Stop The Ticking Time Bomb

Sections of the bourgeoisie media, with their analyst and academics have again missed the point and are trying by all means necessary to vilify COSATU for trying to do its job, which is to represent workers. Their arguments are too silly for a serious response, so here I won’t respond to them but it is important to put the actions of COSATU into context.

COSATU and its affiliated unions are calling for an urgent implementation of the Occupational Specific Dispensation (OSD), more especially the outstanding aspects of the Resolution 1 of the 2007 agreement in the public service. Apparently both of these are outstanding matters which evolved out of the 2007 progressive public service strike.

In actual reality the public service workers were not just patient, but did not want to paint a bad image of the ANC as it was campaigning to be brought back into power. By this the workers were not compromising their struggle, but were investing into what appears to be a good manifesto and as you know workers bargain.

I personally admire the strength, resilience and discipline of public service workers of this land, as organised by COSATU, who in their numbers voted for the Jacob Zuma led ANC government as they knew that it will address, if not so, pay attention to their needs, demands and aspirations. Nothing prevented these workers from going on strike before the elections, but their discipline. Even thought their employer, they had confidence in the ANC government, especially under President Jacob Zuma.

Leaders of all COSATU affiliates who went department to department, clinic to hospital, school to university campaigning for the ANC heard their grievances and noted their urgency. They promised to be patient but soon after elections, wild-cat strikes began to erupt, the doctors’ strike is by far one example.

The current call by COSATU should be interpreted in this manner, as it is this way. Analysts should stop trying to find inner or deeper meanings when the meaning is out there in the open. The public service workers are demanding nothing but urgency and decisiveness and are saying if this does not happen they will resort to their only form of power which mass action.

So capitalist sponsored analyst, must please stop coming with faulty analysis, didn’t they learn from their faulty analysis of the election results. COSATU explains this clear when it says its action is informed by a ground analysis which indicates that any further delay is bound to escalate the already persistent anger and frustration the public service workers have.

By:Luzuko Buku

Building PYA structures for another decisive victory in 2011

Greetings principled and disciplined young cadres of this revolutionary movement, this is a specific message to leaders and members of the Progressive Youth Alliance. We have made every effort to deliver the youth vote to the ANC led alliance on the 22^nd of April. We were campaigning tirelessly, young people of this land know us because we visited every house, street corner, high school, university, technical college and even taverns because we knew that these are the places where we find young people.

Victory has been achieved but the question now is what lies ahead for our structures? We went in these elections with all the PYA structures intact and they were not just intact for election purposes, but for getting the voice of young people heard across platforms. We should capitalise on the vibrancy, militancy, vigilance and enthusiasm brought by the elections, in order to build and strengthen our structure for another decisive victory in 2011.

Leadership of the ANC Youth League under comrade Julius Sello Malema must go to provinces, regions and branches to make sure political activism is present in these structures. I know of some branches that have become dysfunctional. This thing of building ANC Youth League branches when we are preparing for conference should be a thing of the past. We should have strong branches that will monitor government and ensure speedy service delivery so that we don’t have problems with the masses come 2011 and further.

Regions affected by the Polokwane renegades such as Amathole should be launched with immediate effect. The ANC Youth League in that region should influence the outcomes of the regional conference of the ANC, so that friends of Mluleki George who are still in the ANC don’t get anywhere close to its leadership. This should all be done in the service of the people, with the vision of 2011 in this locality.

I know that the YCL follow what Lenin said in 1923 when he wrote, “We must follow the rule: Better fewer, but better. We must follow the rule: Better get good human material in two or even three years than work in haste without hope of getting any at all.” But I think it is high time that we intensify our Operation Khula Campaign so that Our Vision 2010 becomes a reality. Delegation of the Eastern and Western Cape was quite an embarrassment in the conference and the YCL secretariat should directly intervene in these provinces.

This was a Natonal Council where one would have never been proud to come from one of these provinces, more especially the Western Cape as it had less than ten delegates. Provincial Interim Leadership Core’s (PILC) of these provinces should make sure that the DILCs are established

The leadership of SASCO must make sure that all branches have gone to AGMs or BGMs so that we can run successful SRC elections this year again. The NEC of SASCO definitely knows now that some people who were elected in AGMs last year have defected to COPE and are now beginning to interpret the SASCO constitution as if it says they can belong to any organisation and be leaders of SASCO. The national and provincial leadership of SASCO should go down to branches and clarify this before we go to the NGC.

COSAS should make sure that it exists in all localities and where it does not it must establish task teams. I am one person, who will be willing to help COSAS build it structures in Grahamstown. In 2011 it should be the responsibility of COSAS to deliver the young scholars vote to the ANC led Alliance.

All this should be done in the service of the people in generally and of the youth in particular. By 2011 all young people must see the fruits of freedom to the extent that they would not need any convincing to vote for our movement. By 2011 a significant number of young people should be members of the PYA. As Julius would say, they should be seen in action. Let us therefore go in our numbers and recruit the youth of this country to join us in our quest of defending our revolutionary gains.

Backward Racist Zille, Forward Malema !