STATEMENT OF THE SACP IN MOSES MABHIDA [ KWAZULU- NATAL ].
25 September 2013
The SACP in KwaZulu Natal had a successful provincial executive committee meeting held in Pine Town, Civic Centre from the 23-24th of September 2013. The PEC was held against the background of the whole month dedicated to the memory its former Provincial Secretary Smiso Nkwanyana who perished in a car accident in 2003. To his memory, the SACP held a 10th year anniversary after his death by holding a biggest rally in Folweni [ Durban] on the 22nd of September 2013 addressed by the SACP General Secretary, comrade Blade Nzimande, COSATU President, Sdumo Dlamini and ANC provincial Secretary, Sihle Zikalala.
The PEC joined the World and our government in condemning the dastard terrorist killings of people of Kenya in Westgate mall. Our thoughts goes to the families of the deceased and to the government of Kenya in such a deep sombre moment of mourning.
The PEC dealt with a number of issues and amongst those areas follows:
1. McCord Hospital closure.
1.2 The SACP is highly disturbed by the decision of the McCord board to close down the historic hospital without exhaustively explore all alternatives to save the hospital from closure. We are disturbed by Professor Zulu led board's leadership in this important matter that has deeper consequences and implications to the province and people of Durban in particular.
1.3 We are aware that within this Professor Zulu McCord board, their stampede rush to close the hospital is motivated by the unfortunate intent to introduce a private-public-partnership [PPP] model, pocketing from NHI budget plans initiatives where they will line up with companies to benefit. The SACP will do all possible to stand on the way again this greedy drive.
1.4 We are calling for the McCord hospital to be wholly taken by government to be a public hospital and serve people of KwaZulu Natal and Durban at large as a public health institution. Government has always been willing to capitalize the hospital but that Board has been a problem and complicating the situation in order to justify the closure.
2. The SACP has been observing the sustained media coverage of a disciplinary case one senior Communication official in KZN Legislature allegedly for sexually harassing a 21 year old junior staff woman. He admitted to have committed this in the hearing and the outcome was dismissal. The CEO of the Legislature has overturn this outcome and ruled not guilty.
The SACP believes this case was badly mishandled. A country where patriarchy and male chauvinism still accounts large for women abuses, an institution like Legislature where laws and oversight is made must lead in being intolerant and be exemplary in splitting no hairs in such manifestations. This has created a permanent precedent so bad to compare in a workplace.
2.1 SACP will write to the institutions for answers in this matter. The PEC also resolved to approach KZN Legislature women caucus and national gender Commission for their investigation.
3. The PEC made lengthy observation of the state of COSATU and its individual affiliates in the province and the country. Across COSATU affiliates there existdeeper organisational challenges with the result that worker apathy and confidence to their trade unions is dwindling. This reality may be a major factor to the state of politics within the trade union movement currently.
3.1 In this regard the PEC resolved that the SACP will enter into dialogue with workers in workplaces and in shop floor across all affiliates to listen to their problems with their trade unions and issues that need to be addressed. This undertaking will be elaborated immediately.
3.2 We are a Communist party of the working class and organized workers. The SACP reaffirms that COSATU belongs to the Congress movement and we want to remind workers as their class party.
4. We are going to exhaust a lot of time and energy in this period as the Party in ensuring that we campaign for the ANC electoral victory. We want to achieve 70% electoral victory for the ANC in KwaZulu Natal. This is achievable and possible.
4.1 We are calling for all our structures in the province from branches to districts to focus their energies in participation to all existing structures such as BETs, RETs and PET. We are also going to drive separatecomplimenting campaigning programs as SACP independently in the province to augment the work being done at an ANC level.
Statement issued by Themba Mthembu, SACP KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Secretary, September 25 2013
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
