Provincial Secretary of the SACP, Cde Xolile Nqatha.
Leadership of the Skenjana Roji District.
Members of the Tripartite Alliance.
Comrades thank you very much for being patient with me, I had to attend a Church Service before coming to this event. I truly appreciate the fact that you decided to shift this important program to this afternoon.
I am running a very hectic schedule.
This morning the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Mdantsane was celebrating the life of Reverend Richard Mahabane- the doyen of the South African liberation theology and national liberation struggle. One of the pathfinders and early Presidents of the ANC.
Most certainly, the electoral season has arrived, it is upon us, and we must respond accordingly to various demands emanating from different constituencies and sectors across the society. The ANC is a broad church, and we are equal to the task.
Is it not ironic that in the morning I first addressed a church service and this afternoon the Red Brigades a political initiative of Communists? This is the dynamism and beauty of our coexistence in Tripartite Alliance.
We complement each another irrespective of our separate ideological standpoints, we know and respect our strategic centre of convergence. Throughout the pursuance of our struggle for liberation and noble objectives, we were and still more concerned about convergences as opposed to divergence.
I am by no means trying to suggest that divergence and divergent views are not tolerated. They are tolerated within the context of the dialectical and somehow contradictory nature of our relationships as members of the Tripartite Alliance.
The sharpening of our contradictions amongst us has always been non-antagonistic and it should stay like. In so doing, we are building and strengthening our relationships. We are not at each other’s throats.
Comrades it is indeed befitting that this Brigade is named Mandla Makhuphula Red Brigade and launched by the Skenjana Roji District of the SACP. Both Comrades were towering figures who dedicated their lives to the struggle for liberation.
Comrade Skenjana Roji was a well-respected student leader at the University of Forthare before he went into exile to join Umkhonto Wesizwe, the military wing of the African National Congress.
After the unbanning of the ANC, he became the General Secretary of the Border Region in 1991 and became the SACP National Political Education Officer in 1992. It was during his tenure as the National Political Education Officer of the Party that Comrade Skenjana Roji inserted and asserted his hegemony as the Red Intellectual Brigade.
He squared up against his fellow Communists, members of COSATU and the ANC on the Two or Three Hats Debate that sought to redefine the Tripartite relationship. The ideological and strategic question was whether a member of the SACP, COSATU could be a member of the ANC NEC or vice versa, can an NEC member of the ANC be in the Central Committee of the SACP. This debate was taking place also at branch levels and factory floors. Those were interesting times.
The resolution of the debate was that Comrades should wear two or three caps. It is for this reason that we are having a strong relationship in the Tripartite Alliance. Comrade Skenjana Roji provided thought leadership in the Alliance at the most critical stage of our transition from Apartheid to democracy.
Equally, Comrade Mandla Makhuphala also towered as a Communist leader, became the Secretary of the Skenjana Roji District, Provincial Secretary of the SACP and a member of the SACP’s Central Committee. He also became the longest serving MEC of Education in the Eastern Cape Government.
Comrades, I am giving you this background so that you can realise your importance in building and strengthening the ANC as an organisation and ruling Party. The Red Brigades in the Communist Literature globally are known as defenders of the revolution and were always at loggerheads with the reactionary forces and willing agents of counterrevolution.
Comrades as you all know that the ANC is under siege and tremendous pressure. The difficulty is that we are faced a counterrevolution from within and outside the ANC. These forces are working extremely hard to derail the National Democratic Revolution (NDR) and ultimately dethrone the ANC in serious need of intellectual leadership and defence.
It is within this context that the launching of the Red Brigade becomes imperative during this era. We are hoping to see the multiplication of Comrade Mandla Makhupula and Comrade Skenjana Roji.
Last week launched the Provincial Manifesto and we need volunteers to go out there, reach out to the masses of our people and explain the electoral promises and programmes that the ANC. In so doing, you must fend off the political onslaught that is directed at the ANC by the Opposition Parties, new and old.
I am quite certain that the Red Brigades are politically and ideologically armed and combatant ready to enter the battlefield. This battle will have to be waged at different terrains and fronts. The battle of ideas is one terrain. The Polling Houses with the full backing of the Media are promoting the below 50% ANC electoral outcome. They are also promoting the possibility of coalitions.
On the one hand the bourgeoisie scholarship is promoting a deconsolidation thesis which asserts that our democracy is beginning to show some signs of de-consolidation and disintegration. This thesis seeks to discourage investors, both domestic and foreign to look away from our country and invest elsewhere.
According to them they have already won the hearts and minds of the South African public, so they think. They are confident that the narrative that they are promoting is going to be a reality, their desired electoral outcome. In order to confront and defeat this narrative we need the Red Intellectual Brigades who have the stamina for a serious fight. In this regard, the multiplication of Comrades Skenjana Roji and Mandla Makhuphula.
Comrades if you are going to wage successfully this electoral battle you need to study and grasp the ANC’s Election Manifesto. You must explain the Manifesto in a language that people will understand.
Comrades our Manifesto focuses on six priorities and are as follows:
1) Job creation: Creation of 2.5 million.
2) Build industries to achieve inclusive growth.
3) Tackle the high costs of living.
4) Invest in people.
5) Defend democracy and advance freedom.
6) Build a better Africa and better World.
The immediate task of the Red Brigade is to go all out there in defence of the 1994 democratic breakthrough.
Thank you very much Comrades. I wish all the best in your revolutionary work.
