28 August 2016, Inchanga
The SACP was and remains deeply saddened by the news that one of our own, Comrade Nontsikelelo Blose was shot dead. We express our message of heartfelt condolences to the family, friends, comrades and the community. As the SACP we are saying never, and never again, must any part of our country become a playing field of criminals and unscrupulous politicians who use violence and murder as instruments of political engagement. No community must feel to be without protection, while law enforcement agencies exist.
The SACP is calling on law enforcement agencies to perform their work and perform it diligently. Law enforcement agencies must ensure public safety and security. But alone law enforcement agencies will not succeed. We cannot allow murderers to loiter around in our communities and do as they please without any lawful defence on the part of the community.
We are calling on all our communities to unite, more than ever before, and leave no inch to the murderers - regardless of the masks and colours those murderers are wearing. As the Central Committee, we urge and task SACP branches to take a lead in defence of our communities, to advance community interests without fear or favour. No murderer must think they can kill an SACP or community member and simply run away with murder. There must be consequences.
Let us take our cue from the revolutionary spirit of Comrade Nontsikelelo Blose. She was deeply involved in community structures. Comrade Nontsikelelo Blose was the leading torch bearer not only of the SACP but also of the ANC in the in the community. She witnessed, together with other comrades, the murder of Comrade Phillip Dlamini in January. Her murder was committed while she was due to testify in the trial of the alleged killers of Comrade Phillip Dlamini.
The murder of Comrade Nontsikelelo Blose should not be seen as an isolated incident. It must be viewed as a part of the killings that the SACP has suffered. It must be seen as a culmination of the persecutions she endured since she witnessed the murder of Comrade Phillip Dlamini. Let us take our cue from the revolutionary spirit of Comrade Nontsikelelo Blose, who was never discouraged to ensure justice for Comrade Phillip Dlamini, his family and community.
Comrade Nontsikelelo Blose fought for justice politically as well. She challenged the distortion of internal democracy in the ANC, including in the selection of councillor candidates. She made her strategic discipline clearly known.
The 3 August 2016 local government elections have emphasised the very serious trajectory of steep decline in popular support for the ANC. While at 54% the ANC still remains the electoral choice of the majority of South Africans, the gradual decline in support over several past elections and now the precipitous decline across most provinces and in urban as well as rural areas is a sobering indication of a trend. This loss of momentum, if not addressed, will accelerate.
It is not, of course, just the electoral results of that are of concern. These results are less the consequence of opposition parties progressing and rather more the consequence of serious and systemic problems within the ANC.
There is a climate of extreme recklessness in the ANC and in government and across many parastatals. While successive ANC conferences, and also alliance summits, have recognised many of these features IN GENERAL - corruption, sins of incumbency, factionalism, growing social distance from our mass base, etc. - IN PRACTICE the ANC national, provincial and regional leaderships generally show little collective willingness or capacity to deal decisively with the issues.
If we this trend continues it will eventually negate the entire democratic hegemony of our ANC-led movement. We might as well kiss 2019 goodbye.
As the SACP we are calling for maximum and principled unity of our movement to address and resolve all the problems behind the electoral and hegemonic decline of the ANC and not just identify what they are without being seen solving them in practice. The success of this task we owe to our fallen stalwart, Comrade Nontsikelelo Blose!
Issued by the SACP