The “party of liberation” had become the political vehicle of “Black” components of the capitalist class who had
missed the first round of BEE. The prioritisation of creating a black elite has come at the expense of redistributing
wealth to the majority of South Africans.Towards the fire next time
A key element of the crisis of politics in
South Africa lies in the great levels of
disillusionment and apathy toward politics
of millions of working class people. The
“protagonists of the revolution” don’t
believe politics is for them. Many believe
today that “all politicians are corrupt” and
only in it for the money.
Equally worrying are the low levels of
consciousness within the working classes.
Sexism and misogyny, expressed through
waves of horrific violence against women,
are one indicator. Similarly, xenophobia
and a narrow nationalist sentiment have
filtered into the “common sense” of vast
numbers of poor people.
Reactionary views
penetrate working class
movement
These reactionary views are not just
embraced in South Africa. They are
gripping the attention of the working
classes elsewhere, in previous havens
of the Left, in those social democratic
bastions of France, Sweden and Italy. And
they are not just embraced by vulnerable
and impoverished sectors of poor South
Africans. Now, more and more, they are
accepted amongst activists in trade unions
and social movements. Gone are the days
when they would be shy, for fear of being
politically incorrect, to voice the need
to safeguard jobs and services for South
Africans and to control the movement of
foreign nationals.
This is enabling the growth of right-
wing populist groupings such as Herman
Mashaba’s Action South Africa, Gayton
McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance, Operation
Dudula and others. And it is significantly
closing off political space for the radical
Left.
There are other factors affecting that
space as well, not least the power gained
by business, through the outcomes of
globalisation and neoliberalism. Budget
cuts, tax reductions for the rich and more
tax increases for the poor, flexible forms of
labour, privatisation and the liberalisation
of the economy. These have all weakened
the negotiating power of labour, as one
part of the working class is played off
against another. Mass unemployment and
the loss of permanent jobs in favour of
precarious forms of work have created high
levels of insecurity and despair. This is
ground in which populist and reactionary
ideas can take root.ANC becomes vehicle of
Black elite
Neoliberal globalisation posed significant
challenges for the workers’ movement. For
Cosatu and the South African Communist
Party, the strategy to mitigate this was to
deepen their involvement in the ANC itself,
in the belief they could secure pro-working
class policies. In reality the opposite
occurred. As working class activists became
incorporated into the ANC they became
exposed to the possibilities of socio-
economic advancement and co-option by
different factions of capital.
By 2012 this strategy was in tatters.The “party of liberation” had become the
political vehicle of “Black” components
of the capitalist class who had missed the
first round of BEE. They were desperate
to gain greater control over the heights
of the economy. Their lack of ownership
and low capital base predisposed them to
cronyism, and practices which have since
been labelled as state capture.
The prioritisation of creating a
black elite has come at the expense of
redistributing wealth to the majority of
South Africans. It is this contradiction of
post-apartheid South Africa that catalysed
the mass uprising of workers, working
class communities and poor tertiary
students and rendered this strategy
between 2012 and 2016 impotent.Moments of hope
There have been moments when
opportunities for a revival of the socialist
Left looked promising.
The late 1990s saw the flourishing
of a range of social justice struggles,
which began to pose a challenge to the
ANC government’s shift to neoliberalism.
But it was the 2012 to 2016 period that
represented a real possibility for building a
mass based anti-capitalist bloc. The mass
strike of rank-and-file mineworkers,
the Marikana massacre, the emergence
of Amcu as a mass trade union, splits
in Cosatu, the Numsa Special National
Congress of 2013 and its call for the break
with the ANC Alliance, the formation of
the EFF, and soon thereafter the rebellion
of university students demanding free