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The South African Communist Party (SACP) joins the working-class and all freedom-loving people across the world in congratulating the people of Angola as they celebrate their 50thindependence anniversary. On 11 November 1975, the people of Angola, after centuries of fighting, officially declared independence and freed themselves from Portuguese colonialism and united to chart a new way forward.

In the fight for independence, the Angolan people faced a myriad of colonial forces, including the imperialist United States and NATO countries which bolstered the colonial Portugues regime with hundreds of millions of dollars in military and economic aid to maintain colonialism in Angola. The determined liberation struggle of the Angolan people, under the decisive leadership of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), proved decisive in the end as they achieved their liberation in 1975.

The independence of Angola was not without threats of sabotage, however, as imperialist forces, particularly the imperialist United States and NATO countries, actively sponsored and armed reactionary forces against Angolan independence. Thus, the defence of Angolan independence and sovereignty necessitated the most fundamental expression of working-class unity in the African continent. This defence reached its apogee in the late 1980s, most exemplified by the battle of Cuito Cuanavale from 14 August 1987 until the people’s victory on 23 March 1988, in which the Angolan people received practical solidarity from the Cuban people, as well as the Namibian South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) and uMkhonto weSizwe, the joint ANC-SACP military wing. Consequently, the collective defence of Angolan independence led to the decisive defeat of the apartheid South African Defence Force and a tactical withdrawal by that fascist army, a historic defining moment in the struggle for the total liberation of the region from racist rule and aggression, including Namibia and South Africa.

In commemoration of Angola’s 50th independence anniversary, the SACP reiterates its call for the respect of Angola’s national sovereignty and right to self-determination. Over and above, the SACP calls for, and actively supports, the greatest unity among the African people, the majority of whom are the working class and poor, in the struggle for the continent’s sovereignty, not least in the reorganisation of the African Left Networking Forum, in addition to the support of other revolutionary forces in the continent and abroad.

Issued by the South African Communist Party