The 52nd ANC National Conference that took place from December 16 to 20 in 2007 at the University of Limpopo in Polokwane, reignited a long-overdue national dialogue about progressive change within the South African political landscape.
The debate was spearheaded by ‘left-inclined forces’ who were willing to go to almost any length to overturn the socio- economic contradictions that emanated from the 1996 Class Project of former president Thabo Mbeki.
That project, through the economic model of Gear [Growth, Employment and Redistribution], further engraved the legacy of a colonial apartheid state that was characterised by the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality.
This was under the pretext of a newly liberated state epitomised by RDP houses that tumbled-down quicker than the matchstick houses of [Hendrik] Verwoerd.
At the forefront of altering the status quo were ‘staunch communists’ such as Blade Nzimande, of the South African Communist Party (SACP, and the then-secretary general of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), Zwelinzima Vavi.
The 2,329 hands that propelled Jacob Zuma to the throne of the ANC ahead of Thabo Mbeki had hopes of repositioning the policy of the country by infusing the ideals of the National Democratic Revolution (NDR) in a manner that would mirror the “Lula Moment” of Brazil.
The 2003-2011 presidency of Luiz Inacio da Silva, or Lula as he is affectionately known, was characterised by programmes that took 40 million Brazilians out of absolute poverty and created 15 million jobs, anchored by accountability in public institutions and real relationships between labour, civil society and business.
But the South African “Lula Moment” was not to happen.
Instead the strife of South Africans deepened as the tune of neoliberal policies continued to echo in the South African political economy.
The neoliberal economic policies that the SACP and its alliance partner, Cosatu, fought at the Polokwane conference remain the order of the day.
The debate about the privatisation of key state assets such as South African Airways (SAA), rampantly increasing petrol prices and the increase in Value Added Tax (VAT) mean questions need be raised about the influence the SACP has on the alliance, especially with regards to the policy formulation process of the ANC.
This goes beyond merely putting forward the names of SACP leaders such as Nzimande and Buti Manamela to serve in the executive, something which has hinged on co-option to the decorum of the ANC rather than effectively lobbying the ruling party to take the pro-left stance that is directed by the NDR.
The class content of the NDR, of which both the ANC and the SACP are meant to be custodians, has remained the locomotive of the liberation struggle against colonial apartheid.
It has remained relevant beyond the 1994 ‘democratic breakthrough’.
One of the reasons it has remained relevant is because its theoretical underpinnings are rooted in a primary force that is pro-poor and working class, the same principles that were supposed to be explicitly championed by the SACP and influence the ANC’s key decisions.
The history of the formation of the concept of the NDR and its later adoption by the SACP suggests that it’s a left-leaning concept.
However, one of the fundamental questions that needs to be asked by the alliance is how real it is to expect this left leaning NDR to be led by the ANC which is made up of a “broad church” that does not explicitly subscribe to communism.
As much as it is easy to blame apartheid and the government of Jacob Zuma for the problems that the country faces, the reconfiguration of the alliance also needs to be mentioned as a problem that has derailed progress.
The SACP and Cosatu have been swallowed inside the belly of the ruling party to such an extent that they are paralysed in their task to compliment and contradict the ANC when it matters.
The SACP and Cosatu need to question being led in the NDR by the ANC which has failed to restructure the country’s economy to be inclusive of all.
Asemahle Gwala is a political science student at Nelson Mandela University and is the deputy chairperson of Sasco’s Claude Qavane Branch. He writes in his personal capacity...