‘We live in a capitalist country’ – SACP’s Solly Mapaila says ‘businesses controls government’

The South African Communist Party (SACP) general-secretary, Solly Mapaila has called out the government for failing to address the living conditions of those who are faced with the reality of soaring joblessness and social inequality.

Delivering the inaugural annual memorial lecture of the late struggle icon Ruth First at the Johannesburg City Hall on Sunday, Mapaila said the job crisis in South Africa needed to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

“We need to make the job crisis one of the most immediate national crisis that [needs attending to.] Government cannot be pandering to the interests of businesses on meeting their demands on social compact.

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“They must just impose prescribed assets and tax the profits of the rich in order to look after society. We must not allow the debt of business exploitation using public funds. We must bring on board the role of public economy,” he said.

Mapaila indicated that he was of the view government was serving the interests of the private sector instead of the general public.

The SACP general-secretary dismissed the suggestion that he was “anti-business”, further expressing concern over the “crisis of the system of capitalism”.

“We live in a capitalist country. Businesses cannot dominate over public interests. Now we have a problem where businesses controls government. The primary task of government is to look after the public. To serve the public, not to serve businesses,” he said.

“We are a revolutionary movement leading a society that is bedeviled by the crisis of the system of capitalism that has then replicated its crisis into society. The greediness of capitalism is such that, all its problems, it transfers them to the people. It never owns its own problems.”

He further said the country’s food crisis also needed to be looked at by government.

“The working class can barely survive… children [are dying] of malnutrition. We cannot have a country where other people die of hunger while other people are dying of overeating. Something is not right and it has be to fixed. We, therefore, need to deal with this food crisis in our country,” Mapaila added.

Mapaila previously criticised the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), accusing the bank of worsening the dire situation poor and unemployed South Africans are facing, by increasing repo rates.

He called for a “radical change” in ANC’s economic policies.

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“We need radical change from the neo-liberal policies that are starting to take charge. The mandate of the reserve bank must be expanded to create employment for our people.

“You increase interest rates and expect what? You are worsening the harsh situation faced by the poor and the working class in this country,” he said.

He described the country’s commercial banks as “a modernised looting system”, calling for state-driven development.

The SACP has repeatedly said that the state could make a more direct contribution to employment creation by turning around public entities, dealing with corruption and expanding the publicly owned sector.