Interviews

Future scenarios for transformation.

Plotting the interests of the main sectors of society, namely the state, labour, business and civil society, what do you think are the probable scenarios that might unfold, and what would be the cross roads that would determine where these go?
Where has the passion for transformation gone? Older activists are saying that the next phase of struggle needs to be taken up by the younger generation, but where do we grow that political and economic education to shape new leaders across the board, beyond through narrow positions in the state or business?
‘Our policies are not working. Intellectual and business capital is not working optimally.
‘The consequences?

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  slow deterioration into dysfunction (a dysfunctional state)
  
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  an increase in revolts, leading to an “Arab spring”
  
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  resurgence of chauvinistic mobilisation along the fault lines of race, class, ethnicity, tribalism will play itself out.’
  

‘The NDP has some scenarios set out, but this is my feeling – not based on analysis-that South Africa is at a turning point. If we continue on the same trajectory, we will gradually reduce the problems pertaining to social delivery, but it will not address issues of quality, rather quantity of delivery, and society will become more impatient. We will get a headcount reach, but will not address quality, and the masses will become dissatisfied. Ostensible signals are not enough, it is about quality of life that goes beyond the satisfaction of access, and quality begins to matter.

Government and business have to move to higher levels of investment, or else the kind of growth that we will have will lead to further booms and busts – a cycle that is destructive.’

‘Well, we will probably end up being like Kenya, a bit of corruption and a bit of growth. The worst-case scenario would be Nigeria.
We should be grateful for Apartheid spatial planning – we do not have to have the poor in our suburbs. Unless we can get our society to change, and societies can change with a few good men, but this has to be a political project, and will not happen within the ANC, like we are seeing the formations of ABZ (Anything but Zuma), and ABA (Anything but he ANC)– the MDC started as a vote against ZANU and corruption.
I think that Zuma is coming back but he will be recalled within two years due to the chaos in government, and we shall also perhaps see greater collaboration amongst the opposition, but in the interim we shall continue to see a breakdown of poor communities and an escalation of abuse of drink and drugs.
Corruption-That is going to be the downfall of the ANC eventually. No one wants to be affiliated with a crook when they risk losing power.
The ANC will be in for a tumble-dryer of a time!’
‘The primary challenge of South Africa is that 50-70% of the population is living in poverty, with official unemployment standing at 34%.
The poor are the ones keeping the ANC in power. They vote for the governing party because they get social grants, but this just allows them to keep their heads above water, and sooner or later it will not be good enough for them anymore.
People are right to be unhappy and they are right to go out onto the streets. The economy is being mismanaged and corruption is a big threat. The political elite is paying themselves massive salaries while the poor get crumbs, yet the poor really were the ones who made all made the sacrifices to change South Africa. They are entitled to better treatment. I fully support service delivery protests.
There will be grave consequences if the country continues along its current path; Marikana forced open a “new political awakening”. The potential for revolution, like we saw in Tunisia in 2010 to 2011, is very high.
Civil society organizations could expect the government to clamp down on them as it tries to maintain a grip on power- the threat to media freedom posed by the “Secrecy Bill” (the Protection of State Information Bill), and President Zuma’s attempt to control the judiciary and the Constitutional Court through his appointment of Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng as Chief Justice might well just be the foretaste of things to come.’
Solutions.
‘We have to run a proper education system, and we have to invest in new industries. That’s how you create jobs, solve poverty, and solve unemployment. There is nothing mysterious about it.
There is, however, disagreement about where the catalyst for change will come from, with one respondent arguing strongly that this will come from the dissatisfied working class, and another arguing that the catalyst has to come from the new and young black middle class.
‘Catalyst/impetus for change:

Population Grid”

Bottom 50% Excluded (not even in the job market- key voters for the ANC)

Top 20% Rich

Middle 30% working class (dissatisfied, frustrated and the dynamism of South Africa), it is from this quarter that the impetus for change will emerge.’
‘There will be no change, no real change, until the black middle class revolt, these people have to be mobilized and get the white middle class to partner along class interests. The black middle class will have to renegotiate their relationship then with their mass base. The average black middle class person has one month between themselves and poverty. The problem is that the black middle class by and large is subject to the strings of patronage and therefore is controlled by the ANC and the state. (Few people are independent like me).
The ANC is bound to lose power before too long to a new party that is likely to emerge from an alliance between organised labour and big business.’
‘Social justice organisations must involve themselves in processes of change. Civil society needs to re-engage with the poor in a dynamic way, and also develop spaces for mentorship where activists and training by older activists we need spaces for reflection, and also for sectoral work, there is also a need for civil society to engage at that level – education, healthcare but we also need to develop a leadership that can grow in maturity and its ability to provide leadership, e need to be growing activists.
There is so much scope for communities to be organized. More attention needs to be focused on social delivery issues – what needs to be done to make these delivery institutions more effective? This requires a lot of work…. We need a deep-rooted effort to engage the poor in their own social transformation. It is thus a lot about developmental issues but developmental issues are not without their own politics, because trying to convince local and provincial governments to do things, this takes a highly astute political mind to be able to force a deal through, trying to get a win -win situation in which the state becomes more responsive and communities become more empowered.’
‘Middle class/working class are important drivers of change, they are catalytic, they have the capacity to develop the ideas and build the models, the motive force, not the vanguard. The reactions in SA have not been muted, we have a media that will speak truth to power, there are those in the private sector that are financially independent and are not reliant on the patronage.’

Shifts and Drifts – the de- and remilitarization of the South African Police Service: 1994 to 2012.

Critical to the heart of transformation from a pre-1994 Apartheid state, characterized by high levels of state violence and repression, was the need to demilitarize the police force, and the desire to emphasise the participative and people-oriented aspects of community peace- keeping rather than policing.

This was a vision that had its roots in the Freedom Charter, as can be seen hereunder (author’s emphasis), and yet the timeline that follows shows the subsequent drift back towards the levels of re-militarisation that we currently see.
The Freedom Charter:

All shall be Equal Before the Law!

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  No-one shall be imprisoned, deported or restricted without a fair trial;
  
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  No-one shall be condemned by the order of any Government official;
  
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  The courts shall be representative of all the people; 
Imprisonment shall be only for serious crimes against the people, and shall aim at re-education, not vengeance;

  
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  The police force and army shall be open to all on an equal basis and shall be the helpers and protectors of the people;

  
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  All laws, which discriminate on grounds of race, colour or belief, shall be repealed.
  

Timeline of shifts and drifts in the transformation of the South African Police Service: From a Force to a Service and Back Again.

1994 “The demilitarisation of the police came out of the document and became a mandate which the ANC took into government,” “We were very clear that the police must be respected and not feared”.

1996 Civilian Oversight instituted

2000 Dismantling of structures.

A range of expertise left the SAPS and formed or joined private security companies. During that period the SAPS had diminished capacity and private security had to be hired in to carry out policing functions.

2007 Shoot to kill policy –resurrected

2009 Militarization formalised

Was this the transformation trajectory of the South African Police Service envisaged and adopted in 1992, when and where did the shift emanate from? At which ANC policy or national conference after 1992 did this decision pass and was remilitarization called for? These questions assume a different urgency when viewed from the perspective of the current context of Marikana, where the institution of the SAPS has been thrown into the limelight – for behaviour, attitude and practices reminiscent of the past Police Force. During this process, the role and positioning of the Civilian secretariat and the Independent Complaints Directorate have been diminished and downgraded.

Bibliography

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  The Freedom Charter, 1948, Kliptown. www.anc.org.za.show/php1d=72
  

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  Ready to Govern: ANC policy guidelines for a democratic South Africa. www.anc.org.za/show.php?id=227.
  
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  The Constitution of South Africa, Act 102 of 1996.
  

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  Semi-structured and transcribed interviews with:
  
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    Barbara Hogan
    
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    Janet Love
    

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  Moeletsi Mbkei
  
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  Prince Mashele
  
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  Jay Naidoo
  
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  Joel Netshitenze
  

A further interview had been scheduled with Cheryl Carolus, but this had to be canceled at the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances.

1 As explored more fully in the section on the clash of cultures above