SOUTH AFRICA—Since early 2018, South Africa has been faced with what they refer to as “loadshedding” or rolling blackouts. This has continued. During December 2019 the president announced that the country will have a break from the rolling blackouts.
A month did not even pass before the president again addressed the nation that a fault at Kusile power station resulted in the return of the rolling blackouts. This caused some controversy as the Deputy president told the public that the board of Eskom (the public electricity utility) misled the president. It was the Deputy president’s public statement that paved the way for Jabu Mabuza to resign. He was the Chairperson of Eskom at the time. This again was just a strategic move to silence those who were blaming him for problems at Eskom, not knowing that his master will again put another puppet in his place.
There have been many excuses for the continuing blackouts. At one particular time last year Eskom claimed that the coal was “wet.” “Experts” have claimed that the breakdowns are a result of aging plants that have not been maintained. Others are blaming the previous administration for not performing proper maintenance during what they labeled as the “nine wasted years”.
Some are blaming the current minister of public enterprise, Pravin Gordan, for failing to turn things around at Eskom. Instead, he’s been sent by his handlers to collapse the State-Owned Enterprises so that the public can put pressure on the government to sell them to private “strategic” partners.
Eskom’s problems are deliberately created. Greedy capitalists are inflating contract prices to make huge profits. These are the same people who want to see Eskom in their hands or control so that they can be the ones who are producing electricity. That is, by exploiting the working class and ordering their puppets, which are the politicians, to implement their plans.
In a communist society the means of production will be owned and controlled by the working class. The working class will be producing for the needs of the working class and not for exchange value. Electricity will be produced for the benefit of the working class and not because a few greedy individuals will or need to make profit.
Hence it is important to demolish the material basis of capitalism, which is money. This cannot be achieved or realized through negotiations or changing of government. Capitalism can only be demolished through mobilizing and organizing the masses to fight the bosses and their puppets. We must replace it with a communist society through a revolution —because they will not give up power easily.
The International Communist Workers Party (ICWP) has drawn many lessons from past struggles of the working class in fighting the bosses and their system. One is that it is important for the working class to fight directly for communism. A communist society will not be realized by passing through a stage of socialism as done in the past.
It also important to mobilize and recruit masses to join ICWP worldwide as no country lives in isolation from other countries. Capitalists operate on a global scale. When it is time to protect their interests, they temporarily put their differences aside and work together to avoid what is called a “domino effect”. We need to mobilize and recruit all the masses. That includes key workers such as the soldiers, industrial workers and also students.