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As the working class in Gauteng continues to bear the brunt of Covid-19 and its challenges, the SRWP would first like to acknowledge the loved ones, relatives, comrades and friends that we have lost during this tough period. We stand in solidarity with grieving families who are struggling to find closure, as funerals have been further restricted during this second wave. 

We thank all the health and front line workers who are working under extremely difficult conditions to save our lives!

As the working class, we have seen government’s complete disregard for our lives. We must protect ourselves from this disease. The virus can be dealt with by regularly washing and sanitising hands, sanitising surfaces you are regularly in contact with. Further we must wear a mask at all times especially when in public areas and remember social distancing. 

As we protect ourselves and our families during these difficult times, this pandemic is unsurprisingly destroying the working class. The working class is already struggling to live with dignity in an extreme capitalist and unequal society. The basic necessities required to live a decent life such as housing, water, electricity and food have been turned into commodities and made inaccessible to the majority of the working poor and unemployed especially in our marginalised townships and rural areas in Gauteng. Today we sit with an unemployment rate of 28,48%, mass poverty and deep set inequality that haunt our everyday lives. These are the socio-economic conditions that favoured the rapid spread of the coronavirus. 

Gauteng is the economic centre of South Africa and is used by South African and international capitalists as Africa’s finance and economic hub. Gauteng is  home to some of the largest impoverished townships in the country. The province has a total population of 15,4 million. It is not shocking that infections and deaths in this province due to Covid-19 have increased exponentially in this second wave, so much that Tshwane has been identified as a Covid-19 hot spot for new infections and deaths and Gauteng as South Africa’s new epicentre.

The government’s contempt for the lives of the working class and during this crisis is demonstrated by the dire and sad state of the public healthcare system in Gauteng and it's unpreparedness to fight this virus. Gauteng accounts for 27% of the total infection cases in South Africa. 

This corrupt regime and its officials continue to lie to the public about the actual state of our public hospitals during this pandemic. An already dilapidated Public healthcare system is now overwhelmed with patients who die in tents due to lack of beds, equipment and oxygen rather than Covid-19 directly. 

Government funds for PPE that is supposed to protect our frontline workers during this time, has rather filled the pockets and bellies of greed driven politicians and individuals who value profit over human lives.

Furthermore, the "Solidarity Fund" has shown more solidarity with business and advertising companies rather than victims of this pandemic. This only shows how the interests of the bourgeoisie have been well tended to during this crisis.

This regime continues to push its neo-liberal logic of blaming the working class for the spread of this virus while completely disregarding the socio-economic conditions which this virus meets on the ground. 

As expected it is the working class as usual that has suffered the most losses of life from the pandemic. We have seen how Mr Ramaphosa and his cronies refused to implement an existing wage agreement for public sector workers in 2020, further demoralising public health workers during the pandemic. We cannot as the working class tolerate a regime that trashes our interests so easily and unapologetically!

That is why, as the SRWP in Gauteng we support the Urgent demands for people's relief! We understand the need to organise around our demands as the working class especially during this time. 

The SRWP in the province must actively organise the unemployed and working poor, around these demands during this second wave of the pandemic. We must promote these demands as not just working class demands but demands for our human rights! The revolutionary party must intensify its work in Gauteng.

The only solution to this inhumane and brutal capitalist system is Socialism! 

Our Demands, as the Pandemic Worsens! 

During the period of the lockdown, we suffered together with millions of the working class families who are unemployed and those who lost jobs. Hunger became the reality in millions of working class homes especially as job losses swelled. Government social assistance was chaotic, poorly administered and grossly insufficient to cover the millions of affected families in the province. This situation was worse for immigrant workers, they were simply treated as if they do not exist.

It should have been this period that a durable and efficient screening, testing, isolating, quarantining and contact trading regime should have created, which would today, have been very useful to contain and control infections and deaths.  It should have been during this  period an efficient and well oiled supply system for PPE should have been created. It should have been this period that repairs and expansion of the public health system should have taken place. None of this was done.

We instead witnessed a looting frenzy of money meant to fight the pandemic to unparalleled levels in the history of post 1994 South Africa.  Money meant for patients struggling to breathe and crying in pain with Covid-19 was looted, by a liberation party in government with the help of White Monopoly Capital.

The public health system in Gauteng is today totally unprepared for the massive surge in infections, illness and deaths due to the pandemic.  This situation is on fully display for all to see, in the media.  We demand that the provincial government meet urgently with health sector unions and produce a plan to resolve all the problems outlined above.

While we appreciating that sourcing and buying vaccines may be a national government competence, we are worried that with the poor state of affairs in the public health sector, Gauteng will not be able to administer vaccines as efficiently and quickly as possible, when they became available. With a crumbling decayed public health system, embedded corruption and demoralised health staff, we do not see how the Gauteng government can be trusted to quickly get as many health workers and people in Gauteng vaccinated.

We would have expected that Gauteng as the heart of the South African economy and with the largest share of the national population would lead in pushing government to source vaccines and start the vaccination programme as soon as possible. We are worried that both provincial and national government are doing nothing to push back on the primitive and backward superstition, conspiracy theories and negative campaigns against vaccines by mounting a massive public awareness preparatory campaign on vaccines and why everyone should be vaccinated.

Are we to assume that this silence and inaction is because government is not willing to spend on vaccines in order to sustain it’s austerity policies?  We demand that the provincial government must immediately meet with relevant organisations including trade unions and professional associations and community leaders to produce and mount a vaccination campaign programme.

Gauteng has more than its fair share of poverty, unemployment and inequalities,  all which have now been more visibly put on display by the pandemic.  Critical shortage of  electricity, housing, food, and poor access to the internet are serious problems of the working class. Drug abuse, gender violence and many other violent crimes are rife in the province.

The untransformed apartheid social and physical geography has meant that super rich parts of the province monopolise resources and poorer largely black and African working class parts remain concentrated poverty zones.  We reject with the contempt it deserves the talk of so called “township economies”.  South Africa is a unitary state and has one economy, a White racist colonial dominated economy.  We demand that a pandemic moratorium on personal debt payments  retrenchments, electricity cut-offs, evictions and dismissals.  

To combat the mass hunger in the province we demand that the government immediately put in a place a mass feeding scheme. 

We demand that the Gauteng government take the responsibility to guaranteeing the province wide access to masks, sanitizers, water and soap especially for pensioners and the unemployed working class.   We demand to meet and discuss with the Gauteng government their plan to deal with all the glaring geography and socio-economic crises the pandemic has so visibly exposed and worsened.  We will not accept that the post pandemic socio-economic system of Gauteng remains rooted in the apartheid system.

The majority of the working class in Gauteng rely on mini bus taxi for transport.  These vehicles have been allowed 100% load capacity.  South Africa has confirmed it has an infectious mutant of the corona virus.  Continuing to allow taxis full loads is genocidal and totally inhuman.  The virus will not be defeated by this mode of transport.  South Africa will suffer longer than necessary if the  taxi industry is not fully subsidised and modernised to ensure that it can safely transport passengers.  We demand that the provincial government must immediately start negotiations with both the taxi industry and national government to resolve this burning matter

There is sufficient evidence now to show that keeping schools open during the pandemic, especially with a more virulent and infectious mutant which affects all ages and when infections rates are high is the best way to prolong the pandemic. 

The Gauteng government must insist to national government that as geographically the smallest province but with the highest population density, it is suicidal to open schools when infection and death rate from the pandemic are high.  We demand that the provincial government take measures which ensures that school feeding schemes continue, school children in black and African working class communities are given internet access and safe spaces where they can continue to study remotely.  

All working class students who are in universities and those who have qualified must be allowed to continue their studies without being burdened and blocked by admission and tuition fees.  Millions of workers have lost their jobs.  Education must be free.

We shall fight tooth and nail to stop any deepening  of the inequalities in the education system during the pandemic.  We condemn allowing rich independent schools to open when the majority of learners in this country are virtually on lockdown and not learning.  We demand equal access to equal quality education for all learners.

The Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party in Gauteng demands  from every worker, employed or unemployed, every pensioner and every learner to always were mask in public spaces, wash hands with soap frequently, isolate and quarantine as the case may be  and submit to screening and testing.  It is our responsibility to take care of each other, and save our lives.

We are committed to working with all government, community, civic, youth, schools, universities, faith, labour and political structures and organisations to wage war on the coronavirus.   Together we are convinced that armed with the most relevant and advanced science we can beat the virus and win our lives back.

Issued by Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party