ANC leaders are briefed on workings of the communist party and the government on visits to China
President Jacob Zuma’s state visit this week to China marks the climax of several years of dedicated relationship-building between the ANC and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The ANC has long had friendly ties with the CCP but since the ANC’s Polokwane conference it has stepped up the pace in fostering a closer relationship.
South Africa is one of three countries with which China has signed a comprehensive strategy partnership covering the protection of investments, trade and economic cooperation, double tax avoidance, housing, agriculture, human resource development, police cooperation, civil air transportation, scientific and technological exchanges, water, sport and arts and culture.
The agreement aims to give South Africa preferential treatment when China’s trillion-dollar economy makes strategic investments.
ANC leaders have made several visits to China and the party has launched a formal programme in which the 88 members of its national executive committee (NEC) visit China for two weeks at a time. Even Luthuli House staffers are set to travel to the Asian country in December.
The costs of the trips is being shared by the two parties, said an ANC insider.
ANC leaders receive briefings on how the Chinese government works and interfaces with the party. In China the division between party and state barely exists.
They are also exposed to the workings of China’s national planning commission and its anti-corruption system.
South African officials say parastatals in China take direct instructions from the state without passing through lengthy board processes to have decisions approved and implemented.
Baleka Mbete, the ANC national chairperson, refused to comment on relations with China this week, as she will deliver a full report on the issue at next week’s NEC meeting.
Tony Yengeni, an ANC national executive member, has told the Mail & Guardian that a political school planned by the ANC would be based on the Chinese model.
“We went to China last year and they have a political school programme that is very advanced. Ours is still in its infancy but we are putting in place the building [blocks],” he said.
Last year Mathews Phosa, the ANC treasurer, took a business delegation to China on behalf of the ANC’s progressive business forum (PBF), with the aim of strengthening trade links with Chinese companies.
The forum also signed cooperation agreements with the China Economic Cooperation Council and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
According to a source who had been briefed on discussions during Zuma’s trip, China has promised to back South Africa’s bid to join Brazil, Russia, India and China (Bric) at their next meeting, giving birth to Bricsa. During his state visit Zuma secured Chinese support for South Africa’s membership.
Although South Africa cannot match Bric’s trillion-dollar economies and large populations it is seen as a gateway to the African markets, which those countries want to penetrate.
A source familiar with South Africa’s dealings with Bric confirmed that the country had the endorsement of all four countries.
“They know that it is easier to operate [in Africa] from South Africa than any other African country because of our infrastructure,” said a South African government official.
South Africa is seeking to reverse the cycle of China importing raw materials from South Africa and South Africa importing Chinese-manufactured goods, a trade heavily in China’s favour.
During Zuma’s trip Chinese government representatives are understood to have agreed to carry out more beneficiation in South Africa, creating employment opportunities.
But there is a price — officials involved in setting up the visit say they were inundated with appeals from civil society groups to take up the issue of human rights in China.
Zuma declined to do this, emulating China’s hands-off approach in dealing with the internal affairs of other states.