CLOSING ADDRESS TO THE 13th NATIONAL CONGRESS THE SACP GENERAL CDE BLADE NZIMANDE
Ever more united, and taking responsibility for the national democratic revolution
We all arrived here a cohesive and united force, and we are coming out of this Congress even more united. It is only a united communist party that can be able to meaningfully play its role as the vanguard party of the working class.
Organisational unity is a huge revolutionary asset that must be nurtured, protected and defended at all times.
Let us carry this unity into our allied structures, but more especially into all the structures of the SACP. Never in the history of our Party since 1991 have we elected all our leadership structures through consensus! Indeed in the process we have disappointed both our enemies and our detractors. Indeed some of them tried every trick to try and find wrong things about our Congress, even used microscopes to try and find any traces or dirt of disunity, including attempts to focus attention away from our Congress through manufactured stories.
Perhaps never since 1994 have we been placed in this position where there is such widespread consensus in our movement about the necessity for further radicalizing the national democratic revolution. The ANC itself, through its policy conference, has called for this. This development, coupled with the deep crisis faced by capitalism globally, provides a unique opportunity for the SACP to advance, in a principled way, policy positions and arguments for confronting the systemic and structural features of colonialism of a special type, capitalist economy in our economy and broadly.
For us it is a call to also deepen the struggle for building momentum for socialism now, including elements of socialism in line with our strategic slogan of ‘Socialism is the Future, Build it Now'. Indeed that is how we should see the resolutions adopted at this Congress, as a platform for our ongoing mass mobilization and activism, as well as a basis for seeking to engage and influence both the COSATU Congress and the Mangaung Conference of the ANC.
The above also provides a very strong foundation for us to implement some of the key challenges as we leave this Congress. The principal task we have comrades is that of continuing and deepening ongoing work in our communities and the workplace. Let us intensify our Know Your Neighbourhood Campaign as a critical component of building and consolidating our VD based branches. Every communist must at least be involved in door-to-door work no less than four times in any one year.
If there is one important achievement of this Congress has been to place ideological work and the battle of ideas at the centre of our discussions. Most important in this regard is a clear message to deepen political education and cadre development in our ranks as a condition for effective waging of ideological struggles in broader society.
The resolution for the establishment of a Party school, without waiting for a building, but to use distance education methods to teach historical and dialectical materialism. Let us also not wait for the establishment of the Party School nationally, but much more urgently let all our structures start discussing our Programme, ‘The South African Road to Socialism' in all our branches and districts, so that by the end of this year we can say all our Party structures have gone through and understand this programme.
The necessity to build the capacity of the state constitutes one of the key challenges as we leave this Congress. Our Party structures must go out and intensify the struggle against outsourcing and privatization in our municipalities as a the foundation for building a developmental state. Our structures must also actively campaign for our municipalities to build capacity to drive developmental projects by rebuilding capacity for direct provision of services rather than through outsourcing and tenders.
Rebuilding a progressive mass movement as the basis for taking forward the struggles of the workers and the poor. We must resist the ‘NGO-isation' of these mass struggles (eg corruption, etc), and rather seek to build NGOs that are rooted and linked to these mass formations where necessary. It is therefore urgent that our resolution to re-build mass movement especially in education and health, and for the Alliance to play a leading role in this regard.
This Congress also joins millions of South Africans and the rest of the world in wishing Cde Nelson Mandela a happy 94th birthday this coming Wednesday. This coming Wednesday communist cadres in our structures and various deployment will participate in the symbolic 67 minutes of active work in honour of the number of years Cde Madiba spent in the struggle.
It is however important for the SACP, the Alliance, and all progressive forces to ensure that, whilst appreciating that Cde Madiba, is a figure respected world-wide, his credentials as a revolutionary are never lost - Madiba the MK Commander, leader of the ANC and our hero in the struggle against oppression.
In honouring Madiba we must strongly reject attempts by liberals and other reactionary forces - many of whom who were complicit in his incarceration and those who never lifted a finger against apartheid - to try and appropriate the name of Madiba in order to condemn the current leadership of our movement.
Let us also take this opportunity to congratulate the newly elected Central Committee. Let us remind ourselves that serving this structure of the Party means hard work and providing leadership in the struggle of the working class in our country. For all of us let us actively participate in a principled manner in COSATU and ANC as they prepare for their congresses.
Let us thank all the participants at this Congress, delegates from our fraternal parties internationally, our volunteers, our donors, service providers, security structures, the police and the media. We also wish to thank our outgoing National Chairperson and National Treasurer, and other members of the CC for the role they have played.
Issued by the SACP, July 15 2012
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