SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande said the party's understanding was that the overriding theme of the summit should relate to the struggle to roll back the frontiers of poverty in South Africa by setting social development goals that enjoyed as much national profile as growth, inflation and budget deficit targets.
He said that while unrealistic and excessive expectations would not be placed on the summit as a one-day event, the SACP believed that in the light of the complicity of private capital in sustaining and supporting apartheid and exploitation of the majority of South Africans, the summit had to deliver no less.
"The summit must not be a talk shop. Agreements should be reached on, among other things, enhancing labour-intensive approaches in the public and private sector, especially in regard to major infrastructural construction projects. Labour intensity must be the basis of granting contracts".
Nzimande said a growth and development strategy could not be seen in isolation from the HIV/Aids pandemic in South Africa, and the SACP welcomed last year's April announcement by government of a comprehensive approach to HIV/Aids, as well as a comprehensive treatment policy.
"Unfortunately there have been long delays in implementing an effective public health antiretroviral plan, and we cannot understand why there has been so much delay. We call on government to move forward with its commitment in this respect".
Nzimande said, concerning Zimbabwe, the SACP stood firmly for the promotion of an environment in which free political activity could take place without fear and intimidation, and expressed its solidarity with the workers and the poor who were the worst affected by the current crisis in that country.
Regarding Swaziland, he said the SACP remained convinced that a lasting and sustainable situation solution to the lack of democracy and ongoing repression in that country lay in the ongoing political struggle for democracy taking place there. – Sapa.
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