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(A)
HISTORY OF SOPA (a) What
does SOPA stand for? (b) Where
is Azania? (c) What
is Socialism? 1. The
Socialist Party of Azania was formed on 21March 1998 at the shaft No.17
in Johannesburg. The significance of launching a party on March 21 is
the historical importance of that day. Also the significance of
launching a Socialist Party in shaft No. 17 is the connection of the
venue with the working class. 2. What
led to the formation of SOPA was the abandonment of the Socialist
principles by AZAPO ( the former torch-bearers of Black Consciousness
and Socialism) and the gagging of membership by the leadership, in all
major decision making forums. This meant that only the leadership has a
right think and make decisions, not the membership. 3. Those
who formed SOPA are former members of AZAPO, those who were not in AZAPO
but believe in Socialist, and those who were with Steve Bantu Biko
during the time when then Black
Consciousness (B.C) was in the forefront in waging a struggle against
oppression, imperialism and capitalism. SOPA came as no accident as all
the parties in this country have one common interest i.e to represent
the interests of private property. SOPA on the other hand, represents
the interests of Black people especially the poor and the Black working
class. The interests of private property are main cause for the
suffering of Black people in general and the Black working class in
particular. The interests manifest themselves in the following forms: 3.1 Private
ownership of more than 87% of our land - most if not all owners are white. This
led to millions of Black people who are the righful owners of the land
to be landless. We are the only country in which the indigenous people
(Blacks) are landless while the descendants of the former white minority
colonial settlers comfortably own almost every square kilometre of land.
Some private owners of our land do not even live in South Africa and
even churches own a lot of land that was forcefully taken away from
Black people- literally stolen. Land also is a main requirement for
housing the nation Therefore, the ownership of land by private entities
makes it accessible to the people that is supposed to benefit -the
majority Black People. 3.2 Privatisation
of
state owned business e.g Telkom, Portnet and Escom. Privatisation
means the selling of state (government) owned business to private
business corporations. Private business corporations by business with a
sole purpose of making profits. In order to make profits, private
business believe in cutting down costs and so doing, the first victims
are workers in our country, the majority of the working people are Black
people. Therefore, when private business down size their business, the
most affected workers by retrenchments are Black workers. 3.3 Pro
capital labor laws have been enforced since the new government came to
exist in 1994. This has led to the reversal of the gains made by the
organized labor (trade unions) during the struggle against the white
minority regime. The consequences of the reversal of the gains have
been: (a) Retrenchments
leading to more than 10 million jobs losses; (b) Outsourcing
of the so-called non-core business leading to increase in the creation
of secondary labor -reducing employment benefits. (c) Nullification
of the right to strike and to bargain by legally protecting the usage of
scab labor. (d) Creation
of Economic Processing Zones where labor laws have no effect; (B)
LAND AND HOUSING POLICY OF SOPA 1.LAND POLICY 1.1 Land
is natural asset and should benefit all the inhabitants. Therefore, in
our view private ownership of land should be forbidden. 1.2 First,
a workers’ republic must be established where people will be put above
profits/capital. Once this is achieved, land should be kept in the
custody of the state of behalf of citizens. 1.3 Laws
protecting the environment must be enforced so that all citizens can
live in a clean and healthy environment. Industries must find
alternatives to production processes that emit substances which pollute
the environment. 1.4 Agriculture
must be one of the main employment creation industries and should
refrain from producing genetic products. 1.5 Water
and electricity must be provided for free to all citizens. As a natural
resources, water must not be made a commodity as this will lead to it
not being accessible to all the inhabitants of the land. 1.6 Indigenous
trees, wild animals, rivers, national parks, dams and everything that
comes natural with land must be protected by law. All these resources
must not be owned by private entities. 2.HOUSING 2.1 Provision
of housing must be responsibility of the peoples’ government. SOPA
government will make sure that the type of housing produced takes into
account the family size. 2.2 A
house that takes into account the family size (minimum standard) has the
following. (a) A
bedroom for parents(mother and father); (b) A
bedroom for the girls; (c) A
bedroom for the boys; (d) A
dinning room; (e) A
bathroom( with a shower, bath and toilet) (f) A
study room and; (g) A
lounge ( to watch TV and play music) 2.3 The
will be two types of housing namely, rental and ownership. Rental will
be for those who cannot afford ownership but the minimum standard will
be maintained. 2.4 Only
the house not the land on which it is built will be allowed private
ownership, as the land policy will always apply in all aspects. Even
private industries will only have ownership of the factories not the
land on which factories are built. 2.5 The
building of houses will not involve the financial institutions, as
building of houses will be the sole responsibilities of government. 2.6 The
process which will be followed once the SOPA government is realised will
be as follows: 2.6.1 Expropriation
without compensation for land owned in absentia; 2.6.2 Expropriation
without compensation for privately owned and unused land; 2.6.3 Redistribution
and re-allocation of all land for housing and other purposes; 2.6.4 Allocation
of more funds towards housing, education and health; 2.7 The SOPA government will be less concerned about job creation as the
entire labor process in the country will be labor intensive as opposed
to being capital intensive. This approach to productivity will on its
own eliminate unemployment and automatically create more jobs.
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