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The South African Communist Party (SACP) stands in solidarity with our esteemed ally, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), on its National Day of Action, Thursday, 6 July 2023. This protected protest, authorised under Section 77 of the Labour Relations Act, serves as a vital platform to advocate for and safeguard the socio-economic interests of workers across South Africa.

The SACP endorses the progressive demands put forth by COSATU during this National Day of Action. We recognise the pressing need to address the many challenges faced by workers and the broader South African society. Therefore, we pledge our unwavering support for the following critical issues.

Ending the undermining of collective bargaining

We firmly stand against any actions that erode the rights of workers and undermine collective bargaining. The government and capitalist bosses must recognise and respect the fundamental role that collective bargaining plays in ensuring fair labour practices and protecting workers’ rights.

Reducing interest rates and prioritising employment creation in monetary Policy

Together with COSATU, and other progressive South Africans, the SACP has been calling on the National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank to discard the “don’t care” monetary policy attitude and replace it with a new, caring monetary policy content and approach. Today, as the SACP, we want to use this opportunity to reiterate our call. 

We are calling for a new monetary policy framework. This must prioritise the expansion of our domestic productive capacity and employment creation as part of the explicit mandate of and accountability by the Reserve Bank. 

A caring monetary policy should include long-term moderate interest rates and a low-interest rate framework to support productive capacity expansion and long-term sustainable employment creation. This move will provide much-needed relief to individuals, households, and enterprises, not least co-operatives, burdened by high borrowing costs, ultimately stimulating the economy and employment creation.

Tackling unemployment

The staggering rate of unemployment in South Africa is a matter of grave concern. Together with COSATU, we are agreed to call for radical policies and immediate action to combat this crisis. By implementing effective strategies and investing in employment creation initiatives, we can provide opportunities for the approximately 12 million active and discouraged work-seekers affected by unemployment.

Combating crime

The SACP recognises the urgent need for comprehensive action to stop and prevent crime in our communities. Crime not only threatens the safety and security of individuals, but also hampers economic development. We stand with COSATU in demanding measures that effectively tackle crime, creating a conducive environment for investment growth and social well-being.

Resolving the energy crisis and ensuring a truly just transition 

The energy production and supply under-capacity crisis in South Africa has had far-reaching implications for families and the economy. We join COSATU in calling for immediate government intervention to resolve this crisis. The availability of reliable and affordable energy is essential for economic stability, investment and employment creation, and the overall welfare of our society.

Because of neoliberal structuring, Eskom has been hollowed out through outsourcing. In many communities, what our people are made to think is Eskom is actually not. It is contractors and subcontractors to which critical Eskom operations have been outsourced. Going hand-in-hand with this is tender bribery, other forms of corruption, and ruthless exploitation of workers in the outsourced operations. This must come to an end. As the SACP, we want to take this opportunity today, to call for a review of all Eskom’s outsourced operations, with the aim of in-sourcing them back in-house.  

We are calling for a public pathway, both to resolving the ongoing energy production and supply under-capacity crisis and to build a just transition to a low-carbon economy. 

In simple terms, we call on the state to invest in new power generation capacity, including renewable energy, to make publicly owned power generation capacity the mainstay of our national energy security. New, publicly owned power stations must be completed in record time. Those responsible for poor work and failures to complete publicly owned power stations in record time, including the Medupi and Kusile Power Station projects, must face the music.

South Africa has seen a decline in Eskom electricity generation capacity under the neoliberal policies the government adopted, starting with imposing GEAR in 1996, combined with and compounded by corporate state capture, other forms of corruption, and associated governance decay. This is the context in which 15 to 16 years later, after starting the construction of the too little, too late introduced Medupi and Kusile Power Station projects, the two remain unfinished. Because of cost overruns, this contributed, in no small measure, to the rise of the Eskom debt crisis. 

The White Paper on Energy, which the government adopted in December 1998 under the auspices of GEAR, for example, prioritised liberalising energy generation as a sector. This was in favour of insinuating competition to Eskom in energy generation from the profit-driven private power producers, called IPPs. Unfortunately, the failed neoliberal approach continues to dominate much of the government’s thinking on pursuing new energy generation capacity and a transition to low-carbon energy production, for example, renewal energy.  

How can we forget that the government rejected the national democratic revolutionary measure of building national energy security through consolidating and deepening electricity generation self-sufficiency or productive state power generation capacity. 

In pursuing neoliberal energy policy prescripts, the government claimed that private power producers had become the source of national energy security all over the world. This was false, of course. In China, for instance, the fastest growing economy which overtook many developed economies to become the world’s second largest economy today, the state is in charge of almost 100 per cent of electricity generation. Recently, China built six new publicly owned power stations in under three years. 

While our government followed neoliberal policy prescripts, corporate state capture and other forms of corruption and governance decay gained dominance, and failures in completing the Medupi and Kusile Power Station projects to secure 100 per cent power generation and supply reliability from both, old Eskom power stations aged. Breakdowns and failures increased at the aging Eskom power stations.

The imperative to resolve the energy production and supply under-capacity crisis is crucial to industrialisation and employment creation – for without uninterrupted power supply de-industrialisation will continue and industrialisation will be a myth. 

Tackling violence in general and gender-based violence in particular 

The SACP strongly condemns all forms of violence, especially gender-based violence. We say COSATU’s demand for decisive action to address violence in general and, particularly, the pervasive issue of gender-based violence, is our demand, too. We must work collectively to create a society where everyone feels safe and secure, regardless of gender.

Upholding municipal workers’ political rights

The blanket prohibition on municipal workers serving as political party office bearers, as stipulated in the Municipal System Amendment Act of 2022, undermines the political rights guaranteed to workers by the constitution. The SACP stands with SAMWU and COSATU in opposing this prohibition and calls for its repeal, ensuring that the political rights of municipal workers are respected and protected.

Reconfiguration of the Alliance and forging a popular left front, building a powerful, socialist movement of the workers and poor

Entering into an alliance should not be construed to be synonymous with subordinating our independence to any alliance partner. A revolutionary alliance must be enabling, as opposed to neutralising or, at worst, paralysing. Therefore, we want to use this opportunity, once more, to invite COSATU and its affiliates, to join the SACP: 

Together, as working-class formations, and as the socialist axis of our Alliance, let us deepen and widen our own unity and the unity of the working-class at large. 

Let us build working-class power and democratic hegemony both in our movement and across society. 

Let us exercise our independence and hold high the banner of working-class interests.

Let us work together to forge a popular left front and build a powerful, socialist movement of the workers and poor. In the ultimate analysis, a new breakthrough, the much-need transition to socialism, the sustainable solution to neoliberalism and capitalist barbarity, will come from a revolutionary movement consciously committed to socialism. Without a revolutionary movement, there can be no revolution. 

We want to urge COSATU and its affiliates:

Let us strengthen our efforts to advance our shared struggle to reconfigure the Alliance. The reconfiguration of the Alliance and forging of a popular left front, building a powerful, socialist movement of the workers and poor, are not mutually exclusive. These tasks are mutually reinforcing. This is about taking care of both the present and the future, comrades. 

In conclusion

The SACP reiterates its full support for COSATU’s National Day of Action and its noble pursuit of advancing the rights and welfare of workers in South Africa. We encourage all our members, supporters, and progressive forces to stand in unity with COSATU, amplifying their demands for a just, equitable, and prosperous society. Together, we will continue our shared struggle for a better future for all, not least the workers and poor.