PRETTY AWFUL Corruption a matter of politics
RAMAPHOSA: ODDS ARE STACKED AGAINST SUCCESS IN ESTABLISHING STABILITY
Opportunities are few, demand is high and competition is fierce.
Corruption in South Africa isn’t simply a matter of bad morals or weak law enforcement. It’s embedded in processes of class formation – specifically, the formation of new black elites. This means corruption is primarily a matter of politics and the shape of the economy.
In a recently published paper, I attempt to shed fresh light on the unconvincing narratives that have been presented in the media, NGOs and academic circles about the events of the past 10 years.
These narratives generally depict events as a struggle between two opposing forces.
On the one side are a network of politicians, officials, brokers and businesspeople centred on former President Jacob Zuma and the Gupta family. All are bent on looting, state capture and self-enrichment.
On the other are a band of righteous politicians and citizens. This group is seen as drawing together the “old” ANC, activists, “good” business and citizens in general. They are intent on rebuilding institutions and good governance, the rule of law, international credibility and fostering growth and development.
I argue that a much deeper set of social forces underlies and shapes the struggles within the ANC and the society more broadly. These political struggles are inseparable from struggles over the shape of the economy.
The primary process to change the economy has been the drive to accelerate the emergence of new black elites. But institutional interventions, such as black economic empowerment, have been insufficient.
Already, during the Thabo Mbeki period, as well as the presidency of Nelson Mandela, an alternative informal political economic system was emerging at national, provincial and local levels.
Through this, networks of state officials, ambitious entrepreneurs and small-time operators were rigging tenders or engaging in other kinds of fraud so as to sustain or establish businesses, or to finance self-enrichment.
Because of a number of factors, there was little alternative for channelling the aspirations and burning sense of injustice of black elites and would be elites in post-apartheid South Africa.
These factors include the property clause in the constitution, the conservative strategies adopted by the ANC government and the fact that large corporations and white owned businesses dominated the economy.
This means that opportunities are few, demand is high and competition is fierce.
This links to the issue of violence. The emergence of new elite classes is often a ferociously contested, ugly and violent affair.
This violence takes the form of burning down homes and state facilities, intimidation, assault, the deployment of the criminal justice system to protect some and target others and, increasingly, assassination.
I argue that this set of practices constitutes an informal political economic system. By a system I don’t mean a structure which is centrally coordinated or planned. What I’m referring to is a pervasive and decentralised set of interlocking networks that reinforce and compete with one another in mutually understood ways, and include the use of violence as a strategic resource.
This system preceded Zuma’s presidency, and extended far beyond the Zuma-Gupta network.
It should also be abundantly clear that the informal political-economic system necessarily entangles President Cyril Ramaphosa’s core network of institution builders.
Ramaphosa’s key challenge is to build a stable coalition within the ANC so as to embark on his project of institution building.
His trajectory and the future shape of corruption in SA will be determined by the character of the coalition he can forge – or that will be forced on him – among party barons within the ANC.
For the purpose of building institutions and attracting investment, it will be necessary to establish as stable a coalition as possible. This means it will have to be a broad coalition. One thing is sure: the coalition will include corrupt figures. It already does. The informal system of patronage politics will remain pervasive.
Even so, Ramaphosa’s power is precarious in the ANC. The odds are stacked against success in establishing stability. For the medium-term, the trajectory of politics is likely to be characterised by multiple contestations over material opportunities, political power and symbolic representation. This will give rise to an increasingly volatile, unstable and violent political space.
Von Holdt is a senior researcher, Society Work and Politics Institute, at Wits University
Republished from the
A struggle between opposing forces.
TheConversation.com