Freedom Season

Today (Sunday December 3rd) is the last BGM of 2006 for the SACP Johannesburg Central Branch, to be held at 10h00 at the 13th floor, Old Mutual Building, 29 Kerk Street, (between Loveday and Harrison), Johannesburg. The Branch has to elect a new Chairperson and a new Treasurer. Cde Makhi Ndabeni is now a member of the Gauteng Provincial Executive Committee, and under the SACP Constitution cannot continue to hold office in a lower structure. Cde Martin Rall is leaving for Argentina in the New Year. Next Thursday, December 7th is the celebration of the 21st Anniversary of COSATU. Not to be missed! On Saturday December 9th there will be a Zimbabwe Freedom Festival in the Quad behind the Xarra bookshop in Jeppe Street on Mary Fitzgerald Square from midday up to 19h00. See the linked invitation below, and the map, here. Vukani Mde’s great “political diary” continues to provide good reading in the Weekender. Yesterday he wrote about the demise of the DA and the nature of “opposition”, with interesting input from SACP GS Dr Blade Nzimande. See the linked document below. It’s long since we have had a poem from our SACP comrade and ANC and SACTU veteran in Bristol, England, Ron Press. But here is one at last, in time for the festive season. Click the link below. ANC Today has finally published the report that was an exclusive for S’thembiso Msomi in the City Press two weeks ago. See the link below. While on the subject of ANC publications, the latest Umrabulo (No. 27) can be read here. The festive season will be less festive for teachers thanks to the Department of Education’s inexcusable failure to pay them the money that is due to them. See SADTU’s statement linked below. And a reminder that the festive season is also a building season, with all the risks that employers take with workers’ lives, comes from a News24 report linked below. Trenches are supposed to be shored, that is to say made safe, but shoring costs money and takes time. This time the worker did not lose his life. We have to hope that he has fully recovered and that he will not lose earnings. Notice that the employer’s spokesperson’s name is given, but not the worker’s. This is typical of the bourgeois media. The CU is happy to report that the Swaziland Solidarity Network Forum has pulled out ahead of the others in our family of international solidarity fora. It now has 241 members and a greater number of contributions than the others, too. Second place goes to Zimbabwe Fight On Don’t Mourn, with 186 members. But these latter comrades have pulled off a great feat by organising an event collectively on-line. Look well and learn! The SA Friends of Cuba’s membership stands at 98. The SA-Palestine Solidarity Forum’s membership is zilch, which just goes to show that meeting an obvious need is not a guarantee of success. The members still have to be got in, by an effort. Please help if you can. The new Western Sahara Solidarity Forum, only begun yesterday, also needs a big effort. Click on these links: Zim Freedom Festival, Xarra Quad, 12h00-19h00, Sat 9 Dec (Invitation) Political Diary, extracts, Vukani Mde, Business Day Weekender (1235 words) A Fruitful New year to you all, From Ron Press (Poem) Who are ANC members, What do they think, ANC Today (916 words) SADTU slams DoE for inefficiency and failure to pay teachers (372 words) Construction worker buried alive, News24 (134 words)