South Africa after Apartheid
Article in Le Mode Libertaire by WSF delegate to the
October/November 1997 congress of the International of Anarchist
Federations, Lyon, France.
Historically, South Africa epitomized the poverty and oppression
associated with capitalism and racism. The first non-racial
elections to parliament in April 1994 gave many hope for the redress
of the injustices of the past. The holding of elections open to all
people, and the replacement of racist laws by basic democratic and
civil rights was a big victory for the struggle in South Africa. But
the new government of Nelson Mandela and the African National
Congress (ANC) has consistently failed to address the demands of the
Black working class for equality and the redistribution of
wealth.
INEQUALITY
In South Africa, 47% of Black African households live on, or
below, the poverty line. Yet the ten richest South African families
are together worth R18 billion. In South Africa there is an
unemployment rate of 30%, but managers in big companies earn up to
R900,000 per year. 5 big companies control 801@,@ of the Johannesburg
Stock Exchange, and 120,000 (mainly White) farmers own 87% of the
land.
Inequality in South Africa does not only follow racial lines.
While most poor people are Black, not all Blacks are poor. Over the
last twenty years there has been the rapid expansion of a Black
bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie. This expansion has accelerated
since the April 1994 non-racial elections. Between 1975-199 1, the
richest 20% of Black African households increased their real incomes
by over 40%. At the same time, the poorest 40% of Black African
households' incomes fell by nearly 40%. A similar decline in the
incomes of the poorest 40% of White households also took place in
this period.
These patterns of race and class inequality indicate that the
Black working class - the majority of the population - is the chief
victim of South Africa's heritage of racism and capitalism. It is
only this mass which can sweep away the causes and beneficiaries of
exploitation in South Africa.
APARTHEID-CAPITALISM
The suffering of the Black working class has its roots in South
Africa's specific form of capitalist development:
"apartheid-capitalism". Apartheid was not just the product of
fanatical racism, as is claimed by the bourgeois media.
Instead, the forms of social control of Apartheid laid the basis
for capitalist development in South Africa. The pass laws, the
migrant labor system, the lack of the most elementary political
rights, the ban on Black trade unions, the housing of workers on
barracks-- these created a very cheap and vigorously controlled labor
force to service the mines, farms and factories of South Africa. In
many cases, such mechanism's allowed workers to be paid wages below
the level of subsistence. Racist ideology Justified this oppression,
END OF APARTHEID
Apartheid began to collapse in the 1970s due to economic
stagnation and the massive revolt from below of the workers and the
poor.
Charged with anti-capitalist sentiment, the resistance also often
exhibited forms of self-management. For example, mass trade unions
based on shop-floor organization and committed to socialism were
established, and in the Black townships there were attempts to
replace the rule of the State with the rule of democratic and
participatory community-based "civic associations".
It was against this background that the Apartheid regime chose to
negotiate a new political dispensation with African National Congress
-aligned moderates in the 1990s.
NEO-LIBERAL DEMOCRACY
These negotiations led to the holding of the first non-racial
democratic elections in April 1994. For the first time in 300
hundred years all Black people got the right to vote, freedom of
speech and free association. However, this political advance has not
led to improvements in the material circumstances of the Black
working class.
Although the ANC campaigned under the slogan "A Better Life For
All" in 1994, it has now firmly committed itself to a neo-liberal
form of capitalism in the form of the "GEAR" ("Growth, Employment and
Redistribution") macro-economic strategy released in June 1996. GEAR
calls for the privatization of State assets, the liberalization of
international trade and capital flows, a flexible labor market, and a
minimal role for the State in economic activity.
More concrete examples of the ANC's commitment to neo-liberal
policies include
* current moves to privatize State assets such as
water
* a land reform program based on the principle of land being
redistributed through the market
* cuts in spending on many universities
* the "Masakhane" ("Build Together") campaign to enforce payment
for electricity and water in the townships
* closures and downgrading of "non-economic" hospitals
WHY?
Across the world, such neo-liberal policies have exacerbated the
sufferings of the poor, leading to falling wages, unemployment, cuts
in social spending and attacks on workers' rights.
The ANC's rapid capitulation to such policies reflects a variety
of factors.
Foremost here would be the integration of the ANC leadership into
the structures of ruling class power in South Africa. The ANC always
regarded the State as an instrument of progressive change, failing to
recognize that the State by its very nature can only defend and
entrench privilege. As State functionaries, ANC leaders are now
acting to maintain capitalism in South Africa, and are subject to
pressures from international institutions (the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund... ) and local monopoly capital to
implement neo-liberalism.
But it would be a mistake to think that the ANC has simply been
forced to adopt such policies against its will. The ANC has long been
committed to the capitalist economic system, and its leadership and
officials have long been a central part of the growing Black
bourgeoisie. As such, they identify with the class interests and
privileges of White capitalists. They do not suffer from the
exploitation of the working class but instead benefit from it.
WAY FORWARD
In this situation, progressive social change must be the task of
the Black working class, which has nothing to gain and everything to
lose under the current social relations. A consistent struggle
requires a break with the united front of both Black and White
bourgeois, in favor of a program of mass struggle and workers
autonomy. Ultimately, it is only a social revolution that can break
the shackles of racism and capitalism. Only international
libertarian communism can uproot racism and capitalism, and usher in
a reign of equality and self-management.
Resistance to the neo-liberal assault has already begun, with
student protests, two general strikes 'n 1997 against "flexible"
conditions, and street battles against electricity cut-offs.
It is crucial that anarchist militants intervene in these
struggles to promote the anarchist idea. That is why the Workers
Solidarity Federation of South Africa would like to appeal for
monetary donations from all comrades. Such aid ca be sent to us via
the Francophone Anarchist Federation [address]
Delegate of WSF to IFA Congress, October 31 to November 2, 1997
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