Umsebenzi Online, Volume 20, No. 05, 22 July 2021
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Volume 20, No. 05, 22 July 2021 |
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Dr Rob Davies
The journey of a privileged white boy from a petit bourgeois background into the ranks of the SACP was, not surprisingly, a vacillating one. I did not come from a political family and had no personal experience of the exploitation and oppression inflicted by colonialism and apartheid.
My own political awakening began as a student at Rhodes University in the 1960s. There I started attending student body meetings and became involved in protests against one or other apartheid law being introduced at the time. I also began participating in NUSAS activities, including attending conferences and seminars. There I came to know some of the later leaders of Black Consciousness organisations, who were at the time still in NUSAS. It was also there that I came to know Cde Sheila Barsel, who was the full-time NUSAS administration and the indispensable stalwart of that organisation. My own perspectives then were probably liberal, but the late 1960s was the time of the civil rights movement in the USA and the campaign against the Vietnam war. These all had influence on those of us in the more radical fringe of white student politics. The student uprising in Paris in 1968, in particular, was highly inspirational in moving some of us towards more radical forms of action.
In 1968 South Africa had its first student sit in. This was at UCT and in protest against the Council’s succumbing to pressure from the regime not to accept the recommendation of Senate to appoint Archie Mafeje to a post in the Sociology department. This was followed by a second at Fort Hare dispersed with much greater brutality. When the Rhodes University Council followed that of UCT in refusing to ratify the appointment of a progressive lecturer, Basil Moore, because he was prominent in the anti-apartheid University Christian Movement, I was one of a small number who occupied the Council Chamber in protest. As a small group we were easily picked off and were first rusticated and then excluded from the University.
During the period of rustication, I began reading Marxist and neo-Marxist literature and attended informal seminars organised by figures like the late Rick Turner (later assassinated by the apartheid regime). I applied to UCT to continue my studies but was not admitted because of my "bad disciplinary record" from Rhodes. I was, however, allowed to attend some lectures. There I became involved in Marxist and neo-Marxist reading groups and in discussions about the need for a new paradigm of analysis linking apartheid racism and capitalist exploitation. It was during this time that I first came to know Cde Jeremy Cronin who was then the most powerful intellect among us. Apart from theoretical analysis, we also became involved (through a distant connection) in producing and distributing leaflets on behalf of the movement.
I eventually moved to the UK to continue my studies there. In 1974 on the back of an article I had published in New Left Review, I was invited to a conference on the question of capitalism and apartheid. There I met for the first-time personalities like Ruth First, Joe Slovo, Harold Wolpe, and Pallo Jordan. After completing a Ph D at the University of Sussex, I applied to work at Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo. I went to Mozambique inspired by the fact that it was ruled by a liberation movement which proclaimed its intention to construct socialism.
By then it was clear to me that the role of Marxists was to do more than merely interpret the world, and in 1980 I formally joined ANC. I became Secretary of the Maputo Regional Political Committee as well as being involved in analytical and intelligence work. From time to time, I also participated in a few clandestine operations - mainly as a courier. In mid-1980s I joined the SACP after being invited to do so.
The SACP, even in exile, operated at the time as an underground organisation. We were incorporated into units and apart from a few publicly known figures in the top leadership, had no direct knowledge of who was a member of the Party outside your own unit. Units received "Inner Party Bulletins" that consulted on emerging perspectives and identified key tasks for SACP members. Key issues that I recall included the shift from "armed propaganda" to "peoples’ war"; the extent to which "ungovernability" could lay a foundation for people’s power; and unpacking the regime’s strategy and tactics as it lurched from "total strategy" to negotiations. The significance of Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika and their implications for our understanding of socialism were also critical issues. I recall a real eagerness on the part of unit members to receive and digest the Inner Party Bulletins, and my unit at least contributed enthusiastically to these discussions. We were also enjoined to be among the most dedicated in our ANC deployment and work. Apart from that I became involved in political education and induction of new members.
When SACP was unbanned, I like many others was concerned to see a number of comrades and erstwhile leaders leaving the Party arguing that it was no longer relevant in the changing global order. This was the time of the collapse of Soviet Union and demise of Eastern European socialism. While Comrade Slovo’s Has Socialism Failed? provided a powerful rejoinder, this was the period in which bourgeois ideologues were triumphantly proclaiming "the end of history" that had established free-market capitalism as the highest form of human civilization. The onset of the age of capitalist globalisation and neo-liberalism coincided with our own transition to democracy. The years between the unbanning and the 1994 elections saw a major effort at neo-liberal opinion forming targeting key cadres of the movement. A bilateral on the economy with Cosatu, held in 1990 after the unbanning but before most of us had returned from exile, highlighted the urgency of developing the Party’s perspectives on issues of economic transformation. Observations formed of Frelimo’s attempted, but later stalled, socialist transition led me to the view that we needed to return to the perspective that saw socialism as a transitional phase between capitalism and communism and that the struggle for socialisation was much broader than nationalisation – even though building collective property forms was a critical element. I wrote up some ideas in a contribution to a forum on "Debating Socialism" published in the African Communist in 1991.
The SACP’s principled stance against neo-liberalism was, in my view, one of its most important contributions to the advance of the NDR in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This moved from a critique of the GEAR policy to the identification of the 1996 Class Project as a major domestic driver of conformity to this agenda. These years saw a relatively united labour movement exerting significant and growing influence, even though it did not become hegemonic in the movement. Later the SACP became the first formation in the alliance to come out strongly against state capture and corruption. Our role here was significant in dislodging the state capture forces from their control over the movement.
These two pillars of our history are critical in my view as we confront the challenges facing us in the aftermath of the recent attempted insurrection. Decisively defeating the arsonists who literally as well as figuratively lit the flames of counter-revolutionary anarchy is a critical part of taking the NDR forward. But so too is asking some hard questions about why the social timber was so flammable that it drove so many of the needy as well as the greedy into destructive looting. The SACP’s voice will be critical in calling for this moment to be a moment of reckoning - in which we genuinely prioritise programmes that bring about a significant reduction in the triple curses of unemployment, poverty, and inequality, where we define key targets for major improvements in these indicators and adjust programmes if they are not being met, and where we are not held back by the straitjacket of neo-liberal austerity.
- Dr Rob Davies is a member of the SACP Central Committee and its Political Bureau.
The counterrevolutionary offensive of the week starting 8 July 2021:
"It is during moments like this that SA needs the calm, insightful and firm leadership of President Nelson Mandela."
Thulas Nxesi
Born on the 18th of July to Nosekeni Fanni and Gadla Mphankanyiswa Mandela eMvezo, eQunu, Comrade Nelson Mandela would go on to commit his entire life to the struggle for the total emancipation of the African people. This meant forging a revolution against one of the most powerful nations in Africa, the National Party-led Government. The character of his resistance, which included the formation of UMkhonto WeSizwe, the military wing of the ANC, in 1961, featured intentional campaigns of sabotage such as the bus boycotts, stay-aways as well as deliberate acts of sabotage such as the bombing of strategic government structures.
What Mandela fought for
Mandela’s response and that of his generation against legalised discrimination will go down in the ethers of history as the most forthright, well fought and necessary response to a system so vile and crude that it could render the indigenous peoples foreigners in their own country or as, Sol Plaatjie, remarked after the adopting of the 1913 Land Act, " 'Awaking on Friday morning, June 20, 1913, the South African Native found himself, not actually a slave, but a pariah in the land of his birth."
The response by comrade Mandela and his generation to apartheid - with its prioritisation on the upward mobility of European Citizens over other races - marked an accelerated and legalised form of racial discrimination and a necessary reversal of the pariah status of the African Native.
This response to the dire material conditions of Black people in general and Africans in particular was a revolutionary expression of the Marxist belief that our material conditions determine our consciousness including our response to those material conditions. It was also a moment of class suicide - as you might recall that uMadiba together with comrade Oliver Tambo were at the helm of the Mandela & Tambo law firm established to offer Black people a legal voice in their troubled relations in the apartheid state. They could have simply gone to become celebrity lawyers, yet they chose revolution, or as Marx would argue, revolution chose them, based on their material conditions.
While the central ethos of his life-long struggle was against legalised discrimination, Mandela was wise enough to understand that this was not a fight that the African people could achieve on their own. It needed unity within the broader Black population, which included having to work side by side with the Coloured People’s Congress and the South African Indian Congress. This culminated into the adoption of the Freedom Charter in 1955 which advocated for the adoption of a constitution founded on the basis of a democratic, non-racial, non-sexist, united and prosperous society based on justice, equality, the rule of law and the inalienable human rights of all.
The negotiations
The conditions upon which we forged the struggle required a comrade steeped in revolutionary discipline, courage, and a deep conviction to the cause of liberation. It was his courage and conviction to the cause of liberation that compelled him to lead the negotiations between the freedom fighters and the apartheid government in 1985. His quest was one, building towards a democratic, non-racial, non-sexist, united and prosperous society. This he did from his jail much to the criticism of his comrades in Robben Island. Yet even in the face of such criticism and scepticism from esteemed comrades such as Ahmed Kathrada and Walter Sisulu, Comrade Mandela continued and even sought advice from this very class of critical comrades and others who were more supportive of his moves such as comrade Raymond Mahlaba and Andrew Mlangeni.
It is this consolatory and reconciliatory aspect of Nelson Mandela’s leadership that ensured that all political views from the parties in attendance during the negotiations were thoroughly considered, and in some cases, appropriated into the constitution of the country. His inclusive approach during these negotiations not helped to peacefully usher in a new sense of freedom and democracy to South Africa, but also avoided probable violence and loss of life in the country during such a politically volatile moment in the country’s wisdom. Comrade Mandela’s wisdom and foresight in his sensitive steering of the nation during its transition into a democracy remains one of the hallmarks of his leadership not only for guaranteeing the emancipation of African people, but also for preventing outbreaks of violence and lawlessness, such as those seen last week, during the process.
The violence of the week starting 8 July 2021
Last week, the country went through an unprecedented display of chaos and lawlessness which was triggered by the incarceration of former President Jacob Zuma, that saw ordinary citizens blocking major highways, looting from shopping malls and causing general disarray throughout the country. Kwa-Zulu Natal and Gauteng were the worst affected areas. These protests were condemned in the strongest terms by the SACP, the Minister of Police and other government stakeholders. While it is now known that there were other causes to the protests such as the rampant poverty and hunger in the country, high levels of unemployment, social and economic inequalities, and others, the SACP is of the position that there are far more effective manners of communicating grievances other than through public violence and the wanton destruction of government infrastructure and property.
It is during moments like this that South Africa needs the calm, insightful and firm leadership of Nelson Mandela. It is not hard to imagine that were he still with us, Comrade Mandela would have called for peace and for the law to be allowed to take its course. The people of South Africa, out of their great esteem, adoration, and respect for Comrade Mandela, would have heed the call. Comrade Mandela would have taken the moment to remind the country that what faces South Africa at the moment is the critical task of ending poverty, unemployment and the rampant inequality that's rife in all sectors of society, and that at the core of any successful and forward-moving society lies the strong bond of unity.
The unity of the Tripartite Alliance
It is the sense of unity that Comrade Mandela taught, that he demonstrated with his comrades in and out of prison, that characterised his tenure during and after his presidency and his engagements worldwide as a global statesman that the Tripartite Alliance between the ANC, COSATU and SACP thrives to embody and continually demonstrate in all its protocols, engagements, and activities. Part of Comrade Mandela’s legacy was being able to form alliances with other existing structures out of the ANC in his struggle for the emancipation of South Africa.
The importance of this alliance is that the labour alliance, which comes from COSATU, is empowered and should be able to hold the ANC government accountable for the total state of the nation at any given point in time, even though the politics of these blocs are similar and are part of the same ideological school. The role of COSATU is to hold the government to account, especially with regards to labour relations in the country, and how they impact on the material position of ordinary landless and dispossessed South Africans. It is central in facilitating beneficial relations between labour and private capital. The SACP continues to be the ideological centrefold of the alliance, holding the ANC to account with regards to the objectives of the struggles; why the ANC was formed, what it stands for, what we fought for, why we fought and providing a sustainable path into the future.
Conclusion
As we take this time to commemorate the life and times of this great man, we emphasize the importance of national unity as the nation, especially during this tumultuous period as shown by the events of last week. Let us challenge ourselves to emulate Comrade Mandela’s values, remembering that we are one great rainbow nation and that we are stronger together. Let the resilience and resolution demonstrated by Comrade Mandela serve as reminders of the strength of our own will and the power of our unity in building and sustaining this great nation of South Africa.
- Thulas Nxesi is SACP Deputy National Chairperson. This is a slightly edited version of the input the SACP Deputy National Chairperson delivered on behalf of the Central Committee of the SACP during the Nelson Mandela Day Alliance webinar on 18 July 2021.
SACP denounces politicisation of scientific research on virus origin and source tracing
SACP statement, 22 July 2021
The world should commend the role of scientists from China and 10 other countries under the leadership of the WHO in undertaking the research on the scientific field of COVID-19 origin or source tracing. China has particularly been open to the scientific endeavour, contrary to the propaganda spread by the Western imperialist media. The report was published in March 2020. The role of scientific collaboration is crucial, as the COVID-19 origin or source tracing is essentially about science.
The SACP rejects with contempt moves to politicise scientific research in the interests of imperialist global agendas. In this era of pandemics, scientific collaboration across our globe is critical for progress and for the protection of human society. Scientific field of origin or source tracing of viruses is a critical instrument in the campaign against their spread.
The scientific findings include the recognition that there are indications that COVID-19 cases took place before December 2019 in various places across the globe. The report findings and recommendations have recently been subjected to political rejection by the United States, as part of its obvious campaign to vilify China.
Virus origin or source tracing is scientific undertaking. The SACP denounces attempts at politicising scientific research. A part of the attempts involves geographic location naming of viruses or attacks against scientific research because of the countries involved in it. The international community should look at the issue of virus origin or source tracing in a science-based, objective and fair manner, conducted with intellectual rigour, in the interest of advancing global anti-pandemic co-operation.
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