ED STODDARD, Johannesburg | Tuesday
THE South African Communist Party has accused government ally the African National Congress of fostering a culture of corruption and greed, an SACP document obtained by Reuters on Monday said.
The discussion document has been recently revealed to the ruling coalition’s third ally, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), ahead of a key summit next month.
”…there are extremely worrying indications that some sections of our movement are involved in unethical behaviour, and in the abuse of public office to accumulate wealth,” the document said.
The South African government has been slammed by the opposition and the media for corruption, including allegations of widespread graft linked to a multi-billion rand arms deal.
President Thabo Mbeki has also made the creation of a black capitalist class one of his top policy priorities a stance at odds with the egalitarian instincts of his alliance partners.
The SACP’s discussion paper said there are elements within Mbeki’s ANC party who are hurting the alliance’s credibility with the masses by enriching themselves through an embrace of the market and by graft.
The SACP and Cosatu fear the planned sale of state assets in telecommunications and public services will be hard on the poor, whose needs they say will be ignored by the private sector.
The SACP paper described the restructuring of state assets as: ”a capitalist accumulation strategy, involving the predatory appropriation of public resources by an emerging elite.”
It said there was a ”need to strengthen the will and capacity of our national liberation movement to deal more decisively with corruption, and the abuse of office for the accumulation of personal wealth.”
Analysts have said there is a widening gulf between the dominant ANC and its left-wing alliance partners as it cuts government spending and pushes ahead with privatisation.
The SACP added it was vital for the Left to take the lead in the war on graft and not to allow ”conservative and liberal forces to be leading the anti-corruption campaign.”
”We should never underrate the extremely negative impact on our mass constituency of flamboyant and extravagant life-styles that ape the consumerism of our former oppressors,” it says.
Cosatu, which has 1,8-million members, plans a nation-wide strike on August 29-30 to protest against privatisation.
”The paper was well-received by Cosatu and many of its ideas will be brought forward at the alliance summit with the ANC next month,” said SACP representative Mazibuku Jara.
The meeting of the alliance leaders will take place on September 22. The SACP has only 18 000 members but its influence in the ANC has long exceeded its numbers. – Reuters