WORKER NEWS

COSATU CENTRAL COMMITTEE

Socio-economic policy till the year 2000

About 500 union delegates are expected to attend Cosatu’s Central Committee, a new constitutional structure. Last year’s sixth national congress delegated all socio-economic resolutions to the CC, which will have full policy-making powers on these issues and will determine Cosatu socio-economic policy until the next congress in the year 2000.

Another key item on the CC agenda is the 1999 elections, including proposals for an election platform.

Reflecting growing anger and frustration within Cosatu unions at continuing private and public sector job losses, the CC’s sub-theme will be "In defence of our jobs and for job creation!". Like at the national congress, the main theme is "Defend, consolidate and advance social transformation".

Final drafts of CC resolutions have been distributed to affiliates. Drawn up by a resolutions committee made up of Cosatu and affiliate leaders, the document consolidates a range of existing Cosatu policies from policy conferences since 1992. It also draws from labour’s 1995 Social Equity document and Job Summit proposals, the socio-economic sections of the September Commission, the secretariat report to the 6th national congress, Cosatu parliamentary submissions and resolutions submitted by affiliates. Affiliates are discussing the document and have been asked to submit amendments in time for a resolutions committee meeting on 19 June.

Many of the policy positions which will be discussed at the CC are not new. But the CC will emerge with a detailed and comprehensive socio-economic policy which will hopefully silence Cosatu’s critics who claim that the federation has no alternative to Gear. The resolutions outline the federation’s vision and put forward concrete policy proposals to achieve this.

On the final day of the four-day event, the CC will debate and adopt a Cosatu programme of action which will identify key priorities and campaigns to ensure the implementation of the policy.

Cosatu deputy general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said the national unemployment crisis and continued job losses would feature prominently in the programme of action. He said Cosatu’s May CEC had expressed anger and frustration at the scale of job losses and the failure of the current macro-economic strategies to turn this tide around.

"There is growing anger, frustration and desperation among our members, shopstewards and union leaders at continued job losses in both the private and public sector," Vavi said. Various affiliates have called for a moratorium on retrenchments in the build-up to the Jobs Summit.

Speaking on behalf of Nedlac’s labour constituency at the Nedlac Summit in May, Cosatu second vice-president Connie September said unemployment and job creation was the single most important national priority. "We call on both the government and the private sector to agree to a moratorium on retrenchment not only to create a climate conducive to negotiations, but because we need to save and create jobs at the same time," September said.

1999 election platform

The Central Committee has a mandate from the Cosatu national congress to discuss preparations for the 1999 general elections.

Cosatu deputy general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said the federation’s role would have a major impact on the outcome of the elections. This would be guided by the national congress decision to support the ANC. The resolution on the Alliance said, "Despite the shifts on the part of the ANC in government and despite other obvious weaknesses of the Alliance such as the lack of a common programme, lack of accountability and coordination, the ANC-Cosatu-SACP Alliance remains the only vehicle capable of bringing about fundamental transformation in our country. More than ever before, Cosatu should maintain and strengthen the Alliance... An election platform must be developed at Alliance level for the 1999 elections."

The CC will discuss the following areas outlined in the resolution:

• Providing financial resources;
• The candidates list process;
• Key policies for the election manifesto;
• Electioneering support for the ANC at workplaces and in communities;
• Implementation and review structures in regard to policies of government.

Vavi said it was likely that there would be a strong push to reaffirm the RDP as the central policy of the Alliance. He said it had never been anticipated that every aspect of the RDP would be implemented in the first term of office of the democratic government.

However, he said there was a need to evaluate which RDP policies had been successfully implemented and had dealt with backlogs inherited from apartheid, and where RDP implementation remained weak. Key failures have been growing unemployment and continued jobless growth. Macro-economic policy has contradicted and undermined RDP implementation instead of complementing and reinforcing RDP objectives. However, important advances had been made in health, water provision, labour legislation and other areas.

A key CC resolution which will impact on the 1999 elections is that on an Alliance Transformation Agreement, which outlines core areas of agreement as well as processes and mechanisms to give effect to the implementation of this (see below).

What the CC will discuss

• Broad social and macro-economic policy: The four main economic sectors — the public service, the state sector, the social sector and the private sector — should be transformed through industrial development, redistribution and economic democracy. South Africa needs an activist, developmental state which plays an interventionist role in achieving the goals of economic development and to overcome poverty and redistribute power, wealth, income and economic opportunity from a small minority to the majority of the citizens. Cosatu’s economic policy should be linked to its vision of socialism and to the RDP, which remains the federation’s cornerstone policy. The fundamental goal of economic policy should be redistribution and generating economic growth. Redistributive policies should focus on increasing productive activity in the economy, meeting the needs of all citizens, and economic democracy.

• Broad macro-economic approach: Macro-economic policies should maintain and expand demand for domestically produced goods and services; meet increased demand through expanding the productive capacity of the economy; stimulate demand by lowering interest rates, pursuing redistributive fiscal policies, and developing effective strategies to boost exports; increase investment so that increased demand is met through domestic production and not through more imports; and ensure that fiscal policy is consistent with employment creation and retention strategies. Fiscal policies should avoid imposing rigid and rapid deficit reduction targets which limit public expenditure and infrastructural development.

• Monetary policy resolutions include proposals on interest rates, exchange controls, regulation of the financial sector and the SA Reserve Bank.

• Fiscal policy proposals focus on the need to set an appropriate deficit in line with meeting RDP objectives; ensuring redistributive policies and increasing targeted social expenditure for the poor; expanding tax revenue and introducing a progressive tax policy; scrapping consumer tax on basic requirements; introducing a capital gains tax and progressive taxes such as land and wealth taxes and a luxury goods tax.

• Tax and pension funds: Legislation should ensure that employers do not have access to pension fund surpluses since these are employees deferred wages.

• Reduce government debt burden: On internal debt, a pay-as-you-go system should be introduced in the public service pension fund, thereby freeing R150 billion in interest bearing debt. The government should look critically at the internal debt repayment in terms of the period and interest rates. Cosatu, together with the Alliance and progressive NGOs, should look at the possibility of campaigning for the scrapping of the debt held by companies such as banks, in line with our call for the scrapping of the international debt. The external debt should be scrapped or repaid on more favourable terms. Cosatu should actively support the international campaign against foreign debt.

• Budget process: There should be broader participation in the budget process, including negotiations in Nedlac and an oversight role for parliament.

• Campaign: If no serious attempt is made to redress the inequities of current fiscal policy, Cosatu should call for a major campaign on tax with its Alliance partners and civil society bodies.

• Trade and industrial policy: resolutions deal with job creation; Export Processing Zones; Spatial Development Initiatives and Industrial Development Zones; black business and SMMEs; cluster studies; pricing of raw materials; local content provisions; investment policy; the Multilateral Agreement on Investments; competition policy and state procurement policy; tariff reduction and trade barriers; customs and excise; and the Southern African region. Other resolutions deal with transformation of the IDC, DBSA, NPI, the Land Bank, Nosa, CSIR and state tender boards; technology policy; food security; and sectoral policies on fisheries and the energy sector.

• Labour market policy: resolutions deal with the legacy of apartheid; existing labour market flexibility; addressing poverty through the living wage; wage policy, the minimum wage and closing the apartheid wage gap; outsourcing; labour brokers; training and skill development; scab labour; amendments to improve the LRA and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act; a collective bargaining strategy and centralised bargaining; affirmative action, the sexual division of labour and women’s empowerment; health, safety and the environment; Aids; child labour; parental rights; productivity and competitiveness; workplace democracy and reorganisation; hours of work; capacity building and internal organisation.

• Union investment policy including proposals on a union investment code.

• Public Works policy.

• The social sector and sub-sectors: including resolutions on control of retirement funds; community/union/employee-owned companies; building a co-operative movement; collective Esops; and support for the development of a social sector.

• Social security and the Social Wage: restructuring Social Insurance and Retirement Funds; extending the social security net; the national health system and National Health Insurance Scheme; Medical Aid schemes; public housing and public transport; education; communications policy; retirement funds including private retirement funds, state old age pensions, public servants pension funds and industry funds; maternity benefits; childcare and water provision.

• Restructuring the public sector: including a national transformation strategy and strategies for various sectors and institutions; capacity building; local government and restructuring of state assets.

• An Alliance transformation agreement and Tripartite Social Accord;

• Nedlac: including accountability, participation and capacity building.

Alliance Summit

The Alliance Summit on 17 and 18 June involving the national executives of Cosatu, the ANC and the SACP will be discussing critical socio-economic policy, including many issues on which there have been significant differences within the Alliance. In the build-up to the Summit, Alliance task teams have been working flat-out to come up with a common Alliance perspective on a job creation strategy; an approach to the Job Summit; social security and the social wage; monetary and fiscal policy; land; industrial policy; labour market policy; public sector restructuring; and building organisation, including the relationship between the Alliance and governance. Draft documents prepared by the working groups will be discussed by the Alliance secretariats and national office bearers before being presented for final debate and adoption at the Summit.

Education crisis blamed on Gear’s deficit chase

COSATU has blamed the education crisis and the threatened teachers’ strike on government’s deficit chase.

"Now we are reaping the bitter fruits of the deficit chase," said deputy general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.

"Workers won’t allow themselves to be used as an experiment in what is essentially an ideologically driven attempt to cut social expenditure and jobs. Workers have the right to defend their jobs in the interests of quality public education," Vavi said.

"We want complete implementation of the RDP, including the teacher:pupil ratios. We refuse to allow government to change these policies on the basis of constraints they have imposed on themselves."

Vavi called on the government to make all attempts to avert the teachers’ strike by meeting Sadtu demands. He said Cosatu was willing to be part of the negotiations since the education crisis affected all Cosatu members, who were also parents.

Vavi said current macro-economic strategy and its rigid budget deficit targets were responsible for many pockets of crisis nationally. Apart from the education crisis, there were also plans to retrench 55 000 public service workers and freeze 10 000 police posts.

"All these crises are related to the deficit chase," said Vavi. "Current deficit levels are self-defeating and in direct contradiction to the RDP and meeting the social deficit. They in fact undermine the RDP itself."

Vavi said deficit targets should be set within a "flexible band" which took into account both the country’s economic performance as well as the urgent need to address social needs.

"We are not arguing for reckless government spending but appropriate deficit levels which are sustainable and which address the social deficit," he said.

A Cosatu Central Committee resolution argues for increased state expenditure in order to meet social needs. It says government should avoid binding itself to rigid deficit targets without first assessing their impact on service delivery. Rapid deficit reduction slows economic growth and job creation, discouraging investment.

"The need to overcome the legacy of apartheid requires the expansion of state services and their improved quality as well as substantial state investment in people and social and productive infrastructure," the resolution says.

Vavi said there is acceptance within the ANC of the need to review current deficit policy to address the social deficit. The issue is being addressed in an Alliance working group on fiscal policy in preparation for the June Alliance Summit.

However, while Alliance negotiations continue, unions have been angered by the fact that government is implementing Gear-driven policies resulting in massive job losses and undermining service delivery.

"Whilst there is an Alliance process to debate the major disagreements brought about by the adoption of Gear, this strategy is being implemented in all fronts," Cosatu said.

"We find it provocative for the government to propose massive job cuts on the one hand and then talk about job creation and the Job Summit on the other."

"Above all, we find it unacceptable that the government is making these threats while the Alliance is in the middle of a debate to find a uniform approach to public sector restructuring."

Cosatu’s May CEC resolved that, in line with the national congress resolution on Gear, the federation would mobilise its members to resist job losses in both the private and public sector and mobilise communities against social expenditure cuts.

Strike only alternative

Sadtu says it has no alternative but to consider strike action since government has refused to negotiate in good faith with the union on its rationalisation policy and plans to retrench teachers. Sadtu’s decision comes in the wake of the education department’s unilateral declaration of policy on rationalisation of education, termination of the services of temporary teachers and further threats to retrench permanent teachers.

The union said the minister published the regulations on 17 April while negotiations in the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) were still in progesss. The department’s actions were "contemptuous" of its negotiating partner, Sadtu, and the ELRC’s dispute resolution procedures. They undermined national centralised bargaining and the working relationship between the department and the unions, Sadtu said.

"Despite several attempts to negotiate in good faith, the department’s representatives have acted in bad faith," Sadtu said. "This has left Sadtu with no choice except to use its power."

Sadtu is demanding:

• Centrally determined norms and standards on post provisioning which affects class sizes and teachers’ workloads;
• That government immediately centrally negotiates the procedures, rules and criteria for rationalisation and redeployment;
• The withdrawal of the 17 April rationalisation regulations;
• A moratorium on retrenchment of permanent and temporary teachers pending an agreement on job security and public sector restructuring informed by service delivery.
• The reinstatement of educators whose services were terminated;
• An immediate reviewal of the education budget, at national and provincial level; and
• An open and transparent process of determining the education budget at national and provincial level.

Sadtu’s mass action will kick off on 9 June, with a partial withdrawal of labour until 12 June. Teachers will report to schools until 10 am and then move on to mass meetings and other activities such as pickets and sit-ins. Provincial marches will take place throughout the country on 11 June.

The union has warned that if there is no response to its demands by 12 June, teachers will embark on an indefinite strike starting on 15 June.

Alliance transformation pact

Resolutions on an Alliance Transformation Agreement and a Tripartite Social Accord are among the key issues which will be debated and decided on at the Cosatu central committee from 22-25 June. Here we publish for discussion the resolutions, which were drawn from Cosatu’s proposed programme for the Alliance, the September Commission and Numsa.

The Alliance needs two things:

1. Firstly, a popular transformation programme that is aimed at taking the RDP forward, with clear strategic priorities, broadly supported by other progressive social forces and able to achieve political hegemony in society.
2. Secondly, the organisational capacity and political will to drive this popular transformation programme in such a way that it can unleash sustained mass mobilisation and participation in the transformation process.

The RDP remains the transformation programme of the Alliance. What we need now is to agree on a coherent strategy for implementation. This strategy needs to be based on the identification of core areas which constitute our strategic priorities in our qualitative move towards a comprehensive implementation of the RDP, particularly in the socio-economic sphere. These core areas should not be a wish-list, but a carefully thought-out identification of strategic areas which, if implemented, will tilt the balance of economic power in favour of popular democratic forces.

This strategy should give the emerging national democratic state and supporting institutions strategic leverage over areas of investment, production and service delivery. The combination of supply-side measures to boost production and industrial performance; the effects of rising demand in the economy as a result of improvements for the majority; and mechanisms by the state to target investment in job creation, would all be part of this coherent strategy to reduce inequality and attack poverty.

Fiscal and monetary policies, transformation of the public service, restructuring of state enterprises and labour market policies would all be realigned to facilitate the implementation of this strategy. Instrumental to the success of this strategy is the need for a strong social security that is part and parcel of the creation of a social wage. At the same time, they should raise effective incomes and create basic services for the poorest 70% of the population.

1. Processes and mechanisms

1.1 The Alliance should reach a National Agreement on strategic issues regarding transformation, as well as a programme to implement these at different levels of government and civil society. The Alliance should openly mobilise people for the popular implementation and defence of the agreed programmes in Parliament, at Nedlac and in other spheres of governance.

1.2 The Alliance National Agreement would spell out what the priority tasks of social transformation are, and what strategy is needed to carry out these tasks. To be viable, this would need an integrated policy package and institutions that would lay a solid platform towards a comprehensive implementation of the RDP.

1.3 This approach involves collective decision-making and shared responsibility. It requires a high degree of co-ordination and on-going consultation in order to ensure that the process is managed effectively, given the fact that there will, from time to time, be differences in nuance and approach.

1.4 This process will be driven by a political centre that includes national leadership of Alliance partners who will have to meet from time to time with Ministers. The same process should happen at provincial and local level.

1.5 The Alliance Agreement will be used to mobilise popular support and participation in transformation and build a popular movement for transformation in our country (PMT).

2. Core areas of the Agreement

2.1 Transformation of the state

• The need for a developmental, democratic and activist that a central role in economic development;
• The need for new political and economic institutions to support the new national democratic and developmental state;

2.2 Delivery of public services and goods

• The need for the state to provide an effective and sustainable social wage to all citizens: (health care; housing; transport; land; education; water, electricity and welfare and manucipal services)
• And that the above-mentioned services should remain publicly-owned;
• The need for thorough-going transformation and restructuring of all the institutions responsible for service delivery, particularly the public service and state enterprises;

2.3 Transformation of the economy

• The need for a truly redistributive and developmental macro-economic strategy that supports the overall objectives of our transformation programme;
• The need for an industrial policy that supports job creation, human resource development, workplace democracy, the living wage and an equitable wage structure and further boosts domestic production to meet the needs of redistribution;
• The need for the transformation of the current institutions such as the Reserve Bank, DBSA, IDC, Land Bank, CSIR, etc., so that they can carry out the mandate of the new democratic state;
• The need for a labour market policy that redresses apartheid and racial capitalism’s legacy of gender, race and age discrimination and segmentation, at the same time facilitating workplace democracy, effective training and creating quality and sustainable jobs, attacking poverty and guaranteeing good health, safety and environment at every workplace;
• The need promote public investments in line with building the social sector of the economy;
• The above measures will need to be matched with an equal determination to engage and significantly erode monopoly capital’s control over our country’s economy. We thus need a strategy to change current patterns of economic ownership. Such a strategy will be based on a common approach and understanding of "Black Economic Empowerment", the development of SMMEs, strengthening community co-operatives and developing a strategic approach to trade union investments;
• Locating our approach to economic transformation within the context of Southern African regional integration and economic development.

A Social Accord between government, business and labour should be founded on three principles:

1. Firstly, on the basis that there is a National Agreement among Alliance partners on how to transform South Africa, as stipulated (on the left);
2. Secondly, on the understanding that the Social Accord will provide the Alliance with an opportunity to engage and commit business to specific aspects of our transformation programme;
3. Thirdly, that this Social Accord will be based on particular issues from time to time, rather than it being an instrument that ties us to the social democratic "golden triangle" scenario. This issue-based accord could include issues such as industrial restructuring, retrenchments, job creation, education and training, etc. Our engagement in the accord can only be an aspect of our overall transformation strategy stipulated in the proposed Alliance National Agreement or Programme.

It is our conviction that it will be extremely dangerous to enter into a Social Accord of the type advocated by the Labour Market Commission, whose principal aim is to commit Cosatu to mythical class peace as advocated in social democratic countries and to ideas such as labour market flexibility and wage restraint. It will even be more dangerous, we believe, if Cosatu entertains any talk about the Social Accord when there is no agreement among Alliance partners regarding transformation. This could result in a "one-against-two" scenario, rather than having a "two-against-one" scenario, wherein the ANC government and its labour ally (Cosatu) engage business in an agreed transformation agenda with the sole purpose of shifting the balance of power in favour of the Alliance and its allies in the broad popular movement for transformation.

Mass recruitment drive continues

If COSATU had run a competition to see which region could recruit the most new members in the Autumn Offensive, Mpumalanga would have won hands down. Final figures are still being compiled, but at last count the region had recruited 6595 new members. Latest figures for other regions are:

This puts the latest total recruited by all Cosatu regions at 25 131. In addition to this, affiliates themselves also recruited tens of thousands of new members during the campaign, including about 11 500 new Sadtu recruits and 10 000 new TGWU members.

Unions which benefitted most from Cosatu-organised recruitment were Saccawu (3925 new members), Saapawu (3280) and Sactwu (3707).

In a detailed assessment of the first Autumn Offensive, Cosatu’s May CEC agreed that the campaign was an important organisational advance for the federation. The CEC decided that affiliates should continue the mass recruitment drive for the next six months.

However, the CEC identified a number of teething problems which will have to be sorted out in preparation for next year’s Autumn Offensive.

"The campaign was a milestone in advancing the constitutional right of all workers to belong to trade unions without fear of being intimidated by bosses," Cosatu said.

The federation thanked all those who participated in the historic campaign, including Cosatu national office bearers, affiliate and regional leaders, shopstewards, organisers, educators and staff members of the Cosatu and affiliates, as well as ANC and SACP leaders and other members of the community.

Competition policy battle moves to parliament

Following negotiations at Nedlac, the Competition Bill has been released for public comment and is expected to pass through parliament this year. However, Cosatu has complained that after years of campaigning for improved anti-trust legislation, the matter was rushed through Nedlac. Competition policy involved highly technical issues which, in line with the RDP, should have been investigated by a formal commission, Cosatu said.

The federation has called for increased popular participation in the process and said it intends to advance its views in the parliamentary process.

A key area of disagreement in Nedlac negotiations has been around ministerial discretion to regulate mergers in the interests of job security. According to the Bill, mergers will have to be approved by a Competition Tribunal. The government proposed that the Minister should also have the discretion to prevent mergers on the basis of public interest criteria, including the impact on employment levels. However, business rejected this, attracting strong condemnation from Cosatu.

"Business’s rejection of a role for ministerial discretion in the regulation of mergers reveals an unrepentant arrogance about South Africa’s past and a marked misunderstanding of the challenges which our economy faces," Cosatu said. Business’s stand showed its insensitivity to South Africa’s unemployment problem and the need to protect South Africa’s interests in its engagement with the world economy.

"Given South Africa’s unemployment crisis and as we approach the Presidential Job Summit, it would be important for policy consistency that the proposed competition legislation should include mechanisms to minimise and avoid job losses," Cosatu said.

"In the regulation of mergers by the competition authorities and through ministerial discretion in the public interest, the minimisation and avoidance of job loss must be prioritised."

Other public interest criteria in the Bill include the widening of ownership patterns in the economy and the protection of key national and regional industry.

Other key areas of concern which Cosatu will pursue in the parliamentary process relate to:

• the objectives of the competition law,
• the structure and behaviour of corporations;
• exemptions; and
• broader reregulation of the business environment and workplace democracy

Objectives of the law: Throughout the Nedlac negotiations, Cosatu has argued, in line with the RDP, that government needs to introduce "strict anti-trust legislation".

"Competition policy should be informed by the need to break up apartheid era monopolies and concentrations built up during a time of systematic exclusion and race privilege," Cosatu said. In this context, one of the explicit objectives of the legislation should be the regulation and erosion of inherited corporate power.

Cosatu supports the legislation’s provision for the forced breaking up of conglomerates that abuse their dominant position, for example through charging excessive prices or through limiting output, production or technological development. The federation has argued that these provisions should be strengthened so that, in the event of an abuse of dominance, forced divestiture should apply, unless it is a firm’s first offence and there is another appropriate remedy provided for in the Act.

Structure and behaviour: Government has argued that competition law should deal mainly with anti-competitive behaviour. The Bill does include measures to prevent structural concentration of ownership such as the regulation of mergers and moves to prevent inter-locking directorships. However, the Bill will not necessarily lead to the breaking up of inherited structural concentrations of corporate power, despite their anti-competitive effects. Unbundling will only be triggered if there is repeated "abuse" of this dominant position. Business has supported government on this. However, labour wants the Bill to include the possibility of forced unbundling of inherited concentrations where this is in the public interest.

Broader reregulation of business environment and workplace democratisation: Government’s original document entitled "Proposed Guidelines for Competition Policy: A Framework for Competition, Competitiveness and Development" included references to restructuring of corporate governance beyond simply focussing on competition policy.

Before competition legislation is passed, Cosatu wants government to table for discussion draft documents which outline a broader range of initiatives related to corporate governance reform. Cosatu is concerned that members of the Standing Advisory Committee on Corporate Governance, such as Justice Richard Goldstone, have already announced aspects of this reform in the media before they have been subject to discussion with labour. J

Nedlac negotiations on the Employment Equity Bill and the Skills Development Bill ended in May. Portfolio committee hearings on the two Bills are scheduled for July. Cosatu will use the parliamentary process to take up key issues not resolved in the negotations. On the Skills Bill, Cosatu wants allowances and benefits included in calculations of the 1% levy on the salary bill.

The federation has welcomed the Employment Equity Bill but says it still fails to address Cosatu’s proposal on closing the wage gap. The federation also wants to broaden the Bill’s coverage of employers required to submit equity plans. Those with less than 50 employees are exempt from these provisions in the current Bill.

A range of organisations have formed an Employment Equity Alliance in support of the Equity Bill. The alliance is made up of organisations of women, the disabled, legal and human rights lobbyists, HIV/Aids campaigners, as well as the Commission on Gender Equality.

NEHAWU 5TH NATIONAL CONGRESS

Quality shows as Nehawu comes of age

Nehawu’s 5th national congress at the end of April has put the union firmly on the road to fulfilling its objective of "taking a lead in building a better life for all".

The union’s membership stands at over 190 000, making it Cosatu’s third biggest affiliate and the country’s most powerful public sector union. Nehawu’s growth can be traced back to what the union calls its organisational renaissance at its 1992 congress.

But the union’s contribution to building a better life for all goes beyond numbers. The congress was evidence of a qualitative shift in Nehawu, which has combined concrete workplace gains with a bold political vision to simultaneously consolidate the national democratic revolution and build socialism now.

The rigour and depth of its policy documents and vision for transformation, the level of debate and ability to confront the challenges facing the union, the country and indeed the world, all point to Nehawu playing an increasingly critical role, not just in Cosatu, but in the broader transformation process.

As Nehawu itself pointed out after the congress: "The mature manner in which we conducted the deliberations of this congress and the outcome of these deliberations attest a million times over to the fact that Nehawu has grown not only in size, but also in intellectual rigour, political stature and social influence."

Top ANC and government speakers at the congress showered praise on Nehawu, particularly for its role in transforming the public sector.

ANC president Thabo Mbeki, addressing the congress on Freedom Day, 27 April, said Nehawu was "a frontline fighter for the revolutionary transformation of our country". He called for "a very active and conscious participation" by Nehawu to ensure public sector transformation. "It can’t be done without your participation," Mbeki told the 400 delegates at the congress.

He said forces opposed to fundamental transformation in the public sector would resist change. "We’ll have to fight a very sharp struggle around this question," he warned.

Welfare minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi congratulated Nehawu on its achievements, adding that the union’s eleven years were a victory for public sector unionism in South Africa.

"Your union’s record of struggle and sacrifice is exemplary," said public service and administration minister Zola Skweyiya. "The rapid growth in the size of your membership is testimony to both the correctness of your agenda of social transformation and the benefits and protections you provide for your members."

Skweyiya thanked Nehawu for its leadership role in restructuring and transforming the public service inherited from apartheid. "Nehawu, through the role it has played at the workplace, in Cosatu and in the bargaining council, is one of the organised formations that has played a major part in making it possible for our country to be in the position that it is in today."

"Thank you for your commitment. The struggle is not over but we can take pride in our accomplishments."

Building a better life

While the congress did take note of Nehawu’s own achievements and broader democratic gains, its focus was firmly on the road ahead and fleshing out the congress theme, "Taking a lead in building a better life for all". The declaration adopted at the congress said this theme captured three key tasks:

• That the working class continues to lead the process of constructing a new democratic society;
• The strategic role of the public sector and the emerging national democratic state in improving the quality of life of our people places particular responsibility on public sector workers;
• That the ANC-led Alliance continues to be the only political force that possesses an immense potential for revolutionary transformation.

"We reaffirm our commitment to the ANC-led Alliance as the only social force with a proven potential to consolidate and build participatory democracy and establish a socialist society in our land," the congress concluded.

The union committed itself to strengthening the Alliance at all levels so that it can effectively drive transformation and called for the strengthening and mobilisation of youth, women, religious, cultural, community and trade union organisations into a formidable popular movement for transformation.

As expected, the congress committed Nehawu to work towards ensuring a landslide victory for the ANC in the 1999 elections "as a way of dealing a mortal blow to the last vestiges of apartheid".

"We are convinced that winning the next elections decisively will enhance the prospects for a socialist transition in South Africa," the union said.

"Through Cosatu, we shall ensure that the Alliance adopts an election platform that clearly spells out the priorities of the ANC in the next term of government. We remain convinced that tackling unemployment and poverty constitutes the most urgent task of the national democratic revolution."

The congress noted preparations for the Presidential Job Summit and called on the ANC-led government to set up a social security net "as a matter of extreme urgency to help alleviate poverty that arises from both unemployment and underemployment".

AFTER PUTTING up a valiant but unsuccessful battle for the introduction of the quota system at Cosatu congress last year, Nehawu has shown that it can practice what is preaches. The union elected two women as national office bearers at its congress — Noluthanda Sibiya (second vice president) from KwaZulu-Natal and Lindelwa Dutywa (treasurer) from the Eastern Cape.

Other national office bearers elected at the congress are: Vusi Nhlapo (re-elected president), Lulamile Sotaka (re-elected first vice president), former assistant general secretary Fikile "Slovo" Majola (new general secretary) and former education secretary David Makhura (new deputy general secretary).

Earlier, outgoing general secretary Makgane Thobejane appealed to delegates to elect women into the union’s national leadership. "We cannot escape this responsibility," he said, delivering the secretariat report at the congress. "We must understand that the fight we put up at the 6th National Congress of Cosatu has made us the champions of women leadership throughout the federation. Everybody is watching if Nehawu can walk the talk.

"We cannot afford the embarrassment of talking about women leadership in Cosatu, while we do something else in Nehawu. We have gender policy which we cannot afford to violate. Let us grasp the significance of this historical moment and lead by example. Malibongwe igama la makhosikazi!"

While the number of women congress delegates was high compared to other Cosatu affiliates, Nehawu president Vusi Nhlapo rapped delegations over the knuckles for failing to implement the union’s policy of 50% representation for women.

"We shouldn’t pay lip service to gender equality and the need to correct gender imbalances when in practice we are doing the opposite." At the same time, Nhlapo said, "we shouldn’t bring women delegates for the sake of it". "We have developed many competent women leaders. Some of them left because they couldn’t grow — they reached the glass ceiling in the union. Those comrades should be given space.

"We must find ways to offer support to women to enable them to rise up in the ranks of leadership throughout the union."

Renewed commitment to socialism

An unwavering commitment to building socialism was a common theme throughout the Nehawu congress and delegates undertook to "campaign vigorously for the hegemony of our socialist vision and objectives among the entire working class of our country".

"We commit ourselves to the deepening of the special relationship we have with the SACP in developing socialist cadres and fighting common struggles to build socialism now," Nehawu said.

The union said it was particularly inspired by Cosatu’s renewed commitment to socialism and steps identified at the federation’s 6th national congress to build socialism now.

"We shall make effective use of the Cosatu central committee in June to elaborate a socio-economic programme that is consistent with the need to consolidate our new democracy in a socialist direction."

In particular, Nehawu said, it planned to make a strategic intervention in shaping Cosatu policy on trade union investments.

The congress adopted a detailed policy paper on the issue, the gist of which is to ensure that union investments help achieve economic transformation rather than co-option into "the existing structures of South African monopoly capitalism". The policy also opposes any political separation of unions and their investment companies and says that union investment companies must be regulated and abide by union policies and principles.

Year of better service delivery

Nehawu congress has declared 1998 the year of "Service delivery for a people-driven social transformation" and has outlined measures which should form part of a comprehensive strategy to improve the quality of public provision of social services.

The proposals will be put forward at the Cosatu-initiated Service Delivery Conference later this year.

"We are humbled by the fact that a lot of our people see us at the cutting edge of the transformation of health, education, welfare and all state institutions into people-friendly and people-centred institutions," said the Nehawu congress declaration.

But the congress expressed serious concern over efforts to reduce the role of the state in development and in the provision of social services such as health, education, housing, social welfare and transport.

"We are particularly concerned that despite the huge demand for the expansion of social services, especially to the previously disadvantaged communities, the ANC-led government has introduced budget cuts which negatively affect the optimal provision of these services."

The congress said budget cuts were underpinned by government’s macro-economic policy, Gear, "whose main objective is to create a conducive environment for capital to maximise profit".

Budget cuts aimed at meeting Gear’s deficit target were also behind plans to cut 300 000 public service jobs by the end of 1999.

"What is particularly disturbing for us is the failure on the part of government to explain how this figure was arrived at," Nehawu said.

"We reiterate our fervent opposition to retrenchments, especially in the public service."

Nehawu president Vusi Nhlapo said that unemployment already stood at between 24-33% of the economically active population. "To add to this already high figure by retrenching 300 000 workers is simply asking for trouble."

In the absence of a good social security system, spiralling unemployment had the potential to throw the country into an even deeper social crisis.

"What sort of pressures are there on the government that it would want to retrench so many employees in an economy that is experiencing massive unemployment and jobless growth?" Nhlapo asked.

He said Gear was a result of pressure from global capital on the government for a more "friendly" atmosphere for investment. While not absolving the government from its responsibility to transform and develop and redistribute wealth, it was important for the labour movement to recognise this. Global capital and its surrogate big business in the country wanted to press ahead with the wholesale sale of state-owned assets and large-scale retrenchments of public servants, Nhlapo added.

He warned that Nehawu would not accept this. "There is no union movement worth its salt, least of all Nehawu, that can agree to the retrenchment of its members.

"That is why Nehawu must reject any plan for retrenchments that is not informed by an overall strategy to transform the public sector and other sectors of the economy."

A transformation strategy will have to include a Social Plan that creates alternative jobs for those affected, he said.

"When Nehawu said we are committed to transformation, that did not translate into cutting our own members’ throats. The planned mass retrenchments are quick fix solutions that have nothing to do with transformation of the public service."

Nhlapo said Nehawu and other Cosatu public sector unions such as Sadtu, Samwu and Popcru should take a lead in the Job Summit to put forward job creation strategies in the public sector.

"As a movement we must challenge the notion that the government is not an employment agency. We must challenge the purely ideological standpoint of a lean state."

The congress reiterated the need for the state to play an "interventionist and developmental role" in the economy and reaffirmed the union’s rejection of Gear as a macro-economic policy appropriate for the implementation of the RDP.

"More than ever before, South Africa needs a concerted effort by all those who are committed to the transformation process, and to this end we call for an Alliance Summit on public service transformation."

This should include discussion on the Social Plan, alternatives to retrenchments, training and retraining, skills development and strategies to expand the social wage.

A comprehensive service delivery strategy

A congress motion on service delivery declared its unwavering support for the ANC-led government’s initiatives to improve service delivery to all our people. However, it said service standards remained low. The legacy of apartheid could not be underestimated and the scale of the task facing government was enormous.

Service provision at institutions such as hospitals, clinics, welfare homes, schools, places of safety, police stations, housing offices, sports and recreation centres and social services offices remained seriously underdeveloped and inadequately equipped to meet the needs of communities.

The congress resolved to work with government, progressive managers, community organisations, service users, other trade unions and the Alliance partners to develop strategies, campaigns and programmes that will lead to rapid improvements in service delivery.

Aspects of a comprehensive strategy to improve public provision of social services, include:

A full audit of staff and resources and a review of service provision needs: Restructuring, reallocation of resources and fiscal equalisation should be based on this analysis and not driven simply by budget cuts. The congress agreed there was a need for "serious structural changes" in the public sector. But it expressed concern that rationalisation was being implemented without a review of needs and audit of staff and resources as this would have a negative impact on service delivery and on employment levels.

• A concerted drive to transform public service management: The congress said Nehawu’s model for the transformative manager should become a basis for management training, retraining, recruitment and assessing individual mangers. Obstructive bureaucracy must be transformed into efficient administration and committed leadership. The congress agreed that Nehawu members should take the lead in changing public sector workers’ attitudes towards members of the public.
• A code of conduct for public service workers.
• A Citizens Charter, which would emerge from the Service Delivery Conference and which will outline the rights to users of services and set standards.
• Strong and effective legislation: Implementation and monitoring of positive legislation already in place should be speeded up. Further legislation is needed and should form part of the ANC election manifesto.
• Policy consensus and stability: The Presidential Review Commission findings should be published and discussed as the basis for long-term consensus on the future development of the public services. Agreement also needs to be reached on the roles of the public, private, community and NGO sectors.
• A popular campaign on service delivery: This should include broad mobilisation of workers, service users, communities, civics and other organisations as part of building a popular movement for transformation spearheaded by the Alliance. This is vital to ensure services are geared to meet community needs and ensure the accountability of service providers.
• Alliance Task Team on public sector transformation: The congress expressed support for the setting up of the Task Team, headed by ANC president Thabo Mbeki, and said it had great expectations of the structure.
• Action to end corruption: This should include effective management interventions, staff surveys, education, publicity and strategic leadership from the Alliance. Those involved in corruption formed an unholy alliance with those seeking to discredit the ANC and reverse democratic gains. All progressive forces must join together to eradicate corruption from the public service.
• Human resource development: This should include capacity building in general and a major drive to improve basic literacy and functional skills.
• Partnerships with the private, community and NGO sectors: While maintaining the leading role of the state and direct employment of public service workers, such partnerships should aim to involve all those committed to improving service delivery.

On the proposed merger of Cosatu’s public sector unions, the congress resolved to work towards the formation of one giant public sector cartel before the next Cosatu congress.

"We dedicate ourselves to the building of one public sector cartel that will represent and champion the interests of all public sector workers in our country as we face the difficult times ahead," the congress said.

Nehawu’s secretariat report said the cartel option was more feasible since it would not require the dissolution of present Cosatu unions. It would simply involve the transfer of members from one sector to another. However, the roles, functions and powers of the cartels would need to be thrashed out. The report added that the formation of cartels "should not distract us from movement towards the formation of broad-based unions as a goal".

Nehawu said it would work closely with other unions in the Cosatu public sector coordinating committee on collective bargaining, education, campaigns, organising, gender and research.

The congress agreed that Cosatu should play a more direct role in collective bargaining since the union’s bargaining strategy had to take into account decision-making about the economy as a whole.

"This approach will ensure minimum standards are set at national level across all sectors of the economy with the second tier of bargaining being at sectoral level e.g. PSCBC," said the secretariat report. "It is inconceivable that the Federation should not get involved at this level of bargaining which has a direct impact on the national budget and the provision of social services.

"We must move towards standardising conditions of service in all our sectors cognisant of the different circumstances of these sectors. This standardisation should apply initially to issues such as housing, medical care, provident funds, parental rights, education and training."

HIV/Aids declared enemy of the people

HIV/Aids has been declared enemy number two by Nehawu. And the union’s national congress has pledged to ensure that, like apartheid, the disease is decisively defeated.

In his presidential address to the congress, Vusi Nhlapo made an impassioned call for the union to join forces with others fighting the epidemic which threatens to become the killer of the century. The congress readily responded to the call.

"As a union whose major concern is to keep our nation healthy and educated, we declare HIV/Aids enemy two of the working class all over the world, as capitalism is our enemy one," said Nehawu’s congress declaration.

The union committed itself to work closely with health minister Nkosazana Zuma and all sections of society in campaigning against this "enemy of our people".

"As we dealt apartheid a mortal blow in 1994, we believe that through a vigorous mass offensive in all workplaces and communities, HIV/Aids shall be decisively defeated."

Nhlapo linked the struggle against Aids to the union’s slogan, "Taking a lead in building a better life for all".

He quoted Zuma’s statement in parliament that HIV/Aids is one of the single most important threats to the country’s social and economic prosperity and "to our very survival as a nation". "This is one single issue around which there has to be a national consensus, not only amongst political parties, but throughout all sectors of our community."

Nhlapo quoted alarming statistics on Aids in South Africa:

• Every day, 1 500 South Africans are infected with HIV, the virus that causes Aids;
• Out of a population of 39 million, 2,8 million South Africans have been infected with Aids;
• The bulk of those infected are between 15 and 40 years of age;
• By 1997, 2,3 million people had already died of Aids;
• 16% of women attending ante-natal clinics are HIV infected;
• 65% of those infected are African, 9,2% coloured, 0,3% white and 0,1% Indian.

The Aids virus, said Nhlapo, slowly destroys the immune system leaving the body weak and vulnerable. Aids sufferers are more vulnerable to other diseases such as TB. TB is the leading killer of Aids sufferers, and HIV/Aids and TB have been dubbed "the deadly pair".

An estimated two out of every three South Africans suffer from TB, with the highest levels among the poor.

"Black South Africans are most vulnerable because of the abject conditions in which they live in squalid shanty towns and townships, rural villages with no clean water and sanitation, mining towns and generally poverty stricken areas," Nhlapo said.

"Nehawu needs to throw its weight behind the efforts of all those who are fighting to combat Aids. Nehawu should together with all the NGOs and the various health departments, lead the fight against this scourge of our times. We must embark on a massive education campaign starting with our members. We must establish a network of support structures for Aids sufferers and their families."

Nhlapo also called for support for the SADC Code on Aids and Employment.

Myths about HIV/Aids and prejudice against those infected by the virus mean that the disease is often hidden.

"We must talk about why people avoid talking about Aids," Nehawu president Vusi Nhlapo said in his address to the congress. To illustrate the human suffering caused by the disease, Nhlapo quoted a hospital worker who had contracted Aids: "I began to notice that some of my colleagues were finding it hard to deal with me. I had not been prepared for these reactions from my own people. I would walk into the staff room and people would suddenly stop chatting, suddenly it was time for everyone to get back to work on the wards. I knew that I was not included in conversations, or people would talk to me in excessively kind tones. I was surprised by this kind of behaviour from fellow health professionals ... if they were unable to deal with me as an ordinary human being, how were they relating to their Aids patients?"

"We must talk about Aids because it manifests itself mainly among young workers," said Nhlapo. "How many workers, friends and family do we know who have died of Aids? How many young workers do we know who have died of Aids but that fact was hidden and not talked about?

"How many times have we attended funerals of comrade where there were rumblings that the deceased was HIV positive and yet no-one talks about that in the open.

"The possibility for us to truly support the bereaved families are limited by the unspoken. We must separate fact and fiction and we must help ensure that the sufferers feels no more guilt and shame than one with cancer."

Nhlapo said we must help to destroy the myths and legends which surround the disease. "Indeed comrades, we must help to encourage those comrades who are HIV positive to seek professional help and to reassure them that the union through its structures will protect them.

"We must assure them that they will not be ostracised or discriminated against in any way whatsoever. The union must take up with vigour cases where workers are dismissed because they are HIV positive and expose employers who are guilty."

POVERTY HEARINGS

The human face of poverty

A young women who couldn't have been much older than 21 told a hushed audience of her life as a victim of poverty. She spoke of being an abused child, of being thrown out of her home at a young age, of numerous beatings and gang rapes - sometimes at the hands of figures of authority such as police or social workers. She now has no job and nowhere to live. A stunned and tearful audience was speechless as Angela broke down at the end of her testimony.

Patricia Sihlangu told the commission she has seven children and used to be (customarily) married to Abel Hoese. Abel started to abuse Patricia but she stayed with him because she had no income to survive on her own. One day he started to beat her and ended up stabbing her all over her body. As a result, she is now physically disabled and her hand has a crew inserted inside, which means she cannot lift heavy objects. Since she left Abel in 1990, he has paid maintenance only twice. She cannot pay her children’s school fees.

These are just two of the heart-wrenching stories told by numerous people at the recent nationwide poverty hearings. The hearings began at the end of March and were convened by the South African National NGO Coalition (Sangoco), the Commission on Gender Equality and the South African Human Rights Commission.

The message of the campaign has been "We ended apartheid. We can end poverty", and the poverty hearings have focussed on different themes. The Gauteng hearings dealt with economic issues, and included Cosatu deputy general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi as a commissioner. Other provinces held hearings focussing on land and rural development, health, social security, environment, housing and urban development and education.

"Speak out on poverty: your chance to be heard", has been the call. And Sangoco president Rams Ramashia said over 100 written submissions had been received "from people wanting to tell their stories about unemployment, privatisation, Aids, crime, homelessness and education". Numerous other oral submissions have been made in hearings across the country.

Why were the hearings organised in the first place? Sangoco tells the story of Aaron, who lived in a pipe in Soweto for over ten years. This is still his home. They believe he has a right to a better life.

Zanele lost three family members to tuberculosis over the past two years. Did they have to die? asks Sangoco.

"Through the TRC we’ve heard about the political and civil rights violations under apartheid. What about the violation of social and economic rights? The right to education, work, health care, land, water, housing and social security. Is this poverty not the greatest legacy of apartheid?" says Sangoco.

The stories of poverty victims are not out of the ordinary. In a country where more than half the population lives on less than R301 a month, the human face of poverty is all around us.

The hearings have also highlighted the reality that poverty has a gender bias in that women are more likely than men to suffer from poverty. More women than men live in the poorest areas. Of the households headed by women, 60% are poor compared to 30% of households headed by men. Because money is equal to power, in households where men bring in the income, women often do not see this money. This means that, even in households not regarded as poor, women still face inequality and live in poverty. In 1995, over seven out of every ten households contained no adult women who were earning money.

Most women who do have jobs earn less than men. And they are more likely to do part-time, casual or seasonal work, which is badly paid, insecure and has fewer benefits. A key reason for this is the heavy responsibility they bear for domestic and family related duties. This situation is worst in rural areas, where mainly women and girls spend an average of two hours a day collecting water.

The lives of urban women are not much better. "Tenjiwe" said she moved from Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg in the hope of finding work, but was unsuccessful. She lived in Park Station until "people who wanted to get rid of us threw water over us and then set their dogs on us". She said workshops run by the Central Methodist Church had trained them in various skills but it was still difficult to find work. She said she has no faith in the government.

"Tembi Zulu" is HIV positive. She has no job and nowhere to live. She stays with her cousins in Soweto sometimes. Otherwise she relies on the kindness of friends. Very few people know she is HIV positive. Tembi says she is extremely disillusioned about not having a job and she often "just wanders about". "I am an outcast, I am voiceless, I have no support," she told the hearings.

The struggle against poverty did not end at the hearings. Sangoco said the idea is to use this as a basis to fight against poverty and inequality, "and to make this the priority of government, business, churches and every South African".

All submissions will be summarised and used:

• To lobby key decision-makers at the Economic Summit in June to take action against poverty;
• To present to parliament for discussion and debate;
• To develop a poverty budget for 1999;
• As a platform of action by the Poverty Forum — a partnership between the unions, churches, CBO’s, NGO’s and government.

This sentiment was summed up by one of the last speakers. "Portia" told the commission that she grew up in poverty and was forced into an arranged marriage. She ran away because of this and had to drop out of school. In 1981 she met a man who she stayed with for 13 years. He was violent and he beat her. She eventually left him and has been staring poverty in the face every day since then. She said "My name is darkness, my name is bad luck, my name is closed doors, my name is poverty. Don’t turn your back on us — help us."

The depth of poverty

• 53% of South Africa’s population live below the R301 per month poverty line;
• The ratio of a manager’s salary to that of the lowest paid worker is 20:1. Managing directors in SA earn 100 times more than the lowest paid worker (a ratio of 100:1) compared to a 7:1 ratio in Japan;
• 24% of schools have no water within walking distance;
• It is estimated that 65% of South Africa’s adult population is illiterate;
• At least 12 million South Africans don’t have access to drinkable water inside their own dwellings or on site;
• It is estimated that 2.3 million South Africans are nutritionally compromised — including 87% of all African children under the age of 12;
• Some 38% of poor children under the age of six suffer from chronic malnutrition or stunting;
• An estimated 200 000 children between the ages of 10 and 14 are engaged in various forms of labour, representing 4% of all children in this age group;
• In excess of 9 million people live in informal shacks. For example, in the Western Cape 52% of all Africans live in shacks;
• 81% of schools in the Eastern Cape have no telephones;
• 56% have no electricity in schools;
• 6% of the population earn 40% of the income;
• Only 41% of rural clinics will have an ambulance within one hour of an emergency call, compared to 59% in peri-urban clinics and 74% in urban clinics;
• Nearly one quarter of all rural clinics do not have taps;
• In the Eastern Cape, only one in ten clinics has oxygen available, compared to the Northern Province where three quarters of all clinics have oxygen.

MDM VOICES

Economics is about people, their work, their ownership of productive assets or lack of it, their share of what they produce, what they buy and sell, their accommodation, their recreation, in fact every element which we describe as quality of life, flows from the structure and management of the economy.

The fundamental transformation of the South African economy is therefore critical to the achievement of our goal of a better life for all. This economic transformation should seek to empower black people, especially Africans, (collectively as communities and as individuals), eliminate poverty and the extreme inequalities generated by the apartheid system; generate productive employment opportunities for our people at a living wage and ensure balanced economic development.

However, the ANC does not underestimate the problems inherited from decades of apartheid misrule. Progress has been made in the provision of basic services and in achieving macro-economic stabilisation. But we still have a long way to go, particularly, in the transformation of the economy.

In shaping our policies it is imperative that we be mindful of both trends in the global economy and of the limitations in the availability of resources. Globalisation brings important opportunities but also real dangers and constraints to the economy. In integrating South Africa into the global economy, we need to struggle for an effective regulatory system that will promote development and equity.

Our economic policies should be geared towards:

• A competitive, fast growing and developing economy which creates sufficient jobs for all work seekers;
• A redistribution of wealth, income and opportunities in favour of the poor and the historically disadvantaged;
• A society in which sound health, education and other services are available to all;
• An environment in which homes are secure and places of work are productive;
• The popular involvement and participation of all South Africans in the economy and in economic decisions.

In pursuing these objectives the emphasis will be on four critical areas of work which are central to the implementation of the RDP.

• The promotion of investment for sustainable job creation (sustainable in the economic and environmental sense).
• To ensure the continuous link between growth and development.
• To ensure that we establish new social and economic relations that empower the black community in general and African people in particular.
• To integrate all components of the economy: urban/rural, women/ youth and families into sustainable and meaningful economic activity.

Rural development: The ANC reasserts the importance of rural development. Apartheid distorted the social and economic environment of the rural areas. The new democratic state must implement a policy to redress these distortions and create opportunities for rural people through balanced and sustainable development.

Gender: The issue of gender is fundamental to social and economic transformation. All policy programmes must be able to clearly identify and integrate this important issue in their transformation agenda.

Unemployment remains a scourge in the South African society. It is highest among blacks and, within this group, youths and women fare the worst.

Unemployment has multi-faceted causes which cannot be solved at the stroke of a single policy pen. Therefore, coordination and alignment of government policies and initiatives should ensure maximum possible impact on employment levels.

The Alliance must develop a co-ordinated employment strategy which interprets all aspects of government policy around which the Alliance forges a common approach in advance of the Presidential Jobs Summit.

Simultaneously, government will consult and negotiate with its social partners an Employment Strategy which will be cemented at a Presidential Jobs Summit. The elements of this strategy will lie within the following:

• Adopting policies which are neutral for labour and capital intensive forms of production with a possible bias in favour of those activities with greater employment generating capacity. This will be complemented by a set of disincentives to discourage shedding of labour.
• Pursuing policies designed to increase access to productive assets (such as land and credit) especially in favour of previously marginalised groups stimulating the level of demand and investment.
• Reducing transaction costs for labour mobility.
• Improving social capital for previously marginalised groups.
• Reducing the cost of wage goods.
• Promoting increased total factor productivity and international competitiveness to generate increased resources for reinvestment.
• Engaging in public works campaigns to generate mass employment.
• Resolving labour market and pre-labour market discrimination.

The Employment Strategy should have policy components which embrace sectoral or enterprise-specific dimensions; a labour market segment dimension and a spatial dimension. The pursuit of such an Employment Strategy will require:

• Reprioritisation of government expenditures away from non-productive activities and toward directly productive activities which generate sustainable employment;
• Ensuring a strong linkage between recurrent and capital expenditures;
• The strategic use of foreign aid;
• The strategic promotion of foreign investment;
• The continued promotion of the Masakhane ethos so that continued investment, service delivery and the rebuilding of our communities can take place;
• The popularisation of a savings and investment culture amongst a large section of our people.

The basic economic and social transformation framework of the ANC is the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP).

Successful economic transformation requires a set of economic policies that are mutually reinforcing and which as a package begin to address the structural problems in the economy. The RDP policy implores us to focus on: growing the economy and ensuring development, promoting investment in productive job-creating capacity and infrastructure, reprioritising government expenditure, restructuring the economy for international competitiveness and redistribution of opportunities, income, wealth and opportunities. The RDP further states that, in meeting the financing needs of the RDP, government must do this in a way that maintains macro-economic stability.

Our macro-economic framework policies must be directed to advancing the RDP. We are not pursuing macro balances for their own sake, but to create the conditions for sustainable growth, development and reconstruction. The Gear strategy is aimed at giving effect to the realisation of the RDP through the maintenance of macro balances and elaborates a set of mutually reinforcing policy instruments.

Taken together, these packages of policies are designed to build the economy in the manner envisaged in the RDP, and generate the levels of sustainable growth and job creation which is the key to the transformation project which the ANC has embarked on.

The Conference endorses the basic objective of macro-economic stability. Gear provides a basis for achieving such stability. Like other policies it will be reviewed, monitored and adjusted as required by analysis through the policy processes adopted in this conference and in the Alliance Summit.

Conference mandates the NEC, through its Economic Transformation Committee to:

• develop a detailed programme of economic transformation which will serve as a basis for systematic implementation and evaluation of progress made in this regard. Such a programme should give priority to an employment creation strategy.
• to organise discussions on all economic policy issues across the broadest cross-section of members and within the Alliance to build and deepen consensus as an integral part of the political work of the movement.

To give effect to its programme of fundamental economic transformation, the ANC commits itself to developing a programme of further legislative changes and clear timeframes with deliverables and an implementation plan.

The objective of a competitive, fast-growing economy which creates sufficient jobs for all work seekers requires a focus on trade policy, competitions policy, industrial policy and labour market policy. These sectoral policies also require stable macro-economic policies to ensure that appropriate signals can be sent to prospective investors and to ensure that we achieve a real rise in living standards.

The RDP base document (6.5.7) states: "The existing ratios of the deficit, borrowing and taxation to GNP are part of our macro-economic problem. In meeting the financing needs of the RDP and retaining macro stability during its implementation, particular attention will be paid to these ratios. The emphasis will be on a growing GDP, improved revenue recovery, and more effective expenditure in order to make more resources available. In the process of raising new funds and applying them, the ratios mentioned above must be taken into account."

The emphasis in the RDP on macro-economic balance has been a consistent part of ANC policy and has been mentioned in every policy document since 1990. The strategy for Growth, Employment and Redistribution (Gear) aims at creating the environment of macro-economic balances required for the realisation of the RDP. In this therefore, Gear does not seek to displace the RDP.

Effective fiscal policy requires that government raises the maximum amount of resources possible and frees the maximum resources for tangible transformation efforts; ensures that resources are allocated towards the implementation of the RDP; and ensures that the available resources are efficiently managed to realise the policy objectives.

Monetary policy is by and large the outcome of a number of other economic policies. It also has a significant impact on other areas of economic policy. Therefore, monetary and fiscal policies must be consistent, mutually reinforcing and complimentary.

Industrial policy lies at the heart of our economic transformation programme and must rest upon four key objectives:

• Economic growth must be sustainable, both economically and environmentally.
• Investment must create jobs. There should be a strong bias towards labour intensive investments and an emphasis on small business development and human resource development. Investment must contribute towards growth and development in the economy.
• Growth must increasingly be based on the ability to export and compete on the world market in products.
• Empowerment of the historically disadvantaged citizens must be a continuous thrust of all economic programmes.

The following policy instruments will be employed in achieving our objectives:

• Trade policy will remain within South Africa's commitments to the World Trade Organisation. Efforts to increase the economic integration of the Southern African region will be pursued, particularly through the establishment of a free trade agreement within SADC within a fixed period of time on the basis of principles of mutual benefit, equity and balance. We will maximise South Africa’s interests in regard to existing traditional trading partners such as the European Union. If appropriate, the benefits of a free trade agreement will be pursued. Trade and investment is a central component of the African Renaissance.

• Tariff policy: The management of tariffs will be carried out in a consultative and transparent process within a broad framework of economic policy and with regard to the specific features of industries and sectors and employment consequences in industries.

• Industrial development: The promotion of industrial development will include the use of state incentives which will continue to move away from demand side to supply side measures. Incentives are designed to generate investments in productive activity that will create employment and growth. The state’s Industrial Development Corporation will continue to be reoriented towards linking upstream capital intensive industries with downstream possibilities and more labour intensive industries whilst giving increasing attention to black entrepreneurs, women, the disabled and rural communities.

The development of industrial strategies will be tackled by, amongst others, facilitative processes such as sector and cluster collaborative initiatives designed to help firms meet the new challenges in collaboration with the constellation of players in their sectors. In this way, the potential of many manufacturing sub-sectors can be fully developed.

• Spatial Development Initiatives in regions identified as having high potential for economic growth and high needs will be pursued.
• Human Resource Development will be pursued through cooperation between the state departments and the private sector in targeting, developing and funding training programmes.
• Export growth will be facilitated by incentives and sectoral strategies rather than subsidies.
• Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises will be helped by improving access to finance, training, management, strategy development and assistance with technology transfer.
• Local development: Local government has an important role to play in job creation and local economic development. To this end, local authorities should ensure the development and implementation of SMME specific programmes.
• Competition policy: Anti Trust Policy, Corporate Governance and Fair Trade Regulation can play a very important part in opening up participation in our economy and ensuring fairness, transparency and the rule of law. Current competition policy is neither clear nor effective. It is envisaged that the necessary legislation will be processed in 1998.

The restructuring of state assets is an integral part of the transformation of the economy. The objectives are to:

• Enhance sustainable growth and development and employment creation.
• Increase the rate of development of infrastructure to meet basic needs and strengthen our economic potential.
• Promote the development of our human resources.

Within the overall RDP and industrial strategy the restructuring of state assets will be effected through the development of sectoral strategies followed by the specific case by case consideration of the individual state enterprises within the context of that sectoral strategy. The structures of the National Framework Agreement (NFA) are charged with overseeing the process of interaction between government and labour.

The ANC should clearly articulate a National Empowerment Policy that will focus on those who have been historically disadvantaged and particularly black people, women, youth and the disabled and rural communities. The empowerment process must constitute part of a more radical and profound change in social relations. Changing ownership and workplace relations are part of this wider process of empowerment.

The ANC government should:

• establish a National Empowerment Fund which must lead to the stimulation of saving, shift people from the informal to the formal sector, and from predominantly retail to more manufacturing SMMEs.
• ensure the implementation of a vigorous affirmative procurement policy which will ensure that government and parastatals facilitate awarding of tenders to our people through approved mechanisms.

At the ANC Youth League’s 20th National Conferenc, young cadres of the movement resolved that we would mobilise the progressive youth of our country in the development of a Youth Electoral Platform. An obvious question would be why the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) should develop an electoral platform since we are not contesting the 1999 elections, but rather, are supporting the ANC. Our perspective, however, is clear on the matter.

Firstly, our country is comprised mostly of young people who are profoundly affected by the legacy of apartheid, the legacy of a system that they do not necessarily have any direct memory of. They are affected by the inaccessibility of the economy as school leavers; they are affected by an education crisis that has had far-reaching structural effects; they are affected by the impoverishment of communities in general.

It is also a fact that the majority of ANC support comes from the young people of this country, from young workers, women, the unemployed youth and students, among others. Any approach to an election campaign for the movement has to take this into account. It is the responsibility of the PYA to ensure that the ANC platform reflects the interests of young people in this country. And that reflection must be given substance by the progressive youth forces.

The resolution of our Conference on a Youth Electoral Platform identifies particular areas that we will focus on. Within the broad framework of the RDP, which we believe adequately articulates the aspirations of the liberation movement, the PYA needs to develop more specific perspectives on a number of issues as they relate to youth. The issues identified by Conference include poverty alleviation in general, employment creation, education, health and crime.

The process for the development of such a platform will include discussions within the PYA itself, as well as organising youth fora where the young people of our country will be engaged on what they see as potential solutions to the various issues that have been raised. In addition, young people will be given the space to raise other issues that they feel are key.

In other words, the youth platform will not be drawn up in isolation from the very people whose lives should be affected positively by such an endeavour. Rather, the youth of this country will be directly involved in the development of our platform.

We will call on young people, where-ever they are located in society: in factories, in schools, in universities, in the state, on the streets of South Africa, to make written and oral submissions to this platform. Once our platform is drawn up, it will be submitted to the ANC to form part of the overall perspective of the movement for the 1999 elections.

South African Communist Party

RDP is the key to socio-economic transformation

For the SACP, the foundation for socio-economic transformation during the present period is the Reconstruction and Development Programme. As we begin discussing how the Alliance is to approach the formulation of its socio-economic programme in its election platform, the Party will strongly reassert this view.

The RDP’s key assumption is that government’s primary mandate is to address the basic needs of the overwhelming majority of people. All aspects of government policy and programmes must be subjected to this overall objective, whether macro-economic, education, or health policies, or questions of public sector transformation.

Even the deracialisation of South Africa’s economy, where some black people, including trade union investment arms, become owners of capital, must be subjected to the overall purpose of meeting the basic needs of the majority. For example, it would be no good to privatise public utilities in order to empower a few black consortia, if this meant that the state's role in delivering basic services like water and electricity was weakened.

Black empowerment must aim at the empowerment of the maximum number of our people and primarily includes efforts to improve the basic conditions of workers and the unemployed. In order to achieve this, a key strategy must be the transformation of the machinery of the apartheid state. Instead of serving a minority, the state must be re-geared to effectively address the needs of the majority.

The grinding poverty and sharp inequality which characterises South African society will never be overcome by market forces alone. A proper reading of the RDP reinforces this view, as it provides a clear mandate for the state to play a highly interventionist and developmental role. This role requires the establishment of a progressively-oriented mixed economy in which the state leads the market, through directly intervening in the expansion of social infrastructure and through re-regulating the environment in which market forces operate.

The forces of neo-liberalism wish to role back the state. They campaign against regulation, including labour and environmental standards, as they see these as an impediment to short-term profits; just as they wish to push the state out of basic needs delivery so that they can make profits through providing services to those who can afford them.

For the SACP, the most direct route to socialism is through the meeting of basic needs. However, the goals of socialists go beyond this. Ultimately, we must struggle for a society in which not just basic needs, but the social needs of the entire population are met. Our vision for economic transformation is shaped by our conviction that the capitalist system of production, based as it is on production for profit rather than social needs, is ultimately incapable of meeting the needs of working people and the poor. Our commitment to a socialist vision, in which ownership and control of the means of production is placed in the hands of the working people, remains unshakeable. At the same time, we recognise that we are presently in a stage of national democratic revolution. And, in line with our slogan "Socialism is the future, build it now", the most important immediate priority is that the state be strengthened and its policies re-attuned for the meeting of basic needs in order to lay the foundation for socialism.

Our experience in government has enriched our theoretical approach to social transformation. It has taught us that delivery is most effective in those areas where we have put in place assertive interventionist policies, such as legislation to bring down the price of medicines, and legislation requiring the extension of telecommunications services to those who have been historically excluded.

Many of us have also learnt that we cannot rely on market forces to create sufficient employment opportunities as the GEAR framework leaves us on the path of joblessness and low growth. The rallying cry must be for increased intervention and assertiveness by government in economic and social policy.

When we do this we must expect resistance by vested interests at home and abroad (the attack on Zuma by US pharmaceutical giants is a case in point), but it is necessary that we close ranks and defend ourselves from illegitimate attacks on our policy sovereignty.

While the increasing integration of the global economy is a reality which holds certain positive prospects for South Africa, we must never be bullied into failing to defend our people’s developmental interests and we must strongly assert our vision for greater transparency and democracy in the regulation of international affairs.

In discussing an electoral platform there are two strategic priorities. Firstly, we must push to continuously deepen and widen the areas of state intervention and state regulation in order to address the basic needs of the people. Secondly, we must commit ourselves to build the organisational capacity to mobilise the people behind progressive interventions.

This first priority is really about the continuous implementation of the RDP, which we knew would never be fulfilled in five years in any case. But, it also includes a commitment to improving the RDP based on our experiences in government.

In order to advance this, it is imperative that the Alliance partners use the Alliance Summit process to come to a detailed agreement about a framework for implementation. This framework must outline the areas which should be prioritised for delivery and the implementation mechanisms which should be used during the next period of governance. It is also imperative that the Alliance capacitate itself to continuously give strategic policy direction to comrades in government and to monitor the extent of implementation.

The second strategic priority of popular mobilisation is informed by the need to avoid a bureaucratic approach to delivery and is an attempt to re-emphasise what the RDP referred to as a "people-driven" approach. We need to create organs at various levels which empower people to drive the process of social transformation.

The Alliance must lead people in their popular organs to register for the pensions to which they are entitled, to initiate democratised structures of school governance, to build workplace forums and to take control of local delivery through community development forums.

Through this, ordinary people will be empowered to take advantage of the progressive laws which have been put in place by their first democratic government and the Alliance will be concretely engaged in leading the people in a practical programme of transformation.

If the Alliance can successfully combine the lessons learnt during our first period of democratic governance with the momentum of our second democratic election, we will be able to accelerate and deepen the process of social transformation in a way that fundamentally touches and improves millions of lives. The struggle continues.

SACP economic policy

Extracts from the SACP’s Economic Transformation discussion document

As Communists, our vision for economic transformation is shaped by our conviction that the capitalist system of production, based on production for profit rather than social need, is ultimately incapable of meeting the needs of working people and the poor. We believe that in the present stage of our national democratic revolution it is both feasible and necessary to struggle for changes in the powers of economic ownership and possession more favourable to working people. This involves a number of sectoral policies, and struggles.

The SACP believes that the management of the macro-economy must be seen as an instrument of a broader development-orientated growth strategy. The SACP accepts the need for some macro-economic stability. Experience of developing countries has shown that progressive redistributive policies that have ignored macro-economic constraints have often proved unsustainable.

However, there is no evidence to support a view that, by adopting macro-economic policies that are fashionable to neo-liberalism, we will actually grow our economy.

The main features of SACP policy on macro-economic policy are:

• Macro-economic policy, like all other areas of policy, should be formulated through inclusive, consultative processes, and should be subject to periodic review.
• Macro-economic policy must be a subordinate element within a broader development orientated growth strategy. Where there are choices and trade-offs, these must be identified and debated — and they must not always, automatically be resolved in favour of macro targets.
• There must be a willingness to attack macro-constraints in creative ways that transform the economy. The proposals to reduce the public debt burden by reforming public sector pension funds must be seriously examined and not simply dismissed out of hand.
• We must learn from the recent Asian financial markets crisis. We must reduce our exposure to the uncertainties of global speculation. There is a need to review the policy of progressively removing exchange controls.

While there is huge pressure on developing countries, like South Africa, to proceed rapidly to scrap tariff protection, the developed countries protect and subsidise their own economies massively.

In this context, the SACP believes that we must adopt a cautious and prudent approach to tariff reform. We accept that in the current global situation, protectionism of the sort applied in previous years in South Africa is no longer an option. But there is no evidence to support the view that there are major benefits to be gained by being "more free trade than the norm"

Tariff reform must also be accompanied (and preferably preceded by) the implementation of active industrial and sectoral development policies.

Industrial and sectoral development policies should produce clear strategies and mobilise resources for restructuring industry on a sustainable basis. While expanding manufactured exports is a key industrial policy objective, this must not be pursued one-sidedly. Industrial policy must also focus on the sectors involved in producing basic needs goods, and other sectors with high employment potential.

The SACP rejects with contempt the argument that it is only by making the labour market "more flexible" that jobs will be created. It is outrageous to claim that by struggling to extend basic rights to workers in employment, the working class is responsible for unemployment. Unemployment in South Africa is a product of the particular path of capitalist development embarked upon during the apartheid period.

The solution to unemployment does not lie, particularly, in specific schemes, but must be linked to a development-orientated growth path for our economy. As we have noted, this growth path must balance a focus on manufactured exports, with the development of the basic needs producing sectors.

Engaging in a race for the bottom over labour conditions, in competition with countries with unacceptably low labour standards, is no solution. Rather, we must act more effectively to promote an all-round improvement in the human resource potential of our people, through training programmes, and transforming workplace relations in ways that unleash the creative potential of working people.

The promotion of Small, Medium and Micro-Enterprises (SMMEs) must also be pursued with greater determination. It is a mistake to see SMMEs as the total salvation to the unemployment crisis. But, in the absence of other transformations, this sector provides a livelihood to many of our people. Problems that confront the SMME sector, like high interest rates and a lack of access to financial resources, must be addressed urgently.

In fostering SMMEs the SACP is convinced that more attention needs to be paid to cooperative and collective approaches. There is enormous potential in South Africa for cooperative and other collective, community-based ventures. They would enable the most marginalised in our society, including rural women and people involved in small-scale, survivalist activities to combine resources.

We must aggressively counter ongoing attempts to marginalise the economic role of the state. We need an economically active, development state. Such a state should:

• Ensure that essential social services are provided — health, education, welfare. Experience around the world has shown that profit-seeking institutions will simply not provide such services to the poor. The SACP wants to see such services increasingly provided as a basic right. We want the list of such basic rights to be progressively extended, to include, as soon as possible, the provision of basic housing to low income people.
• The creation of conditions to achieve development-orientated growth, through an integrated programme based on the four pillars of the RDP — basic needs, human resource development, building the economy, and democratisation and development.
• The promotion of redistribution: without active policy intervention, "market forces" will not achieve a more equal distribution of income and wealth.
• Active state intervention is also needed to counter jobless growth and other market failures.

The SACP is perfectly aware that there are many real constraints to economic and social transformation. We acknowledge, also, the important social gains achieved over the past four years — in electrification, water supply, and many other areas. We are convinced, however, that now is the time for greater coherence and resoluteness in pushing forward with the economic and social transformation.

A church view

In the church’s view there are four main areas which the government should be prioritising right now: poverty and job creation; land; education and empowerment; and crime.

The glaring issue of budget reprioritisation is essential to move money from the defence force into education. Even within the education sphere though, people need to assess the priorities for the country. We tend to perceive education as science and technology. As important as these areas are, this country also needs people in the healing professions.

We need people who can lead the way in diversity management. We need to build an economic base that takes account of diversity. We must avoid saying the Western and European economy is the only way. Africa has something to teach the world.

On the issue of poverty, there is a perception in the poor community that government currently gives the church a lot of money for its welfare programmes. This is certainly not true for the Methodist Church, although one can understand where this perception comes from — the church’s owns land and big ostentatious buildings which are seldom used. The only people who can afford to waste money are rich people.

A few weeks ago we were at a hotel to perform a wedding. The cheapest rooms were over R1000 (per person), the most expensive R14 000. Nearby was a railway line where young homeless kids were trying to eke out a living.

In dealing with homelessness, we need to develop methods of engaging the poor in such a way that their humanity is sustained. Shelters must have skills programmes and psychological treatment available. The skills programmes could include issues of hygiene education, value systems and specific training classes. We should also be looking at ways to pour resources, including human resources, back into the rural areas, because that’s where the real poverty crisis is.

We should interact with the poor, as opposed to acting on their behalf. Poor people have ideas about how they can make their life work. In order for this to materialise, it is crucial that the government invest in skills.

The wealth disparity in SA plays a big part in sustaining poverty. In the Jewish faith it is a disgrace when there is poverty, because they firmly believe that there is enough to go around. This is exactly the case in our country.

So what has the government done right? We do not value enough the non-racialism in our country. We are no longer conscious of walking into a restaurant where people of all races can eat, or of the fact that children from all races can go to any school. The Vryburg High School crisis is quite unique. Ten years ago, black children weren't even allowed into that school. We need to be aware of the significant changes that have happened, especially the huge mindshift.

Despite some of the weaknesses in government, most people are working their butts off to bring about change. There are numerous examples, including delivery in education and health care to back this up. The health department has conscientised the nation that health care is the right of everyone.

On the issue of education, we need to acknowledge that, in four years, the department has put together a policy which will benefit the marginalised, and the process has been inclusive. This policy has ensured that education is not the enclave of the powerful. It has the possibility of opening up many doors.

Regarding labour policy, we have a 22nd century policy struggling with a 19th century mindset. The issue of the new labour legislation is very complicated because we have to strike a balance between, for example, creating more jobs through banning overtime and ensuring maximum productivity at the same time. At some level the policy is too progressive and we have to wonder whether the economy can sustain it.

However, at the end of the day, South Africa has made great strides. The message from the Church is that the struggle continues in a different form, and we shouldn’t give up on it now. Cynicism is the biggest thing to fear.

South African NGO Coalition

What’s happened to our transformation vision?

Much of the current disillusionment in our country has come about because the ANC failed to effectively manage expectations created by the 1994 elections. There were high expectations for economic transformation as a result of democratic transformation and the government failed to develop an expectation management programme.

Sangoco believes one of the main priorities for the government should be the apartheid debt, which is the biggest government spending after education. It is immoral to pay this debt. What it comes down to is that survivors of apartheid pay for their own oppression! About R30 billion a year is spent on servicing the debt. This money can be much better used.

What is coming out of the poverty hearings are issues of joblessness, homelessness and in rural areas the issue of land redistribution. Although there is very progressive legislation on land redistribution, the very bureaucratic procedures mean that there is little implementation.

Lack of transformation can be attributed to weak local government structures and the attitude of the newly emerging black bourgeoisie. There is huge complacency developing within the black middle class. People are now saying the poor should wait for fundamental change to take place. Of course that’s easy to say when you’re speaking from a position of comfort.

On the topic of macro-economic policy, you cannot run away from confronting Gear. Even though Sangoco realises Gear is not a complete disaster, we have denounced it. The government does have choices and progressive organisations must now deal with the specific elements of this policy. It is too late to dump Gear in its entirety.

Sangoco is currently setting up an economics commission which will look at alternatives to problematic areas of Gear. Gear is pushing a flexible labour market to please investors. This means that unions shouldn’t push for higher wages for their members. This is problematic — especially given the high salaries directors earn.

Sangoco is concerned that there is no clearly articulated alternative to Gear. The government gives arbitrary figures such as a 3% deficit, but why should it be this figure, which is comparable with first world countries.

We hope our economics report will influence the process of macro-economic policy development. At the moment, the government is not talking to us. Top government officials are aloof to NGO’s. This report will benefit the ANC because it can influence how they respond to the report from the poverty hearings and can be used as a basis for negotiating benchmarks of what they can deliver over the next five years. Also, this will help Trevor Manuel, because if civil society pressurises government it will give them leverage when negotiating with big business.

The ANC-led government lost a golden opportunity to fundamentally transform government in 1994. Instead of giving themselves modest salaries and benefits, they were responsible for creating this gravy train perception. Many comrades who were deployed, including Cosatu comrades, have fallen from grace. They missed the opportunity to set a moral precedent. Now they are in positions of comfort and that position is unreachable.

The ANC has a difficult task ahead of them. The turn-out at the polls will be quite low because people are demoralised and because there is really no alternative to the ANC. The ANC was not honest with the electorate in the last elections. They did not disclose problems they inherited from the apartheid government like the debt. They need to give an honest report back.

In addition to this, there has been a lack of delivery on the ground which has made people ask what happened to the transformation vision. The feeling within Sangoco is that the RDP has been abandoned. The ANC made that choice. Sangoco is worried about the cosy relationship government is developing with institutions like the IMF and World Bank. The political intelligentsia outside government is shocked at how comrades are going to bed with the World Bank when not so long ago we used to condemn them. What has changed?

There are no alternatives to the ANC because other political parties haven’t managed to reach ordinary people. The government has made strides in areas of policy development (though this often hasn’t translated into practical action), progressive legislation and a very good constitution.

The Alliance needs to be strengthened, as it is important to have diversity in the ANC — with a force pulling to the left. This force is Cosatu, despite people sometimes labeling its behaviour as "maverick".

South African National Civic Organisation

RDP still the only worthwhile socio-economic policy for SA

Karl Marx and Adam Smith may have differed on many issues. However, they agreed on one point, namely, "Money makes the world go around". This doesn’t mean that these two eminent gentlemen were money crazy. Rather both recognised the importance of economic and financial development in the world’s and a country’s hopes, aspirations and objectives. South Africa is no different!

All policies developed for South Africa must focus on how best to achieve its development goals. However, before, we go full steam ahead and ask what exactly should our goals be, let us take a step backward, and recognise our country for what it is.

• Our country has just recently (four years ago) been liberated from colonialism.
• Because of apartheid and its Christian National style of governing, the country was isolated from the world’s economy and had a type of state capitalism. This isolation was also due to the economic sanctions imposed on the country because of its racist policies.
• The country is a classic example of Frank's Dependency Theory, with the country’s majority living under Third World conditions, and the minority enjoying First World (and sometimes even higher) standards.
• Due to the deliberate policies of the apartheid regime, there is a major socio-economic backlog.
• Fifthly, SA is a developing or less developed country, commonly referred to as a Third World country, and not a developed country.

If we accept the above, then our objectives are as plain as daylight. SA’s objective must be to develop so that the wealth of the country is unlocked and redistributed. This developmental and transformation project cannot be superceded by any other programme in the land. In fact it should be the only programme. Furthermore, since like Smith and Marx, we recognise that economics and finances permeate every aspect of existence in society, the development and transformation project must be based on an integrated approach, which must aim to develop society as a whole rather than in a piecemeal fashion.

If one wishes to take an extremely cynical view of the development theory expounded by the Bretton-Woods institutions of the World Bank and IMF, then one could regard these institutions as using Third World countries in their grand development experiments of their equally grand theory. At present, we are in the midst of another of their wonderful experiments, namely Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP’s). It is their contention that the environment needs to be sufficiently enabled so as to ensure that socio-economic development actually takes place. This is where Sanco’s agreement with these institutions ends. We agree that the environment must be enabled so as to ensure that development takes place, however we vehemently disagree with what the Bretton Woods institutions wish to structurally adjust to catalise and enhance development. Other than requiring that there is multi-party democracy, SAPs also require that there is limited state expenditure, especially in the social sphere. The reason put forward for this approach is that a culture of dependency occurs within society. Limitation of state expenditure is more commonly known to South Africans as "Fiscal Discipline".

Fiscal discipline seems like such a harmless and technocratic term. However, it consequences for developing nations are anything but harmless. If fiscal discipline meant that government spent less on vehicles, salaries, bureaucratic processes or even less corruption, then it would have our undivided support. However it means that there must be less resources channeled towards education, health, public transport, state housing programmes, public works, essential basic services, environmental development, social welfare, paying the country’s international debt etc. If the SA state wishes to focus on the prescription of the Bretton-Woods institutions so as to be accepted in the international financial market, then it must realise that it shall be discarding its mandate of redistribution. This mandate cannot be wished away, since the people of South Africa expect the wealth of the country to be redistributed in an equitable manner.

South Africa has a legacy of imperialism, colonialism, apartheid and neo-colonialism. All these "isms" and one "heid" have ensured that the socio-economic backlog in the country is immense. Moreover, with the advent of democracy in 1994, the only institution the people actually own is the political state, the government. They do not have ownership of the so-called fourth estate, the media and they do not have any type of ownership of the private sector or the means of production. Therefore the only institution that can provide the necessary leverage and has the tools and instruments at its disposal to catalyse development and redress past imbalances, is the state. A democratic state must always have the needs of the majority in mind, otherwise it risks losing an election or being overthrown.

Globalisation — the external factor with internal consequences!

The state itself is under intense pressure from

• internal capital, which does not want to relinquish the resources it has stockpiled;
• international countries with their own agenda and objectives; and
• a global market which knows no national boundaries, but has no objective and tangible pattern of movement.

It is for these reasons that, the state has to please the international market, whilst at the same time addressing the basic needs of its citizenry.

In attempting to play the role of a high-wire trapeze artist with no safety net, the state runs a real risk of attempting to achieve both, but in the end achieve neither. Capital realises that the more it does not invest according to what investment is actually needed, the more investment friendly the country becomes. Therefore, the need to invest in long-term financial activities will wane, and there will be short-term speculative investment which will not really benefit the citizenry, only the investors.

Notwithstanding the above, globalisation as a factor cannot be discarded or wished away. For us in Sanco, we believe we should also not attempt to predict the patterns of globalisation and hope we can control them in our favour. It is our considered opinion that all we can do is ensure that we have a multi-party democracy with a focussed socio-economic policy on redress, transformation and development. However, we do not need an artificial or superficial multi-party democracy. Many of the political parties on the SA landscape are either apartheid dinosaurs or against any form of real development, redress or transformation. For true democracy to take place in SA, the ruling party, which would have a very major redistributive aspect within its policies, must have a two-thirds majority, so as to ensure that it does not need to compromise on its policies.

The RDP is still alive!

In our opinion we do not have to reinvent the wheel. The Reconstruction and Development Programme, is still as relevant as it was in 1994. It is the minimum integrated and sustainable programme which can catalyse large-scale development and transformation. The only way that our country can become economically competitive is to rely on its own people. We cannot rely on the private sector, which has not proven its patriotism, nor the boon of international investment which does not owe SA anything. The government’s Growth Employment and Redistribution (Gear) may be good for managing the country, however, it is proving that it cannot be the panacea for all our ills. It does not have the answers to ensure employment creation, redistribution and social development. Moreover, Gear has proven an indecisive and ineffective tool to implement the RDP.

Therefore, South Africa needs to rely on South Africans. The state needs to provide its people with a respectable existence that will ensure that their environment has been positively enabled so that South Africans can realise and maximise their potential.