Crisis in the ruling party
UPM media
In his famous Communist Manifesto, written with Frederick Engels in 1848, Karl Marx posited a class struggle between the proletariat and the ruling class. He insists that the conflict is irreconcilable and that the revolution of the workers will triumph ushering in a socialist society.
There are Marxists who don’t build serious mass movements but rely heavily on this predicted conflict as predicted by Marx. These Marxists prefer to wait for a revolutionary situation rather that working to build working class organisation and power. When real struggles emerge that do not with Marx’s predictions these Marxists are often contemptous of these struggles.
This interpretation of Marx is popular within the ruling party. The ruling party is going through a serious political crisis. There is so much nihilism and paralysis of analysis on the extent of the crisis of the ruling party. Many are optimists who subscribe to the notion of ‘self-correction’ meaning the ruling party will ‘self-correct’ itself. Like Marxists who have not built movements, this analysis constitutes paralysis and is not proper. This notion is utopic and unscientific.
There are those who believe that the problem is Jacob Zuma and that if he is replaced with Ramaphosa the problem will go away. Another Polokwane is on the horizon. Pre-Polokwane we were told that the problem was the class project of 1996 led by Thabo Mbeki and that if Mbeki was removed and Zuma elected the problem would go away. We now have Zuma and the problem has not evaporated. It has been radically exacerbated.
Most of those who were once vocal Zuma loyalists – even threatening to ‘kill for Zuma’ and supporting him despite his disgusting conduct during his rape trial. Malema is now the EFF leader. Vavi is now the leader of the new trade union federation. Blade Nzimande has just been given the boot in recent cabinent reshuffle and the SACP is now highly critical of Zuma.
Malema, Vavi and Nzimande did not support Zuma based on a clear ideological orientation and political programme. When he had power Zuma quickly ditched his allies. It became clear that he had no interest at all in supporting workers. In fact he has worked to fragment the workers movement and weakened both SACP and COSATU.
This lack of ideological clarity that lead to Malema, Vavi and Nzimande making such a disasterous political decision that has led the country into serious economic and political crisis remains entrenched in the ANC. The idea that the party can ‘self-correct’ is as much a fantasy as the idea that Zuma was a man of the left.
Jacob Zuma is a cadre and product of the ANC. The idea that Jacob Zuma can be isolated from and analysed outside the ANC is flawed. The failure to recognise this vital and instructive point is dangerous. What we are likely to see is that just as getting rid of a man from Idutywa only to emerge with a man from Nkandla turned out to be a nightmare, so to getting rid of a man from Nkandla to replace him with a man from Soweto will be another nightmare - possibly even more brutal than what we have already witnessed from him in Marikana.
In the Communist Manifesto Karl Marx also wrote of how the bourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation to a mere money relation. The political crisis in the ruling party is underpinned by what the former Premier of KwaZulu-Natal termed ‘my turn to eat’. It is a struggle of greed. People are being killed in fights over access to resources. Thse factional fights are not new. The Polokwane Conference was not ideological or principled. History has vindicated many of us who always saw it for what it was – a battle for access to money and power. These political battles have also brought instability to our municipalities and have even collapsed some of these municipalities. The Makana Municipality is run through section 139 1 (b). It’s literally bankrupt. At some stage their banking account was attached and the mayoral car sold at the auction.
Our governments are under the thumb of the big ruling class. Like the scramble for Africa, big business is competing to have our governments in their pockets. The Guptas, Russians etc. will have their Zuma whilst old white capital will have their Ramaphosa. This will give rise to bruising factional battles. The corruption that we see in the ruling party cannot all be accredited to Zuma. There are many Zumas in the provinces and municipalities. Corruption is now a systematic rot in the ruling party.
And capitalism is an inherently corrupt system. It is synonymous with corruption and greed. McKinsey and KPMG are as rotten and corrupt as the worst elements in the ANC. Our politicians lives through the crumbs from the table of the master and kickbacks. Zuma and the Guptas relied on capitalist firms like McKinsey and KPMG to look the state.
The ruling class from time memorial has always determined the form and administration of government. As Vail Charles put it, “The ruling class of all ages has always determined the form and administration of governments as well as their fashion and custom codes of ethics”. The ruling party is not honest enough to admit the bitter truth that it is the ANC in government that is the handmaid of the ruling class. It is the ANC that is the real counter revolutionary force. It is the ANC that captured and betrayed the struggles of the people.
What was left of the ruling party has been torn away by money and greed. The killings in KwaZulu-Natal and the physical fights in the Eastern Cape conference are fuelled by selfish interests, greed and narrow political interests. As Biko wrote in 1972 “Tradition has it that whenever a group of people has tasted the lovely fruits of wealth, security and prestige it begins to find it more comfortable to believe in the obvious lie and to accept it as normal that it alone is entitled to privilege.” As Fanon puts the problem with the leadership of post colonies, is that they are thieving, lazy, lack creativity and only keep referring the masses to heroic struggles of the past. They have no vision for the future.
We must be as honest as Fanon was about the rot in postcolonial countries when we assess the ANC. We must tell no lies and face the full truth. Nothing can be changed if truth is not faced.
Yes Zuma is a buffoon who commits blunder after blunder. Yes Zuma does not hide his theft. Yes it is Zuma that is accelerating the exit of the ruling party from power. But those who want Zuma out of the ANC are mostly just concerned that the ruling party cannot win another election if Zuma is not removed. It is not the sell out to capital, imperialism and racism that bothers them. It is not mass unemployment that bothers them. It is not wholesale looting that bothers them. It is the risk of losing the next election that bothers them.