TheTroublemakerTimes

 

 Once elections are over, and the rhetoric of vote collecting subsides, the next step is to, of course, get on with the business of governing, or opposing, whichever particular stick your party has drawn.

It’s also, in the very real world of realpolitik, time for payback. Payback to those allies who helped you secure that vote that you so desperately wanted. This is simply the stuff of which modern politics is made of, or perhaps what all politics has always been made of since Machiavelli put pen to paper.

Nevertheless, my barometer of white South African, middle class opinion, the dinner party, has been full of discussion about the role to be played by the tripartite alliance, now that it is so much more firmly “part” of government in this country. I refer here of course to the other two parts, the SACP and COSATU. Or though, I suppose, most people would feel well within their rights to point out that they couldn’t see the difference between the two.

Fair enough.

The regular appearance of Blade Nzimande, Gwede Mantashe and Zwelinzima Vavi, with obligatory communist flags and accoutrement,alongside Jacob Zuma, from rally to rally, and no doubt, right up there at the soon to come inauguration of our new president, is for some, cause for concern.

The argument, oft presented is that having used the SACP and COSATU, to great effect in his struggle for elections, and the previous struggle to gain nomination, Jacob Zuma has now got to play second fiddle to these, essentially unelected powerbrokers, whose outdated, centralist and soviet style opinions, threaten our new democracy, as payback for their unwavering support. The proponents of this argument point out, that in real terms this means not just a swing to the left within the ANC, but more of an intellectual coup of sorts, with more moderate voices either hushed up or pushed to the fringe of ex Mbeki supporters.

Curiously, when I hear this, I get a sense of Déjà vu. Have I not heard this before ?

Have you not ?

Of course, this was the argument when Mbeki came to power. If memory serves me the relationship between Mbeki and these other two entities was rather strong. In fact this alliance is as old as our democracy. No ANC leader has ever ignored it, and too, none come to power without it.

Mbeki spurned this alliance, if not openly, then  certainly tacitly, and it cost him, very dearly at Polekwane this time round. Which dear reader brings us to a point, why, considering the substantial power on the ground that COSATU wields by all accounts, was the Mbeki government and its economic policy not brought to the ground by stay aways, and mass action ?

In short, why, did our Marxist based labour union, and its ally, one of the few remaining communist parties in the world, not lash out at the economy ? After all, in their eyes, they had been betrayed in economic policy 

Deeply so.

BEE had become an enriching mechanism for the very few and elite, and too the Mbeki government could well be credited with the creation of a strong and rapidly growing black middle class . All this is clear opposition to the views and basics of our so-called communist alliance.

The answer here, is a very clever lesson in realpolitik.

Without mentioning the names of the men who were responsible, and who now too, are wealthy beyond compare, let us consider the massive shift that our fellow alliance partners underwent. The early nineties saw the drawing of COSATU into the net of real capitalism, with the creation of so called secondary sources of income for COSATU, as well as the investment of pensions on that scourge of communists from Stalin to Castro, what they call a “casino” and we refer to as the Stock Market.

Knowing full well that the threat of a communist revolution was real in any new African democracy, instead of spurning the leaders of that ilk, they drew them into the one thing that they knew would keep them docile, the Market.

Smart move for our Machiavellian power brokers.  Smart, savvy and deeply Machiavellian.

In realpolitik terms, you use popular support to come to power, and then you dilute that power, by integrating it into the pie.

The new strategy, following on the back of wealth promised to its leaders meant that COSATU abandoned its previous Marxist approach in favour of what is referred to as Strategic Unionism or Democratic Corporatism.

What our men then called The Trade Union Investment Strategy.

Of course, you cannot in politics, keep your electorate if you give up the rhetoric, and the ideals that brought them in, so retain it and you forge ahead as a communist organization when in fact you are nothing of the sort, and you don’t point out to your voters and members that  you are no longer Soviet Styled, beyond the logos and t shirts.

Of course.

What of course you trade here, in this little bargain, is your power. Yes ,you get income, and yes, you improve the value of your pension fund and too the lives of your workers, but, and it’s an important but, your weapon against the Capitalists becomes a weapon against yourself.

You become a closet capitalist.

“Despite its insistence on a ‘socialist South Africa’, organised labour has also embarked on wealth creation or ‘labour capitalism’ as COSATU and its affiliates, especially, have established about 20 union investment companies and over 60 other large-scale for- profit businesses. These businesses were established to provide independent sources of revenue for the unions and, allegedly, to enable workers to share in the economic opportunities that have opened up for previously disadvantaged individuals in the country. Labour capitalism as a response to global economic reform has created an interesting paradox for South Africa’s labour unions: they are now both labour and capital, workers and owners of large companies, employees and employers.”

- Okechukwu C Iheduru -Associate professor of International Relations & African Politics at the James Madison College, Michigan State University.

The point here is simple, in real terms the interests of COSATU and the SACP, despite their appearance, and election rhetoric, are just the same as my dinner party guests.

I will not here, discuss the morality of the issue, I will simply say, this, dear reader, this is realpolitik.

Its also why, all this crying about an imminent  communist revolution in South Africa,by dinner party’s all over the land tonight twixt foie gras and beef shitake, is simply put, more nonsense than their global ethic mouthfuls. The SACP and COSATU are Marxist only in election rhetoric. In reality, they too, are part and parcel of Globalisation. And just like that unhappy consomme garnished with coriander and asparagus, it is neither right nor wrong, it simply is. It is also why Jacob Zuma and his government will continue to keep the home fires of market economics alive, and our home grown commies will do nothing about it.

Because it is in their interests.

Elementary my dear Watson.

“The ANC’s ruthless implementation of a free market agenda has created difficulties for the COSATU leadership in justifying its support for such anti-working-class policies. But withdrawal from the alliance would mean the withdrawal of COSATU loyalists from the ANC’s electoral lists, and, as Tutu pointed out, “It is lucrative to be on a party list. The rewards are substantial and if calling in question party positions jeopardises one’s chances to get on the list then not too many are foolhardy and opt for silence to become voting cattle for the party.” ” – The World Socialist Website