• Vietnam attends meeting of regional political parties

The one-week event in Kwazulu-Natal province’s Empageni town- a cradle of the national liberation movements in South Africa was attended by 1,866 delegates representing more than 160,000 SACP members nationwide and 56 delegates from 30 communist and leftist parties from different continents.

They discussed important issues and key targets relating to the country’s advance towards socialism as mentioned in its political report.

They also emphasized the need to reinforce solidarity among Party members and the ruling alliance, improve the leadership capacity, maximize the impact of the SACP on the masses and work with the African National Congress (ANC) to deal with urgent issues of inequality, unemployment and poverty.

The congress elected a new 35- member Standing Committee with Blade Nzimande reelected as General Secretary.

During meetings with the Vietnamese delegation, Senzeni Zokawana, Permanent Vice Secretary-General and Chris Matlhako, Politburo member cum Secretary of International Affairs of the SACP expressed their wish to strengthen the traditional friendship between the two Parties and peoples.

On the sidelines of the congress, the Vietnamese delegation also met with delegations of the communist parties from Cuba, India, Nepal, Zimbabwe, Brazil, the UK and France to boost bilateral relations.