Introduction It goes without saying, comrades, that organising is a very crucial element of the machinery of the Party- building programme. It is its engine and nuts and bolts. If we have not yet assembled our machine as we would have desired, bear in mind that the National Organising Committee was only formed in late August. Indeed, I am very new in this post, having been appointed convenor of the committee on August 26. Section 1 Party of a new type 1) VANGUARD MASS PARTY The question that confronted the Party immediately after its unbanning was: What kind of Party should we build? The question arose because its unbanning after 40 years underground meant the Party could exist and woik legally in South Africa. What had become clear even as we were still banned and working underground was that the Party continued to enjoy a lot of support from our people. In determining our work within the legal space offered us by the new political conditions in our motherland, we had to take into serious consideration the tremendous mass support accorded us. The decisions taken in the circumstances were: 1. That the Party be transformed to accommodate a large membership. 2. That it would still be possible for the Party, despite the large membership, to retain its vanguardist role. We felt it could be a vanguard party of a new type with all its members being activists. We felt also that this vanguard party of a new type had to be open to public scrutiny. We said the vanguard party had to be open to all questions from the masses in a new culture of open debate and discussion. The public launch in Soweto on July 29, confirmed the popularity of the Party as between 40 and 50 thousand people attended the rally. But, the biggest public display of support for the Party was on November 11 at the Dan Qeqe Stadium, Port Elizabeth, when an estimated 130 000 people jam-packed the stadium on the occasion of the launching rally of the Eastern Cape and Border regions. 2) INTERIM LEADERSHIP: Interim Leadership Groups, nationally and regionally, were formed to lead the Party. Cde Raymond Mhlaba was appointed chairperson of the NILG, that also contained the following comrades: Dan Tloome, Joe Slovo, John Nkadimeng, Sizakele Sigxashe, Ray Simons, Brian Bunting, Reggie September, Chris Hani, Essop Pahad, Jeremy Cronin, Cheryl Carolus, Chris Dlamini, Sydney Mufamadi, Moses Mayekiso, John Gomomo, Ronnie Kasrils, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada, Harry Gwala, Mac Maharaj and Billy Nair. The regional interim structures were constructed as follows: i) BORDER: The three senior executive posts went to Cdes Matthew Makalima (Chairperson); Mzwakhe Ndlela (Secretary), and Boyce Soci (Treasurer), while the following comrades served on the structure as additional members: M Limba, T Mseleni, D Smoko, G Hawkes, N Payi, S Ngonyama, N Kondlo, L Meyer, M George, and M Masala. ii) EASTERN CAPE: This region appointed a deputy chairperson to accommodate four senior executive members, appointed as follows: Mbulelo Goniwe (Chairperson), Bicks Ndoni (Deputy Chairperson), Ngcola Hempe (Secretary), and Mncedisi Nontsele (Treasurer), with the following comrades serving as additional members: Duma Nxarhane, Sipho Miggels, Pamela Yako, Mike Xego, Sicelo Gqobana, Ntsikelelo Mentoor, Eddie Miners, Phumla Nqakula, and Nontsikelelo Douws. iii) NATAL: In the beginning we had a working group in this region but, at the November 22, 1990 meeting of the group, it was decided that the regional interim leadership would be appointed from the three districts of Durban, Pietermaritzburg and Empangeni. This region also had four senior executive posts but, unlike the Eastern Cape, introduced the position of deputy secretary. Appointed to those positions were Thami Mohlomi (Chairperson), Jeffrey Radebe (Secretary), Blade Nzimande (Deputy Secretary), and Ian Phillip (Treasurer). The following were appointed additional members: Pravin Gordham, Ben Martins, Important Mkhize, Maggie Govender, Alec Erwin, Sipho Cele, Kisa Dlamini, Don Gumede, Yousuf Vawda, Dennis Nkosi, Jabulani Sithole, Rita Baartjies, Ian Mlazi, Cassius Lubisi, Shakes Cele, Hoosain Hassimm, Sipho Gcabashe, Isaiah Ntshangase, Moses Ndlovu, Bongi Sithole, Michael Mabuyakhulu, Guy Mkhize, Nozizwe Madlala, Willis Mchunu, and Jeffrey Vilane. iv) TRANSVAAL: In this area a working core was put together and was given the task, among others, to pilot the constitution of the region. On October 25, the following comrades were elected to serve on the RILG: Stanley Nkosi (Chairperson), Paul Mashatile (Secretary), Vulindlela Mapekula (Treasurer), andthe following additional members:Nomvula Mokonyane, Jabu Moleketi, Zwelinzima Vavi, Gwede Mantashe, Ignatius Jacobs, Bob Mabaso, Lisa Seftel, Ismael Momoniat, Firoz Cachalia, Mike Rossous, Andrew Zulu, Duma Nkosi, Vusi Mavuso, Joyce Kgoale, Elias Motsoaledi, Moses Mayekiso, Dipuo Mvelase, Mandla Nkomfe, James Maseko, Benny Monama, and Bobby Marie. v) TRANSKEI: The first Party regional interim structure took root in this area. The comrades decided on the following structure: K Jadezweni (Convenor), Phakamile Pongwana (Administrative Secretary), M Mabhude, D Mafu, M Vena, Lindiwe Msengana, Nandipha Madalane, Marasha, Zola Dabula and P Godongwana. vi) WESTERN CAPE: A working group for this region was appointed in October last year, comprising the following comrades: Lumko Huna (Chairperson), Garth Strachan (Secretary), Roseberry Sonto (Treasurer), with the following serving as additional members: Ray Alexander, Reggie September, Cheryl Carolus, Zollie Malindi, Liz Abrahams, Mountain Qumbela, Nomalndia Mfeketo, Desi Angelis, Jack Simons, Murray Michel, Alan Roberts, and Willem Pieterse. 2 3) PROBLEMS No one within our ranks could have believed at any stage that Party building would be easy. There were problems galore in the process of rebuilding. The Party could not formulate hard and fast rules for this process and relied, rather, on being informed by the local experience and, as experiences differed from one region to the next, so varied also were the approaches to this matter. The biggest dilemma for regions was that the new conditions of legality could not be addressed by the existing constitution, which was drawn up to cater for underground purposes. Our people, therefore, could not seek guidance from that document. Largely, our divergent experiences as cadres from exile and from the mass democratic formation internally, led to differences of opinion on the crucial areas of the type of Party we wanted to build, its role and function. During this initial period of our re-emergence, some people within the interim leadership groups, particularly at the regional level, were marginalised, either because of the "many caps" problem or because some comrades experienced a feeling of "inadequacy". Added to this, of course, was rejection by some comrades of those in the leadership cores they felt did not merit to belong to the leadership of an organ of the calibre of the SACP. That type of derogatory approach affected some of our comrades, who subsequently lost the enthusiasm to continue in the face of such rejection. It was not possible, therefore, to create a cohesive collective of dedicated activists to serve at our regional offices. And, despite the large leadership units referred to already, only a few of those appointed were active. Others did not dedicate even minimal time to Party work. The national office also suffered tremendously from the "many hats" syndrome. Whereas thousands of our supporters were clearly identifying with the Party, few of them were actually ready to apply for membership. Thousands of application forms were handed out at the public launch in July. However, only a few hundred of them subsequently reached us and whereas we were able to draw to the rally launching the Border and Eastern Cape regions 130 000 people, the membership of both regions by the end of the year was almost insignificant. 4) MEMBERSHIP: That brings us to the question of membership by the beginning of this year, at a point where we had completed six months of legal Party work since the public launch last year. Before we recall membership figures for that period, we need to comment on the approach adopted in the main to realise recruitment. The majority of our regions emphasised "quality" regarding membership of the new Party. It took time, therefore, for many of them to recruit to any significant measure. By the end of January, Border had 237 members in the five districts of East London (76), King William's Town (52), Victoria East (50), Queenstown (52) and Stutterheim (7). There were only four launched branches; three in East London and the odd one in King. At the endof the initial six months, the Eastern Cape had 175 members from 15 branches, nine whereof had double figures like New Brighton (23), Motherwell (12), Kwazakhele (14), Zwide (10), Graaff Reinet (14), Grahamstown (24), Somerset East (14), Rosedale & Langa (11), and Kwanobuhle (33). The beginnings of our two regions in Natal were very modest. The comrades started off by identifying those who would be appointed to serve on the leadership group and, the 27 comrades subsequently identified and appointed formed the total Party membership for a while. Transvaal did not have a clear picture of her membership as at the end of the six-month period but, at the end of March, they had 1 535 members from branches in Klerksdorp (800), Welkom.(400), Kathlehong (35), and Soweto (300). Transkei had a problem initially arising from the vastness of their area and, at the end of the six-month period, they had not yet processed the 694 applications received. The Western Cape experienced growth similar to what had obtained in Natal and could manage only a very minimal membership over the initial six months. The next six months to the end of July this year, saw a tremendous upswing in membership in all the areas but particularly so in the Border, Eastern Cape, Transkei and Transvaal.