The left-wing coup consolidates
While South Africans manically debate who should be the next soccer coach leading up to the 2010 World Cup, their country is silently falling into the hands of an unelected communist cabal.
It’s all falling into place for the Marxists, Trotskyites, Stalinists and other tendencies within Cosatu and the SACP who now effectively govern South Africa. The sop to realism that was placing the respected Trevor Manuel in a central planning position, is over. Manuel has been removed from a central planning role and is no longer in the “economics cluster”. His right-hand-man and director general Joel Netshitenzhe has resigned. The ascendency of Ebrahim Patel and Cosatu continues apace.
My suspicion that Manuel had seen the writing on the wall were first raised when he uncharacteristically splurged on a R1.2 million BMW 7-series vehicle. Why not? Everyone else is doing it and he would no longer need to lead by example.
When Manuel resigned as finance minister it caused chaos in the financial markets. Keeping Manuel in a central planning role in the presidency kept the markets quiet. But he knew it was going to be tough going. When he branded business as cowards for not standing up to labour, it was clearly a cry for help to his party. The left has targeted him unrelentingly with shrill and vicious personal attacks.
I hope I am mistaken, but I think Manuel has given up the fight and has ceded the policy-making and control of the economy to the communists. He knows that the average South African cares far more about soccer than their future under a communist regime.
Comments
6 Comments on The left-wing coup consolidates
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Michael Meadon on
Wed, 21st Oct 2009 3:52 pm
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Tim on
Thu, 22nd Oct 2009 9:29 am
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Michael Meadon on
Thu, 22nd Oct 2009 1:01 pm
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Segoy on
Thu, 22nd Oct 2009 1:01 pm
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Tim on
Thu, 22nd Oct 2009 6:31 pm
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Michael Meadon on
Sat, 24th Oct 2009 9:12 am
A touch extreme, perhaps? And the leftists aren’t exactly unelected: Polokwane set a leftist agenda for the ANC, the ANC ran on that manifesto and won. Sure, I’d prefer different policies but (in general) they’re not unelected. (Especially since we have a closed-list party-list PR system).
Michael – No I wouldn’t categorise it as extreme at all. The fact is the SACP and Cosatu have got their hands firmly on the levers of power. They have used their leverage over the stooge president they helped to install to take over the ANC middle-ground and dictate economic policy. All their demands are being met: the axing of Mboweni; the demotion of Manuel; the elevation of Patel to economic policy czar. They are well on their way to outlawing labour brokers, an incredibly cynical anti-poor / pro-labour policy.
The SACP has never received a single vote in a general election. Neither has Cosatu, with its dwindling membership of 1,5 million employed people. These are unelected organisations.
Did the electorate vote for SACP/Cosatu policies? I don’t think so. The voted for the ANC.
I see what you’re saying, and I’m as worried by these developments as you are. But the fact is that the left did take over the ANC at Polokwane, and it’s hardly surprising that leftist economic policies are the result. The ANC has a mandate for those (or similar) policies. (They’re bad policies, but that’s democracy for you).
Tim, I’d have to agree with Michael.
You need to stop thinking about the ANC and the SACP and COSATU as necessarily distinct entities. Certainly they are, in the sense of being different organisations. But they are also comprised of people who often share membership. SACP and COSATU members are generally members of the ANC (although members of the ANC are not necessarily members of the SACP and COSATU). These people voted for the ANC. They helped to put the party in power. This means that they have a right to determine the direction of the ANC. They use their other organisations (SACP and COSATU), through the structures of the Tripartite Alliance, to give them greater voice in the ‘broad church’ of the ANC, but that doesn’t stop the fact that their voices are in the ANC in the first place.
This is the nature of an entity as inclusive as the ANC. One moment it can be taken by right wingers. Then, when right wing tendencies fail to produce the goods, the ANC is then taken by left-wingers. One can reasonably expect that the left-wingers will also fail to produce the goods (and they will, no matter whether they take the likely semi welfare-statist path, or the highly unlikely road to socialism), and will then give way to the right-wingers again. And so on and so forth. Its much like the to-and-fro nature of a two party electoral system: the balance of power keeps swinging both ways.
I commented on your ‘Workers Socialist Republic’ article. I think you should read it because it provides insight to temper some of your (obvious) over-reaction to what is happening in South African politics today.
@Michael – it’s very difficult to know what voters for a particular party voted for. Especially in SA where a great deal of the vote is given on identity and loyalty grounds. But the ANC election manifesto is as good a place to start than anywhere else. No mentioning of highly socialist policies there.
@Segoy – I have replied to that comment. I am coming around to the opinion that we’re going to see a big fight in the alliance soon.
I see what you’re saying, but I really think calling it a “coup” is extreme. Do you have specific policy changes in mind when you say the left has taken over? Personnel changes is one thing, actual new policies another. (I haven’t really been following SA politics closely of late. Been to upset at the whole Zuma thing to be able to bear it).
By the way, could you enable tracking comments via email?
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