Share

Mapaila: The SACP is the party of ‘the unemployed, the victims’

accreditation
SACP deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila addressing the  SACP Congress  in Kempton Park. Picture: Tebogo Letsie/City Press
SACP deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila addressing the SACP Congress in Kempton Park. Picture: Tebogo Letsie/City Press

Mpumalanga is the SA Communist Party’s (SACP) leading province in terms of attaining the party’s membership target of at least 1% of the general population.

This is according to SACP first deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila in the organisational report delivered on Tuesday at a special national congress in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni.

Mapaila told conference delegates that the SACP in Mpumalanga had attained 0.9% of the provincial target – just 0.1% away from reaching the target.

The party in Limpopo was standing 0.84% of the provincial target.

“Others are coming in very low and must improve,” he said, adding that Western Cape province was the lowest at 0.2%.

So we are a party of the unemployed; the true working class and the real victims
SACP first deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila

In Gauteng, he said, the party could not even reach half of the target despite the province being dubbed “the home of the working class”. Gauteng stood at 0.38%.

“To build a strong communist party we must build it from the streets,” said Mapaila.

He said in 2017 the party was standing at just over half of the national membership target (0.52%), and in 2019 it had moved to 0.58% “which is still too far”.

He said the majority of the SACP’s more than 300 000 members were unemployed as up to 270 000 were “in the streets”.

“So we are a party of the unemployed; the true working class and the real victims,” he said.

But, said Mapaila, members could not sit and complain because during elections the party had a discussion around every branch looking at ideas of sustainable livelihood within their communities, like setting up cooperatives.

He said the low employment figures among members also showed that Cosatu’s millions of members were not in the SACP.

“They are not in the party and even among those who are there, a few contribute to the debit order system,” he said, referring to a system the SACP used to raise funds among its members through monthly contributions.

Mapaila said the SACP only had 17 000 people in the debit order system and “we need to change that”.

But we also needed to change how we service the unions, he said, adding that the party should go back to its old ways of recruiting workers into the SACP.

In terms of new membership, he said, “we need members that can conform with our organisational renewal principles and ideas” which may require a constitutional amendment because of its “far-reaching implications”.

“In other words we are going towards building a distinct member. That is not just a member, but a person committed to fighting against capitalism and replacing it with socialism,” said Mapaila.

He said the SACP had a medium-term goal for its members to be found in “all sites and terrains of the struggle” including the ANC, Cosatu and Sanco, in the same way that former party leaders managed to work without contradictions of dual membership.

He said the party had also lowered its guard in terms of membership profile and the quality of the membership was declining.

“The majority of memberships are on the verge of suspension or even lapsing. This was a sign of inactive branches or districts, where leaders are isolated from members,” said Mapaila.

“This happens when leaders think they are the party and they have one meeting a month and think that they have complied,” he said.


We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Voting Booth
Do you believe that the various planned marches against load shedding will prompt government to bring solutions and resolve the power crisis?
Please select an option Oops! Something went wrong, please try again later.
Results
Yes
21% - 103 votes
No
79% - 397 votes
Vote