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South African Communist Party remains rooted in anti-imperialism as it celebrates 99th anniversary

SOUTH AFRICAN Communist Party (SACP) leader Blade Nzimande said it was critical to recall its “anti-imperialist foundations” in a televised address today as the party celebrated its 99th anniversary.

He said that the end of apartheid did not mean the end of imperialism, which he said instead had become “more arrogant and more triumphalist.”

This has been made more apparent with the global Covid-19 pandemic seeing “imperialist-backed pharmaceutical companies competing for mega-profits by cornering the market on a vaccine and treatment.”

He said that imperialism had become more aggressive and more dangerous with United States President Donald Trump determined to “make America great again,” leading to “sabre-rattling in the South China Sea,” a threat of war on Iran, troops on US streets against peaceful Black Lives Matter protests and the withdrawal from the World Health Organisation.

Mr Nzimande praised the role of the SACP in the country’s national liberation struggle, pointing out that all the defendants in the 1963-64 Rivonia Trial, including Nelson Mandela, had been members of the party’s executive committee.

He said that lessons must be learned from the determination and resilience shown in the movement for social emancipation.

The SACP has come a long way since its foundation in 1921, he said, and is now larger than ever before, with more than 300,000 members and continuing to grow.

“However, as we state in our programme, the South African Road to Socialism: what we seek to build is a large but vanguard party capable of setting an example of discipline, commitment and strategic capacity on all fronts of struggle,” he said.

“Today, as we celebrate the 99th anniversary of the SACP, we dip our Red Flag in honour of all of those who have fallen.

“Let us pick up their fallen spears and intensify the struggle against corruption. A luta continua [the struggle continues]!” he charged.

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