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The SA Communist Party (SACP) members braved the rain on Thursday to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the passing of struggle stalwart and former general secretary Joe Slovo at Avalon Cemetery in Soweto.
Former housing minister Slovo, who was a commander of the ANC’s military wing Umkhonto weSizwe, died on January 6 1995.
Delivering the keynote address, SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande, said in order to honour Slovo the party needed to rebuild its political education structures and processes.
He told the handful of guests that they should go out and:
Nzimande added that there was a need to push for public sector employment programmes to create jobs for the young people.
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Touching on corruption and the recently released report on state capture, Nzimande said he hoped the Zondo commission’s recommendations did not only focus on government officials and the state-owned enterprises.
He said:
Slovo and Ruth First’s daughter Shawn and political leaders Parks Tau and Jacob Mamabolo also attended the event.
Shawn shared memories and life lessons from her father and said Slovo was never in the struggle for personal gain.
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“He was against any form of corruption and nepotism. He wouldn't even arrange tickets [for us] to the Mandela concert as he didn’t want to be seen as dispensing special favours to his children,” she recalled.
“For Joe, the struggle was his life. His personal principles were a perfect match to his politics.”
She added that if Slovo was alive, he would see the imperfections of this country for what they are – “things to be struggled with and transformed to show the world of justice and inequality”.
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