SACP STATEMENT ON THE ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT, ON LIBYA AND GRADE 12 EXAMINATIONS

On the announcement made by the President of the Republic, Cde Jacob Zuma

The SACP welcomes the statement made today by the President announcing changes to the composition of the Cabinet. We specifically congratulate Central Committee members cde Thulas Nxesi (on his appointment to the crucial position of Minister of Public Works) and cde Lechesa Tsenoli (on his appointment as Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Land Affairs). Once more this is an affirmation of the trust that hard-working communists enjoy in the ANC in their own right as ANC members.

The President of the Republic has proven his critics wrong. For weeks he has been characterised as indecisive by the alarmists who want him to act with haste. In the name of action the centre-right liberals and their media brigade have wanted the President to act without due consideration.

The SACP welcomes the announcement of the suspension of the Commissioner of Police pending the outcome of the investigation into the SAPS offices lease. We trust that due process will be given an opportunity to be concluded. Similarly the SACP trusts that the commission of inquiry into the arms deal will be allowed necessary space to conduct the investigation in a fair manner and bring to closure this matter. We applaud the President for this measures.

The media has a particular obligation to inform the public correctly and to stop feeding into a frenzy of uncertainty, grounded in their visceral dislike of President Zuma.

On Libya

The SACP condemns the extra-legal execution of Muammar Gaddafi by the imperialist forces and their local agents. From the beginning the imperialist powers have used UN Security Council Resolution 1973 as an excuse to effect regime change in Libya. While the circumstances of this extra-legal execution remain somewhat unclear, there is a strong possibility that it was not just the vindictive action of local Libyan forces, but also an instruction from above that usefully pre-empts any international juridical action that would offer the former Libyan leader a platform from which to expose the support he had received from the French, British and Italian governments in the recent past. This barbaric act is another worrying sign of the determination of imperialist powers to reassert their influence on our continent through re-militarisation in a renewed scramble for African resources and markets.

Grade 12 Examinations

The SACP takes this opportunity to wish good luck to grade 12 learners who are sitting for their final grade 12 examination. The class of 2011 is the fourth cohort of grade 12 learners to sit for the National Senior Certificate Examination since its introduction in 2008. Last year saw a 7.2% improvement in the pass rate of learners who fulfilled admissions to diploma courses and bachelor's degrees as compared to 2009. The Party is quite aware that the playing field is not yet level as long as inequalities in society and in access to learning continue. Thousands of learners, particularly those from poor and working class backgrounds in rural areas and townships, still attend schools which lack basic infrastructure and facilities such as libraries, laboratories and other relevant learning materials.

It is for this reason that interventions recently announced by the Minister of Higher Education to remove financial barriers to learning by increasing budget allocations to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme should be viewed as welcome relief to all, including parents and students. This is what gives hope and confidence that the class of 2011 will be motivated to do even better in their exams knowing that financial barriers will not any longer stand so starkly in their way towards pursuing academic careers of their choice. This is a decisive step forward towards provision of free higher education, a step many developed nations such as France and Sweden have already taken long time ago.

Following 12 years of vigorous schooling, it is understandable that learners are nervous and excited at the same time for the reason that these exams are seen by many as passageway towards a world of higher education and the world of work. However the SACP would like to underline the point that learners who do not obtain university exemptions should not despair as if it is the end of the world. Popular belief that universities are the only means to acquire effective careers is not true, in fact some of the most important specialized skills are only acquired at Further Education and Training institutions and what is known as universities of technology.

Statement issued by the SACP, October 24 2011

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