28 June 2001
A packed Johannesburg City Hall successfully launched the month-long 80th Anniversary Celebrations of the South African Communist Party (SACP). Reverberating with song and excitement the more than 2000 shopstewards from the COSATU Wits Region listened to messages of support from the ANC's Kgalema Motlhanthe, the COSATU's Bheki Ntshalintshali and members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The keynote address was delivered by the SACP General Secretary, Blade Nzimande.
The 80th Anniversary Celebrations will take place all throughout the month of July and will culminate in a national rally to be held in Durban on the 29 July which is the exact date of the first day of the founding Congress of the SACP 80 years ago.
We are the oldest and largest communist party on the African continent. Through our 80 years of existence we have contributed to the building of the national liberation, labour and mass movements, the defeat of apartheid and current struggles on the content and trajectory of our country's democratic transition, said Blade Nzimande.
Given this proud history, South African Communists used the launch to assert that they will continue playing a key role in contemporary and future South Africa.In this regard the SACP will never abandon workers. Otherwise we would be abandoning our history and our historical mission to deepen national liberation and build socialism in our country, continued Nzimande.
The SACP also used the launch to commit itself to the strengthening of the working class and its struggles. We need to ensure that working class interests are interests of society as a whole by building a people's economy in which the state plays a key role and private capital is rolled back, concluded Nzimande. The SACP also committed itself to strengthen its alliance with the ANC and COSATU based on a common programme for continuos mobilisation of our people and respecting the independence and integrity of each partner.
CONTACT
Mazibuko Kanyiso Jara
Department of Media, Information and Publicity South African Communist Party
Tel: 011 339 3621
Fax: 011 339 4244
Email: sacp1@wn.apc.org
Cell: 083 651 0271