TITO GETS A RED FLAG
Communists scoff at economic plan
● The SACP has dismissed finance minister Tito Mboweni’s paper on economic growth as a “right-wing” deviation from the ANC manifesto.
In a 36-page response, the ANC’s tripartite alliance partner says Mboweni’s proposals were tantamount to “throwing ANC electoral support under the bus”.
The SACP hopes to convince the ANC to reject the interventions suggested by the National Treasury when they meet at the alliance political council with Cosatu. Cosatu has also been critical of the policy paper.
The SACP’s stance on the Mboweni paper is set to put the party at odds with President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has endorsed the proposals.
Mboweni shocked many, including his ANC comrades, when he released the “Economic Transformation, Inclusive Growth, and Competitiveness: Towards an Economic Strategy for SA” document to the public in August.
He called on the public to give input on the document before it was tabled in any ANC or government structure.
The SACP response is one of more than 700 submissions that have been made since the policy paper was released.
The SACP said it “rejects” as “nonsensical” the Treasury’s suggestion that Eskom sell its coal-fired power stations.
This was also not adopted at the recent ANC national executive committee (NEC) meeting. Though the Mboweni report was not fully endorsed by the ANC, the NEC did adopt some of the proposals, including those for modernising network industries, increasing competition and lowering costs and barriers that inhibit small businesses.
ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte said the governing party would not respond to the SACP in the media.
“That is their view and their perspective … if we have a view, it will be direct to them,” she said.
The SACP has suggested that alternative funding be found for Eskom and that the government keep full control of the power utility, its infrastructure and its assets.
The SACP response was consolidated after it took part in the ANC economic transformation commission workshop and NEC meeting to which it was invited after the release of the L:paper.
The SACP document cautions the ANC not to make promises to voters that serve only the interests of the private sector.
The party said the commitments made “in the manifesto should take precedence” and that the Treasury paper was something different.
The party accused the Treasury paper of seeking to expose the infrastructure and assets of all state-owned enterprises to privatesector profit exploitation and capital accumulation interests.
This, the party argued, should not be allowed in order to protect public property rights and democratic public control in the interest of the people.
“Privatisation of Eskom power stations is rejected.
“In the like manner, the privatisation of our rail, water, Telkom and other strategic/SOE infrastructure/networks, among others, and their exploitation by private profiteers, is resolutely rejected,” reads the SACP response.
“More than ever before, SA needs a thriving, publicly-owned economic sector to drive national transformation and development imperatives — destined for improving the quality of life of the people.
“The sector must be turned around, expanded and safeguarded against conveyance in any form whatsoever to, and therefore capture by, private exploitation and profiteering interests.”
The SACP accused the Treasury of attempting to “roll back” the national minimum wage and of scrapping the extension of collective bargaining agreements.
According to the SACP, this “stands to inevitably increase inequality and impugn the bona fides of the ANC”.
“With regard to the national minimum wage, we commit ourselves in the manifesto as thus: ‘More recently, we introduced unprecedented legislation in South African history, the national minimum wage, which will improve the wages of at least 6-million workers’,” reads the SACP paper.
“If it is to be a strategy for inclusive growth, the National Treasury paper has to be revised to categorically push compliance with the national minimum wage and outline concrete policy steps towards a living wage, as opposed to effectively rolling back our collective manifesto commitments.
“What is done in the National Treasury paper must be done in line with the manifesto.”
The SACP believes that the Treasury paper seeks to protect the economic interests of the few at the expense of ordinary citizens.
To counter this, the party suggests a macroeconomic approach that would bring about what it terms “a people’s economy”.
“The National Treasury paper explicitly mentions the private sector in its conception of a capable state and a social compact that it proposes to support the said state.”
Mboweni’s spokesperson, Mashudu Masutha-Rammutle, said: “The minister of finance will soon be meeting with the alliance partners and requests time for this process to be allowed to take its course before responding to any media queries on this issue.”