Jaspreet Kindra
As the Democratic Party flirts with the New National Party and the African National Congress espouses almost Thatcherite ideas, black consciousness parties and the Pan-Africanist Congress can safely claim to be the only ideological purists left in South Africa.
Last week the Socialist Party of Azania (Sopa), the Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo) and the PAC announced they were considering a closer relationship that, they said, would consolidate the left ahead of the local government elections.
Their alliance could, however, already be in jeopardy because of new disagreements between their leaders over relations with other parties. “Which is unfortunate,” says historian Tom Lodge, who confesses a fondness for ideological purists such as Sopa leader Lybon Mabasa, a founder member of Azapo still fighting the socialist cause.
More than 20 years after Steve Biko spoke about blacks attaining the “envisaged self”, his followers are now reviving “black power” slogans and their Africanist stance, both of which the ANC now sometimes also flaunts.
PAC and Sopa leaders dismiss socialists within the ANC for betraying the African people’s aspirations by supporting the government’s macroeconomic policy. The fact that together these two parties managed to draw less than 1% of the total votes polled in the general elections last year does not deter them. They are claiming space as South Africa’s only true surviving socialists in the country, not “to win seats”, says PAC secretary general Thami ka Plaatjie.
Biko’s former associate, Strini Moodley, says theirs is an “essential value system taking into account African history, the African struggle for freedom and equitable sharing of democracy – which is contrary to the ANC’s belief”. Democracy and capitalism are incompatible, he argues.
Lodge says the ANC has drawn on notions of African identity and black leadership, more readily associated with black consciousness and the PAC. And, by doing so, the ANC has made room within its fold for those who might otherwise have found a home in the PAC, Azapo or Sopa.
Sopa secretary general Monwabisi Duna says the ANC has “bastardised” their ideology, resulting in the creation of a middle class and not the upliftment of the black majority.
Azapo president Mosibudi Mangena welcomes the ANC taking up the Africanist cause. Mabasa, however, says the party can “talk our talk but it will be judged on how it acts upon it”.
Moodley says it is “logically incorrect” to state the ANC has hijacked their ideology. The Black Consciousness Movement grew as a consequence of the banning of the ANC and the PAC in 1960; there are elements that are common to all three movements.
According to ka Plaatjie, who was off to Zimbabwe to campaign for Zimbabwe’s Zanu- PF this week, the PAC and the two black consciousness parties are staging a comeback after most of their supporters boycotted the elections in 1994 because the ANC’s conciliatory stance was considered a sell-out.
Lodge says infighting, lack of organisational structures and weak leadership within the PAC has undermined the party’s drawing power.
Azapo was formed in 1978, following the banning of black consciousness organisations. It withdrew from the Kempton Park agreement in 1994, believing it had endorsed white supremacy.
Sopa came into being two years ago, after Mabasa left Azapo. The reason for the dissent was Azapo’s support of the ANC government and the latter’s attempts to foster a “patriotic bourgeoisie”. Sopa signed a memorandum of understanding with its “mother” party earlier this year on the basis that both still had a battle on their hands against “neo-colonialism and racism”.
But the honeymoon could be short-lived as Mangena, Azapo’s only representative in Parliament, this week reiterated his commitment to working with all black parties – the ANC, PAC and even the Inkatha Freedom Party – on a common platform.
“Constant splintering” arising more out of personality clashes than ideological ones has been a chronic problem with the Sopa-Azapo alliance, says Lodge.
Lodge says that there is room for a party to the left of the ANC, but that ideology does not produce election victories in the new South Africa. Lodge predicts the PAC will be slowly absorbed into the ANC.
Which would leave Sopa and Azapo – without their alliance – to take on the ANC juggernaut, and keep their ideological flag aloft.