Sechaba ka’Nkosi and Rehad Desai
The gauntlet thrown down to the South African Communist Party on Wednesday by President Nelson Mandela could be the final bell for the SACP in its battle to re-establish itself as an effective political force on the South African landscape.
Mandela’s tough speech to delegates at the SACP’s 10th national congress in Johannesburg this week, urging them to toe the line or get out of the alliance, challenged the SACP’s role since 1994 as members of the governing alliance who retain the right to criticise government policy.
The speech also shattered any hopes of healing the continuing discord with the African National Congress ahead of a crucial tripartite alliance meeting expected to take place within the next few weeks.
But most importantly, Mandela’s outburst presented a catch-22 for the SACP: to simply follow the ANC line would mean the complete submerging of the SACP’s identity to become an appendage of the ruling party; to move outside would be to go into a wilderness where survival is not guaranteed.
The congress was called precisely to address the formulation of an independent identity for the SACP, but Mandela’s speech brought home how limited the party’s options are, and highlighted the fact that, either way, the SACP could be about to disappear as an effective political force.
Mandela’s heavy-handed approach to the SACP and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) exposed growing frustrations in the party to regain the SACP’s strategic influence in the tripartite alliance – amid general consensus that the party should remain in the alliance and mobilise for a decisive ANC victory in the coming election.
The separate identity, a leadership that is willing to engage the ANC aggressively on policy issues and a radical programme of action in case of disagreements are some of the key issues that the congress has to deal with.
One delegate openly declared the proposed tripartite alliance summit a waste of time and a public relations gesture given the unfolding “arrogance” from government and ANC leaders.
SACP leaders tried to play down the impact of Mandela’s hostility. Senior SACP member and ANC deputy general secretary Thenjiwe Mtintso, who earlier pleaded with delegates not to offend Mandela by chanting slogans against the growth, employment and redistribution strategy (Gear), described the debates as part of a broad programme to strengthen the alliance.
“We … are more than ever before committed to the alliance and committed to transformation,” said Mtintso.
However, the emerging radical left swiftly interpreted it as a slap in the face and a move to boost the prospects of moderate communists in the SACP’s central committee.
Said one: “President Mandela’s stance is not a personal outburst. It looks more like a well-calculated strategy from government to demoralise the conference and probably affect its outcome.”
Among the perceived moderates are senior government officials such as Minister of Welfare and Population Development Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, Deputy Minister in the Office of the Deputy President Essop Pahad, Gauteng MEC for Finance Jabu Moleketi, and Deputy Minister of Defence Ronnie Kasrils.
Yesterday Deputy President Thabo Mbeki reiterated the ANC’s impatience with its alliance partners when he accused them of ignoring what has been achieved in order to claim victory as the real representative of the genuine left.
“Again an insulting inference is made, that for some reason, the ANC no longer represents the interests of the masses of the people.
“Thus it is suggested that the progressive traditions of our movement are represented by forces outside the ANC, this proud leader of our liberation movement now having transformed itself into a virtual enemy of the people, which can only be kept on its course if its allies position themselves as a left watchdog, over the very organisation which is supposed to lead our alliance,” Mbeki said.
In the past, Cosatu and the SACP have made no bones about their feelings towards Gear and recently started calling for mass mobilisation to challenge its implementation.
A senior Cosatu official said Mandela’s speech may force the federation to convene an urgent meeting with its affiliates’ leadership to look at some of the issues raised. “Some of the areas the president [raised] are controversial, but we can address them properly at a senior leadership level.”
What worries the party more is the fact that such crucial decisions have to be taken at a time when the ANC has already intensified its offensive against the SACP and Cosatu.
Mandela stunned delegates when he reneged on his previous admission that Gear had never been thoroughly debated even within ANC structures, charging instead that it was adopted after seven drafts were circulated within the alliance and social forces outside Parliament.
He castigated the SACP and Cosatu for their continued public attacks on his government’s macro-economic policy. He said such an attitude would make him more determined to implement the policy without their input.
“For as long as I lead this government, as long as I am a member of the African National Congress, I will ensure that the government continues to implement what we believe is good for the country,” a visibly angry Mandela told the congress.
“If Cosatu and the SACP leave the internal structures [of the alliance] and go public, and not only attack what we consider a fundamental policy of the organisation, but ridicule it, you must be prepared to take full responsibility for your actions. That type of behaviour makes me even more determined not to listen to you.”
Mandela’s and Mbeki’s outbursts follow a similar tongue-lashing at Cosatu’s central committee meeting last week, in which Mbeki accused “comrades” of attaching importance to political labels rather than engaging constructively in policy debates.
Mbeki told the 500-strong central committee meeting that if the struggle for the alliance was over, the partners should advance their own partisan interest outside the alliance.
A few days later, Department of Labour Director General Sipho Pityana told Cosatu that the government would not impose a moratorium on retrenchments in either the private or the public sector. Outlining the government’s proposals on the presidential jobs summit, Pityana reiterated the government’s plan to retrench nearly 50 000 workers in the public service – an issue that has put him at loggerheads with Cosatu and its public-sector affiliates.
A short documentary on the SACP, co-produced by Rehad Desai, will be screened on SABC2’s On Camera at 10.15pm on July 5