Masterplan for the middle class

THE ANC’s national general council has emphasised a renewal of its relationship with the black middle class, which has felt increasingly alienated by the ruling party and whose support it appears to be losing in urban areas like Gauteng.

ANC national executive committee member Joel Netshitenzhe said this was one of the reasons the party was struggling in Gauteng.

“There is a relationship there because the demographics of Gauteng are different to the other provinces, especially the rural areas.

“The concentration of the middle strata is in Gauteng, and to the extent that we do not have strategies to link up with them, mobilise and interest them, Gauteng is going to suffer.

“So if there are weaknesses in terms of how the ANC interacts with them, we can’t blame them; we should blame ourselves,” he said.

According to Netshitenzhe, the black middle stratum was the result of the ANC’s own efforts, and should not be alienated even though the majority had to be the drivers of change.

“There has been an emphasis on the principle that the most numerical force in society is the major driver of change, and that is the working class. But when the ANC says motive forces, it includes the black middle class.

“The principle is that they are part of the motive forces of change. They want change to happen because many of them have not even reached the ideals that they have for their lives,” he said.

He added that the ANC could not afford to lose black middle-class voters as they were the generators of ideas, citing the fact that the ANC was formed by a core group from this class.

“All those are generators of ideas that help inform the thinking of society and so, if you lose their support, you are losing a critical element of social transformation.

“That is why there is this consensus and there is an emphasis on winning them over,” Netshitenzhe said.

‘They are part of the forces for change’