Trade union and communist delegates to the weekend “alliance summit” believe they may have won a major concession from the government on economic policy, involving a shift in emphasis from foreign to “inward” investment.
eft-leaning members of the African National Congress-led alliance have been sharply critical of the government’s focus on attracting foreign direct investment, a pillar of the growth, employment and redistribution (Gear) strategy announced at the ANC’s conference in Mafikeng in 1997.
However, some leftwingers interviewed this week remained sceptical of the government’s intentions. Referring to a summit affirmation that the “working class is the leading social motivating force” in the national democratic revolution, one said: “We’ve heard this music before.”
At the summit, outside Johannesburg, government representatives are said to have acknowledged the need to refocus on stimulating domestic investment as a way of kick-starting growth.
The ANC’s allies, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the South African Communist Party, clearly chose to concentrate on economic topics at the summit and to steer clear of contentious issues closely associated with President Thabo Mbeki, notably the treatment of people with Aids.
Cosatu and the SACP have been strong critics of the ANC stand on anti-retroviral drugs. A senior communist said they had “tiptoed” round HIV/Aids at the summit because of “the huge chasm” between the allies.
Details of the new economic policy are expected to be revealed by Minister of Trade and Industry Alec Erwin at the growth and economic summit scheduled to take place some time this year.
Briefing the SACP’s central committee recently, Erwin acknowledged that the envisaged fixed direct investment from abroad had failed to materialise.
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel is also known to have expressed his unhappiness with the foreign investor “strike”.
The shift is evident in the summit statement released at the weekend. In the section on investment, it refers to mobilisation of resources in the retirement and life assurance industries, and other savings, for the “provision of social and economic infrastructure and labour-absorbing economic activities”.
The preoccupation of Cosatu and the SACP with cooperative economic forms also features prominently in the statement. The summit agreed the alliance would play an active role in building a strong cooperative movement as a means of promoting employment, wealth redistribution and local and community empowerment.
Left-wing scepticism is rooted in the ANC’s assurance, after its first national executive committee lekgotla a year ago, of a proactive and developmental role for the state in the “restructuring” of state assets. A few months later, the government was again at odds with the unions over privatisation
The summit hailed the manner in which restructuring negotiations in Spoornet were conducted as a model for talks about other state assets.
However, this week Cosatu’s transport union bitterly attacked recent increases in rail freight tariffs and Spoornet plans to concession low-density rail lines as a violation of the agreement.
Left-leaning summit delegates were also urged to move away from a “narrow-minded approach to privatisation” and to look at state assets from a growth and development perspective. Port privatisation was mentioned as a potential spur to tourism and industry, which would in turn generate employment.