Boycott The SAIC!

Below we reproduce an article which was first published in Jana Shakti, a bulletin distributed amongst the Indian community at home.

Jana Shakti congratulates the Natal Indian Congress, other patriotic organisations and prominent Indian personalities in amicably resolving their differences on the question of the tactic to be employed in the common opposition to the bogus SAIC. We hail their united call for the total boycott of the SAIC "election" due to be held in March 1980. This is in accord with the wishes and desires of the overwhelming majority of our people and there can be no doubt that the Call will meet with their full and enthusiastic approval.

On this issue of the boycott of the "elections" as in every aspect of the struggle against apartheid and for freedom, the key to success is the unity and organisation of the people. Tactics are not immutable nor a matter of principle. The question is to find the most effective tactic to achieve our set aim — in this case, the destruction of dummy institutions imposed on the people by the enemy for the survival of white domination.

Let us look at the SAIC

Fundamentally, the South African Indian Council was imposed on the Indian people in a period of mounting black opposition to Apartheid. It began with the creation in 1961 of the Department of Indian Affairs and the Minister was empowered to appoint a "National Indian Council" to advise him on certain Indian matters of the regime's choosing. Faced with the hostile opposition of the Indian community little progress was made. In 1963, 100 Indians were invited to attend a "conference" in Pretoria. This was done secretly and the participants were carefully chosen collaborators who had no mandate from the people.

Following this "conference" the appointment of a 21 man National Indian Council was announced. Even the hand-picked collaborators could not be trusted and the Secretary of Indian Affairs was to act as chairman. The Congress Movement totally rejected this scheme. Our people's hostility was such that only the most rabid reactionaries and sell-outs accepted their appointments .

In 1972 the size of the Council was increased to 30, of these 25 would be appointed and 5 elected. In 1973 it was announced that 15 members would be appointed and 15 elected through "electoral colleges" comprising members of Indian local Authorities, Local Affairs Management and Consultative Committees. In both instances a boycott of the "elections" was called for.

Throughout the sixties and into the seventies we actively opposed the SAIC. As we foresaw and as experience was to confirm, the SAIC solved none of our basic problems, such as, Group Areas, education, housing, health, work and unemployment. Even those sectors that had illusions about the SAIC began to reject it.

The people's rejection of the SAIC was manifest when we refused to register for the electoral roll, leading inevitably to the measures taken by the racist regime to coerce us into participation. In March 1980, 40 members are to be elected on a common voters roll and 5 nominated.

Why has the regime shifted from its original plan of an appointed body to a predominantly elected one? Did the regime have a mad streak of "liberalism"? Does it believe that the Indians can now be trusted to elect "yes men"?

It is apparent that the forthcoming election is a crucial first phase in the regime's attempt to incorporate the so-called Indian leaders into the white dominated political apparatus envisaged by the Tri-Parliamentary System. J.N. Reddy the arch turncoat, for example argues that "not until the SAIC held full elections had it the rights to commit the Indian community to any new political dispensation proposed by the government".

The appearance of a few Blacks in an advisory capacity in the white political structure, as envisaged by the 3 - Parliamentary scheme, will do nothing to change the power vested in racist white hands. The real object of the exercise is to "Indianise" our oppression and to isolate the Indian and Coloured people from their African compatriots, thereby hoping to prolong white domination.

We therefore cannot look at the question of the SAIC elections in isolation from the overall political, economic and social situation in the country. This must be viewed as one aspect of the regime's broad strategy which includes the partial relaxation of "petty Apartheid", the move to so-called multi-national sports, the acceleration of the Bantustan programme, the constitutional proposals, the further regulation and control of black labour following on the Riekert and Wiehahn Commissions, etc.

Why has the regime been forced to make these changes.

  1. the change in the balance of forces internationally, and, after the collapse of Portuguese colonialism, in Southern Africa in favour of the forces of national liberation in Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa; b. the growing strength, stature and success

  2. of the Patriotic Front in Zimbabwe, SWAPO in Namibia and the African National Congress in South Africa in organising and mobilising the masses of the oppressed and exploited for the armed seizure of political power;

  3. the heightened mass upsurge, particularly in the post-Soweto period, of resistance to and defiance of the racist regime of South Africa by all sections of the oppressed, with increasing numbers seeking out and joining the ranks of the ANC as the surest means of organised revolutionary struggle; the increasing success of our movement in the processes of mass political mobilisation, strengthening of our underground structures and preparations for the launching of the armed struggle as reflected by the growing armed confrontations now taking place inside our country between the racist forces and units of MK;

  4. the acute economic crisis which has gripped the world capitalist, and as an integral part of it, the South African economy which is now going through a recession with a very low growth rate, rising unemployment affecting even white workers and with an estimated 2 million unemployed among black workers; rising prices especially in basic necessities such as food, fuel and clothing. To further fuel this economic crisis is the energy crisis resulting from the oil embargo imposed against the racist regime by the new government of Iran which previously supplied 95% of the country's oil needs;

  5. the continued and increasing isolation of the regime internationally — politically, economically, diplomatically and culturally — making it difficult for the regime's allies to come to its open support and to block moves to impose mandatory economic sanctions and an oil embargo to supplement the arms is at the moment.

These are the main elements of the crisis for the Apartheid regime impelling it to take measures inside and outside the country to cope with, divert and absorb the assault on it. It is also within this context that the regime has opted for the policy of Kragdadigheid reflecting itself in the brutal and bloody repression of all radical opposition inside the country especially revolutionary cadres of our movement, as well as the murderous acts of aggression against the Front Line states to stop them from supporting the armed liberation struggles. It is this policy which is moving the regime to a growing political, economic and military support for the Muzorewa/Smith clique in Zimbabwe and its own unilaterally imposed National Assembly in' Namibia against the UN proposals.

The Nature and Purpose of "reforms"

None of these so-called reforms are capable of solving the real issue in our country, i.e., the destruction of the Apartheid system and the creation of a democratic non-racial South Africa free of exploitation. It is clear that the central aim of the "reforms" is:

  1. to weaken and divide the oppressed, particularly the Coloured and Indian peoples from their African compatriots, thus attempting to breach the growing unity of the oppressed. This unity is an essential prerequisite for our final victory. In boycotting the elections we will forcibly demonstrate our fundamental belief that freedom is indivisible and that there can be no substitute for total political, economic and social independence.
  2. to win the active collaboration of that tiny section of our community who hope to gain by playing the racist game.
  3. to create illusions of change and divert our people from our basic demands as envisaged in the Freedom Charter.
  4. to drive a wedge between the people and the liberation movement, headed by the ANC.
  5. to break out of its international isolation, by seeking, with the aid of its imperialist allies, to project a new "liberal" image.

Mobilisation

We must not allow a basis for the creation of Muzorewas, Sitholes and Savimbis in South Africa. Our struggle is not for token changes but for a fundamental transformation of the whole Apartheid system and the creation of genuine People's Power. As we have shown, the SAIC, like all other dummy institutions, is an integral part of the regime's total strategy. Its very nature and the clearly limited and controlled areas of operations is calculated to ensure that participation within the institutions is designed to divert our politics into channels acceptable to the regime and hence, irrelevant to our basic interests.

At this stage when there is a revolutionary upsurge in out country and when the majority of our people have experienced the fraudulent nature of dummy institutions and have no confidence in them, the most effective tactic is the boycott tactic.

The crucial task of mobilising our people around the main issues facing them both now and in the future cannot be carried out from within such institutions. To achieve this we have to find the organisational structures and methods which have their roots among the masses and which relate to their aspirations. It is therefore imperative that. we ensure that existing community organisations and groups are strengthened and that they tackle these specific issues through all forms of struggle.

The election issue is one such opportunity to carry out the mass mobilisation of our people. Many leading political, religious, cultural. sporting, educational, welfare and civic organisations and personalities have come out in active support for the boycott call. Our people's mood of militant resistance is clearly shown by the failure of the sell-out Reform and Democratic Parties to organise meetings and to establish branches in our community. Furthermore, although registration is compulsory only 70% of the eligible voters have registered to date. Before registration was made compulsory, only 11% had registered even after the closing date had been extended a few times.

It is imperative that an active country wide campaign be mounted to convince all our people:

  1. that despite the elective principle now governing membership to the Council its character and role as an instrument of our own oppression has not altered;
  2. that the new Constitutional proposals cannot in any way be an alternative for our demand for a single Parliament consisting of democratically elected representatives of all the people of our country;
  3. that these are measures designed to further entrench white supremacy rule with out approval.

The campaign should call for the rejection of both the SAIC and the new Constitution as irrelevant to our fundamental aspirations which we share in common with our African, Coloured and democratic White compatriots and which are enshrined in the Freedom Charter.

At the same time we should seize the opportunity afforded us by the imposed elections to broaden the political consciousness of our people around the burning issues confronting them daily as well as in the long term, issues which the SAIC has in the past been unable to solve and which in future it will be powerless to solve because they lie at the heart of the oppressive and exploitative system of Apartheid. These are:

  1. an end to group areas — the right to travel, trade and live in an area of one's choice;
  2. an end to Indian Education — the right to universal, free and compulsory education to high school level; the right to higher education and vocational training in non-segregated institutions and to study and be trained in the field of one's choice and ability without any restrictions;
  3. the end to job reservation — the right to a job and profession at one's highest skill and ability;
  4. an end to differential wages and salary based on race classification and the demand for equal pay and equal opportunity for the same work;
  5. an end to all restrictions on trade union rights — the right to join a trade union of all workers of one's trade and profession without interference or restrictions; with the right to free collective bargaining for better wages and working conditions including the right to strike; the right of all workers, black and white, to enjoy these rights;
  6. an end to unemployment and the right of all workers to a job and profession with full security;
  7. an end to political tyranny and the repression — the right to free political association; the demand for the release of all political prisoners and detainees;
  8. an end to separate elections, to separate racially exclusive political institutions — the right to elect representatives of all the people in free and democratic elections to a single Parliament together with the right to stand as a candidate and be elected to all civic and administrative bodies at local, regional and national level.

These are the issues confronting us and they are the ones we have honestly and in the simplest possible manner to put before our people. These are the issues which should form the demands and basis of our campaign.

The election campaign provides us with one opportunity for mass political mobilisation. The daily problems and conditions afford us the continuing base for this process. In no circumstances must the election issue create the illusion that the SAIC can serve any useful purpose in this process or that it can be used as a platform for furthering our basic aspirations.

Our Tasks

Reject all dummy institutions!
Boycott the SAIC elections!
Fight for the demands enshrined in the FREEDOM CHARTER!

SECHABA - August 1980