strategy
Rehana Rossouw and Wally Mbhele
Without once using the term “socialism”, the African National Congress has committed itself to eradicating poverty and disparities in wealth.
However, it insists this is done in a mixed economy, using “positive elements of the market”.
Reminiscent of its pre-1990 rhe-toric, an ANC discussion document on strategy and tactics – titled Building on the Foundation for a Better Life – situates the party firmly to the left of politics in South Africa. It is one of eight documents prepared for discussion by ANC members before the December national conference.
On its first page, the document positions South Africa’s political liberation “in a world in which the system of capitalism enjoys dominant sway over virtually the entire globe”.
The ANC believes the long-term interests of the majority of South Africans could be “subverted” by “capitalism’s rapacious licence. In this sense, therefore, the basic framework of our democratic achievement is irreversible: but it can be derailed, leaving us with a shell of political rights without real social content.”
With the 1994 elections, the document says, the ANC had achieved only elements of power, but was given immense possibilities to use the new situation “as a beachhead to fundamentally transform society.
“April 1994 constitutes a platform from which to launch this programme of social transformation. What this revolution still has to accomplish is to overcome the legacy of a social system that was based on the oppression of the black majority.
“Political freedom constitutes an important part of this mandate. However, without social justice, such freedom will remain hollow, the pastime of those who can make ends meet.
“The symbiotic link between capitalism and national oppression in our country, and the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few monopolies therefore render trite the vainglorious declaration that national oppression and its social consequences can be resolved by formal democracy underpinned by market forces.”
The ANC commits itself to a social order in which the “many positive elements of the market” dovetail with the obligations of citizens to each other.
This society would not be a clone of a capitalist order, nor an “egalitarian utopia of mechanical social purity”. It would be a mixed economy, with market forces having an important role to play, but the state taking primary responsibilty for economic growth and development.
The ANC says it will continue to work towards its strategic objectives of improving life for the poor with other political and community organisations – the communist party and Cosatu in particular.