The Young Communist League (YCL) will on Tuesday launch a ”Right to Learn” campaign in memory of Joe Slovo. Spokesperson Castro Ngobese said the purpose of the campaign was to to ensure that schools re-opened smoothly.
”Slovo was a thinker that reigned supreme in the galaxy of many working class and communists heroes that the ANC [African National Congress]-SACP [South African Communist Party] alliance ever produced,” Ngobese said.
”He was a selfless and dedicated communist, a fighter par excellence for the working class and the poor,” he said.
”We call on government and the Department of Education to genuinely honour Joe Slovo in a befitting manner by ensuring that learning and teaching were opened without any financial obstacles,” he said.
Ngobese said Slovo knew that a better life for the people meant three basic things: shelter, affordable healthcare and a quality education.
”His untimely departure robbed our country of one of its leading cadres and agents in the reconstruction and development of our nascent democratic state we now all belong to.
”The challenge is to empower the youth with education, skills and opportunities, and not through patronage,” he said.
He said the campaign would help administrators ensure effective and speedy registration.
Meanwhile, the SACP on Sunday also commemorated Slovo’s death.
Slovo was the chairperson and general secretary of the SACP and a former commander of Umkhonto weSizwe.
Commemorations followed the ANC’s 52nd national conference where it was decided that economic transformation needed to be accelerated for the benefit of the overwhelming majority of South Africans, the party said. – Sapa