Karl Marx was an alert and brave philosopher, he was aware of the capitalists’ exploitation of the working class. The working class were alienated and worked hard for an honest living while capitalists were making huge profits.

As a resolution to this, Marx proposed socialism and communism; where citizens were all considered to be equal in terms of working and state institutions. The state however, centralized their property the result being, the majority of citizens being employed by the state. In this egalitarian state, there would was no private property, all property will belonged to the state.

In that the Communist Party of South Africa (SACP) was formed on those values, to advocate for equality and non-exploitation of the working class. History shows that there were prominent, respected and powerful (in their own way) people who worked towards this cause. Some of those people were: Joe Slovo, Braam Fischer and Chris Hani, they fought against repressive and exploitative Apartheid.

Chris Hani fought for economic freedom inasmuch as he fought for political freedom; the two were inseparable for him. He tirelessly advocated for the retribution and redistribution of land for black people.

It is twenty two years since the first democratic elections; one cannot help but fail to understand the relevance of the SACP today. It’s obvious that they’re no longer upholding the manifesto of communism, all entities are still owned by the state.

They have shifted their cause to fit in with the status quo. South Africa is currently rated as number one country in the world when it comes to economic inequality. Current SACP executive and ex Higher Education Minister, Blade Nzimande, used to white-wash the grievances of working South Africans when he was first voted into Parliament, but lately it seems that he has finally stepped up to do the job that that he is being paid for. Blade is most often quoted in the media saying that there is a ‘third force’ at play whenever people protest their frustrations. He leads us to believe that our government ignores the grievances of its citizens on purpose.

The SACP should revise their alignment on the manifesto and be true. They owe us the citizens of SA that much for the undying support and hope that we have in their organization, an organization which is supposed to advocate justice and truth for Sa citizens. Hani was assassinated in 1993, our hopes for an equal society were not shattered, we still believe that we deserve to have that after all that the people of this country have fought and died for.

When one studies the history of the South African struggle, one realises what those before us fought for and against. They fought against colonialism, slavery, racism, independence. They fought for freedom and for political and economic equality. Be that as it may be, we never fought for democracy.

Democracy is something we were coercively spoon-fed by our trusted leaders who were too preoccupied with impressing their former oppressors domestically and abroad while compromising on us, their people, by continuing to oppress us economically. Democracy, capitalism and inequality are indistinguishable from each other, they are all one thing.

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Tell us what you think: Do you think democracy truly exists? Why? Why not?