YCLSA Press Statement April 21, 2013
YCLSA NATIONAL COMMITTEE STATEMENT The 3rd Congress National Committee of the Young Communist League of South Africa (YCLSA) held over this weekend its 7thPlenary Session. The meeting received a Political Report dealing with the State, State Power and the South African Communist Party (SACP), which excerpts will be released in the course of the week as a contribution to the on-going discussion around the SACP, the working class and the state. The National Committee was addressed by the SACP General Secretary comrade Blade Nzimande on the challenges and role of the YCLSA in contributing towards building a democratic developmental state for youth development, the SACP First Deputy General Secretary comrade Jeremy Cronin on the National Development Plan, SACP Central Committee members and Minister of Trade and Industry comrade Rob Davies on Co-operatives and on the 5th Review on the Industrial Policy Action Plan, and the ANC Deputy Secretary-General of the ANC comrade Jessie Duarte on the National Elections. The National Committee congratulated Comrade Yershen Pillay as the newly appointed chairperson of the NYDA, and the Deputy Chairperson, Comrade Kenny Morolong, together with the entire Board. We also congratulate the newly appointed members of the National Task Team of the ANC Youth League. We are looking forward towards renewed efforts to build and strengthen the relationship among the formations of the Progressive Youth Alliance and on working with young people towards their development. National Development Plan The YCLSA is worried about the manner in which the debate on the National Development Plan (NDP) has been structured following the ANC’s 53rd National Conference held in Mangaung, particularly a polarising approach in which you either embrace or reject it altogether. We believe that both extremes are unhelpful and against the spirit within which the Mangaung ANC Conference resolved, which said that ‘the NDP is a living document’ and that it is not ‘cast in stone’ with its word as the last of the development of the South African society. The NDP document itself concedes that it is neither perfect nor complete. Our approach will be within that framework and context. To suggest, on the one hand, that the NDP is a Democratic Alliance (DA) document and based on DA policies as it is a joint contention by both the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) and the DA, is unhelpful. It is also unhelpful for some in the ANC to suggest that we should, in a very authoritarian manner, accept the NDP, as if it were cast in stone. This would be against what Mangaung said about the NDP. There are two important principles for us. Firstly is the need to affirm the principle of central planning, but which must be buttressed by participatory democracy with the working class in the forefront. We are concerned that although there was extensive virtual consultation in the development of the NDP, it is also important that the NDP is rooted in our communities, workplaces, townships and in all corners of our country if it were to succeed in its objective of mass mobilization not only for implementation purposes but also for allowing an overwhelming majority of our people to inform and develop the plan as a living document. The latter should have been the case in the first place. Secondly, is the need to make use of democratic public participatory process as a platform to contribute in planning and as well as influencing the changes that are required in the NDP and other plans that have been developed. It is exactly these two principles that we shall advance as the YCLSA. At the heart of these principles is also the need to re-look at the structure and the workings of the National Planning Commission. Concerning some of the key theoretical assumptions that underpin the NDP there are extremely problematic premises. There is a deviation from the ‘growth through employment and decent work’ back towards ‘trickledown growth’ in which other transformation and development objectives are subordinated. The NDP is also lacking in emphasis in relation to industrialization, and focuses more on the services sector as well as the so-called domestic oriented sectors such as hair dressing, office cleaning and maintenance. Part of our concerns in relation to dealing with youth employment is the idea that unemployment is caused by the labour law regime which liberals regard as rigid instead of the logic of our economy pre- and post-1996. This leads to the NDP proposing that there must be changes in labour laws so as to make the firing of workers easy, arguing for the strengthening of the placement sector through incentives. The so-called placement sector in South Africa is made up predominantly by labour brokers. The NDP also proposes incentives for employers to employ new labour market entrants. This is highly problematic given that such could mean the youth wage subsidy which as the YCLSA we remain fundamentally opposed. These are some of the things which we will engage with, but hope that the existing policies and approaches would be maintained and further developed, such as the Industry Policy Action Plan and the progressive content of the New Growth Path among others. We will continue to engage with the NDP building on its strengths and seeking the correction of its weaknesses as well as those policy actions which we believe will not be helpful. We will release an extensive critique as the process unfolds. National Youth Development Agency We welcome the appointment of the new NYDA board and offer our full support in their efforts to clean up and restore credibility to the beleaguered entity. We urge the new board to consider with speed the process of reviewing the NYDA act. We are convinced that the current act has many loopholes, remains incomplete and this poses a challenge for the new leadership. The board will determine the new vision, goals and objective of the NYDA. As the YCLSA, we firmly believe that loan finance disbursed by the then uMsobomvu Youth Fund and continued by the previous administration of the NYDA has not made a meaningful impact on the lives of young people. We call for the immediate termination of loan finance by the NYDA and for the NYDA to determine a better, more viable means of financial assistance to young entrepreneurs. We must remind the public that as the YCLSA we were the first organization to call for a forensic audit into the NYDA and for a special investigation into the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) festival. We are pleased with the progress made by the Public Protector on the investigations into the WFDY festival. However, we call on the Public Protector to immediately complete the investigations and release the report the WFDY order to bring the matter to a closure and allow a fresh start for the NYDA. The YCLSA noted the response by the General Secretary of NUMSA, Irvin Jim, towards the Deputy General Secretary of the SACP. We will be releasing a more extensive response in due course. We are however concerned of the racial undertones contained in the response by comrade Jim which are premised on religious sectarianism as an approach of Marxism. We are of the view that destructive labelling will not take our struggle forward. National Council We will be having a National Council on the 27-30 June 2013 in Kimberley. We will also be launching our elections programme focusing on getting young people have Identify Documents and register to vote in the elections. We will be celebrating the 91stAnniversary of the YCLSA, and have an expansive Youth Month programme which we will launch in due course. Youth Accord The YCLSA notes and welcomes the signing by social partners of the Youth Employment Accord this ending week. We are encouraged by the acceptance in the Accord that youth employment programmes should target net new employment creation and avoid displacing older workers. The Accord takes into consideration the important roles that education and training particularly Further Education and Training colleges and Sector Education and Training Authorities, work exposure and therefore a school-to-work transition programme, public sector measures including youth brigades, youth targets, as well as youth entrepreneurship and co-operatives can play in driving youth employment. The Accord recognises that the structural challenges facing the economy will need to be addressed if we are finally to achieve success in dealing with youth employment but it is limited. A number of areas in the accord remain open for engagements and further consolation while implementation of the agreed areas will be taking place. As the YCLSA we shall engage in these processes. Concerning structural challenges we shall be advancing our perspective that the ultimate success in dealing with youth unemployment as with unemployment in general lies in transforming, developing, diversifying and expanding economic activity particularly manufacturing to open new spaces for work. ISSUED BY YCLSA NATIONAL COMMITTEE For more information contact: Khaya Xaba YCLSA National Spokesperson Cell: 071 115 4619 Sent from my iPhone -- -- 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] . 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