1962 South African Road to Freedom, SACP Political Programme “The Freedom Charter is not a programme for socialism. It is a common programme for a free, democratic South Africa, agreed on by socialists and non-socialists… (The SACP) considers that the achievement of its aims will answer the pressing and immediate needs of the people and lay the indispensable basis for the advance of our country along non-capitalist lines to a communist and socialist future…In order to ensure South Africa’s independence, the Party will press for the strengthening of the state sector of the economy, particularly in the fields of heavy industry, machine tool building and fuel production. It will seek to place control of the vital sectors of the economy in the hands of the national democratic state and to correct historic injustice, by demanding the nationalisation of the mining industry, banking and monopoly industrial establishments, thus also laying the foundation for the advance to socialism”
COSATU CEC Political Discussion Paper released on 1 December 2002 “After the collapse of the Soviet Union, however, the SACP’s role became increasingly contested. A number of theoreticians abandoned it, while remaining in the forefront of the ANC. A number became the most able spokespeople for the argument that socialism was never a goal of the ANC or the NDR. Yet they will not make a similar declaration about capitalism. This position contradicts the 1969 Strategy and Tactics, which explicitly argued that there is no contradiction between the struggle for socialism and the NDR, but did not say the same thing about capitalism. The Freedom Charter, whilst not a socialist declaration, nonetheless emphasised a strong role for the state and the nationalisation of the commanding heights of the economy.” SACP C Commission Discussion Document, “Class, National and Gender Struggle in South Africa: The Historical Relationship between the ANC and the SACP” Bua Komanisi - Volume 5, Issue No1, May 2006 “In order to ensure South Africa's independence, the Party will press for the strengthening of the state sector of the economy, particularly in the fields of heavy industry, machine tool building and fuel production. It will seek to place control of the vital sectors of the economy in the hands of the national democratic state and to correct historic injustice, by demanding the nationalisation of the mining industry, banking and monopoly industrial establishments, thus also laying the foundation for the advance to socialism.” YCLSA 2005 National Policy Conference 2005 “The YCL calls the government to nationalise all land, excluding residential land and ensure that, in the spirit of the Freedom Charter, the land belongs to all those who live it. We believe that all land used for production and commercial purpose should be leased by the government to individuals for that purpose, for a limited period of 99 year. We believe that there should be no private ownership of land in this country. The NPSC notes the fact that there is a review in the willing buyer willing seller policy, however; we believe that this does not do away with private ownership of land. The YCL NPSC further resolved that the government should create a State Bank for the development of our people. The YCL believes that private banks have failed our youth because of their profit orientation. We believe that the tasks performed by the Land Bank, Umsobomvu Youth Fund, NTSIKA, KHULA Enterprise, The National Empowerment Fund and other funds that the government has created for economic development should be centralised and be rum by the State Bank. The other role of the State Bank should be to focus on housing, education and other financial services that the private banks provides at lower or no interest. The Conference also resolved that all mineral resources should be nationalised and the products thereof be shared by all who live the country. The Conference further criticized the privatisation of State Assets, and called on for their total nationalisation. We believe that this process has shed many jobs, and has led to these institutions (TELKOM, ESKOM, TRANSNET etc) to focus on profits rather than service delivery” 17-18 February 2006, SACP Statement on its Central Committee Meeting held on “The CC welcomed Minister of Finance, Cde Trevor Manuel’s announcement this past week to consider the imposition of a windfall tax on South African produced synthetic fuels. The pump price of our locally produced fuel is the same as imported fuel, notwithstanding the fact that the production costs of the local product are now considerably less. Cde Manuel?s announcement has been met with howls from certain sections of business. SASOL CEO, Pat Davies, said that it would cause the company ?to rethink its local investment plans?. SASOL later denied that this was a threat, but the message was clear. The SASOL CEO has in fact done us all a favour. He has reminded us how dangerous it is to leave such a key strategic asset in the hands of a profit-maximising capitalist sector totally lacking in any empathy for the major economic and developmental challenges of our society. SASOL was established as a public entity by the apartheid government in 1950. In the late 1970s, with UN-imposed sanctions against South Africa, vast amounts of public money were spent on the construction of SASOL 2 and SASOL 3. On the eve of the 19994 democratic breakthrough, SASOL was hurriedly privatised. Currently some 35% of our fuel is now synthetic, the bulk of it coming from SASOL. This is a very important achievement, with major strategic implications for our sovereign national capacity with global oil reserves running dry. In the light of all of the above, the SACP calls on government to *re-nationalise* SASOL. Government currently has a 20% share through the PIC and the IDC. Clearly this share is insufficient leverage if recent statements by SASOL and its record on employee safety and Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) are anything to go by. The CC also calls for a review of all of the hasty privatisation exercises, including that of ISCOR that occurred in the waning years of apartheid.” 18 April 2007, Rich country, poor people: The rule of law with and for the bourgeoisie! Bua Komanisi, Volume 6, No. 7, “The Freedom Charter says, amongst other things, that the mineral wealth beneath the soil shall be nationalised and restored to the people as a whole. Indeed, the SACP appreciates the fact that government has nationalised OUR mineral wealth beneath the soil! However, the reality is that the continued granting of rights to this mineral wealth still goes to the same old white capitalist class, albeit now with BEE dependants. It should instead be used to help restore the wealth of our country to the people as a whole. This does indeed require that we go beyond just the nationalisation of our mineral wealth, and begins to ask the question, nationalisation for what? It is pointless to nationalise in order to parcel out such resources to the very same old white capitalist class and its new compradorial black sections! It is sad that the Northern Cape province, rich as it is in mineral resources, still remains an extremely poor province. Our visit has underlined the fact that this province is nothing more than a terrain for the white bourgeoisie to extract rich mineral resources, at the direct expense of the workers and the poor, and with no practical developmental benefits for its poor communities. It is for these reasons that the SACP fully supports the relocation of the State Diamond Trader from Johannesburg to Kimberley. This should be part of the developmental objectives of making diamond mining benefit the local working class and poor communities of this province. The Northern Cape still remains the leading diamond producer in the world and yet the people of that province have nothing to show for this. This underlines the importance of developing an overarching industrial strategy in order to ensure that diamond production in the first instance benefits the people of the Northern Cape.” July 2007, 12 th SACP Congress Resolutions “ Industrial Policy “To campaign for and ensure the re-nationalization of companies in strategic sectors such SASOL and Mittal Steel with an ultimate aim of nationalizing and socializing thecommanding heights of the economy in line with the vision of the Freedom Charter. 3. To call for improved beneficiation of minerals and measures to regulate and stimulate the fabrication of raw materials into finished and semi-finished products. 4. To call for increased investment in infrastructure and the ramping up of the public works programmes as a basis to provide economic and social infrastructure and employment. Agricultural and Rural Development 1. To campaign for the expropriation and redistribution of land within the context of a reformulated agricultural development policy. In that context the “willing seller-willing buyer” principle should be effectively abolished to allow for a more effective and rapid land reform programme. 2. That the state shall help the peasants with implements, seed, tractors and dams to save the soil and assist the tillers as part of a sustained agrarian reform. 3. To call for the restructuring of the Land Bank to redirect its funding to small-scale farmers and cooperatives.” Eastern Cape 2007 Provincial Council “Council felt strongly there should be nationalisation of the commanding heights of the economy as envisaged in the Freedom Charter. The Party should agitate for this within the Alliance and independently. We also feel the Freedom Charter provides essential elements for our struggle towards socialism”. Free State 2007 Provincial Congress The Congress called for “the re-nationalisation of SASOL as part of the commanding heights of the economy and to intensify the Financial Sector Campaign and build the campaign in the province. We also agree to intensify the campaign for Once-Off Credit Amnesty.“ -- 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] .
