SACP Message of Condolences to Family of Angolan Former President José Eduardo dos Santos

9 July 2022

The South African Communist Party (SACP) conveys its message of deepest condolences to the family of Angolan former president, José Eduardo dos Santos (79).

The SACP also sends its condolences to the Angolan people whom he served as President from 1979 to 2017 and the entire membership of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) which he joined and remained loyal to from 1961 until he breathed his last.

The life and history of Dos Santos is bound up with the history of the Angolan people’s anti-colonial struggles as well as the struggles against imperialist aggression. The people of Angola, led by the MPLA, fought gallant struggles, and defeated reactionary forces backed by the USA and apartheid South Africa during the anti-colonial struggles and the long civil war.

The MPLA also made sterling contributions to the struggle against the apartheid regime of South Africa. Angola hosted Umkhonto WeSizwe (MK), the joint ANC and SACP military wing, and its people fought side by side with MK soldiers against the apartheid regime.

Known among his people as an architect of peace, his contribution to Angola’s independence struggles and stabilisation of the country earned him wide respect across the African continent and beyond.

On 27 April 2010, the South African Presidency bestowed upon President dos Santos the Order of the Companions of O.R. Tambo Award in Gold for his exceptional contribution to the fight against apartheid and the support of liberation movements in southern Africa.

In paying tribute to José Eduardo dos Santos, the SACP calls for the strengthening of African progressive, particularly anti-imperialist, forces to totally rid the continent of imperialist control and build its sovereignty. In this regard, the urgency of the unity of the African left and progressive movement to revive the African Left Networking Forum cannot be overemphasised.

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