By Lesedi Sibiya-Diplomatic Insider 

The 2025 Liberation Movement Summit which was hosted by the African National Congress (ANC) this year, took place at the Radison Blu Hotel, Kempton Park from 25-28 July. The year’s theme is Advancing integrated Socio-Economic Development Strengthening Solidarity for a better Africa. 

ANC, Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO), FRELIMO, ZANU-PF and Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) form part of six crucial organizations that fought for the liberation of the Southern African region. These six organizations congregate every year for the Liberation Movement Summit, which aims to reaffirm the core principles of these six organizations.

 It also seeks to assert itself in the ever-changing global climate. This summit also seeks to bolster intra-party solidarity as well as realign liberation movements with the socio-economic aspirations of a new Africa.

 The ANC have expressed that the cultural, political and economic survival of the legacy of Southern African liberation needs to be met with introspection and firm unity. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was in attendance at the Liberation Movement Summit where he gave an address.

 “The time has come to ensure that the hard fought for democratic dividends become a lived reality for the masses. Thus, we have the urgent task to reassert the soul of our movements in the 21st Century.” said Ramaphosa in his address.

 “We cannot become custodians of yesterday’s glory while today’s youth are unemployed, disillusioned, or migrating, we must become engines of transformation, homes of ideology and centres of accountability.” he continued to add. 

The President of FRELIMO also gave an address at the Summit representing Mozambique, reminding the leaders that as much as these organizations have fought hard for the liberation of Southern Africa that they must also acknowledge their shortcomings.

 “Comrades, it is crucial that we recognize that over time we made mistakes. In many of our countries we witnessed the weakening of democratic institutions, the growing distance between parties and citizens, the capture of public resources by private interests and intolerance towards dissenting voices.” 

With the world beginning to usher in a new generation of leaders that are coming into the threshold, this summit aims to remind the new generation that these political institutions still have what it takes to turn their faults around in order to assert Africa’s place in a shifting global landscape.