Peter sez: Trevor Ngwane is one of the outstanding working-class intellectuals in South Africa, a long-time participant in World Social Forum events, presently working for an academic qualification at the Centre for Civil Society Durban. Now read on... The B u l l e t
Socialist Project • E-Bulletin No. 428 November 11, 2010

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South Africa in 2010:
A History That Must Happen

Trevor Ngwane

South Africa is a country on a roller coaster to disaster. A recent paper written by the leadership of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) attests to this. While the paper argues that the country is at
a crossroads, a close reading reveals a deep anxiety and even panic
among union leaders who are very worried and suggest that the country is
heading toward crisis. I would say South Africa is already in crisis
and unless there is a drastic and sharp turn to the left, the wheels are
going to come off the roller coaster.

The Roller Coaster Country

What is exciting about a roller coaster ride is its hurtling speed and unpredictability, simultaneously evoking feelings of exhilaration
and fear. That is how it feels like living in this country these days.
In the last couple of months or so, for example, one moment people were
giddy with excitement as South Africa hosted the World Cup in June 2010.
The government pulled out all the stops to make a success of the event:
nothing was allowed to stand in the way of achieving a successful
hosting with up to R70-billion ($9.6-billion U.S.) of public money
spent. Hardly a month later, health, education and other essential
government services ground to a halt as 1.3 million public sector
workers went on strike demanding a living wage. The government pleaded
poverty but this was not convincing and the strike went on for three
weeks, with dire consequences for ordinary people: babies dying for want
of medical care, students worried sick as they lost valuable time
preparing for high school exit exams, families at a loss as government
morgues failed to release the bodies of deceased loved ones for burial,
and so on. The common humanity and collective excitement that was shared
during the World Cup was replaced by anger and fear as the strike
turned violent. It was as if it was not the same country.

The strike by government employees was the culmination of a year of heightened protests and strikes that had gripped the country beginning
immediately after the April 2009 national elections, which saw Jacob
Zuma of the African National Congress (ANC) become president of the
country. Many would find the analogy of a roller coaster appropriate to
describe Zuma’s rise to power. Indeed, during his campaign to become ANC
president, he was described by his supporters as an unstoppable
tsunami. But it was touch and go all the way to the high seat for Zuma.
At one point he faced fraud, money laundering and a spate of other
corruption-related charges, which he miraculously escaped, including
getting an acquittal after a lengthy and much-publicised rape court
trial. His accomplice in the corruption charges, Schabir Shaik, received
a 15-year jail sentence, which – surprise surprise – he is serving in
the comfort of his own home after receiving parole for being [terminally
ill]. May he live long.

Protest, Strikes and Turmoil

South Africa continues to be overwhelmed by community protests, which often take the form of veritable riots, with public and private
property getting torched or vandalised. Since April 2009, the number of
protests mostly by poor working class communities demanding development
and basic services soared, leading to some analysts suggesting that this
country has the highest rate of protests in the world. This increase in
the number of protests was not expected because since 2000 there were
protests that were mainly organized by issue-based social movement
organizations and, after 2004, the protests changed in character and
tended to involve whole communities rising up in rebellion. Later there
was a strike wave that culminated in the 2007 public strike, then the
biggest in the country’s history. This turmoil saw the unprecedented
recall of a sitting president of the country, Thabo Mbeki, who was
removed from office by his own ANC comrades before his term of office
was over. The removal of Mbeki and his replacement by Zuma coincided
with the birth of the ‘new ANC’ that was supposed to be different from
the Mbeki-led ANC, which was blamed for the hardship and suffering that
sparked off the protests and strikes. When Zuma took over everyone
expected the protests to stop since the evil president had been replaced
by the man of the people. Instead the protests intensified. Today the
Zuma administration faces the wrath of striking government employees,
most of whom are members of COSATU unions, a COSATU that played a large
role in defending Zuma during his days of political and legal trials and
helped him become president.

The reader will agree with me that indeed South African politics feels like a roller coast ride. What exactly is going on? Where is South
Africa going? How can disaster be averted?

A Revolution Derailed

The short answer to the question of what is going on in South Africa is that a revolution was derailed here and what we are seeing are the
consequences of that. The workers are going on strike and communities
are rising up in protest because ordinary people are not getting what
they fought for during the struggle against apartheid and capitalism.
Millions were involved in a long and bitter struggle against statutory
racism and economic exploitation. Most of those who fought did so inside
the country and there were many South Africans who went into exile to
take the struggle forward. It was not just South Africans who fought; at
one point the anti-apartheid movement was one of the greatest
solidarity movements in history, with people all over the world doing
their bit to get rid of apartheid. During the course of the struggle
people developed definite ideas about the kind of society they wanted to
build after the demise of apartheid. The ‘new South Africa’ would be a
free country, without racism, without oppression, without exploitation,
without all the ills that afflicted the hated apartheid system. The
problem today is that many of these ills continue to blight our
post-apartheid society, hence the turmoil in the country.

South Africa, with a Gini coefficient of 0.86, is reputed to be one of the most unequal societies in the
world. What is amazing is that there is more inequality in
post-apartheid South Africa than during the dark days of apartheid. The
hardships related to this injustice are too many to list here. But one
example is unemployment, which stands at more than 40 per cent in this
country of about 48 million inhabitants. Last year alone the country
lost 1.1 million jobs due to the global economic meltdown. About 48 per
cent of South Africans live on less than R322 ($44 U.S.) a month per
person. Meanwhile the top 20 directors in the Johannesburg Stock
Exchange earn on average 1,728 times the average income of an ordinary
worker. An average African man earns about R2,400 per month while his
white counterpart earns R19,000. I must quickly point out that today
there is more inequality among African people than between blacks and
whites. What this points to is that the rich are getting richer and the
poor are getting poorer in South Africa; there is class formation and
differentiation that expresses itself in race, gender and other
dimensions. While there is a new class of black bourgeoisie and a rise
in the black middle class, the white capitalist class and the old middle
classes are getting richer and they still largely own and control the
country’s wealth, with dire consequences for the working class.

There is great anger and frustration among ordinary people in South Africa and it is this anger which explains the protests and strikes
happening all over the place. The public health care system is close to
collapse mainly because the rich, including government ministers and
others who can afford private health care, do not use public services.
Life expectancy has dropped from 62 years in 1992 to 48 years today.
HIV/AIDS has added to the catastrophe. But all this suffering would
perhaps be tolerable if ordinary people were not daily confronted by the
conspicuous consumption of the nouveau riche black bourgeoisie
and upper middle class, many of whom are senior government politicians
and civil servants, including, significantly, business people who have
made their money through securing state tenders. Politically connected
individuals are making so much money from government tenders that the
term ‘tenderpreneur’ has been added to the country’s lexicon. Cabinet
ministers use state funds to buy cars that cost over R1-million and
spend months sleeping in 5-star hotels. Sexual shenanigans by the new
elite are eclipsed by none other than the president himself, whose wives
receive state support in their capacity as official first ladies; he
was recently reported to be expecting the birth of his 22nd child by a
fiancée who will become his fourth wife in January next year. The fact
that Zuma’s son and nephew were involved in a recent scandal involving
billions of rands in a shady mining rights deal has led even ANC
alliance partners in the South African Communist Party
(SACP) and especially COSATU to cry foul. Indeed, in its discussion
paper on the current political situation COSATU argues that South Africa
is developing into a ‘predator state’ where a class of black
capitalists, under cover of the country’s official policy of ‘Black
Economic Empowerment’ (BEE), enrich themselves through control of and
ties to the state.

We can see therefore that the revolution that was supposed to improve the lives of ordinary people in South Africa has been derailed and an
elite has developed that is enjoying the benefits of uhuru (freedom). But how can it be? How did the country reach this sorry state a mere 16 years after independence?

The Politics of Class Collaboration Rules

It would be wrong to argue that nothing has changed or nothing good has happened since the ANC took power in 1994. South Africa has a lot to
be proud of. Under apartheid there was no political freedom, no freedom
of speech, no universal franchise and blatant racism was the order of
the day. There has also been notable improvement in gender relations,
with women accorded equal status with men. South Africa is one of very
few countries where same-sex marriage is allowed.

The ANC government also put great effort in improving the lives of ordinary people by extending access to water, electricity, housing and
other basic necessities. Under Thabo Mbeki the social security network
was extended so that millions of people receive government ‘social
grants,’ that is, old age pensions and child and disability grants.
Mandela is famous for his effort trying to forge a united nation out of a
history of conflict and division. But all the problems listed above and
the burgeoning dissatisfaction tell us that much more needs to be done.
The question is what needs to be done and what are the obstacles?

During the days of struggle against apartheid, the ANC was closely allied to the SACP and many people expected the new democratic
government to follow, if not a socialist policy, at least a social
democratic one. This seemed the only way in which the economic legacy of
apartheid and capitalism could be fought and reversed. Under apartheid
the wealth of the country was monopolised by the whites and in the hands
of a few big corporations.

The Freedom Charter, a document that inspired the struggle in South Africa for decades,
stated clearly that the ‘commanding heights’ of the economy would be
nationalised in order to benefit everyone. It was not to be, as on the
eve of independence, the ANC, the SACP and COSATU, members of the
Tripartite Alliance that was to govern the newly independent country,
opted for the capitalist route to development. Instead of a struggle
against capitalism, a policy of class collaboration between the working
class and the capitalist class was adopted. It was in this context that
the idea of encouraging the growth of a black ‘patriotic’ bourgeoisie
was adopted as state policy in the form of the BEE.

The ANC was hardly two years in power when it abandoned the capitalist but mildly redistributive Reconstruction and Development
Programme (RDP) and adopted the neoliberal and World Bank co-authored
Growth, Employment and Redistribution Programme (GEAR). Although the
SACP and COSATU were uncomfortable with this policy shift, their
leaderships did little to fight it. This was because they believed that
somehow it was possible to secure and promote the interests of the
working class without an open struggle against capitalism and the
capitalist class. This approach led to the strengthening and
consolidation of capitalism in South Africa and, in line with trends
elsewhere, along neoliberal lines.

As neoliberal policy began to bite and the working class began to suffer under the ANC regime, the SACP and COSATU leaders refused to
change their political approach. As a solution they sought to install a
‘worker-friendly’ president in power, hence the anti-Mbeki pro-Zuma
campaign which began in 2005 and culminated in the recall of Mbeki and
Zuma’s ascendancy. Today, more than a year after Zuma became the
country’s president, it is becoming clear that changing the man has not
led to a change of policy. According to COSATU the Zuma regime has
continued to implement the same neoliberal policies that were blamed on
Mbeki:

'... listen with one ear to the capitalists inside the ANC and with the other to the capitalists outside the ANC'.

This is the situation today.The recent public sector strike is a good illustration of this point, as workers wise up to this reality. Weitzman Hamilton, a socialist in South Africa, has argued that Zuma provided the last cover for the bankruptcy of the SACP-COSATU political

approach. Indeed, the policy of trying to balance the needs of workers
with those of capital appear to have reinforced the power of the
capitalist class in South Africa by providing the capitalists with fresh
recruits from the ranks of the leadership of the national liberation
movement. As more and more ANC leaders ‘made it’ and became overnight
millionaires, the ANC, which heretofore was listening with one ear to
the working class and with the other to the capitalists, began to listen
with one ear to the capitalists inside the ANC and with the other to
the capitalists outside the ANC. This is the situation today. The recent
public sector strike is a good illustration of this point, as workers
wise up to this reality.

The Public Sector Strike

The public sector strike ended clumsily with union leaders imposing a unilateral ‘suspension’ saying they are giving the ANC government 21
days to improve its settlement offer. The workers were demanding an 8.6
per cent increase and a R1,000 ($138 U.S.) housing allowance. But the
government’s final offer was a 7.5 per cent increase and R800 ($110
U.S.) housing allowance. The leaders threaten that they will resume the
strike if negotiations with the government do not yield a satisfactory
outcome. However, many workers who were on strike were reported to be
unhappy with the decision to call off the strike despite the strain of
being in the streets for three weeks. Some are saying outright that they
were ‘sold out’ by the union leaders.

The suspension of the strike was a creative and confusing use of the country’s labour laws and, to me, is an indication that there is a
history that needs to happen in South Africa. It is a history that
requires workers to defeat the politics of class collaboration of the
union leaders and face up to the Herculean task of getting rid of
capitalism. I have indicated above how the power of the capitalists was
strengthened rather than weakened with the attainment of liberation.

During the course of the strike it was as if this history was already happening. For three weeks 1.3 million workers put down their tools and
stood united in struggle against the ANC government demanding a wage
increase. Many of the workers belonged to COSATU-affiliated unions and
the Independent Labour Caucus; the latter is made up of independent
unions and union federations, some of which traditionally organized
white collar workers and white workers. The workers displayed their
power and unity in action and were able to defy court orders that
disallow nurses and other ‘essential workers’ from striking.

To fully understand this strike we have to compare it with the 2007 public sector strike. The present strike built on the old strike. For
example, the 2007 strike undermined the power of the argument that
workers cannot strike against their ‘own government.’ It was also able
to unite 17 public sector unions, quite an achievement given South
Africa’s racially and ideologically divided history of unionism. But in
2007 there was no attempt to get workers in the private sector to come
out in solidarity with their comrades in the public sector, something
which could have been achieved by the union leaders merely by making a
telephone call.

This time there was an attempt by COSATU to organize sympathy strikes in the mining, auto and municipal sectors with some unions submitting
the seven-day notice period required by law for sympathy strikes. The
sympathy strikes never happened as they were averted at the last minute
when Zuma instructed government negotiators to go back to the table and
improve their final offer which at that time stood at 7 per cent and
R700 ($96 U.S.) housing allowance. The government was under pressure at
the time because the police and soldiers were also threatening to strike
in solidarity with their comrades. I should point out that in 2007 the
resolution of the strike was problematic because it was based on the
‘occupational specific dispensation,’ that is, certain categories of
workers – teachers, nurses and doctors – were given bigger increases
than other public sector workers. This time the strikers united behind
common demands to the bitter end.

Both the 2007 and 2010 strikes received public sympathy mainly because many ordinary South Africans are fed up with the ANC government.
A lot of anger was directed at President Jacob Zuma. The workers’
placards taunted him for his polygamous marriages and promiscuity, they
complained that he was visiting China during the height of the strike,
and they also expressed unhappiness with government ‘fat cats’ with some
referring directly to the multi-billion rand business deals secured by
Zuma's relatives since he became president. There were pointed reminders
to Zuma that it was the working class that had supported him when he
faced criminal charges for rape and corruption and when he was under
attack from Thabo Mbeki during their power struggle. Underlying this was
a feeling of betrayal by Zuma, no doubt a consequence of the COSATU and
SACP leaderships' drumming up support for him on the grounds that he
was a friend of the working class. The latter point explains why the
COSATU discussion paper worries that: “Amongst our constituency there is
a degree of despondency, and people are beginning to question our
strategies.” (p.16)

Meanwhile, even as the public sector strike ends, there are strikes in the motor components sector with workers demanding what they call a
‘double digit’ increase. This strike is affecting petrol service
stations and has led to many car plants like Mercedes Benz stopping
production. Some analysts have attributed the determination of the
public sector workers as inspired by a series of strikes that happened
immediately before the World Cup, when workers in the transport and
electricity sectors, both run by government-owned companies, won double
digit increases. Many people believe the government had no choice but to
grant these increases because the strikes would have disrupted the
hallowed sports event. But it was the public sector strike that
pointedly problematized the relationship between government and the
trade unions and appears to have direct political implications for the
country.

Lessons From the Strike

I think the strike taught millions of workers, both those on strike and those watching the strike, two main lessons. Firstly, that if the
working class wants public services that are properly resourced and
staffed by well-paid workers it cannot rely on using pressure and
persuasion on the ANC government. Force is necessary. The working class
needs to build a power that will compel the government to do what is in
the interest of the working class rather than of the capitalist class
and its allies. Secondly, that that power lies in the hands of workers
themselves rather than in ‘worker-friendly’ government leaders. The
strike served to undermine some of the lack of confidence and loss of
hope afflicting the working class in South Africa. To change history in
their favour, workers need to build solidarity with members of their own
class, solidarity in action rather than in feelings and words.

The clumsy way the union leaders have ended the strike provides a third crucial lesson for workers. The strike, no matter how powerful and
authoritative, is not enough to sustain and carry forward the working
class struggle and deliver on workers’ needs. Also necessary is
organization and a politics that consistently puts the interests of the
working class first. The union leaders' action exposes the core of their
politics as class collaborationist; they seek solutions in agreements
with a capitalist government and in accommodation with capitalist
interests. The threatened sympathy strikes between public and private
sector workers pointed to the only way to secure a workers’ victory;
they also began the process of breaking down the invisibility and
immunity enjoyed by capital in South Africa, and the belief that the ANC
is ‘our government.’ The strike put the question of the power of
government and the limitations of the capitalist system on the agenda.
It might not be so clear in the minds of millions of workers but after
three weeks of struggle the workers are different from the people they
were two weeks ago.

The strike challenged the reality of capitalism because this type of struggle will face public sector workers again and again. Indeed it
faces all workers. There will be no solution for workers under
capitalism. The members of the public who suffered because of the strike
must know that the power to end their suffering lay in the hands of a
government that could simply end it by giving the workers what they
want. The struggle is not about getting the ANC capitalist government to
correct its policies and change its leaders. It is about alternatives –
fighting to put in power a government that consistently puts the
interests of the working class first – a workers’ government. That is
the history that the strike tells us needs to happen in South Africa and
in the world.

Despite the analogy of a roller coaster I started off with I want to end on a hopeful note. The hope arises out of the public sector strike
even though it has ended inconclusively, and some would say in betrayal.
The strike, seen in the context of other strikes and the many community
protests taking place in the country, suggests that something new is
happening in South Africa. The solidity and breadth of the public sector
strike indicates that the seeds of something better, albeit scattered
in the isolated different working class outbursts, are beginning to
grow. The social weight of organized, mobilized workers is beginning to
consolidate. It is not just about the ANC-SACP-COSATU Alliance, nor is
it about the government, the state, the capitalists, the leadership or
the left. It is about what millions of ordinary working class people are
thinking and feeling – and beginning to do. This is what we need to
look at and follow closely. This is where the hope and the work of
revolutionary socialists lie. The revolution is not a Sunday school
picnic and will no doubt feel like a roller coaster. But this time it
will be a ride not to disaster but to a world where all forms of
oppression and exploitation are eradicated. Not just in South Africa,
but everywhere in the world. The workers are showing the way. •

Trevor Ngwane is a member of the Socialist Group, a small collective of socialists active in the social movements and trade
unions in South Africa.

This article first appeared in Counterfire.