DA statement on the SACP and Cde Nzimande trip to Cuba
The SACP have noted media reports on the visit of our General Secretary Comrade Blade Nzimande to Cuba in his capacity as the Minister of Higher Education and Training and the linking of that visit to that of Party cadres already in Cuba on a fraternal mission.
We should indicate from the outset that Comrade Blade has the right to visit any country in whatever capacity he deems necessary to advance our democratic revolution and transformation agenda of our country, not least to communist country like Cuba, a true example of best human development achievements, revolutionary internationalism and selflessness including towards our country.
The DA insinuates that comrade Maleka visited Cuba at state expense. This is an absolute imaginary fabrication and a deliberately concocted lie, it is entirely not true. However, we know it helps the DA to perpetuate its principled differences and attack on communism and the persona of Blade Nzimande, to tell consistent lies about the SACP, unfortunately believed by some in the media.
Comrade Malesela Maleka our national Spokesperson, and a team of Party activists in the trade union movement, went to attend a training programme in Cuba on the invitation of the Communist Party of Cuba, a strong and a fraternal ally of the SACP and the liberation movement in SA.
We wish to state clearly that we do not account to either the neo-liberal rotten capitalist Democratic Alliance nor its youth formation on the work of the SACP but to our members and the working class of our country. We will not allow the DA to divert us from the core work of fighting for a transformed social and production relations in our society from the capitalist to socialist ones in order to change fundamentally the living conditions of the working class and the poor, to end poverty caused by the corrupt capitalist system so revered by the DA and to create and egalitarian society of true equals which Cuba is the best example.
We will continue to make trips and political exchanges with the Socialist Cuba to strengthen our revolutionary political relations and solidarity. To this end the SACP has remained at the frontline struggles for ending the illegal and evil American economic blockade against Cuba and for the release of the Five Cuban heroes unjustly imprisoned in USA jails for fighting terrorists attacks against Cuba from American soil.
The rumour mill and gossip journalism will destroy this country and the essence of the role of media in our country. We clarified this to the Mail and Guardian when they asked about this matter and in turn they ignored the clarity and printed a story based on their own imaginations against veritable truth. It is this kind of reporting that motivates us to continue fighting for transformation of the media with an independent and transparent accountability.
Comrade Maleka and other comrades are still in Cuba and had left even before comrade Blade went to Cuba at our expense not the government's. We will appreciate truth and honesty whenever the media deals with the SACP not based on hearsay and gossip.
Statement issued by the South African Communist Party Head Office, February 1 2011
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