BLADE NZIMANDE, GENERAL SECRETARY, SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY MESSAGE OF SUPPORT AND SOLIDARITY ON THE 50TH ANNIVERARY OF UMKHONTO WE SIZWE, ORLANDO STADIUM, December 16 2011
Today, on this important and historic day, the SACP lowers its Red Flag in honour of all the MK cadres who laid down their lives in the fight against the criminal apartheid regime in order for our country to become liberated. As South African communists we also wish to honour all those former MK cadres in our midst who led by example in their self-less dedication in the struggle to liberate our country.
On this day the SACP also salutes the different generations of MK combatants, young and old, from the members of the High Command of MK in the early 1960s, through to the 1976 detachment, as well as the combatants at the height of our mass struggles in the 1980s. This day could not have come at a better time on the eve of the centenary of the ANC, and during the 90th anniversary of the SACP!
There is no better way to honour the role of MK than by intensifying the struggle to mobilize all of our people to implement the five priorities of our movement - job creation, access to education and health, rural development and the fight against crime and corruption. In so doing we should, like the MK combatants, be prepared to selflessly serve our people without expectations of any personal gain for ourselves as leaders and cadres of our movement.
Today there is no better way of honouring the role and contribution of MK cadres than to intensify the struggle against corruption, tenderpeneurship, misguided militancy and ill-discipline. On this day, we call upon our movement as a whole to deal decisively with ill-discipline, recklessness, populism and corruption. MK cadres understood that one of the best weapons we could have handed over to the enemy in order to defeat us was ill-discipline and reckless militancy. Let us root out all these foreign tendencies within our ranks in order to safeguard the legacy of Umkhonto WeSizwe
It is also proper for us to honour the thousands of communists who fought in the ranks of the MK and played a heroic role throughout the existence of this glorious army. On this day we remember Moses Kotane, Yusuf Dadoo, Govan Mbeki, Ruth First, Raymond Mhlaba, Joe Slovo, Chris Hani, Linda Jabane, Mzala Nxumalo, as well as the many women communists who played a sterling role in the prosecution of the armed struggle. We are proud that communists fought bravely side by side with all other MK combatants from the ranks of the ANC. MK, in its own way, played an important role in cementing the unity of our Alliance in struggle and in the trenches.
Communists were amongst the first to join the ranks of MK when our liberation movement embarked on armed struggle. We proudly recall the words of Joe Slovo when he reminded us about the role communists played in the formation and evolution of MK:
"To constitute the High Command the ANC appointed Mandela and the Party appointed me. We were instructed by both bodies to make recommendations about the balance of members of the High Command, which we did and it was endorsed".
Therefore on this day, we, as South African communists, pledge our continued commitment to continue the fight, side by side with all our comrades and compatriots in the struggle for the eradication of poverty, gender inequality and class exploitation. Just like we did in our participation in the armed struggle, we shall spare no effort in our complete dedication to the reconstruction and development of our country, and to fight all foreign tendencies of selfish accumulation and ill discipline both inside and outside the ranks of our movement. This will be our own communist way of honouring the memory of all MK cadres.
The armed struggle, especially between 1961 and 1990, was one of the key four pillars of our struggle to defeat apartheid - mass struggle, the underground, the armed struggle and the international isolation of the apartheid regime. The armed propaganda of MK played a crucial role in galvanizing our people to intensify the struggle on all fronts and terrains, including the mobilization of international solidarity in support of our just struggle for liberation.
MK combatants often represented most of the disciplined cadres of our movement, who expected nothing in return for their sacrifices, but were even prepared to lay down their lives so that our country could be free. It is therefore our duty as cadres of the movement to preserve the legacy of our MK combatants, honour their memory and safeguard all the values that informed their actions.
On this day it is also important to honour all those who participated in the international anti-apartheid movement. In particular we would like to recognize the generous military and other support we received from the former Soviet Union and the international communist movement in our struggle against the apartheid regime.
The SACP also calls upon our movement and government to urgently attend to the needs of the surviving MK cadres, especially those who are still living under conditions of abject poverty. It is important that we look after our cadres, and not be distracted by liberals, the likes of the DA and our enemies and detractors, who never lifted a finger in the struggle against apartheid, but many of whom were beneficiaries of the racist apartheid order. For this reason we welcome the establishment of the Department of Military Veterans in 2009 to address the many needs of our former military combatants.
To all our departed MK cadres we say, your blood was not shed in vain, as today we are indeed a liberated country! The SACP will forever treasure your memory.
Issued by the SACP, December 16 2011
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