Janayugom Webdesk
C. Adikeshavan
July 28, 2022 5:30 am
TheThe 15th Party Congress of the South African Communist Party (SACP) was held last week in Boksburg, a city east of the country’s capital, Johannesberg. Governance and future policy approaches were also discussed and decided on the party’s organizational issues and strategies for expanding its popular base as an ally in South Africa’s ruling front. Another ally of the ruling front, Central Union of South African Workers (COSATU) president Singwiswa Losi inaugurated the party congress. Losey’s speech criticized some of the wrong tendencies of the African National Conference (ANC), which leads the three-party coalition government, and expressed his views on the stance the Communist Party should adopt. Losi criticized the coalition partners for taking an approach of protecting the exploiters who preyed on the country’s poor, and pleaded for the Communist Party’s help in purging the ANC. Losey accused the ANC of being gripped by the specter of sectarianism and rampant corruption.
South African leader and former Secretary General of the Communist Party Moses Kotane also spoke at the Congress. Moses Cotane was a leader who received praise globally, including from former Venezuelan President Chávez. Kotane told congress delegates that Marxism needed to be modified to suit African conditions. He added that it should be made possible by taking the essence from the working class struggles and the Paris Commune in Europe and further strengthening the movements started by the African ancestors.
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Representatives of communist and workers’ parties from countries including Venezuela and Cuba attended the SACP congress as friendly delegates. The leader of the Venezuelan delegation, Jesus Faria, greeted the party congress. Blade Simande, the current Secretary General and Minister of Higher Education in the Coalition Cabinet, tried to explain the party’s organizational system and administrative procedures in his speech. He criticized the government for pursuing a neo-liberal economic policy instead of social and cooperative economic policies that would help the upliftment of the country’s workers and marginalized sections. He added that neo-liberal economic policies based on profit and market and under the control of capital forces and elites should be dismantled and efforts should be made for a national economic policy that is different from such policies. The country’s economy, which is dominated by stock market gambling, inequality, corruption and financial oligarchs, needs to be questioned and corrected. The party secretary general accused the aristocracy that controls the economy and controls the country’s democratic process. South African President and ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the SACP Party Congress.
The party congress considered that it is the duty of progressive democratic forces to stand for the people beyond profit, the environment against private exploitation and global solidarity against growing inequality and imperialist militarism.
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The Party Congress expressed solidarity with the people who are fighting for democracy and the survival and progress of the socialist system in the world. The Party Congress pointed out that the imperialist aggressions led by Western powers against countries like Venezuela and Cuba should be taken seriously. Imperialist – capitalist powers try to plunder the resources of various countries by challenging the sovereignty and political self-determination of the countries. Although the parliamentary elections in 2018 and 2020 and the regional elections in 2021 were the recognition given by the people of Venezuela to the rulers there, imperialist powers including the US continue to harm that country without acknowledging it. A similar approach is taken with Cuba. The South African Communist Party hailed the Latin American countries which have overcome all the challenges and intrusions of the US and are increasingly coming over to the socialist side.
As the ruling party of the country, the party congress has comprehensively evaluated the conditions of economic structure and social progress. South African geo-state strategies are of great importance in giving light to the whole world especially the African continent. South Africa is also a member of BRICS, a political and economic alliance. However, the country’s economy is facing prolonged stagnation due to the increase in the prices of fuel and essential food items. Almost half of Africa’s population is unemployed. In 14 African countries, the Covid vaccination rate is less than ten percent. The country and the continent are facing such a big challenge.
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Therefore, the party congress seriously discussed the decisions to solve the problems of the country and the continent even while being a governing partner. The four-day long party congress concluded with the decision to organize activities for problem solving inside and outside the administration and to build a stronger party organization to lead the country forward. Even in the second half of the last century, South Africa was a country that had to face the dark times of apartheid and struggle for independence. The world has much to learn from the African Communist Party as such and currently as part of a coalition government.