General secretary of the SACP Solly Mapaila has called on the ANC to take its power back from the clutches of the monopoly capital which wants the country’s assets to be privatised.
He said the privatisation of state assets as well as network economies which include water, transport, telecommunications and energy is a sign that the ANC has chosen to advance the interests of the capitalistic system which has infiltrated the country’s spheres of governance.
“Network economies which include energy, transport, telecommunications, water and sanitation should not be in the hands of the private sector. Bringing competition into the economy when the country is a developmental state is equal to the privatisation of the network economy and other strategic sectors,” he said.
Mapaila said the country’s capitalist economic system has waged a war on the revolution and has used some among the ruling party to further its ends of privatising the country’s assets which should be used to benefit citizens.
He was speaking during his address to members of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) at the Durban ICC on Tuesday.
He said the country’s political class has given up its power to to criminal and business cartels who are calling the shots and dictating the country’s affairs.
“We are being failed by the criminalisation of our politics which has shifted the power of the elected political representatives to criminal cartels and shady business people who have gone as far as criminalising the ANC as a political party, the SACP and all components of the democratic movement,” he said.
He said this move has led to the credence that crime pays, and urged Popcru members and the incoming leadership of the union to guard against such elements.
“We must free ourselves from the criminalisation of our politics. We need to move ourselves away from these cartels because capitalists have waged a war against the working class and have gain confidence. They want to remove us from political power and they want us below 50% for us to go into coalitions because they want to rule this country themselves,” he said.
Mapaila said the ANC was no longer in charge of the affairs of the country due to the infiltration of the party by some of the elements that have made it easy for capital to have a say in the direction of the country’s economy. He urged the ANC to take back its power in order to be able to implement core policies of the party.
“We have forgotten how to rule, which is why we must take back our political power and exercise the right way as long as we are still in charge, because according to Marxism, the ruling class is the dominant voice in society and must take charge of this responsibility,” he said.
The Star