The General Secretary of the SACP, Blade Nzimande,
Comrades,

Dumelang, thobela, sanibonani!

The African National Congress (ANC) and its allies, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP), salute the workers of our country on this 14th Worker's Day celebration since our freedom.

We salute the workers for their sterling contribution to the liberation we celebrated just a few days ago on April 27th. We pay tribute to the workers for their role in the rebuilding of our country and the economy and for their contribution to the transformation and development of our country since the dawn of freedom.

This is a very significant day for workers throughout the world. This is the day on which workers demonstrate their solidarity and commitment to the fight against the oppression and exploitation of workers, and to the struggle for their rights, a living wage and human dignity.

In South Africa during the struggle against apartheid the fight for recognition of May Day as a paid public holiday and for the reduction of working hours provided impetus to our ongoing struggles.

May Day continues to provide a platform for working people and the working class in general to mobilise around the challenges of the present. With the inception of a new democratic government in 1994, led by the ANC, much has been done to improve workers rights.

Workers have been guaranteed by the Constitution:

* the right to fair labour practices;
* the right to form and join trade unions, strike and picket;
* the right to conclude union security agreements such as closed and agency shop;
* the right to collective bargaining.

These rights were not merely handed to workers. They fought for them.

Progressive laws have been passed to safeguard the rights and improve the working conditions of workers.

Laws such a Labour Relations act, Basic Conditions of Employment act, Unemployment Insurance Contributions Act, Skills Development Act, and others have helped to reinforce Constitutional guarantees.

However, much more needs to be done to improve the working conditions of many of our workers. Primary amongst the areas of focus are our rural workers, especially farm workers.

The ANC and its allies consider rural development as a central pillar of our struggle against unemployment, poverty and inequality. Workers living in rural areas face the brunt of poverty. Many of them work long hours for poverty wages. Women in particular, who form the majority of residents in rural areas, face the burden of poverty more than men, especially in the former homelands and Bantustans.

We took a resolution in Polokwane that ANC branches would work together with the progressive trade union movement, particularly the Food and Agricultural Workers Union, government agencies and civil society to promote the rights of farm workers. This would include ensuring the vigorous implementation of laws that protect farm workers and farm-dwellers.

To correct the injustices of the past, we will also have to ensure that women increasingly become the beneficiaries and decision-makers with regards to strategies to overcome poverty in rural areas. We also need to invest more resources in our rural development programmes, including infrastructure such as roads, water and electricity supply.

Also critical is the access to land. The land restitution programme has not achieved the results that were envisaged. We have only succeeded in redistributing 4% of agricultural land since 1994, while more than 80% of agricultural land remains in the hands of fewer than 50,000 farmers and agribusinesses.

We resolved in Polokwane to redistribute 30% of land by 2014 and to provide support for subsistence farming and food security, while maintaining a productive agricultural sector.

We need to advance the interests of the rural poor, while obviously balancing them with the need for the sustainable growth of the commercial agricultural sector.

I have met with some sections of the white farming community recently and they are supportive of the land reform programme as well as broad-based black economic empowerment. They see value in its success for future social and economic stability.

Comrades, as we are all aware, there are a few issues that pre-occupy workers and indeed all South Africans currently. These include the energy crisis, food security and crime.

We have said that the energy crisis should be seen as an opportunity and not as an adversity. It is an opportunity for us to begin to use electricity in a more cost-efficient manner. We also expect the investment in new energy infrastructure to help create more jobs.

For example the conversion of traffic lights into solar power, re-opening of power stations which had been moth-balled in the past, to name a few, should result in the creation of jobs.

We are aware that the electricity crisis has given some employers an excuse to threaten workers with retrenchment. It is essential for the ANC to work closely with its Alliance partners and the business community to ensure that we save jobs.

The ANC is also concerned about Eskom's recent calls for a 60% increase in the price of electricity, as this increase will have a negative socio-economic impact on especially the poor. We have therefore called for a national energy summit to look at constructive ways at dealing with the electricity crisis.

Comrades, we all have a responsibility to fight crime. The gains of the workers and all sectors of our country cannot be undermined by criminals.

We are expecting reports from all our provinces soon on how many street committees have been established since our national conference in Polokwane. The committees will work closely with the police and community safety forums.

We must emphasise however that the formation of street committees is aimed at supporting our police officials, and is not an indication of a lack of confidence in them.

We are not in anyway creating a vigilante force of some sort, and our members belonging to the street committees will need to be thoroughly briefed on their roles. They will not be allowed to take the law into their own hands.

We reiterate that all of us have a role to play in the fight against crime. Today we call upon all our people to stop buying stolen goods, and to influence all those who do to stop. Armed robberies and burglaries will not stop until we close the markets for stolen goods.

Some of the common items taken during contact crimes include cellular phones, jewellery, computers, television sets and other electronic goods.

In some instances, people lose their lives while thieves and armed robbers take off with these goods. Buying stolen goods makes the buyer an accomplice in the ill-treatment and even murder of fellow South Africans.

Comrades, all our people, like the rest of the poor in the world, face the brunt of rising food prices. The social grants that our government provides to over 12 million citizens go a long way towards alleviating poverty, but are now under strain due to the rising cost of living.

The ANC and its Alliance partners must lead the fight against high food prices. We will seek an interface with key players in the production and distribution of food such as farmer's organisations, retail chain stores, and suppliers of processed and packaged food to search for a solution.

The access to land for subsistence farming is critical, as people should be able to plough and produce food to mitigate the impact of high food prices.

Comrades, we cannot turn our backs on the socio-economic crisis in Zimbabwe. We must develop an approach to deal with the scores of refugees in our country. The ANC government will naturally take strong measures to restrict illegal immigration, while also bearing in mind the human rights ethos of our country. Africa did not turn its back on us during our hour of need, during the struggle against apartheid.

We urge our citizens to be understanding, and for all us to work together to fight xenophobia and any ill-treatment of Zimbabweans or any other foreign nationals on our soil.

We are convinced that the Zimbabweans will find a solution to the impasse, and urge the international community to be ready to assist in the economic recovery of the country.

On this 14th worker's day celebrations since the dawn of freedom, let us celebrate the gains that the workers have scored, and then work together to meet the challenges of our times.

Amandla!
Matla!