Statement on the first anniversary of the death of Comrade President Nelson Mandela
The SA Communist Party joins the millions of our people in SA and worldwide in commemorating the death on 5 December 2013 and celebrating the revolutionary life and times of our revered leader, former President of the African National Congress (ANC); first Commander-in-Chief of the people's liberation army, uMkhonto we Sizwe; founding President of our first democratically elected government, Comrade Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Tata Madiba, Nkosi Dalibhunga.
Comrade Mandela was a revolutionary to the end! He never defined himself or accepted to be defined outside the collective leadership of, and outside the national liberation movement led by the ANC. He in fact declared with sense of humour, that the first thing he will ask after death when he arrives in heaven is whether there is an ANC branch, and that if there is none he will go ahead and establish it.
Aluta Continua - the struggle continues in memory of Comrade Mandela.
Comrade Mandela was a great leader of our ANC headed Alliance, the people of SA and in fact beyond. He was a leader without borders. Indeed he inspired many throughout the world. He epitomised unity in diversity. Comrade Mandela was dedicated to our ANC headed Alliance, believing that this revolutionary movement represented the best organised formation to lead and complete the liberation of our people!
In memory of Comrade Mandela the vanguard Party of the working class and socialist advance, SACP, in which he actively participated just before his arrest in the early 1960s, will unashamedly continue to build and defend our Alliance with the ANC and the progressive labour movement headed by the Congress of SA Trade Unions (COSATU).