ANC backs Red October campaign

Cape Town - The African National Congress has publicly welcomed the SA Communist Party's Red October campaign in support of accelerated land and agrarian reform.

In a statement on Tuesday, national spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said: "The ANC supports the broad objectives of the campaign and commends the SACP for its efforts to mobilise South Africans, particularly workers and the poor, in pursuit of this critical national goal.

"While much progress has been made in the last 10 years in redressing the apartheid legacy of land dispossession and rural underdevelopment, the challenge of land reform remains significant and pressing.

"The ANC welcomes efforts which complement the government's programme of land reform and agricultural development.

"It also welcomes the SACP's contribution to the national debate on how best to accelerate and deepen land reform.

"It will continue to encourage engagement among all social partners on this issue.

"The ANC calls on its members, public representatives and supporters to turn out in support of the SACP's actions, and to continue to engage in public discussion of the issues raised by the SACP on the basis of the ANC's policies, positions and programmes.

"The ANC further calls on all other social partners, including organised agriculture, to constructively engage in the struggle to fundamentally redress the legacy of apartheid and improve the lives of the rural poor."

Why are the Africans so repetitively stupid? Aren't they watching what the land reform in Zimbabwe is doing and did? Take the farms, give them out to the people, the people don't work the farms, farms produce no food, people starve... take more farms, give them out the the people... and on and on.

They have been set up by the UN and various world relief agencies to be takers and not producers. They are the U.S. welfare system on macro setting. Let it happen in SA and that will be another country with a UN relief mission.... handing out food grown and donated by the evil capitalist U.S.

The stupidity goes on and on.

See the SA reaction to GWB's win, and in the same breath asking for more handouts.

US vote: 'Sad day for Africa'
03/11/2004 12:03 - (SA)

Johannesburg - South Africans on Wednesday bemoaned a black day for the world and its poorest continent Africa as George W Bush appeared headed for another term in office.

"I have been keeping my fingers crossed that the American people will see some light, finally," said Amina Cachalia, a prominent anti-apartheid activist and a top campaigner for women's rights.

Bush's likely re-election is a "sad day for Africa, for Muslims all over and for the world in general" said Cachalia, one of dozens of South Africans who attended a gathering in Johannesburg organised by the US consulate to watch the election results.

While conceding that "Kerry was a bit dull", Cachalia pointed out that he would "have staved off on Iraq" and ended a devastating war that began with an issue that has never been proven - Baghdad's alleged stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.

She spoke as results showed that Bush was leading in the number of electoral college votes and Kerry made clear he was not ready to concede defeat as the outcome of the race in the key state of Ohio remained up in the air.

Huge dent

Kevin Malunga, a lecturer of law at Johannesburg's Witswatersrand University, said the expected turn of events was "a huge dent to multilateralism".

"Bush had made it clear, despite his public pronouncements, that Africa was not a priority, so it's bad news for us as well. He reacted very late to crises here - in Darfur, in Liberia and other places - which shows what's important for him."

However, James Lennox, the chief executive officer for the powerful South African Chamber of Business (SACOB) said the organisation had been rooting for Bush as he was tried and tested.

"It's positive as there is a continuity. The Bush administration's business engagement with Africa has been more positive ... I speak of the Millennium Challenge goals, the extension and broadening of the AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act), the funds to fight HIV-AIDS and his receptiveness to free trade."

Simangele Sekgobela, deputy chief economist of South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation, said Kerry's campaign pledges were more in line with South Africa's policies.

"He stands for affirmative action, which is what we are implementing in our country. He is against the death penalty, which is what we support. He, like us, is against privatisation of social security."

"If Kerry wins, he will soften the stand on terrorism. This would lead to stability in the Middle East, the lowering of oil prices and in South Africa result in helping us to curb inflation and boost economic growth."

In a poll carried on News24, a majority of two-thirds of users said they would like to see Kerry in the White House for the next four years. More than 5 000 users participated in the poll.

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