Blade Nzimande delivering a keynote address during the launch of the SACP's 'Red October' campaign | Image: Twitter/ @SACP1921
Speaking at the South African Communist Party’s (SACP) launch of its 2018/19 Red October campaign in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, general secretary Blade Nzimande confirmed that the party would be testifying at the Zondo Commission on State Capture.
Nzimande was delivering a keynote address focused on local government with the tagline “stop corruption, serve people selflessly.”
The SACP’s official Twitter account retweeted a video in which Nzimande can be heard saying that the”SACP can’t be threatened by people who’ve been using intelligence institutions illegally to gather information”.
Nzimande went on to comment on the current state of municipalities across the country and added that the SACP had identified a number of problems faced by municipalities.
However, the SACP’s Red October campaign would be focusing on at least two of these problems, namely “systemic and rampant corruption, including corporate capture within our municipalities” and a lack of efficiency coupled with the persisting inequality in infrastructure development, as well as in the provision of quality services stated Nzimande.
According to Nzimande and the SACP, the legacy of apartheid-era spatial planning and class inequalities allowed this status quo to persist and the recent total shutdown demonstrations in coloured townships across Gauteng were proof of what happened when situations like this were left to boil over.
Nzimande also touched on issues such as labour brokering, exploitation of workers and the ever-increasing levels of unemployment before presenting the party’s plans to deal with the problems they identified.
Red October is also the chosen campaign name for those who seek to find a solution to the “slaughter of white people” in South Africa. Back in 2013, protesters hosted numerous events throughout the country in which they voiced their concerns against crime, farm murders and black economic empowerment. The events were attended by the likes of Steve Hofmeyr and Sunette Bridges.
They even launched a now-defunct website titled redoctober.co.za.
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