The South African Communist Party (SACP) says Joe Slovo would be disappointed in the use of uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) symbols to unseat the African National Congress (ANC).
This follows former President Jacob Zuma’s decision that he will urge people not to vote for the governing party. The former ANC president said he would rather campaign and vote for the newly formed MK Party and not the ANC of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
A Marxist-Leninist, Joe Slovo was an opponent of the apartheid system. He was the first white person to be part of the ANC-NEC.
After serving in the Second World War, he became the first MK Chief of Staff and one of its longest-serving combatants.
With Zuma now using MK symbols to wrestle power from the ANC at the polls, Slovo’s party says he would be very disappointed.
SACP Spokesperson, Alex Mashilo says, “Slovo lived until MK was dissolved, and he formed part of the ANC NEC that presided over the dissolution of MK based on its historical mission. What former president Jacob Zuma is doing is pure reformism. It is something that MK was never established to do and to divide the ANC; if the ANC succeeds, he will be in a state of big sorry.”
In commemorating Slovo’s death, the SACP says a fitting tribute to its late national leader would be to ensure that his socialist-oriented policies find expression in the ANC-led government.
“The ANC just needs to go back to its Morogoro Strategy and tactics adopted in 1969 in remembering Slovo, review the revolutionary content of that strategy and tactics, and be true to history and follow them. We are not saying they should abandon the recent one, but there are certain fundamentals that characterise what a national democratic revolution is. We will be happy to see them return to that.
And as the ANC goes to the elections, Slovo would have loved to see the demands of the working class included in its election manifesto.
“Radical reduction of inequality, eradication of poverty, and the right to work for all—we must defend the achievements we have made in education and we must solve the problems we have in the health care system. These are the key priorities that the SACP is going to advance. However, these priorities are not going to be successful without removing the stranglehold within our policies. It is the neo-liberal policies that sustain the high levels of unemployment, poverty, and inequality. It is the neo-liberal policies that brought us load-shedding.”
SACP General Secretary Solly Mapaila, flanked by representatives from the ANC, Cosatu, and SANCO, will deliver their commemorative messages.
