The ANC’s left-wing allies are to propose the revamping of the Cabinet, among other far-reaching government reforms, at the first tripartite alliance summit organised under Jacob Zuma’s leadership of the ruling party.
The three-day summit, to be held in Midrand, begins today. The national executive committee (NEC) of the ANC, the central committee of the SACP and Cosatu’s central executive committee will attend.
The Mail & Guardian understands that Cosatu and the SACP will not try to dictate the precise composition of the Cabinet, but will insist that the structure of the executive must change.
They will suggest that the Minerals and Energy Department be split into two entities, one for mining and one for energy, under separate ministers. And they will press for land affairs and agriculture to be reunited in one ministry.
The ANC’s allies will also argue for the scrapping or restructuring of the Public Enterprises Department. This is because they believe it is ”strategically incoherent” to have state assets such as Telkom, Eskom, Transnet and Denel falling under different ministers.
”That is why Eskom has all these problems and no one takes responsibility for it. It answers to two ministers,” a senior alliance leader said.
A ministry or department of planning based in the presidency will be proposed to oversee an integrated economic planning programme.
”Such a department will also put an end to the development of vanity projects such as Coega and the Gautrain,” the alliance source said.
The planning ministry would bring an end to the marketplace dynamics of the budget process, where ”whoever shouts the loudest or has the inside track with the president” gets funding for departments or projects.
It will install further checks and balances to prevent patronage in the award of government tenders.
The left has also demanded the renationalisation of strategic enterprises such as Sasol and Mittal Steel — formerly Iscor — to facilitate economic restructuring.
Cosatu deputy general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali told the M&G the renationalisation of Sasol and Mittal Steel would result in the reduction of oil and steel prices.
However, the new leadership of the ANC has not been particularly sympathetic to such demands.
ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe told the M&G the party favoured the creation of a state-owned mining company, but had not called for nationalisation.
”The ANC wants to have more resources to enable its programmes to address the issue of poverty. When we do that, the consideration will not be immediate satisfaction, joy and sensation about nationalising Sasol,” Mantashe said.
The SACP intends putting the nationalisation of Sasol and Mittal on the table as part of a review of policy perspectives aimed at giving South Africa greater sovereign control over food and energy.
A central SACP demand is for a beefed-up state industrial policy that would support key industries.
At the summit the left will also demand that the alliance, not the ANC, should become the political centre and play an oversight role over government. This is seen as allowing worker leaders to play a more influential role in key policy decisions.
”Previously, Cosatu had an employer-employee relationship with the ANC because the ANC has been over-govermentalised. We want to ensure that the alliance gets detailed knowledge of what government is doing about, for instance, Zimbabwe,” an alliance leader said.
Senior unionists and communists want policymaking to begin in the alliance, with decisions being presented to government.
They believe it is important for them to flex their muscles at this stage, fearing that after next year’s election alliance relations could cool.
”There is a danger that next year, when there is a migration from Luthuli House to the Union Buildings, we could go back to square one,” said an SACP leader. ”We need to safeguard the ANC from bureaucracy.”
However, the ANC has emphasised on numerous occasions since its Polokwane conference that it still sees itself as the political centre of the alliance.
Cosatu will also push for the inclusion of its members on the ANC’s NEC as ex officio members, a move the ANC is likely to reject.
Mantashe has warned Cosatu that it will have more chance of influencing the ANC if it remains outside the ANC’s highest decision-making body.
While acknowledging the policy shifts at Polokwane, Cosatu and the SACP have made it clear they are unhappy about certain key resolutions.
Ntshalintshali said that although Cosatu believes it is necessary to control inflation, using the device of constant interest rate hikes is not a solution.
He said the Reserve Bank’s policy of targeting inflation in a 3% to 6% band should be reviewed.
Although the SACP has not formally rejected the idea of going it alone in the next national elections the party is no longer seriously entertaining the idea now that a new ANC leadership is in charge.
”The support for going to elections alone has diminished. We don’t have to deal with Mbeki’s contempt for the alliance any more,” an SACP leader said.
However, Vavi has made it clear that Cosatu will not give the ANC another ”blank cheque”.
The left wants the strategic priorities of public finance institutions — including the Development Bank of South Africa, the Land Bank, Public Investment Corporation and the Industrial Development Corporation — reviewed to ensure they finance developments that challenge the sway of monopoly industry in South Africa.
‘Motlanthe doesn’t enjoy wide support’
ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe’s move to Cabinet does not enjoy the full support of his comrades in the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC), the Mail & Guardian has established.
The ANC announced this week that Motlanthe and three other senior ANC members will be sworn in as MPs next week in a move that will pave the way for him to be appointed to the Cabinet.
ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe told the M&G this week that it was formally proposed to President Thabo Mbeki that he appoint Motlanthe to his Cabinet to ensure a smooth transition to the next government.
However, a highly placed source, who is also a member of the ANC’s NEC, said a number of senior ANC leaders objected to the idea of pushing Motlanthe into the executive.
Said one: ‘Personally, I don’t think it should happen. I don’t know what value this would add to the party. We have serving Cabinet ministers who can ensure that there is a smooth transition. Why Kgalema?
‘The ANC is starting its election campaign in two months’ time and you need Kgalema on the ground. If we let him go to Cabinet it will do a disservice to the organisation,†said the ANC leader, who asked to remain anonymous.
He said a premature move to the Cabinet could have the unintended effect of compromising Motlanthe and destroying his political career.
The leader’s remarks might help to explain Motlanthe’s puzzling ambivalence about an immediate Cabinet posting. In recent weeks he has indicated that he does not consider himself ready.
Approached by the M&G this week, Motlanthe said: ‘I don’t know if I will be appointed. All I know is that the ANC wants me to go to Parliament.
‘I’ve been sending people there [Parliament] for the past 10 years; now it’s my time to learn the ropes.â€
Motlanthe said he would leave the decision about his Cabinet appointment to the ANC.
This week Mantashe told the M&G that Motlanthe would be deployed to the Cabinet. ‘It’s not up to him to decide,†Mantashe said.
In February the M&G reported that a core pro-Zuma ANC group, led by KwaZulu-Natal finance minister Zweli Mkhize, SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande and some leaders of the ANC Youth League, were trying to block Motlanthe’s appointment as South Africa’s deputy president as they believed this would give him an advantage over Zuma.
Another ANC NEC member confirmed that the argument that Motlanthe should become the country’s deputy president ‘has not found common ground within the Zuma campâ€.
He said for this to happen Zuma loyalists would have to endorse it — which they were reluctant to do.
Some ANC members attribute Mbeki’s reluctance to appoint Motlanthe to divisions within the party.