Our chance to complete the revolution
Struggle among capitalist-class factions presents an opportunity
THE first phase of the democratic revolution in South Africa, the “post1994 breakthrough”, is fast approaching its end. This phase was characterised by the unfettered dominance of white monopoly capital over all levers of power in the private sector, in government, universities, courts, the press, security forces and political parties.
The strength of white monopoly capital is that it owns and controls the resources and has strong international backers. This dominance determines the nature of the state and society, since the state is supported by the resources that have been monopolised by white capital.
All those who pay taxes depend, to a large extent, on resources under the control of white monopoly capital. The ability of workers to pay taxes depends on their employment by white monopoly capital. Government employees derive their salaries from taxes and state borrowing, which ultimately spring from the resources under white monopoly.
Defenders of white monopoly capital claim that because many companies are partly owned by the pension funds of black workers, white monopoly and control is a fiction.
What these apologists for white domination conveniently forget is that even under apartheid, the pension funds of blacks were used to finance white monopoly capital. Yet, it could not be said that black workers owned and controlled the apartheid economy. And control of these pension funds is monopolised by white-owned asset managers.
While the post-1994 period deepened and legitimised white monopoly capitalist power, it also significantly expanded the black middle class. Affirmative action, black economic empowerment through the tender system and the opening up of opportunities in the private sector are ways in which this class expanded.
However, with these advances small shopowners have either been reduced to landlords, with their properties rented to marginal foreign traders, or have shut down because of the increasing white monopolisation of the retail sector.
Large sections of the middle class continue to suffer from white domination through lack of implementation of affirmative action laws.
Furthermore, a large section of the middle class is highly indebted: its salaries are suppressed, it suffers from the high cost of living brought about by monopoly pricing and excessive interest rates charged by white monopoly capitalist banks.
Those in the black middle class cannot compete with well-established white companies, which have access to favourable lines of credit from white banks and suppliers.
Those employed by the state find it difficult to afford basic services, because white capital has not released sufficient resources for the state to afford such benefits.
The growth of the black capitalist class is based on two schemes. The first is the state’s tender system, which depends on financing by white monopoly capital through taxes and state borrowing. This is constrained by fiscal policy; it relies on how much the government spends on tenders.
That is why the change of the finance minister and calls for radical economic transformation are interold preted by white monopoly capitalist agencies to mean the dawn of reckless spending by the government, to enrich this black capitalist class.
The second scheme is through extension of private-sector credit in return for shares in white-owned companies. This bribes scheme is used largely to capture the top leadership of political parties, particularly the ruling party.
The battle raging over the removal of the finance minister is led by white monopoly capital together with this credit-based black capitalist class, whose control of the state and the ruling party is threatened by the rise of the tender-based black capitalist class, which also has links with the leadership of political parties.
White capitalists are fighting to prevent the “capture” of their state and their control of the ruling party leadership.
A large section of the black working class, which remains trapped in squalor, has never been employed
Despite labour laws which largely removed the brutality of apartheid from the production line, the black working class suffers from centuries- super-exploitation. For each cent that white monopoly capital spends on working class welfare, through government expenditure, white monopoly capital takes away more cents through super-exploitation.
The main beneficiaries of this centuries-old super-exploitation of black workers are white monopoly capital and the credit-based black bourgeoisie. The tender-based black bourgeoisie indirectly benefits through taxes and borrowing mobilised from white monopoly capitalist activity.
The white working class is the mass base of white monopoly capital. Long indoctrinated in the ideology of separating its interests from the interests of the black working class, it views struggles against historical injustices as a threat to its livelihood.
The white middle class is at the forefront of white monopoly capitalist battalions. It views the progress of the black middle class as tantamount to “lowering of standards”.
The class structure under colonialism and apartheid is intact. The African is at the bottom of the food chain. The darkest skin performs the toughest job at the lowest wage.
Within sections of the middle class, African professionals are the worst paid and most overworked.
Within the African capitalist class, the upper stratum, which is creditbased, accumulates directly through established white monopoly capitalist structures. They own shares, sit on boards and have direct business deals with white monopolies.
It is the link between credit-based black capitalists and the top leadership of political parties which explains how white monopoly capital owns and controls state power.
What cannot be explained is why “our government” is failing to resolve our centuries-old problem of white monopoly of social power.
The cornerstone of the control of the state by white monopoly capital has always been the National Treasury and the Reserve Bank. The leading officials and political principals have always been appointed by white monopoly capital.
The finance minister’s removal, without white monopoly capital’s approval, signals the end of the phase of unfettered white monopoly capitalist domination, at least within the state and ruling party.
South Africa has entered a phase of intense rivalry between capitalist groupings. It is not possible to advocate political abstention, especially of masses of the oppressed and super-exploited African working class. The fight against white monopoly capital and its black allies is an integral part of the struggle to consummate the national democratic revolution.
The tender-based black capitalist class is not likely to win this battle without the support of the mass of the black working class. The absence of independent black working-class action in the battle for ownership of state power, or “state capture”, poses a serious threat to the country.
In light of the above, the immediate tasks of the progressive forces are:
Complete the national democratic revolution;
Establish a broad anti-white monopoly capitalist united front made up of all the classes and strata that suffer from this domination; and
Isolate the enemies of the people, the white monopoly capitalists who own mining, banking, other industries and a disproportionate share of the land, and credit-based black capitalists.
Progressive forces need to demand from the ANC government a new national economic plan, which outlines how the following key demands can immediately be realised:
Expropriation of white monopoly capitalist establishments such as banks, insurance companies, mines, to industrialise the economy;
Establishment of a state bank, which will consolidate all the stateowned financial institutions to facilitate affordable credit to the progressive class forces;
Nationalisation of the South African Reserve Bank;
Expropriation of all land without compensation to the ownership of the state, with the state to use the rent collected for the wellbeing of the progressive forces, and the land to be used in line with the new national economic plan;
Provision of free, quality social services: decolonised education, healthcare, National Health Insurance; improved housing, affordable and safe public transport, and affordable, reliable basic services such as water, sanitation and electricity;
A wide-ranging audit of employment equity and labour law compliance of all establishments, with a view to penalise noncompliance; and
Abolition of the apartheid and colonial labour market and criminalisation of violation of labour laws.
For this programme to be realised, we need unity in action through a series of campaigns and demonstrations by the progressive, organised working class, represented by such as Cosatu, Nactu and Saftu, as well as organised professional, student, black business and civic organisations, and political parties of the national liberation movement.
The current civil war between factions of the capitalist class provides a unique opportunity for progressive forces to put forward an independent radical agenda of transformation. This opening needs to be seized urgently, to pressure the ANC government towards a radical direction.
This is an edited version of a paper by Malikane, an economist at the University of the Witwatersrand who has been appointed as an adviser to Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba
For the full paper, go to sundaytimes.co.za
Battle over removal of finance minister is led by white monopoly capital Progressive forces need to demand a new national economic plan