SACP to fight under ANC banner

2003-08-18 13:53

Cape Town - The South African Communist Party will contest the 2004 general election under the banner of the African National Congress, the SACP central committee announced on Monday.

The decision, made at a meeting of the committee in Johannesburg at the weekend, follows speculation that the party would field its own candidates for the first time.

"The SACP will be participating in the ANC-led election campaign through joint alliance election structures," said a central committee statement.

The SACP is a member of a three-sided alliance with the ANC and the Congress of South African Trade Unions, and a number of its members serve in senior government posts.

"In the view of the SACP, the ANC remains the best and (most) strategically placed organisation to lead the transformation of our country and the struggle to build a better life for all," said Monday's statement.

But, there was "considerable common ground" with Cosatu about the need to improve the functioning of the alliance with the ANC.

The committee said it had exchanged views with Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi on the challenge of organising and mobilising "casualised", marginalised and unemployed workers.

Young Communist League

"We agreed that traditional union organisational methods needed to be supplemented with many other approaches, including advice offices, developing the co-operative movement and building other social movement endeavours."

The committee also decided that the Young Communist League, to be launched in December, should focus on mobilising young voters to apply for IDs and to vote for the ANC.

The statement said the SACP's 2003 Red October campaign would see the launch of the party-initiated Dora Tamana Savings and Credit Co-operative to provide savings, credit and basic insurance products to its members.

This initiative flowed from the SACP-led campaign for the transformation of the financial sector.

- SAPA