Ebrahim Harvey left field Our Constitution is better than that of the previous regime, which embodied brutal racism in all facets of life. But the proposed anti-terrorism laws to curb rising urban terror in Cape Town, which provide for the reintroduction of detention without trial, has prompted debate on whether it will tarnish our democratic image and constitute the first steps towards state repression.
The same is true of the charge of terrorism against the leader of People against Gangsterism and Drugs, Abdus-salaam Ebrahim a charge that relies on an unrepealed section of the security laws of the apartheid regime. Is this the start of a process that will eventually stifle other radical opposition?
A leftist opposition is growing. It has been spurred by the legacy of our racist, capitalist past, which still weighs heavily on most South Africans in the form of poverty and other social ills that have been worsened by the neo-liberal policies of the African National Congress-led government. This prompts the question: just how safe is our democracy and, in particular, this leftist opposition? How much longer will the ruling party resist repressing radical opposition? One thing is certain: if the thrust of a revolutionary opposition arises from among its alliance partners, particularly the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the ANC government will find it very difficult to repress overtly without precipitating a split in the ruling alliance. Already we have seen in recent years police resorting to repressive measures to deal with militant mass demonstrations and strikes that were either within or spilled beyond legal boundaries. South Africa is no different from Britain or the United States in that laws in each ultimately protect the sanctity of private property and other bourgeois rights and do not equally protect the rights of workers and the poor. The fiercer the struggles become between, on the one hand, the state and a non-racial but still largely white, capitalist class and, on the other hand, a largely black working class and those struggling against neo-liberalism, the more evident it will become to the government that the current security legislation at its disposal is rather limited. Is the proposed anti-terrorism law an early indication of things to come if radical opposition assumes mass proportions and becomes difficult to control? This has been the trend among governments the world over. The state becomes, when necessary, an instrument of repression. Will the ANC act differently? When the crunch comes the ANC, by virtue of its position as the ruling party, will act to defend its largely black, political rule and largely white, capitalist, economic domination. And each time it is forced to do so it will further erode the myth of black empowerment. The ANC government has inherited all the deep structural constraints of South African capitalism. With the effects of its own policies these constraints will make a better life for all unattainable. The ANC will most likely be forced to suppress the fight waged by others to obtain what it has been unable to deliver. It is from this perspective that we debate what future awaits us and, in particular, the political left outside of the ANC alliance. This section of the left will no doubt grow. To the extent that the left within the alliance the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party is contained and continues to be subservient to the ANC, so the role of the left outside of it will assume greater importance and receive more state attention. Will the ANC tolerate a serious and sustained revolutionary threat to its rule or will it act resolutely against it? This time the popular struggle will not be against racism but against a party that has come to embody neo-liberalism in a situation where people are poorer than they were. The ANC will be determined at all costs to hold on to ” liberated ” state power. After a very long period of racist bondage from 1652 to 1994 no party, no matter what its character, will let go of state power without fiercely defending it. We are seeing this in Zimbabwe. Will the history of repression of dissent within the ANC make it more likely that when under serious threat the party will resort to repression when “democratic” measures fail? Probably, because there is more at stake today than there was in the days of exile. The ANC’s ascent to power and its determination to defend it makes all the difference.