WHAT TRANSITION?
Sceptics wary of idea
THE ANC’s discussion document on the “second transition” has been received with scepticism by both ANC members and the labour federation Cosatu.
The document forms part of several others that will be debated this week at the four-day ANC national policy conference to be held in Midrand from Tuesday.
The document describes the first transition as the achievement of political freedom and puts forward a second transition where the paradigm shifts to economic transformation as the party’s central focus. It says the ANC should enter the second era of democracy. The document claims the first phase was to achieve freedom and now the party has to move on.
But ANC members have claimed that the document is not clear and it does not outline properly what the ANC has achieved. They say most black people are still unemployed and live in poverty.
Deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe recently asked: “Second transition! Second transition! Sec- ond transition! From what, from where, to where? What constituted the first transition? What were the tasks of that phase, have all those tasks been accomplished or not?”
Motlanthe agrees the ANC has to renew itself but the process of such renewal must be preceded by rigorous analysis of the ANC, as well as an assessment and evaluation of how successful it has been in implementing the decisions and resolutions adopted.
He said in that way the strong and weak points can be laid bare and the prescribed remedies should be informed by self-criticism and analysis.
“But of course it calls for the ANC to stand back, to pull back, and take a hard look at itself, free itself or rid itself of sentimentalism, because if we do not do that – if we do not renew the ANC, there will be a realignment of forces because nature does not allow for inertia, nature exists in motion, all the time,” Motlanthe said.
President Jacob Zuma has been promoting the document. He recently said he was not surprised at the criticism against the second transition. “It is fundamental for us to debate the second transition,
” said Zuma at the Dr AB Xuma memorial lecture in Johannesburg last week.
“I know some people are concerned about the second transition. It is not for the first time. They were concerned about the Freedom Charter and the Reconstruction and Development Programme. We would be worried if they were not concerned about our policies.”
It’s now up to ANC delegates to thrash out the finer details of the document. Should it be rejected by the policy conference, it would spell disaster for Zuma going to Mangaung.