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The South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Free State Province (FS) held the 4th ordinary plenary session of its 8th Provincial Congress Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) virtually on 17 December 2023.

The PEC received the Central Committee (CC) input from Comrade Lechesa Tsenoli, who further introduced Comrade Pat Horn as the new convenor of deployees to the Free State. The PEC warmly welcomed comrade Pat Horn, who is also a member of the Central Committee and Politburo, as well as a seasoned Party and community activist.

The CC political input, together with detailed political, organisational and financial reports of the province informed the deliberations of the PEC and shaped the adopted political programme of action (POA) arising from this PEC. The POA is focusing primarily on  practical tasks intended to address our own weaknesses and reconnect the Party with the working-class in general, bolster working-class hegemony and influence in the face of an emboldened and resurgent neo-liberal clique, close rank and ceaselessly work for the unity of the progressive forces in light of emerging organised efforts by wedge drivers and opportunists to disintegrate and weaken support of the ANC in the run up to the upcoming national and provincial elections. 

Consolidate campaign-driven Alliance relations, close ranks against wedge-drivers and opportunists

The PEC acknowledged improvements in Alliance interactions and urged such interactions to mature more and more into joint Alliance programmes and campaigns that respond to various challenges faced by our communities throughout the province. The most immediate programme must be election work and responding to the immediate socio-economic and service delivery challenges confronting our communities.

The PEC decided that all Districts must mobilise Chris Hani Red Brigades and ensure they perform election work and that they are launched in the new year in every District. It was emphasised that the fundamental task of Party structures is to contribute towards an outright electoral victory of the ANC in the upcoming national and provincial elections.

In further assessing the functioning of the Alliance in the province, the PEC however expressed growing concerns on what appears, on the one hand, to be low intensity rifts and emerging divisions within the PEC of the ANC and, on the other hand, open and flagrant reestablishment of parallel structures within SANCO even after painstaking unity efforts were pursued by the Party, leading to a SANCO provincial conference. Our view is that these negative developments have nothing to do with the tasks confronting the movement and society but rather informed by personal considerations, and the Party will confront these openly. 

The PEC agreed on the need to continue to work for the unity and cohesion of the Alliance, whilst ensuring that ill-discipline, anarchy and personal interests are not tolerated. Each ally should treat unity as sacrosanct and recognise the objective necessity for the reconfiguration of the alliance as necessary preconditions for a fully functional Alliance that advances, deepens and defends the national democratic revolution as our shared strategy of the struggle. 

The PEC further agreed to intensify its work within the Trade Union movement and take up joint programmes with various unions in different sectors. Consequently, the PEC will revitalise the Trade Union Commission and work closely with COSATU and other trade union federations.

Government must, as a non-negotiable, intervene to ensure all workers receive their salaries across all municipalities in the province

The Party in the province has learned that several municipalities in the province have communicated non-payment or delayed payment of salaries to municipal workers. This sadly includes municipalities under intervention by both provincial and/or national government. The Party rebukes this outright unacceptable and inexcusable behaviour that is worryingly taking root and becoming a norm across our municipalities in the province. Non-payment of workers, including non-payment of their pensions and insurances represent the highest form of exploitation where the sole possession of a worker, labour power, is used by the employers without remuneration. 

The position of the Party in the province is that the democratic government must, as a non-negotiable, rely on inter-governmental relations and mechanisms to find the resources to pay the workers what is due to them, and in full. In this regard, the PEC noted ANC PEC decision mandating relevant deployees to work on this and further decided that the Party officials must urgently engage with the leadership of the ANC in the province and interface with efforts to find immediate resolution on this. Related to this, the Party views non-payment of salaries as indicative of an even deeper problem in these municipalities and therefore, it has become more urgent than ever, that, beyond mandating deployees to handle the non-payment of salaries, an alliance led political management of governance fundamentals be proactively overseen, monitored and evaluated by the alliance.

The PEC acknowledged that there are both subjective weaknesses and structural impediments to the functioning and viability of municipalities and both need to be confronted. For instance, the outsourcing of revenue collection through the so-called rural maintenance entity in Mafube Municipality has effectively paralysed the municipality, the AG report points to flagrant weaknesses of internal controls on public finances and clear acts of corruption across our municipalities which needs decisive leadership to confront. On the other hand, there are clearly unviable municipalities that lack economic activity and without deliberate investment in productive sectors, the challenges are likely to persist. The current austerity measures and energy crisis compounds service delivery disruptions, and consequently, has led to the collapse of various small and medium sized businesses, and further disrupted income streams for communities affecting affordability for consumers to pay for municipal services and the ever-rising high cost of living crisis. 

16 Days of Activism against GBV

The PEC noted that the cases of GBV in the country and in our province are on the rise. In recent periods, such cases have become even more violent, gruesome and deadly. The Party condemns all acts of GBV and urges that societal actions and activism against GBV and patriarchal oppression should be an all-year-round activity and not only be limited to 16 days of activism against women and child abuse.

Related to this, the Party is aware of first-hand experience of ill-treatment in the hands of the police on matters related to violence, criminality, and theft. The PEC is perturbed by what appears to be a targeted intelligence police-led arrest of a Party leader whose house was broken into, and property stolen, together with CPF members and charged with kidnapping when they worked to apprehend the suspects and surrender them to the police. Furthermore, the PEC is also appalled by the lack of police response despite reported security risks on the life of another Party and municipal leader who constantly receives death threats and has lost her son who was recently murdered due to their insistence on fighting against corruption. 

A receptive and patient police service is critical in the fight against GBV and in consolidating community efforts for joint actions against societal ills. The Party has been involved in community marches to police stations and urges the police to partner with communities in defence of crime victims and fight against perpetrators and criminals.

On international relations

The PEC noted that the global capitalist system remains in crisis and, correspondingly, produces and reproduces crisis levels of intensified exploitation of the working-class of the world for profit maximisation. Global imperialist forces are hellbent on fighting, using all means necessary, including warmongering, to retain their floundering geo-political and geo-strategic influence in various parts of the world. The US and its puppet EU States, together with their war machinery NATO have effectively adopted an anti-China and anti-BRICS strategy due to the latter’s growing strategic influence especially with regards to their expanding global market share for commodity production and circulation. All these require improved coordination and actions of the global communist movement.

The PEC understood that the ongoing capitalist wars and global market instabilities must, in the last analysis, be understood within the context of imperialist scramble to rescue capitalism and restore capitalist influence, with dire consequences for the working-class of the world. There are serious brewing challenges in the South China Sea, Taiwan and the Korean Peninsula. The crisis in Ukraine is deepening, with western forces likely to dump Zelensky after western private military complex industries made huge profits at the loss of life in Ukraine, and the Middle East has ignited into a battlefield with the Red Sea also becoming a hot spot. 

The apartheid state of Israel is mercilessly, with unrestrained military support from the US, engaged in a genocide against the Palestinian people, with key state players also revealing their intention to abandon the two states solution. This effectively implies an expanded Israeli occupation of the entire Gaza Strip which the PEC condemns. The PEC affirmed Party statements of the Central Committee on the developments in Palestine and welcomed the decision of Parliament to close the Israeli embassy in the country. Furthermore, the PEC calls for the boycott of Israeli commodities and supports the International Criminal Court’s bid calling for the arrest of Netanyahu and his war cabinet on war crimes. 

Festive season well wishes

The PEC extends well wishes to everyone for the festive season and urges those who will be driving during this period to obey the rules of the road and drive with care and patience to ensure everyone arrives alive to their destinations.

Issued by SACP Free State