By Thapelo Molefe
South African Communist Party (SACP) Secretary-General Solly Mapaila says the country’s working class can no longer afford to remain divided, as the Conference of the Left concluded on Sunday with a commitment to coordinate campaigns against unemployment, poverty, inequality and privatisation.
Addressing delegates at the close of the three-day conference in Boksburg, Mapaila said the gathering had demonstrated the possibility of cooperation among left-wing political parties, trade unions, community organisations and social movements despite their differences.
“The working class of South Africa can no longer afford fragmentation, passivity and sectarianism or endless tactical paralysis,” Mapaila said.
“The working class has no reason to remain divided at this hour of its need.”
The conference adopted a political declaration and agreed to establish a Council of the Left, a coordinating structure that will bring together participating organisations to drive campaigns and programmes agreed to during the conference.
Mapaila said the council would not be a new political party and would not contest elections, but would instead coordinate action among organisations participating in the initiative.
The council is expected to hold its first meeting within six weeks.
Delegates adopted a programme focused on economic transformation, the cost-of-living crisis, land reform, public healthcare, climate justice and international solidarity.
The declaration calls for state-led industrialisation, public investment and job creation programmes, saying that unemployment should not be accepted as a permanent feature of South African society.
The conference also supported the expansion of public, worker, cooperative and community ownership in key sectors of the economy and called for greater democratic control over production, finance, land and energy resources.
Participants rejected privatisation and outsourcing, saying that both have weakened workers and undermined public services.
Mapaila said one of the urgent tasks facing the left was opposing what he described as the privatisation of strategic state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and public services.
The declaration also commits participating organisations to supporting mass action, including demonstrations, strikes and community campaigns around issues affecting working-class communities.
Delegates identified the rising cost of living as one of the most pressing challenges facing South Africans and called for action against food price increases, high electricity tariffs, transport costs and other basic expenses.
The conference further endorsed the National Health Insurance (NHI) programme and called for the strengthening of public healthcare services.
On land reform, delegates resolved that land dispossessed through colonialism and apartheid should be returned to African people and that land redistribution should be accelerated.
The conference also adopted a position on energy policy, calling for an energy mix that includes renewable energy, coal and nuclear power under public ownership and democratic planning.
Delegates rejected what they described as externally imposed energy transition models that threaten jobs, industrialisation and energy security.
International issues featured prominently in the declaration, with delegates expressing solidarity with Palestine, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Western Sahara and countries in the Sahel region.
The conference reaffirmed support for South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and called for intensified solidarity with Palestinians.
Mapaila said the conference had attracted more delegates than organisers initially expected and described it as the beginning of a longer process aimed at rebuilding working-class unity.
“We are together and we will fight together,” he said.
“The future belongs to organised working class.”
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