SACP unwaveringly reaffirms support for SA’s active participation in BRICS Plus and condemns the right-wing forces trying to usurp power and exercise fabricated minority veto to undermine our national strategic relations with BRICS countries
25 October 2024
The South African Communist Party (SACP) congratulates BRICS on the successful 16th BRICS Summit held in Kazan, Russia, from 22 to 24 October 2024. The now growing BRICS initiative is a crucial international relations and co-operation programme in humanity’s struggle for a just world order.
To achieve its strategic objectives, the BRICS initiative must help cement the hard-won national sovereignty in Global South countries and advance to move the world away from the relations, history and legacy of imperialist exploitation and domination.
The SACP militantly reaffirms its unwavering support for South Africa’s continued active participation in BRICS, including at the 16th BRICS Summit that just ended in Kazan, Russia.
The imperialist-underpinned right-wing agenda of the DA must not be allowed to undermine South Africa’s long-established international relations and co-operation policy programme.
We stand firmly with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s principled articulation of the historical and enduring friendship between South Africa and Russia. “We continue to see Russia as a valued ally, as a valued friend, who supported us right from the beginning: from the days of our struggle against apartheid, right through to now,” President Ramaphosa rightfully stated. Only the beneficiaries of apartheid would dare to challenge this undeniable truth, especially given the deep-rooted history of solidarity between our nation’s historically oppressed majority and the tremendous support we received from the Russian people against the apartheid regime: then the Russian people were at the heart of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
The established international relations and solidarity between South Africa and Russia are not only based on shared history but strategic partnership aimed at ensuring the continued sovereignty and development of our nations. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s call for “greater diversification of trade and investment between South Africa and Russia in key sectors such as energy, agriculture and science innovation” stands to further contribute positively to this partnership.
The co-operation is a progressive one given the broader imperative to shape a future free from domination by imperialist class forces and states, with which right-wing domestic organisations like the DA have consistently aligned themselves. The SACP reaffirms its condemnation of the minority attempts to seek veto power over our country’s direction. In this regard, the SACP reaffirms the critical stance that it has correctly adopted vis-à-vis the right-wing-DA-including GNU, which the DA aims to use to further its agenda, including fabricating minority veto over our country’s governance and direction.
The BRICS summit in Russia was an important chapter in the struggle against global hegemony, pushing for a “fair multipolar world order,” as President Putin stated. By standing with Russia, China, India, Brazil and the growing number of countries joining the expanding BRICS Plus, we are asserting our democratic sovereignty.
Moreover, the agenda at the summit included vital discussions on sustainable development, infrastructure development and scientific innovation. These engagements were pivotal for South Africa as they align with our goals of improving the living conditions of our people and building a future that rejects neo-colonial or imperialist control.
We reject any attempts to weaken South Africa’s stance. We reaffirm our support for a multipolar world free from the shackles of the imperialist collective West. South Africa’s place in BRICS is sacrosanct in the interests of advancing not just our own independence and complete emancipation but should form part of progressive internationalism across the globe.
Issued by Alex Mashilo, National Spokesperson, SACP, 25 October 2024
