STATEMENT OF CDE GWEBINKUNDLA QONDE, WESTERN CAPE
(PROVINCIAL) SECRETARY OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY AT THE MEMORIAL
SERVICE OF THE LATE CDE WANGA SIGILA, THE NATIONAL DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE
SOUTH AFRICAN STUDENTS CONGRESS HELD AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE
14 October 1999
Comrade Chairperson, the family and friends of Cde Wanga; representatives of
our revolutionary alliance, NEC Members of SASCO, Comrades and Friends
The South African Communist Party joins the family, friends
and the entire progressive student movement in mourning the untimely death of
the Deputy President of SASCO, Cde Wanga Sigila. It really came as a shock to
Party members who had the priviledge of knowing and working closely with Cde
Wanga in building both the student and youth movement of our country. We wish to
take this opportunity, as the SACP to extend our sincere condolences to his
family, close friends and the entire membership of SASCO.
The demise of this unassuming, committed and hard-working
young man is not only a blow to the student movement, but to the revolutionary
forces of our country under the leadership of the African National Congress. Cde
Wanga leaves at a time when the transformation process in institutions of
learning and in our society is being deepened and consolidated. Our second
democratic elections have confirmed the confidence of our people in our movement
and that only the ANC led Alliance can mobilise all our people behind a
programme of transformation.
It was the efforts of our student movement and the unselfish
contribution of activists like Wanga that ensured that the ANC greatly extended
its impact in the Western Cape after the. elections of June 1999. The
foundations for building a better life for our people including the Western Cape
have been firmly laid by our democratisation process. The continuing struggle of
students that Cde Wanga was part of emphasises the critical link between
national democracy and people's education.
But what brings us, as the SACP, closer to Cde Wanga and his
fellow student militants is their deep commitment to fundamental transformation
of our society in general, and the education system in particular. It is a
common realisation that meaningful democracy requires on-going empowerment and
popular participation in governance. It is an understanding that genuine freedom
will only be realised with the transformation of the fiery material basis of
apartheid colonialism. It is this commitment to radical transformation that has
brought the late Cde Wanga and the progressive student movement closer to the SA
Communist Party and the ideas of socialism. We will continue working with the
progressive student and youth movement that Cde Wanga belonged, in order to
realise this vision of fundamental transformed society and of a socialist
future.
Comrades, the commitment of these revolutionaries to radical change
extends to the field of knowledge. They have come to understand that the
purpose and role of knowledge in our society is one that is accessible to and
empower the popular closes to be their own liberators. These are intellectuals
who understand the link between theory and practice. It is a revolutionary duty
of intellectuals to render knowledge accessible and easily understandable to the
people. On the understanding that "Books are weapons".
In these students, we continue to see revolutionary
intellectuals committed to working-class hegemony, and accepts in practice the
leading role of the working class in our struggle. They have shown the ability
to connect their access to knowledge with the struggle of our people against
poverty, ignorance and underdevelopment. Cde Wanga was perhaps an example of how
intellectuals should link knowledge with the struggles in our communities. They
understand clearly that the intellectual function is not limited to those who
are located in institutions of higher learning such as universities and
technikons. These are our revolutionary intelligentsia in the unfolding
revolutionary process in our country, of which the contribution of Cde Wanga
will remain an important part of this revolutionary tradition. As part of our
Red October month, we will also be honouring the contribution of this tradition.
Cde Wanga is joining a list of heroes and heroines of our
struggle such as Oliver Tambo, Chris Hani, Colin Williams, Solomon Mahlangu and
marry others. He fell in the course of battle and service mobilising for the
progressive student movement. He was moving with colleagues in the North West
Province enroute to Venda, where he was deployed to continue mobilising the
forces for change, democracy and progress.
As the SACP, we also note with concern that it is becoming a
tradition in the student movement to lose capable student leaders in vehicle
accidents, who would otherwise be playing their proper role in government and
other sectors of our society. As we remember the memory of Cde Wanga, let us pay
tribute to the revolutionary intelligentsia of our country, many of whom died in
vehicle accidents whilst still in the service of the progressive student
movement and democratic movement of our country.
Among them are the last President of SANSCO, Cde Mike Koyana,
the Political Commissar, Cde KK Papiyana, Cde Elias from Namibia, a leading
member of the Namibian National Student Organisation (NANSO) and Cde Lizo
Nobanda, a number and organiser of the SACP in the Western Cape. The SACP wishes
to call on the student movement and our people as whole to educate and mobilise
their members in making "Arrive Alive" our own campaign, and a
success. The road carnage must stop now. We support the steps taken by our
government to address these problems.
As a tribute to the memory of Cde Wanga, the SACP say let us
build a popular and mass-based youth movement capable of discharging its
historic tasks effectively. A student and youth movement that mobilises young
people in the battle against HIV/AIDS, crime and ignorance. Cde Wanga would like
to see us move forward with discipline in making our schools colleges,
technikons and universities real better, quality education.
We call on the revolutionary intelligentsia to contribute to
debates and development of policy within the ANC and our society as a whole.
During our Red October month, the SACP calls on our youth and students to the
strengthen the revolutionary trade union movement under the leadership of
COSATU. We say let us continue to build a strong Communist Party rooted among
the poor and working-people of our country, a revolutionary Party of Moses
Kotane, Moses Mabhida, Yusuf Dadoo, Joe Slovo, Dorah Tamane, Mbeki, Cde Mzala,
Chris Hani, Skenjani Roji, Braam Fischer, and many others.
Let our youth become the storm troopers for reconstruction, development and
transformation of our society. This is what Cde Wanga died for on that fateful
Sunday, the 10th of October 1999.
In conclusion, let us together say;
Long-live the fighting spirit of Cde Wanga
Long-live the fighting spirit of Cde KK
Long-live the fighting spirit of Cde Mike Koyana
Long-live the fighting example of Cde Lizo Nobanda
Long-live the internationalist spirit of Cde Elias
Amandla-Ngawethu
