7 January 2021
24 December 1965 - 3 January 2021
The South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Western Cape is saddened by the untimely passing away of Comrade Thembinkosi "Chippa" Soko – a disciplined MK combatant, Marxist-Leninist guerrilla and communist Commissar par excellence. Comrade Chippa, as he was affectionately called by his dear comrades, succumbed after a short illness to the deadly novel coronavirus (Covid-19) on 3 January 2021 at a hospital in Queenstown in the Eastern Cape.
The SACP in the Western Cape conveys its message of condolences to the Soko family, SACP, ANC, MK combatants and Mass Democratic Movement.
Born on 24 December 1965 in Mqukhwebe, Jojweni Village in Lady Frere, Comrade Chippa was among a rare breed of cadres whose sense of revolutionary duty compelled them to join uMkhonto Wesizwe as Self-Defence Unit recruits, ready to sacrifice life and limb in the course of freedom and total emancipation of the oppressed majority people of our country.
After the banning order of the liberation forces was lifted, Comrade Chippa joined the Mass Democratic Movement within the ranks of the Western Cape in Khayelitsha more specifically. He participated actively in the ANC and the SACP and distinguished himself as the most advanced detachment with the distinct ability to combine politico-military experience and Marxist-Leninist approach to resolve complex socio-economic challenges facing the working class.
Importantly, Comrade Chippa did not just exert himself to military training but appreciated the centrality of revolutionary theory hence his passion for political education and ideological development of cadres. This is a demonstration that he understood the injunction by Thomas Sankara that: A soldier without any political or ideological training is a potential criminal. Within the ranks of the SACP, Comrade Chippa was regarded as a commissar, which is a recognition of particular qualities and attributes that serve to propel the theoretical grounding of cadres in revolutionary theory as well as strategy and tactics of struggle. Thus, the SACP’s Brian Bunting District utilised him and other combatants to conduct the Party’s inductions and political education classes across the metro. As a Marxist-Leninist, he had a good grasp of the thesis of Colonialism of a Special Type and the resolution of which depends on the deepening, advancing, and consolidating the National Democratic Revolution whose strategic objective is the total liberation of Black people in general and Africans in particular from centuries and decades of bondages of Colonialism of a Special Type and apartheid.
In the post 1994 democratic breakthrough, Comrade Chippa had an extraordinary role in the transformation of SANDF when MK combatants were integrated thereto. He was a champion of the lower rank combatant’s welfare and interests at the workplace. Thus, in his memory, we must deepen the transformation of security forces to serve the people, not to be used by the elite to serve their narrow personal and factional interests.
Arising out of this duty, Comrade Chippa was an integral part in the formation of the South African Security Forces Union (SASFU). In the union, he served as the inaugural chairperson in the Western Cape in 1999 and later became the first Vice President following his election in the union’s 2nd National Congress. He relinquished this position when he resigned from SANDF due to his relocation to the Eastern Cape. SASFU was formed as an important vehicle not only to fight for the rights of the rank-and-file soldiers, but as a crucial instrument to drive transformation in the South African Defence Force. However, the new elite collapsed the SASFU project as basis to mute progressive and revolutionary voices. Security forces have become vulnerable to the corrupt parasitic network masquerading as forces for “radical economic transformation.”
In 2017, he returned to Eastern Cape where his love for service and sacrifice for humanity and, equally important, his passion for education was first inculcated in his early life. With respect to education, Comrade Chippa attended Jojweni Junior Secondary School and proceeded to Ntsokotha Senior Secondary in Mqukhwebe, Lady Frere. He completed his matric at Cwecweni in Ngcobo. He obtained N4 in Mechanical Engineering in Theko Technical College. As a demonstration of his hunger for education and search for knowledge, Comrade Chippa embarked on further studies and obtained an honours degree from the University of the Western Cape and later a Master’s Degree in Criminology from the University of South Africa.
At the time of his passing, Comrade Chippa was part of the personnel in the Office of the Mayor of Emalahleni in Lady Frere in the Eastern Cape. He is survived by his wife, two children and five siblings.
As the SACP, we lower our banner at the passing of the gallant combatant and commissar of our revolution. His death is a point of reflection and strengthens our resolve during this year of 100 years of the revolutionary struggle for socialism by the Party, to soldier on until the revolutionary reconstitution of our society where the oppression of one by another no longer exists.
In Comrade Chippa’s memory:
- The SACP in the Western Cape will intensify the struggle for the transformation of securities forces;
- Communists across the province in general and in Khayelitsha, in particular, are called upon to intensify the struggle against the nexus between the underworld criminal network, business elite, politicians and sections of the criminal justice cluster;
- Let us expose amongst our ranks and in society those who embark on extortion activities to shopkeepers, vendors, small property owners, salons, township enterprises, state departments for tenders.
Hamba Kahle Mkhonto!
Hamba Kahle Mnyandube, Khwetshube, Jolinkomo, Qengeba
ISSUED BY SACP WESTERN CAPE
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Benson Ngqentsu
SACP Western Cape Provincial Secretary
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ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY | SACP
EST. 1921 AS THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF SOUTH AFRICA | CPSA
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