leagues to speak of. The big corporates cherry-pick with their sponsorships. They have not shown, and will never show, any serious intention of supporting a sustained and integrating sports development process. As in so many other sectors, the lessons of the recent past are that we need a developmental state, including at the local municipal level, that devotes serious time, energy and resources to rebuilding the health and well-being of our communities and society at large. Sports development is not a short term matter of national team selection and palace politics. It is part of a long-haul transformational struggle to build the cohesion and well-being of our society.
African Conference on Participatory Democracy
On the 14-16 August the SACP, together with the Left International Forum (Sweden), hosted the African Conference on Participatory Democracy. This was a first-ever of its kind, involving left and communist parties from throughout the African continent. There were also delegations from Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba, Greece and the joint-hosts, Sweden. The conference provided an opportunity for detailed information sharing, including from senior party representatives located in areas of serious crisis and conflict - including Darfur, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. The conference also provided an opportunity to launch the Africa Left Network. An Africa Left Network Information Centre will be established and hosted by the SACP. The delegations at the conference agreed to take forward this initiative and to convene similar conferences on a frequent basis.
Red October 2008
The SACP's Red October campaign for 2008 will be launched under the banner of "Build Street Committees, Build People's Power for a Revolutionary State". The campaign will build on previous campaigns of the SACP that focused on land and agrarian reform, the financial sector and public transport. This year's campaign will seek to re-build the struggle traditions of participatory democracy in our communities. We will also seek to rebuild the unity of our alliance from the ground up. Further details of the campaign will be announced in the run-up to the month of October.
Statement issued by the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party August 24 2008
