April 21, 2023

Solly Mapaila, General Secretary

Central Committee

South African Communist Party

Comrade Chris Matlhako

Dear Comrades:

On behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Canada, we send our deepest sympathy to the family of Comrade Chris Matlhako, and our condolences to the South African Communist Party which has lost an outstanding leader and cadre of the SACP and of the South African people. Comrade Chris Matlhako was also a prominent spokesperson and participant in the international communist movement, and a valued comrade and friend to the Communist Party of Canada.

His presence will be sorely missed at the International Meetings of the Communist and Workers' Parties, as we chart a collective course forward in the struggle to defeat imperialist war and exploitation, and to win a new world of peace, democracy, environmental sustainability, and socialism based on the political power of the working class and the ideology of Marxism-Leninism.

Comrade Chris will always be remembered as a powerful voice for solidarity with all workers and oppressed peoples, a tireless fighter for the ideals of communism in his own beloved South Africa, but also on the global scale, where his speeches and articles won enormous respect.

In his memory, we pledge to intensity our efforts to build greater solidarity against imperialism, and to strengthen the international Communist movement to which he devoted his life.

Comradely,

Central Executive Committee