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We, delegates of the 8th Provincial Congress of the South African Communist Party (SACP) in Free State province, carrying the hopes and aspirations of the working class and poor in our province, convened from 22 to 24 April 2022 at Naval Hill Lodge in Bloemfontein, Mangaung. The opening of Congress coincided with the birthday of a great Bolshevik revolutionary, Comrade Lenin, whom we continued to celebrate posthumously and draw revolutionary inspiration. The 8th Congress was dedicated to our late Provincial Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson Comrade Bereng Soke and Comrade Mbuyiselo Jacobs, respectively. In honour of our fallen comrades, Congress recommitted to serve our people and the Party selflessly, guided by the Congress theme “Put people before profit: Build Popular Power in Defence of the National Democratic Revolution for the Working Class and Poor”.

The Congress drew delegates representing structures of the SACP, District and Provincial Executive Committees, Central Committee deployees and representatives of the Young Communist League of South Africa, COSATU and ANC who shared fraternal messages of solidarity. The Congress received reports and inputs from the 7th Congress PEC, Free State Premier, and political address from the Party Central Committee. These evaluated progress made and challenges experienced by the Party and society since our 7th Provincial Congress. Delegates held frank discussions, which included sobering constructive self-criticism and acknowledgement of weaknesses, including by ANC leadership itself. Congress adopted resolutions that offer practical socio-economic, political and organisational interventions that we committed to undertake.

Towards a reconfigured Alliance and revitalisation of the NDR

The SACP Free State 8th Congress asserted that the class contradictions in our political economy have become sharper and predominant, reproducing stubborn high unemployment rate, worsening poverty and widening inequality that still exhibits interconnected racial, class and gendered prejudices. Consequently, Congress reaffirmed the continued relevance of the revolutionary Alliance and the socialist oriented national democratic revolution (NDR) as the appropriate programme to respond and overcome the systemic fault-line features of our political economy.

However, Congress acknowledged the weaknesses affecting the integrity of our movement in our province and derailing the NDR resulting in the erosion of our electoral support and capacity to drive a thorough-going transformation agenda. As part of our immediate tasks to address these weaknesses in our province, Congress agreed that the Party has a vital role to play towards the renewal and strengthening of the NDR and the ANC, forging working class unity and building a responsive campaigning vanguard Party of socialism.

We view the interlinked renewal of the movement and meaningful reconfiguration of the Alliance as indispensable, to position the movement to revitalise and drive the second more radical phase of the NDR that must necessarily infuse socialist elements and orientation. This must further entail strengthening the capacity of progressive forces to discipline private monopoly capital, roll back the neo-liberal austerity measures and defeat the fight back against forces of state capture and corruption. Our alliance efforts must be programmatically anchored and earnestly help transform the socio-economic conditions of the people, especially the working class and poor communities.

Congress welcomed the role the SACP played in Metsimaholo in 2017 after contesting the municipal by-elections independently and winning three Council seats, following the brutalisation of the working class and embedded disservice to the communities in the face of neglect of the NDR and erosion of the gains of our NDR. The SACP occupied mayoral position in the municipality and Congress appreciated the work done, and the endurance and determination of Party comrades, despite complex challenges and obstacles encountered. This resolution will go down in history as the most decisive decision to defend the NDR and the working class. It also resulted with all 320 unjustly dismissed municipal worker being ultimately reemployed in the municipality. With the implementation of this resolution, the Party was able to introduce practical reconfiguration from below, in line with the 14th Congress resolution on state and popular power.

Congress committed to work closely with COSATU and extend our mobilisation effort to the broader working class, and build left and popular fronts that take up progressive struggles and defend the gains of our democratic breakthrough.  We have equally committed ourselves towards rebuilding the progressive civic movement in the province and mobilise mass struggles for improvement of basic services to the people and for a responsive local government. Getting local government right is an important task and we resolved on structured Alliance mechanisms to coordinate our political management of governance across the province.

On Socio-economic development

Congress noted the demographic and statistical facts of the province, which amongst others show that unemployment rate stands at 35%, with youth unemployment, in particular at 44% when using expanded unemployment rate, poverty and inequality levels are also widening in a province. These statistics represents real lives of real people whose socio-economic conditions derive from the crisis of capitalism, and have been worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic and the jobs shedding neo-liberal posture in the economy. Women in particular carry the burden of the resultant economic and social crisis which feeds the crisis of social reproduction, the scourge of gender-based violence and security challenges in our households and communities.

Congress called for interventions aimed at opening and diversifying the provincial economy, targeting labour absorptive productive sectors of the economy. In this regard, the province must exploit its advantageous geographical location and revitalise abandoned industrial areas and designate new industrial, agricultural and agro-processing sites that must be located to reorganise the skewed apartheid spatial settlement architecture.

These efforts must prioritise the role of cooperatives and support them as they offer greater prospects to help with addressing our unemployment, skills and infrastructure development challenges. Such reindustrialisation interventions will help in ramping up provincial commodity production and manufacturing capacity, and reposition the province as the central hub for the freight and logistics sector. Congress also agreed on the need for urgent intervention to coordinate, mainstream and support the township solidarity economy within our communities, working especially with Party structures and deployed comrades of our movement.

Congress noted that corruption tames the prospects of faster socio-economic and quality infrastructure development needed by society. The reports of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture has exposed that in the Free State, wanton looting of state resources by parasitic networks was at alarming levels. Congress committed to intensify the fight against corruption, in both private and public sectors.

Congress further urged law enforcement agencies to move swiftly into the prosecutorial phase, based on the revelations of corruption at the commission of enquiry. Law enforcement agencies must also aim, through asset forfeiture, to recoup public resources lost through state capture. Such resources should be used to rebuild and strengthen state assets and entities, such as SAA which is being collapsed with clear privatisation objectives. SAA must be protected, supported and strengthened to become a pillar within the aviation industry. Congress agreed that support must entail preferential utilisation of SAA by government and its entities for domestic and international travel.

Struggle against environmental pollution, degradation and climate change

Congress highlighted the direct link between the destruction of the environment and ecology with capitalist productive relations responsible for unsustainable extraction of raw materials for over-production in the interest of profit maximisation and at the expense and destruction of the environment. The resultant environmental pollution and climate change crisis and outbreak of pandemics are real, as we have seen the devastating flooding disaster in Kwazulu Natal. Congress expressed its solidarity with those affected by the floods and committed to contribute and support relief efforts for the affected.

Congress expressed outrage at the inability and incompetence of Eskom management and board, who are failing to turn around and stabilise power supply in the country. With the winter season upon us, the board and management must desist from arrogantly engaging in unnecessary theatrics and focus on addressing the current rolling electricity load shedding, which impose untold consequences on communities such as rotten food with potential for negative health impacts.

Congress agreed to intensify campaigns against lack of access to water in the province, and pursue struggle against environmental pollution and climate change, with greater focus on polluting mine dumps and industrial areas across the province. In this regard, Congress reaffirmed the Party resolution of the renationalisation of Sasol and called for the repurposing and strengthening of state-owned enterprises, together with explicitly the extending the mandate of the Reserve Bank and Treasury to support employment creation and safeguard existing jobs.

International context and global balance of forces

The SACP Free State Congress noted that the main contradiction between labour and capital is sharpening internationally, with capitalist and imperialist forces scrambling to maintain and expand their global hegemony. Congress noted the capitalist deployment of new technologies as instrument to intensify exploitation and displacement of workers, rather than being used to expand capacity to address social needs and ease and improve working conditions of worker. Whilst the US-led imperialist hegemony in the economy, technology, culture and military remains a reality, it is however declining owing to the decay and crisis ridden nature of the global capitalist system. As a result, imperialist forces are intensifying their economic and military offensive in various parts of the world especially in the global South as we have seen in their wars in the Middle East and Latin America and destabilisation of the African continent with the ultimate aim of weakening alternative power emerging through China and Russia as their strategic economic and military targets, respectively.

Congress condemned the provocative eastward military expansion by the NATO, and the continued disregard of security and military concerns raised by the Russian Federation. The current special military operation by Russia in Ukraine is a direct response to the military encirclement of Russia by US and NATO forces, as well as the brutalisation of mostly Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the Donbass region.

Congress reaffirmed the SACP position calling for an end to all wars and condemned the US and NATO allies for the uncontrolled pumping of sophisticated weaponry, worth Billions of dollars, into Ukrainian battlefield occupied by untraceable mercenaries and reactionary radicals operating in Ukraine, alongside neo-Nazi Ukrainian nationalists. Congress commended the South African government for their steadfast position for peace and negotiations and rejecting imperialist flirtations to court our country to be on the belligerent camp of imperialist forces.

Conclusion

Congress closed on the day Comrade Oliver Tambo ceased to breathe, marking the 29th anniversary since his passing. Furthermore, Congress closed three days before both the 1stanniversary since the passing of our chairperson, Comrade Bereng Soke, and the 27th anniversary of Freedom Day on 27 April 1994, which marked our democratic breakthrough.

As delegates to this successful and historic 8th Provincial Congress, we pledge and commit to intensify the struggle for socialism, carry through our resolutions and carry forward our vanguard role to defend, advance and deepen a socialist oriented national democratic revolution.

Put People Before Profit: Socialism is the Future- Build it Now!

The Newly elected SACP Free State PEC is as Follows:

Provincial Office Bearers

Provincial Secretary: Stofile Bheke Charles

Provincial Chairperson: Mtolo Siza

Provincial Treasurer: Matsipa Lucy

1st Deputy Provincial Secretary: Kholoanyane Teboho

2nd Deputy Provincial Secretary: Simango Mojalefa

Deputy Provincial Chairperson: Tshongwe Lindiwe

PEC Members

Dlamini Mapule

Kganyago Phillip

Khoabane Oupa

Lesenyeho Eddie

Mahlatsi Dibolelo

Mahlatsi Kennedy

Masondo Bafana

Mohapi Lerato

Mokotla Matshepo

Moeketsi Napo

Moeketsi Nelson

Moloi Fanyana

Mongale Refilwe

Mosia Jonas

Nchocho Mapule

Phera Molefinyana

Setabela Mamikie

Issued by the SACP Free State Province