2 April 2018
The South African Communist Party conveys its heartfelt condolences to the family of Nomzamo Winifred Madikizela-Mandela, our entire national liberation alliance and South Africans in general. Madikizela Mandela, 81, passed away on Monday, 2 April 2018. Comrade Winnie as she was fondly addressed was a stalwart of our struggle for liberation. She was a resolute gender transformation activist and national democratic revolutionary. Her departure from the world of the living has left South Africa poorer without her. The SACP is deeply worried that the South African revolution is losing the veterans who contributed immensely to our struggle against colonial oppression.
In memory of Comrade Winnie, the African National Congress, the SACP and the whole of South Africa`s liberation movement, as well as the government should document the institutional memory that South Africa would lose without a detailed historical account of the contribution and sacrifices made by each one of our veterans to the course of freedom. This is extremely important both for young people and our future generations. An accurate account of where our society comes from is crucial to our national vision for a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa based on social emancipation.
The contribution that Comrade Winnie made to the South African revolution, her sacrifices to the course, and on the other hand the reactionary, repressive and torturous responses she endured from the apartheid regime, can produce volumes of history, humanities and social science books. Highlighting a few aspects could produce an unintended consequence of narrowing the colossal contribution and great sacrifices.
The SACP reiterates its perspective, in memory of Comrade Winnie, for the forging of a progressive women`s movement. The movement should, taking its cue from her revolutionary life and times, dedicate its focus towards ending patriarchy in our society and resolving the systemic problems of class, national and gender inequalities, unemployment, poverty and social insecurity. The working class, in particular women, are on the receiving end of the capitalist system. The movement, and indeed all peace loving South Africans, should pick up the spear, advance and deepen the second radical phase of our transition from colonialism and its legacy.
The SACP says:
Hamba Kahle Mkhonto!
ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY | SACP
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