Johannesburg - SACP’s first deputy general-secretary Solly Mapaila has thanked the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Poprcu) for buying his party a state-of-the-art three-storey building, which is now the new head office.
Mapaila expressed the appreciation during the police union’s 30th anniversary rally in Durban on Saturday. The event followed a four-day conference where Zizamele Cebekhulu was re-elected as the union’s president.
Mapaila previously said the SACP was operating in Cosatu House.
“Now we have a headquarters of our own and we now we plan better,” said Mapaila.
He said the SACP deserved the gift since in the 1940s it was responsible for the upkeep of the ANC.
“The SACP even paid salaries for the ANC leaders and also established many trade unions in the country.
“What Popcru has done was to go back to history to find its consciousness and understood that for the future of our country we need a strong communist party that is independent both ideologically and financially,” he said.
He said of late the SACP could not afford to buy its own property as it was a poor organisation, that they only rely on annual subscription of the members.
“No one can fund the communist party except the trade unions because these are organs of the working class that works for socialism,” he said.
He said the new building was in Main Street in the Johannesburg CBD between “Calton Centre, which is the tallest building in Africa and Absa Towers.”
Mapaila said the price of the building was unimportant technical details.
“It is a three-storey building with massive space. We do have a small building of our own in the Northern Cape, but this is the first building of our own of this nature and of this size,” said Mapaila.
He also called on the government to implement resolutions that were adopted at the Popcru conference.
“There are many instances where corruption has got so deeply rooted in our movement (ANC). There was an instance where crime kits, which are used to collect evidence, were insufficient.
“We do know that because of the corrupt element in the system they refuse to procure these things on time,” said Mapaila.