10 December 2009
Programme Director and Chairperson of the SACP
General Secretary of the SACP
The 12th Congress Central Committee
Provincial Secretaries and PEC collectives
Secretary General of the ANC and National Executive Committee Members
General Secretary of COSATU
Comrade President Sdumo Dlamini and the COSATU CEC
National Secretary of the YCL and the UFASIMBA Brigade
Revolutionary delegates from Communist Parties around the globe
President of the ANCYL and the PYA Leadership
Premier of Limpopo and Chairperson of the ANC in the province
Professor Mahlo Mokgalong, Vice Chancellor and Principal of the historic University of Limpopo
Guests of honour and the Media
District Secretaries and esteemed delegates from basic units of the Party
On behalf of the South African Communist Party Provincial Executive Committee and the general membership in Limpopo, (the second largest province of the South African Communist Party which has seen more than 100% membership growth in the last two years), I, with greater felicity extend the warmest revolutionary greetings and gratitude to the 2nd Special National Congress of the South African Communist Party.
This revolutionary gargantuan will be turning 90 years in the next two years and we feel humbled as a province to facilitate such an enviable rostrum for robust engagement on a possible and ultimate socialist future. This is a loud gesture of recognition to the sterling work the general membership of the Party has played in the implementation of the resolutions of the Augmented Central Committee of 2006. The decision of the 12th Congress Central Committee to host the event of this magnitude in Limpopo is not only a hallmark resonating and reminiscing with the epoch- making ANC 52nd National Conference held here on this campus, but a befitting tribute to the gallant toiling masses of this province who have no other political home except the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party. It is homage to the resilient and indomitable tribunes like Alpheus Malivha, Flag Boshielo, Lawrence Phokanoka, Peter Nchabeleng, Peter Mokaba, France Mohlala, Samson Phophi, Norman Mashabane, Ephraim Mogale, Castro Pilusa, Pandelani Ramagoma – just to mention a few.
We believe that this platform affords the Party an opportunity to assess its work since the last Congress but also to engage our revolutionary programme, the South African Road to Socialism against the conditions of the current epoch.
You are welcome to the surrounding of this University; the historically deprived peasant and working class communities of smallholdings and hamlets, of barren land and dry hills of Sencherere, Sickline, Ntsima, gaMaredi and GaMaphoto. These are communities that befriended poverty and hunger. They are without basic amenities, without sustainable means of livelihood and little do they know that their enemy is capitalism and its defining features of corruption and avarice. However they rise everyday to draw generous inspiration from the reality of the existence of the South African Communist Party hence the high concentration of Party branches in this vicinity. These conditions prevail in many communities nationally and beyond and therefore any nefarious intentions to divert the focus of this Congress to jurisprudence should be frowned at.
We are a revolutionary Party and these communities want to hear us foreground their interests.
Comrade General Secretary, this Congress is possible because of the sound relations that exist between the ANC and the SACP in the province. This is the kind of relationship that should escalate nationally. It does not only guarantee the success of the National Democratic Revolution but an expression of the determination of the progressive forces to confront the realities of the capitalist climate together in the heroic march to socialism.
This Congress will be a success. Happy Red Festive Season! Happy 2010 – The Year of the SACP Branch
Socialism is the future!
