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South Africa: Shortcomings of the Ruling Elites

Bhekisisa Mncube

Book Title: Elite Transition-From Apartheid toNeoliberalism in South Africa
Author: Patrick Bond
Publisher: Pluto Press London

Elite Transition is a study of the new South Africangovernment economic policy choices since the dawn of democracy in 1994. It wasamong the first academic books to offer a detailed analysis of the postapartheid economic policy choices. It shows how the ruling party, the AfricanNational Congress's (ANC) key leaders took a turn to the right to embraceneo-liberalism. The political view, arising in the 1960s, neo-liberalismemphasizes the importance of economic growth and asserts that social justice isbest maintained by minimal government economic activity and free market forces.

The book is based on analysis of extensive documentation,anecdotal information and theoretical insights. It assesses the extent to whichthe post apartheid government can fulfil the dream of economic freedom. Itpresents arguments about the reasons for continued poverty despite politicalfreedom. It dissects a range of socioeconomic continuities from old apartheidstate policies to the new post apartheid government. It draws on colonial andapartheid policy failures to illuminate the deep connections between economicstagnation and social strife.

The central argument of the book: post apartheid economicpolicy making is steeped in the fundamentals of the outdated apartheid form ofcapitalism. This, the author argues is responsible for jobless economic growth.This in turn has a multiple effect in the new state's capacity to tacklesocio-economic challenges posed by years of uneven development, housingbacklogs and rising levels of poverty. He seems to suggest that neo-liberalismhas taken roots within the upper echelons of liberation movement, the ANC.

Author, Patrick Bond locates this fundamental shift bylooking at the emergence of the second post apartheid economic policy thatbecame widely known as Growth, Employment and Redistribution Strategy (GEAR).The first new government economic policy was the Reconstruction and DevelopmentProgramme (RDP). RDP's main policy thrust was to link growth, development,reconstruction, redistribution and reconciliation into a "unifiedprogramme". Whereas the new plan, Gear sought to promote growth beforeredistribution. To tighten fiscal policy and loosen exchange controls whilepromoting foreign led investment. It was indeed a fundamental shift from themuch hailed 1994 economic blueprint, the RDP.

When the new plan (Gear) was unveiled, the then PresidentNelson Mandela and his Finance Minister Trevor Manuel presented it as a faitaccompli. Its presentation caused a rupture within the ruling ANC Alliancecomprised of the labour federation COSATU and the South African Communist Party(SACP). Despite their (COSATU and SACP) vociferous objection to the policy, itwas implemented with gusto.

However, Elite Transition shows starkly that the twoeconomic policy blueprints were incompatible, and the latter destined to fail.

Bond opened a can of worms on his account about the trueorigins of Gear. He revealed that it was written by a committee dominated bythe World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) economists and policygurus. The exposure of Gear's true authors added fuel to the fire causing theanti-Gear lobby to insinuate that it was a self-imposed structural adjustmentprogramme.

The book clearly shows that neo-liberalism has become a keyjuncture between production and social reproduction in the current era ofchronic unemployment and capital-led globalisation. In other words, as the ANCmoved from people-centred economic development to capital led growth planning -the socio economic conditions of the poor majority will continue to worsen.

Elite Transition shows a causal a link on how firstcolonialism, then apartheid economic planning and the post apartheid policymaker's dithering have failed to change the fundamentals of economic planning.This failure, the author suggests will lead to further social strife.

Today, South Africa is engulfed in rolling servicedelivery protests. At least 40% of the country's 283 local governments had beenaffected by service delivery protests with 111 major incidents recorded in theyear. At the same time, the employment figures put the figure of the unemployedat above 25 percent. Since Gear was launched, South Africa has lurched from one economic plan to the other -from the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA), the NationalIndustrial Policy Framework, and recently (2011) the New Growth Path for SouthAfrica (NGP).

Bond's book is an important text in the continued evolutionof economic planning in South Africa even if it only shows theshortcomings of the ruling elites.

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