Speech delivered by Cde Gwede Mantashe, Politburo Member of the SACP at the Chris Hani Gala Dinner, Boksburg

Chris Hani was an embodiment of the alliance. He was a member of the ANC national executive committee, a long-standing tradition of the leadership of the communist party. When he joined an ANC meeting nobody whispered "yangen icommunist party". He was known to be part of our glorious movement. This was a function of both his selfless dedication to serving our people and the maturity and political consciousness of the membership. A membership constituted of activists who led the struggle from the front. He was a soldier and commander of our glorious army of the people, uMkhonto wesizwe. A commander who distinguished himself in combat, one the veterans of Wankie and Sipolilo, and a distinguished political commissar and chief of staff. A man who had all the opportunity to be a cabinet minister or a general in the newly constituted SANDF but made a choice to take the less glamorous position of being the general secretary of the communist party, at a time when every body was positioning himself or herself for the position that would offer the biggest material benefits, at a time when people did not want to be associated with communism, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was when Communist Parties were changing their names.

This was the biggest indication that commitment to a cause has no price. He had an unwavering commitment to building a socialist South Africa. He warned all of us to explain socialism in terms that ordinary South African would understand. That it is not about big concepts. It is about free education for our children, free health care for all the citizens, shelter for the elderly, and access to affordable sources of energy for all. Socialism is about the state playing an active role in the productive economy, with all the strategic sectors being in the hands of the state. These sectors include among others, energy, telecommunication, mineral wealth, public transport, municipal services, and state must take a share in monopoly industries like mining, heavy engineering and banking. Access to these economic sectors would give the state capacity to deliver on the needs of the people. It would give the state capacity and ability to play its redistribution role wherein it is the custodian of the interests of the people.

Many in modern day world argue that the state with access to all these resources can easily be corrupt and bureaucratic, with Stalinism becoming prevalent in the age of careerism, materialism and opportunism. The extreme view is the one that sees cooperatives as an alternative to a strong state that has capacity to discipline and direct capital instead of complimenting the work of a strong state. This extreme argument tends to strengthen the view that the market is efficient in allocating resources, which is a myth in the case of public goods and development. Even the World Bank with its historic conservatism has come back to accept that a strong state is an important partner in development.

With the ANC having moved from being "neither capitalist nor socialist" to being "never socialist" and by assumption then being capitalist, we can commemorate the life of Chris Hani by building a strong Communist party. In our medium term vision we have described such a party as the one that is capable of occupying all centers of power and influence. We have identified these as the state, the economy, the workplace, the community and the ideological contestation. This is a more concrete way of stating the vanguard role of the communist party. We are re-stating that our party should be a party of activists who must be visible in all these centers of power and influence. We have taken this debate forward by confronting the question of the relationship between the party and state power. This question has been vulgarised to be a debate solely about the communist party contesting elections independently of the ANC. It is vulgar to remove this question from the medium term vision, the party programme from the 11th national congress. It is based on our dialectical understanding of the state power being the highest concentration of political power. It is a debate about building a state that focuses on meeting human needs rather private accumulation and greed. With neo-liberalism being the dominant ideology in a uni-polar world the struggle for socialism is even this much more difficult and more urgent because it is the struggle for a more humane world that is caring for the world\'s poor and hungry.

The leftward shift in a number of countries in Latin America is a source of hope that a more humane world remains a possibility. The expansionary economic framework being implemented by our government gives meaning a state led economic growth. Having the prospects of a budget surplus in 2007 in a country where there is a huge social deficit and a sea of poverty requires some introspection where we ask ourselves the most difficult questions. Is this a reflection of the lack of capacity to spend on the needs of our society or a bigger capacity to save? How is it possible to have a budget surplus where there is a huge infrastructure backlog, a huge skills shortage, where there is high unemployment, deepening poverty and growing inequality in our society?

The communist party is today facing a big challenge of being unable to provide innovative ideas to deal with very complex problems facing society today. It is no longer good enough to react, we must provide solution and fresh ideas when everybody else is stuck. Can we as communists stand up and say with the sense of pride that we have been in the forefront of finding solutions to the complex problems facing our movement today or having we like every body else become victims of a divisive programme that is set and driven outside of the structures.

When we confront all these challenges we can commemorate and celebrate the life of Comrade Chris in a more befitting way. All communist to the front!!

THANK YOU!!