14 October 1999
Comrade Chairperson, the family and friends of Cde Wanga; representatives of our revolutionary alliance, NEC Members of SASCO, Comrades and Friends
The South African Communist Party joins the family, friends and the entire progressive student movement in mourning the untimely death of the Deputy President of SASCO, Cde Wanga Sigila. It really came as a shock to Party members who had the priviledge of knowing and working closely with Cde Wanga in building both the student and youth movement of our country. We wish to take this opportunity, as the SACP to extend our sincere condolences to his family, close friends and the entire membership of SASCO.
The demise of this unassuming, committed and hard-working young man is not only a blow to the student movement, but to the revolutionary forces of our country under the leadership of the African National Congress. Cde Wanga leaves at a time when the transformation process in institutions of learning and in our society is being deepened and consolidated. Our second democratic elections have confirmed the confidence of our people in our movement and that only the ANC led Alliance can mobilise all our people behind a programme of transformation.
It was the efforts of our student movement and the unselfish contribution of activists like Wanga that ensured that the ANC greatly extended its impact in the Western Cape after the. elections of June 1999. The foundations for building a better life for our people including the Western Cape have been firmly laid by our democratisation process. The continuing struggle of students that Cde Wanga was part of emphasises the critical link between national democracy and people's education.
But what brings us, as the SACP, closer to Cde Wanga and his fellow student militants is their deep commitment to fundamental transformation of our society in general, and the education system in particular. It is a common realisation that meaningful democracy requires on-going empowerment and popular participation in governance. It is an understanding that genuine freedom will only be realised with the transformation of the fiery material basis of apartheid colonialism. It is this commitment to radical transformation that has brought the late Cde Wanga and the progressive student movement closer to the SA Communist Party and the ideas of socialism. We will continue working with the progressive student and youth movement that Cde Wanga belonged, in order to realise this vision of fundamental transformed society and of a socialist future.
Comrades, the commitment of these revolutionaries to radical change extends to the field of knowledge. They have come to understand that the purpose and role of knowledge in our society is one that is accessible to and empower the popular closes to be their own liberators. These are intellectuals who understand the link between theory and practice. It is a revolutionary duty of intellectuals to render knowledge accessible and easily understandable to the people. On the understanding that "Books are weapons".
In these students, we continue to see revolutionary intellectuals committed to working-class hegemony, and accepts in practice the leading role of the working class in our struggle. They have shown the ability to connect their access to knowledge with the struggle of our people against poverty, ignorance and underdevelopment. Cde Wanga was perhaps an example of how intellectuals should link knowledge with the struggles in our communities. They understand clearly that the intellectual function is not limited to those who are located in institutions of higher learning such as universities and technikons. These are our revolutionary intelligentsia in the unfolding revolutionary process in our country, of which the contribution of Cde Wanga will remain an important part of this revolutionary tradition. As part of our Red October month, we will also be honouring the contribution of this tradition.
Cde Wanga is joining a list of heroes and heroines of our struggle such as Oliver Tambo, Chris Hani, Colin Williams, Solomon Mahlangu and marry others. He fell in the course of battle and service mobilising for the progressive student movement. He was moving with colleagues in the North West Province enroute to Venda, where he was deployed to continue mobilising the forces for change, democracy and progress.
As the SACP, we also note with concern that it is becoming a tradition in the student movement to lose capable student leaders in vehicle accidents, who would otherwise be playing their proper role in government and other sectors of our society. As we remember the memory of Cde Wanga, let us pay tribute to the revolutionary intelligentsia of our country, many of whom died in vehicle accidents whilst still in the service of the progressive student movement and democratic movement of our country.
Among them are the last President of SANSCO, Cde Mike Koyana, the Political Commissar, Cde KK Papiyana, Cde Elias from Namibia, a leading member of the Namibian National Student Organisation (NANSO) and Cde Lizo Nobanda, a number and organiser of the SACP in the Western Cape. The SACP wishes to call on the student movement and our people as whole to educate and mobilise their members in making "Arrive Alive" our own campaign, and a success. The road carnage must stop now. We support the steps taken by our government to address these problems.
As a tribute to the memory of Cde Wanga, the SACP say let us build a popular and mass-based youth movement capable of discharging its historic tasks effectively. A student and youth movement that mobilises young people in the battle against HIV/AIDS, crime and ignorance. Cde Wanga would like to see us move forward with discipline in making our schools colleges, technikons and universities real better, quality education.
We call on the revolutionary intelligentsia to contribute to debates and development of policy within the ANC and our society as a whole. During our Red October month, the SACP calls on our youth and students to the strengthen the revolutionary trade union movement under the leadership of COSATU. We say let us continue to build a strong Communist Party rooted among the poor and working-people of our country, a revolutionary Party of Moses Kotane, Moses Mabhida, Yusuf Dadoo, Joe Slovo, Dorah Tamane, Mbeki, Cde Mzala, Chris Hani, Skenjani Roji, Braam Fischer, and many others.
Let our youth become the storm troopers for reconstruction, development and transformation of our society. This is what Cde Wanga died for on that fateful Sunday, the 10th of October 1999.
In conclusion, let us together say;
Long-live the fighting spirit of Cde Wanga
Long-live the fighting spirit of Cde KK
Long-live the fighting spirit of Cde Mike Koyana
Long-live the fighting example of Cde Lizo Nobanda
Long-live the internationalist spirit of Cde Elias
Amandla-Ngawethu