Friend or foe of the Alliance?
Despite being one of the largest and most active component of the mass democratic movement, the South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) never joined the Alliance. The organisation had suffered extreme marginalisation by the ANC, which even ordered SANCO to get permission from the ANC before launching campaigns or establishing new branches. SANCO was also advised to steer away from forging a mass identity "because SANCO and ANC share the same constituency." Some in government wanted SANCO disbanded because it was "seen as fashioning itself into an opposition to challenge ANC in the next elections"
In recent months, SANCO has been demanding the recognition it deserves. Under rank and file pressure, the organisation has been re-examining its electoral support for the ANC. Angry over the government's lack of delivery, many local SANCO organs wanted to cut ties with the ANC. This would have serious implications for government campaigns, and would impact negatively on the role of community development forums, community policing, and community health and education SACP Members of the South African Communist Party (SACP) play a leading role in trade unions, civic associations, inthe ANC and, since 1994, in all levels of government. But, influential as it is, the SACP is no longer the monolith it once was. It is certainly no more powerful than the nationalist wing of the ANC. Leading comrades are increasingly worried about this development.
Top SACP member (and COSATU General Secretary) Sam Shilowa told delegates to the September 1996 Congress of the National Union of Miners (NUMSA) that "COSATU and the SACP have to identify their role in the Alliance with the ANC so that we don't submerge ourselves but at the same time don't marginalise ourselves"
SACP deputy Chairperson Blade Nzimande, MP, told NUMSA delegates that "the organisational challenge was how to translate into reality the acceptance that the working class led the Alliance... The ANC remained the vehicle for attaining working class goals at this stage... The working class orientation of the ANC could be realised if organised workers played their role..
transformation forums - all of which requires SANCO involvement.
Last year, SANCO recalled Moses Mayekiso (previously NUMSA President) from parliament to head its new investment arm. SANCO also recalled Mr. M Hlongwane, mayor of Vaal, to become full-time national president of SANCO. The organisation decided that there was a conflict of interest between holding key government positions, and leading an organisation like SANCO that is supposed to put pressure on local government to ensure accountability.
With relations almost at breaking point, COSATU suggested that SANCO be invited to join the Alliance. ANC leaders, including President Mandela, made a point of participating in SANCO's national conference. Mandela expressed ANC recognition of SANCO as a leading component of the mass democratic movement, and promising to consult and listen to the organisation in the future.
In February 1997 the ANC finally managed to persuade SANCO to allow SANCO officers to continue holding office as MPs and senior civil servants, and promote the ANC in elections. * Organised workers need to consciously strengthen their role in all political formations of the Alliance, the ANC and SACP, to realise the working class potential of the ANC."
Nzimande re-stated the centrepiece of SACP theory, the need for a "National Democratic Revolution" before communists should push South Africa onto the socialist road. "The main strategic objective of the revolution at this phase should be the struggle for the transformation of South Africa's capitalist state into a national democratic state".
"I don't think we should be trying to come up with an economic strategy document, for instance," said SACP deputy General Secretary Jeremy Cronin, when asked to clarify the party's relationship with the Alliance. "And anyway, we don't have the capacity. That's why we are in the Alliance!" According to Cronin, "ultimately the Party is only as good as the ANC is - if it is weak, we are weak" • A view shared by politburo member Langa Zita: "We're a party located in a mass movement. We're not a substitute for it. Our role is constant, systematic persuasion". *
The Communist Party and the Alliance
The Communist Party and the Alliance
South Africa *