“But we are not just rebuilding our country from last week’s destruction. We are rebuilding after decades of devastation from land dispossession and exploitation. We are fundamentally rebuilding our economy and society. We need to step up our efforts to transform the country, create jobs, lift millions out of poverty, and ensure that the country's wealth is distributed to all its citizens.'' president's desk — Monday, July 19, 2021. )
South Africa, still reeling from the shock of last week's “protests” over former president Jacob Zuma's jailing for contempt and the ensuing food riots and looting, is easily comforted by President Cyril Ramaphosa's words. It shouldn't be.
The obvious irony and hypocrisy is that it is his and the ANC government's failures over the past 27 years that have brought this country to the brink of civil war and failed statehood.
Building on the empty rhetoric and promises of previous decades, starting with the slogan “A better life for all” in 1993, Ramaphosa and his government have transformed the economy and lifted the masses out of poverty (1955 Ensuring that the country's wealth is shared among its people (as enshrined in the ANC's Freedom Charter) requires millions of human jobs.
The immediate concern for all of us is the likely scenario of a South Africa under an ANC government, sustained by abject poverty and embroiled in a sectarian political battle that has raged over the past few weeks.
The violent outcome of this battle was inevitable. If left untreated, it may get worse. This fight is not just about Ramaphosa vs. Zuma and the latter's recent imprisonment. It is about who controls the ruling party and thereby the government and the nation.
Much is at stake in this issue: power, influence and wealth on which hundreds of ANC and SA Communist Party (SACP) members depend for their livelihoods and social status. State power and resources are the main means of sustaining and satisfying the greedy desire for wealth of the black sections of the middle and bourgeoisie classes.
Patronage is the name of the game
Virtually the entire ANC and its respective groups and factions rely on a complex system of formal and informal patronage, from the 'top six' to local branches, and from high to low levels within government. We secure and maintain support by providing jobs. and the state—from ministers and adjutant generals to members of local branches.
We recognize the processes of corruption carried out within government by the ANC, ranging from the direct theft of national resources in the form of tendering and “mismanaged” procurement practices at all levels. . The ANC is corrupt to its core, destroying and rendering every area of the public service dysfunctional in the process.
This process, which runs parallel to the ANC's pro-big-capital neoliberal economic policies and consistent anti-poverty austerity measures even during the COVID-19 pandemic, gave impetus to last week's food riots and looting. Both of these phenomena, state corruption and pro-business/anti-poverty policies, have their roots in the origins of the ANC and government. 1993 political settlement negotiations.
Late economist professor at Stellenbosch University Saint Peter Terreblanche He summarized the settlement proposal that the apartheid ruling class submitted to the ANC and which was accepted, including a sunset clause, as “Give it to Pretoria, but leave Johannesburg alone.''
This meant that the ANC would retain state power as long as it left the apartheid economy fundamentally intact. This was accepted by all the top leaders of the ANC – Nelson Mandela, Joe Slobo, Thabo Mbeki, Chris Hani, Zuma and Ramaphosa.
WMC maintenance
What has been the historic mission of the ANC since its founding in 1912: to abolish oppressive colonial and apartheid conditions and to enable the black middle class to flourish with reasonable freedom and opportunities for wealth accumulation. The mission of providing access became intertwined with the role of maintaining apartheid economic arrangements. This not only left “White Monopoly Capital” (WMC) intact, but it would actually be better to solve a vexing problem. sanctions has been removed to make global operations and expansion easier.
Moreover, the ANC's economic policy was soon to change from a sham welfarism. Reconstruction and development program Against the superficially neoliberal pro-business growth, jobs and redistribution economic policy. This has been implemented with zeal and vigor since the Mandela era and was supported by Mbeki and all subsequent ANC governments.
These penniless cost-cutting policies were implemented in all areas of public services and parastatals, including housing, education, public transport, health care, and water and electricity provision. Combined with mismanagement and corruption, it had a devastating impact on the majority of South Africans, the black working class and poor.
The dire situation of extreme poverty and inequality has been further exacerbated by several regional and global economic crises, which have cost the country millions of secure and permanent jobs. Furthermore, to ensure that all opposition and resistance to these anti-poverty measures is weakened and suppressed, at the behest of big business and to secure its own political power, the ANC government has recently implemented several reforms, including labor law reforms. passed labor market reforms. It severely weakened workers' right to strike.
watershed moment
Zuma's removal as vice president in 2005 was a turning point for the ruling party and the country. This marked the beginning of factionalism within the ANC, which had a negative impact on its already weakened leadership and governing capacity.
Zuma succeeded in energizing all the injured party members and their alliance partners (ANC Youth Wing, SACP, Cosatu) and succeeded in ousting the ANC's Thabo Mbeki and the president. 52nd ANC National Conference held in Polokwane in 2007. While there is mismanagement and corruption, billion dollar arms dealhad already been a feature of ANC rule since 1994, but President Zuma's government took it to another level with wanton looting and destruction.
By 2015, Zuma's main organizational components, the ANC Youth League, Cosatu, and SACP groups, had split and distanced themselves from Zuma.
By then, however, the wise Zuma had played the long game, securing majority support within the party organization and in all areas of government by appointing his cronies to strategic positions in government and the state. His first priority was to ensure that his yes-men were in control of society. national prosecutor's office (NPA), law enforcement, military. His main objective was to maintain control of the state, maintain a network of patronage and support, and stay out of prison forever.
A united effort
It was a lucrative partnership with him. gupta family And its destabilizing effect on the country upset the apple cart of white monopoly capital.
Every effort was made to terminate Mr Zuma's role as SA president. Success was due to the support of mainstream media, liberal NGOs, the trade union movement and the provision of huge campaign funds (estimated at R300 million) to the Ramaphosa faction to bribe delegates to elect him ANC president in 2017. was achieved in National conference. This was achieved by a narrow margin against the Zuma candidate Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
Since then, sectarian conflict has intensified, with Mr. Ramaphosa gaining the upper hand and using state institutions to take action against Zuma's faction and legitimize his role. Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture. This resulted in the pending prosecution of key members of the Zuma faction, including party secretary-general Ace Magashule, and Zuma himself, which was ultimately sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of court.
For the Radical Economic Transformation (RET) faction, which supported Zuma, this was too much. It symbolically signaled defeat. It was the end of a political struggle for party supremacy that threatened to disrupt patronage networks and control over all access to state resources.
A decisive counterattack was called for, with the main demand being Zuma's release. The action began with protests and sabotage, including attacks on trucks on the strategic N3 highway that connects the economic hubs of Durban and Johannesburg with WMC's operations – warehouses, factories and shopping malls in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
This quickly turned into a full-scale food riot by the desperate poor, especially unemployed youth, and ultimately over 330 people were killed.
lazy response
The initial lackluster response by South East police stations and security forces can be attributed to key sectors that remain supportive and sympathetic to Zuma's cause. After all, many of them are Zuma's appointees and henchmen.
This political crisis is not over yet and is likely to get worse. President Ramaphosa's careful and gradual purges have allowed the Zuma/RET faction to plot and plot. Guidance at the 2022 ANC National Conference, as the Zondo Commission has taken so long to finish its work and lay the groundwork for widespread prosecution of Zuma allies for their role in state capture. There is plenty of room to gather support within the party to win the presidential election. .
Based on the threat posed to hundreds of corrupt leaders at all levels of the party as a result of the recommendations by the Zondo Commission and the NPA, expanding the support base within the ANC and its membership is essential for a majority vote. It could be a decisive move towards the party. RET/Zuma faction.
The options left for Ramaphosa are to continue the gradual purge through the state apparatus and risk defeat at the next national conference, or to take decisive action and eliminate all dissidents who support RET/Zuma. Either they should immediately expel the sect and arrest and prosecute those who plotted and carried out the plot. He announced their ungovernability plan last week.
prepare for the worst
In any case, the outcome is likely to be chaotic and violent, as both factions, and indeed the entire ANC and its infrastructure, depend on the patronage of state resources. Their lives and livelihoods are under threat, and they will protect it by any means necessary, both within and outside the law.
This has been the case for more than 20 years of ANC rule, characterized by theft, corruption, mismanagement, mafia-style operations, collusion with organized crime, secret donations and corporate influence, and corruption within its own ranks. These included political assassinations by hitmen and assassinations within organizations. , recently ungovernable.
South Africa needs to prepare for the worst. Rise up, you wretches of the earth! DM/MC