Post-Colonial Struggles for a Democratic Southern Africa: Legacies of Liberation by Carolyn Bassett & Marlea Clarke

Author:Carolyn Bassett & Marlea Clarke [Bassett, Carolyn & Clarke, Marlea]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781138913448
Google: knkkrgEACAAJ
Goodreads: 24326465
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2015-07-06T00:00:00+00:00

Policy determination and intra-party competition

Competing political parties are expected to represent competing policies, and intra-party pressure groups or tendencies are similarly expected to congregate around alternatives. One of the major interpretations of Zuma’s triumph over Mbeki was that it was a left takeover of the party by COSATU and the SACP. This is an exaggeration, as the support behind Zuma constituted a much wider coalition, but the left nonetheless has recorded advances on both the policy front and in its presence in government. At the cabinet level, the most significant changes have been the move of Trevor Manuel (the left’s particular bête noire) from Finance to a new Ministry of Planning and his replacement by Pravin Gordhan, who served as a member of the SACP’s central committee in exile (Gordhan also shared a connection with Zuma through ANC intelligence operations, and established a reputation for ruthless efficiency as head of the South African Revenue Service under Mbeki). In addition, Zuma appointed Ebrahim Patel, previously general secretary of COSATU’s textile workers’ union, to head a new Ministry of Economic Development; the SACP’s Rob Davies as Minister of Trade and Industry, and Blade Nzimande, general secretary of the SACP, as Minister of Higher Education. Together, these appointments implied a shift of power away from the Ministry of Finance and the Treasury towards pro-planning ministers and the adoption of more statist economic policies.

The left has wanted the government to become more active in restructuring the economy, countering the de-industrialisation caused by former government’s liberalisation policies (designed to render industries more globally competitive) and introducing policies that will reduce the country’s dismal level of unemployment. The main proposal has been to move away from high levels of dependence on minerals export towards increased minerals beneficiation (minerals processing and development of related industries including equipment and engineering) and expansion of industry. In practice, however, the outcome has been an uncertain victory for the left. The move towards a more active industrial policy was embodied in the government’s adoption of the new Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP) 2010/11-2012/2013, presented to parliament in February 2010. Now in its sixth iteration, the initial IPAP pledged to support to 12 sectors of the economy and promised to create 2.4 million ‘decent’ jobs over 10 years. It placed manufacturing at the heart of its strategy, arguing that development of ‘value-added’ sectors will allow ‘service’ sectors to grow. While the plan pledged R8.2 billion over the first three years, funding was slow to be obtained for full implementation of the strategy. Furthermore, as Paton notes, while it placed emphasis upon expansion of infrastructure, provision of concessional finance by the Industrial Development Corporation and expansion of the capital equipment sector through government procurement, it is questionable whether it can replicate the experience of successful ‘developmental states’ upon which it is modelled (Financial Mail, 26 February 2010). Demonstrable weaknesses in state capacity are complicated by ideological differences and the problem of corruption, the core of which is located in state procurement processes via the allocation of tenders.

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