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RED ALERT |
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No 153 FIRST QUARTER 2000
Published quarterly as a forum for Marxist-Leninist thought by the South African Communist Party
CONTENTS
EDITORIAL NOTES
SACP Statement at the turn of the century
iGoli 2002 - The problems of managerialismARTICLE 1
Year 2000 for Building People`s Power for the Eradication of PovertyARTICLE 2
How the Poor Die:HIV / AIDS and Poverty in South AfricaDEBATE 1 - iGoli 2002
Article 1 SACP discussion document
Article 2 COSATU Briefing StatementDEBATE 2 - Alliance discussion and programme for 2000
Missions and Tasks of the National Liberation Movement
The strategic role of the SACP in the current conjuncture
COSATU input to the debate on the role of the progressive trade union movement in the current conjuncture
Alliance Programme of Action for 2000
Improving the modus operandi in intra-alliance relations - SACP documentINTERNATIONAL
Fifty years of the People`s Republic of China - By Pallo JordanBOOK REVIEW
Morality is relevant to economic policy - by Jeremy CroninDISCUSSION DOCUMENT
Local Demarcation and Traditional Leadership (TL)
EDITORIAL NOTES
SACP Statement at the turn of the century
The South African Communist Party wishes all South Africans, and working people around the world a happy new year, and a 21st century that will see equality, freedom and solidarity nurtured more thoroughly than they have been in the 20th century. As we end this decade and this century there are grounds for hope, but also for concern.
The democratic breakthrough in our own country, powered by the struggles of millions of ordinary people, continues to be a dynamic factor, not just within our country, but in our region, our continent, and indeed internationally. The aspirations kindled by our struggle must be kept in play, and the unity of the national liberation movement must be fostered. Within South Africa much still needs to be achieved. The racial bastions of power, privilege and wealth have been breached, but the deep inequality of our society remains, and new inequalities are developing. Structural unemployment persists, and as South Africa`s economy has, inevitably, become more exposed to global market forces, so the resolution of our unemployment crisis becomes more difficult.
Globally, the 1990s have ended on a note quite different from that on which they began. We have travelled, in the space of a decade, from an extreme of capitalist triumphalism, occasioned by the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the implosion of the old Soviet Union, to the WTO Seattle Round. While capitalism remains, by far, the hegemonic system internationally and within our country, its untrammelled domination is meeting with more and more opposition. It is an opposition that comes from those who are concerned with the profit-driven destruction of our environment, and from those who, perhaps out of religious conviction, are deeply concerned about the Zama Zama, casino, "free market" values pervading every domain of our lives. It is an opposition increasingly expressed by democratic governments in the South alarmed that, in this past decade, eighty countries have become poorer than at the beginning of the 1990s, despite all the promises about the new globalisation "free-way". And it is an opposition that comes from those millions around the world who have lost the prospect of ever having a decent job. For us, the most important lesson at the end of this decade and century is that capitalism is incapable of addressing even the most basic of needs for millions of ordinary people throughout the world. Instead all indications point to worsening poverty and disease as capitalist globalisation deepens.
Many of these forces struggling against capitalist barbarism may not see themselves as socialists, but as the SACP we believe that we are all fundamentally in the same trench. We sincerely hope that the coming century will see much greater moral and political unity between all forces and individuals who hold dear the basic values of human equality, freedom and solidarity.
In the light of all this the SACP is firmly of the view that the three most important challenges facing humanity in the coming period is the eradication of poverty and exploitation, the creation of mass-based and people-driven democracies as well as the fight against the Aids pandemic. We should use this historic moment of the dawning of a new decade and century as an opportunity to take forward these struggles, including the elimination of gender and racially based inequalities. In particular, the struggle to eradicate poverty on our continent, in order to make this century truly a century of the African working people and the poor.
In light of the above we dedicate this first issue of the African Communist in the new century to the following issues:-
- SACP programme for the year 2000
- Debate on iGoli 2002
- Alliance debate and programme for 2000
- HIV/AIDS, poverty and access to affordable treatment; and
- A review of the Chinese revolution (this will be a series of three articles covered in three issues of the AC).
- Sacp discussion on local government demarcation and traditional leadership.
The discussion document on traditional leadership is intended to start a serious discussion in the SACP and the national liberation movement on how we approach traditional leaders in the context of democracy, transformation and the building of socialism. We invite readers to contribute to this discussion. We also refer readers to three articles on this question which were published in the AC during the 1990s - articles by Eddy Maloka, Cassius Lubisi and Blade Nzimande. Comrade Mzala`s book "The Chief with a double agenda" remains valid on many issues about traditional leaders.
iGoli 2002 - The problems of managerialism
In February 1999, to much fan-fare, the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council announced the Igoli 2002 plan "to make the city work". The plan was packaged as a bold vision that would transform Johannesburg into a "world class city"... and this was to become the very first problem with the plan. The packaging greatly misrepresented the actual content. Far from being a broad developmental and transformation vision, the plan unveiled in February last year was, essentially, a three-year financial rescue programme linked to institutional re-design.
The original document never once mentions the historical legacy of racial oppression that has to be overcome. Instead it is rooted in a private sector, managerialist paradigm: "the challenge is to transform the current bureaucracy into a business approach" (p.6). The "case for change", it argues, "is based on two key problems a financial crisis and poor institutional design" - as if the most pressing reasons for change were not poverty and gross inequality (Johannesburg must be one of the most unequal cities in the world - containing pockets of excessive wealth, and deep poverty, cheek by jowl).
These managerialist origins, wrapped in exaggerated public relations hype, have continued to dog Igoli 2002. Its leading proponents, to the detriment of their own plan, persist in presenting every crisis measure as part of some bold, millennial vision - as they did recently when the GJMC announced its intention to sell its own building and then rent it back again. This is little more than a device to raise a loan, and should be presented and debated as such.
To begin, and then to persist, in these managerialist ways undercuts the necessity of grounding managerial decisions within a progressive political process. Managerial competence and financial probity are certainly essential, but they have to be informed by, and continuously assessed in terms of a strategic political vision of transformation. The argument that "we can`t do anything if we don`t have the resources" is certainly not wrong - but unless an effort is made to build a broad political consensus about what the "anything we intend to do" IS, there will be little commitment to accepting drastic rescue measures if they are, indeed, necessary. Indeed, not only is there a need for a broadly shared vision of where our cities are going, but, insofar as there are financial restraints, there needs to be a political discussion about the causes of such constraints.
In the absence of this, Igoli 2002 was placed on the defensive within the broader alliance from the beginning. Instead of mobilising and inspiring millions of Johannesburg residents, it has had to fall back on bureaucratic measures for enforcement, and on a private sector supported media, with its own agenda, for the hard-sell.
A second (and another typically managerialist) problem has been the tendency to confuse the inclusive elaboration of a vision for the city (within the ANC, the alliance, and broad popular movement) with labour relations bargaining. Insofar as the GJMC has consulted, it has too often been at the Bargaining Chamber. Clearly, there are matters that require employer-employee negotiations, but it is disingenuous to complain that "unions are not seeing the wider picture", when strategic political discussion is forced into a narrow (and often conflictual) labour relations mould. The alliance between the ANC and COSATU is, in the first place, a political alliance based on a shared strategic vision of national democratic revolution. To reduce this alliance to a management-employee relationship is a dangerous delusion. To surpass the current problems, requires political leadership from the ANC, the SACP, and, indeed, COSATU.
From the start the SACP, guided by the Party`s Gauteng Provincial Executive Committee, has sought to engage constructively but critically with the Igoli 2002 proposals. In the course of this engagement, some important progress has been made around the vision of transformation for the city. Plans to privatise the Fresh Produce Market have been stalled, for the moment, pending further discussion. There is an acceptance, in line with the SACP`s struggle to de-commodify basic needs, that a basic survival level of water will be supplied free to all households, on the basis of a stepped tariff system. There are also indications that, at the provincial level, some progress is being made to ensure that core utilities will not fall out of the public sector.
But the inept manner in which the whole process has been handled since February 1999 has caused real damage. Entrenched positions have been adopted, defensively. Defensivism has corroded traditions of debate within our movement. Discussion and consultation, in which the real pros and cons of different choices are honestly laid on the table, have often been displaced by management-style Microsoft Powerpoint overhead presentations ("transparencies instead of transparency"). The importance of mobilising our own mass forces gets displaced by institutional reform ("organograms instead of organisation"). Popular opposition to the plan is even worn like a badge for potential private sector investors to admire - "you see, we really mean business, we will see this thing through regardless". Toughness starts to become an end in itself, hawkers are bundled off Braamfontein pavements on the grounds that they are obstructing pedestrians (as if their survival did not depend on pedestrians), or on the grounds that they are selling "pirated goods". If they are selling pirated goods, then prosecute them for that, but the TV cameras showed lots of bananas and apples getting confiscated.
Hopefully, the worst of these managerialist excesses are now over. Hopefully, we can all learn lessons from the last year. It is in the spirit of keeping up a critical engagement with the transformation of South Africa`s largest city that this issue of the AC has devoted some space to the Igoli 2002 debate.
ARTICLE 1
Year 2000 for Building People`s Power for the Eradication of Poverty
By Mazibuko K Jarra
The year 2000 will be marked by a number of important developments. First and foremost this is the year of the second democratic local government elections, and in essence, the establishment of a completely new system of local government. Secondly, organised workers intend to escalate campaigns against job losses and for job creation. The jobs campaign calls for the Party to prepare itself to deepen its roots in the working class and to provide political leadership by channeling these struggles in a direction that consolidates working class power in South African society. Thirdly, the year 2000 for the SACP is the year of implementing our own programme of building people`s power with a focus on the eradication of poverty.
Fourthly, at the end of May, the SACP will host a National Strategy Conference. This year`s Strategy Conference comes exactly mid-term since the 10th SACP Congress and this necessitates that it be used for organisational reflections and a focus on political aspects of the SACP`s strategy.
Fifthly, in July the ANC will have its mid-term National General Council. This Council will provide an important political opportunity for the movement to reflect on itself and the challenges facing our revolution. Later in the year COSATU will also be holding its 7th National Congress where it will have to refine its programme and strategy in the light of escalating attacks on the working class in general, both globally and locally, and organised workers in particular.
Intensifying class battles and deepening poverty and inequalities pose the need for strategic political leadership of the working class
All these will be taking place against the background of intensifying class struggles to shape the nature of South Africa`s post-apartheid state in both the political and economic spheres. As we seek to deepen our democracy, counter-revolutionary and other opposition forces also become restless.
For instance the creation of new and more democratic local government structures seems to pose a threat to those sections of the parasitic petty bourgeoisie that were highly dependent on the apartheid state for their own survival. The mobilisation of chiefs, principally by the IFP, in KZN and other parts of the country against the demarcation of the new municipalities is a case in point. Similarly, the passage of laws seeking to entrench our democracy and improve the participation of ordinary people is being vehemently opposed by organisations like the DP. These two developments capture the struggles around the deepening of our democracy and contestation around the nature of the democratic state post apartheid.
On the other hand there are signs that the economy might be turning around, but without any guarantees whatsoever whether this expected improvement will translate into any gains for the working people and the poor. South Africa is increasingly getting positive ratings from influential international global economic institutions as an emerging market. Do these signals point to some improvements in the performance of our economy? What opportunities would such a positive upswing in the economy provide for consolidating our democracy and addressing the needs of the majority of our people? How can such possible opportunities be used to consolidate working class power in South African society? Or will these be marked by a deepening capitalism that only provide a temporary relief that will soon further roll back the gains of the working class?
This context therefore poses a number of political challenges to the movement as a whole, in particular our Party. First of all, this period requires political clarity on the part of the democratic forces, and unity of purpose in terms of using these to deepen our democracy and strengthen people`s power. In particular these pose added responsibility onto our Party to provide strategic political leadership to the working class. In concrete terms this poses the question of how to strategically utilise this year`s Conferences and impending class battles to consolidate working class power. What kinds of issues should the SACP Strategy Conference, the ANC`s Council and COSATU Congress need to grapple with? What opportunities do these provide to consolidate people`s power in order to accelerate change?
These questions and many others will have to be answered against the background of the principal strategic contradiction and its particular manifestation in the current period. For instance, whilst the democratic breakthrough has brought major gains to the mass of ordinary working people and the poor in our country, there are simultaneously clear signals that inequalities are deepening in our country and the majority of our people still remain in the grip of poverty. For instance in February, the Mail and Guardian reported on a survey done by Wharton Economic Forecasting Associates indicating that it is only a small black elite that has benefited most from South Africa`s transition to democracy. According to this survey the proportion of black households in the top 10% of all South African households increased from 9% to 22%. The gap between this richest group and the poorest blacks during the 1990`s has widened dramatically. According to the same report, the richest blacks received and average 17% increase in income, whilst the poorest 40% of households actually suffered a fall in household income of around 21%.
Of course this reality has been a subject of both heated and disputed debate within the ranks of our Alliance itself. The one position states that we should not be alarmed by this as it is inevitable that with deracialisation of managerial and top echelons of our economy blacks are likely to accumulate more wealth, and this is also necessary. Furthermore this argument posits that it is better that there is a growth of a black bourgeoisie rather than the maintenance of the black/white income and wealth divide. There are of course a number of problems with such a stance. Firstly it is wrong to bury our heads in the sands and ignore the fact that whilst sections of the black community are accumulating wealth, not only are its poorest sections not making ends meet but the situation of the poorest is actually getting worse. Secondly, this position is informed by an erroneous assumption that the creation of a black capitalist class will somehow alleviate the situation of the poor black communities. Thirdly, those who have been raising the issue of the widening poverty gap within the previously oppressed have sometimes been accused of wanting to see, by default, the maintenance of the racial divide in wealth. This cannot be furthest from the truth. The critical question here is what is happening to the living standards of the majority of the people of our country.
This reality of deepening poverty amongst the poorest sections of our people is not assisted at all by the growing aggressive stance of sections of the new black elite (both in the public and private sectors). They arrogantly and unashamedly push for the creation of more black millionaires, as the core of black economic empowerment. For example, see Christine Qunta`s recent submission to Parliament on the Procurement Bill, on behalf of black business and black professionals. We have, by default or through omission, allowed both at an ideological and practical level, the concept of "black economic empowerment" to be appropriated by a small black elite to advance its own interests without due regard to the bigger challenge of eradication of poverty. This poses the question of whether we are not facing a very real danger that the democratic breakthrough runs the risk of being transformed to benefit only a small elite at the very expense of the majority of our people, in particular the working class. By the way, this democratic breakthrough is essentially a product of the struggles of the working class and the poor. Isn`t the assault on the working class one other practical expression of this danger? Is this also not an expression of what we earlier referred to as dangers of two-tierism and deepening of the capitalist character of our society? But much more importantly, how do socialists engage these contradictory tendencies (of both advances and potential roll backs) in our current situation? Isn`t it time that we seek to reflect politically, with sound empirical information, much more comprehensively than before, on our transition?
The SACP Programme for the year 2000
The SACP Central Committee meeting of December 1999 adopted "Building People`s Power for the eradication poverty" as the theme and programmatic focus of the SACP for the year 2000. This focus has correctly identified poverty as the single biggest threat to our democracy and the attainment of a better life for all. The foundations of poverty are essentially capitalist. The reproduction of poverty has been based on the national oppression of the black majority based on the subjugation of women and acute gender inequalities.
The political basis and main content of our year 200 programme is the defence and deepening of a working-class led national democratic revolution. The SACP year 2000 programme is also underpinned by the building of people`s power, the foundation of which must be the consolidation of working class power. In this regard, the SACP programme identifies jobs, rural transformation, violence against women and HIV/AIDS as key focus areas.
The SACP must fully support intensified campaigns together with the trade union movement for job retention and security and a fight against retrenchments in all sectors. Job losses contribute to poverty and deepening inequalities. In these campaigns, the SACP must campaign to defend and extend the public sector as a leading agency in development, with a particular focus of strengthening parastatals as public instruments for development. The SACP argues that the state can and must create jobs. Key in this are the building of co-operatives, the development of a comprehensive state-led industrial strategy, public works programmes and the implementation of the resolutions of the 1998 jobs summit. This assertion should not be misinterpreted as meaning that the state has indefinite capacity in job creation. Nor that it is only the state that should create jobs. In fact, a major offensive is needed to pressurise private to end its "investment strike" and invest in job creation.
Important as these struggles to fight job losses are, it is however important that the working class needs to extend these struggles beyond just defending jobs. These class battles must be turned into an offensive against capitalism itself and as building blocks for a bigger war against poverty. As long as workers limit their struggles to job losses, no matter what the victories are in the short-term; those will be reversed for as long as capitalism remains intact in our country.
Not only workers have been battered by the job loss bloodbath underway, but also this has been accompanied by intensified ideological attacks on the working class in general, and organised workers in particular. Indeed we expect that capitalist ideologues and their apologists will use this opportunity to intensify their attacks on the working class,particularly its organised sections.
These attacks are normally made in the name of fighting for the interests of the poor. The most sinister of these attacks has been an attempt to project the gains of organised workers (such as worker friendly labour laws) as the principal cause of unemployment and poverty. These attacks have also demonised organised workers as being responsible for the very same retrenchments they have been victims of. Even more sinister in these attacks have been attempts to project working class struggles as being directly at the expense of the poor.
The SACP rejects these neo-liberal ideological distortions with the contempt they deserve. The SACP re-affirms its view that a struggle against job losses is an integral component of the struggle against poverty. The struggle of the working class is therefore one and the same struggle as that of the rural and urban poor - a struggle for a better life for all. The struggle against job losses is simultaneously a struggle against poverty. And there can be no eradication of poverty and job creation without job retention and job security.
The intensified ideological attacks should not hide one other important fact. The single biggest contributor to deepening poverty in our country is job losses! It is not the labour laws of the democratic government that causes poverty, but it is the greed of the capitalist classes. It is not the struggles of the working class to defend its jobs that cause poverty, but it is retrenchments by the bosses. The claim that by reversing the gains made by workers by relaxing labour laws will create jobs, is yet another trick to subject workers to even more exploitation. There is no proof anywhere else in the world that flexible labour laws in themselves lead to job creation. In many instances the erosion of protection for workers lead to payment of slave wages and make the retrenchments of workers even easier.
Another form that this ideological attack against the working class is taking is that the struggles of the working class are by their very nature sectarian and not in the interests of the revolution as a whole or the economic development of our country. We need not remind these bourgeois apologists that the working class constitutes the overwhelming majority of the people of this country. To denounce the working class struggles as sectarian is nothing but a defence of the bosses and their greed. The interests of the bosses are in fact the most selfish and narrowest of interests that unashamedly aim to secure wealth for the few at the expense of the majority.
With regard to other aspects of the SACP year 2000 programme, the SACP must work to achieve the following: -
- A successful campaign to save every single job and create new jobs through supporting the COSATU campaign and initiating projects to start worker and community controlled co-operatives
- Developing a working class biased local government transformation strategy to meet the basic needs of poor people
- A successful campaign to ensure a massive ANC victory in the coming local government elections. It is important that these elections are based on a transformative pro-working class vision and programme
- Campaigning against violence against women through building Community Policing Forums, utilising women`s focus months and developing a socialist understanding of violence against women
- Campaigning for accelerated rural transformation and land reform through building of co-operatives and rural development committees which will focus on rural women`s empowerment
- Campaigning against discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS and for affordable HIV/AIDS treatment
Budget 2000, economic transformation and the eradication of poverty
The April Central Committee meeting had a full debate on economic transformation and the implications of Budget 2000. The SACP welcomed Budget 2000 as a positive step to eradicate poverty. The SACP also emphasised the need for a people-led and people-driven budgeting process. In this regard, the SACP supports the COSATU and Jubilee 2000 call for a more participatory process by ordinary people and their organisations to shape and influence the country`s budget. The April Central Committee meeting will have a full debate on economic transformation and the implications of Budget 2000. This debate will also be taken up in our National Strategy Conference to be held at the end of May 2000. This discussion will also cover issues such as inflation targeting, the development of an industrial strategy, restructuring of state assets and public sector transformation.
This debate has already been taken up by several of our branches, districts and provinces.
Organisational implications and implementation strategy
This programme must be used to build party structures, with a particular emphasis on building strong and functioning SACP branches and districts. It is important that Party building should not be treated as a separate component of our programmes and activities, but that these are integrally linked.
In addition, this programme must link with the Alliance programme and the building of Alliance structures. In order to attain this SACP structures must work to achieve the following objectives:
- Strengthening branch and district structures, and building the capacity of these to effectively drive our Year 2000 programme. Important in this is the operation of district offices by May 2000
- Intensification of recruitment amongst workers and the establishment of workplace units and branches. This task must be explicitly related to the challenge of building workplace democracy and challenge to management unilateralism
- Intensification of political education, with a particular focus on district and branch leadership, and base this political education on our Year 2000 programme focus
- Use the programme to intensify our debit order campaign with the aim of attaining financial self-sufficiency for the Party in year 2000
The SACP believes that it is organised workers that have the collective numbers and strategic economic location, as well as the revolutionary organisational traditions to fundamentally transform our country. The SACP calls on fellow workers to help build industrial and work-place units of the Party. Let us strengthen work-place struggles around wages, working conditions and employment with working class politics. The struggle to defend and expand worker rights is linked to the ANC`s programme of democracy, and it is linked to the struggle for socialism. Workers need a strong SACP and the SACP needs revolutionary workers to fight for socialism. Through this programme, we are building a strong SACP, which is the leading political force of the South African working class.
Our implementation strategy must ensure that we do the following: -
- address our financial self sufficiency
- hold ongoing discussions at national, provincial, district and branch levels with the ANC, COSATU, other MDM formations, progressive church organisations and NGOs to brief them about our programme and seek ways of their participation and/or support of this programme
- lower structures to provide monthly progress reports to higher structures on the implementation of the programme
- an effective deployment strategy for leadership to participate effectively in the implementation of this programme on an on-going basis
In conclusion, our key political tasks in the year 2000 are: -
- Mobilisation and consolidation of working class power for the eradication of poverty
- A collective SACP effort to theorise the South African transition, pulling together the evolution of our strategic thinking and analysis of transition since 1990, focusing on class formation, gender relations and the national question in South Africa`s transition to democracy. This includes the key issues of poverty and black economic empowerment and our work with COSATU in building a socialist commission.
- Understanding and defining the role of the state in the economy, including our approach to the restructuring of the state, including the debate on the features of a developmental state, and structural reforms we would like to see to deepen the national democratic revolution and lay foundations for socialism
- Building a strong SACP within the context of building people`s power
Unless the working class mobilises to defend jobs and fight against poverty, there is a very real danger that our democracy will be enjoyed only by a few at the expense of the overwhelming majority. It is for this reason that we must also use the year 2000 to strengthen revolutionary morality amongst our people. The unashamed stance by some within the ranks of the aspirant black capitalists that they are entitled to be filthy rich millionaires during this period, emphasises the need for massive working class mobilisation to prioritise the eradication of poverty over self-enrichment.
The SACP remains convinced that it is only the working class that will lay even stronger foundations for a better life for all. The working class should take direct political responsibility for its future, as the basis upon which to defend our pride as a nation and as a people.
ARTICLE 2
Memorandum for South African Human Rights Commission/Commission
for
Gender Equality/National NGO Coalition Hearings on Poverty:
22 May 1998
How the Poor Die:
HIV/AIDS and Poverty in South Africa
By Mark Heywood
The AIDS Law Project is a non governmental organisation that specialises in promoting the legal and human rights of people with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The ALP offers legal advice and assistance to people with HIV or AIDS and engages in some public interest litigation. We are also extensively involved in policy formulation for the public and private sector on matters such as employment policy, health care and access to services. The work of the ALP has received recognition and support nationally and internationally. This submission is based upon conclusions drawn by staff members, supported by research, about the effect of poverty on HIV transmission and the contribution of HIV infection to poverty.
The vicious circle I: Poverty significantly increases risk of infection
The results of the Eighth National HIV Survey of Women Attending Antenatal Clinics of the Public Health Services in South Africa (1997) have led to estimates that there are 2,8 to 3 million people in South Africa living with HIV or AIDS - approximately eight per cent of the total population.Error! Bookmark not defined. To give an idea of the import of these figures it should be pointed out that it is more people infected than in the Caribbean, North & South America combined.
In two of South Africa`s nine provinces (KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga) extrapolations drawn from the survey suggest that more than 20% of the economically active age-group are living with HIV. In two more Provinces (Gauteng and the North West) infection rates are close to 20%. The Minister of Health publicly estimates that 1500 persons are being infected daily.Error! Bookmark not defined.
The size of the epidemic is a huge threat to life and the quality of life of people in South Africa.
The extent of the epidemic and the ongoing vulnerability of the population to HIV infection, like elsewhere in Africa,Error! Bookmark not defined. is directly related to issues of social equity, human rights and poverty. Hence, it is often said that `AIDS is a disease of poverty`. A recent publication of the World Bank confirms this and cites a background paper by Mead Over (Societal Determinants of Urban HIV Infection: An Exploratory Cross Country Regression Analysis", 1997) as evidence that:
"both low income and unequal distribution of income are strongly associated with high HIV infection rates. For the average developing country a $2000 increase in per capita income is associated with a reduction of about four percentage points in the HIV infection rate of urban adults. Reducing the index of inequality from 0.5 to 0.4, the difference in inequality between, for example, Honduras and Malawi, is associated with a reduction in the infection rate by about 3 percentage points. These findings suggest that rapid and fairly distributed economic growth will do much to slow the AIDS epidemic.
This statement cannot, however, be read as a justification for the Growth, Employment and Redistribution Strategy (GEAR), which is seeking economic growth and `stability` at the expense of jobs and is also very far from creating "fairly distributed" growth.
Poverty, Race and HIV
Poverty is unevenly distributed by race in South Africa. The vast majority of African people are poor compared with a small minority of white people.Error! Bookmark not defined. The vast majority of those infected are also poor and African. HIV infection, therefore, has a direct correlation with race.
Although the practice of analysing HIV prevalence by race group has been discontinued and is now only assessed according to age and geographical location, by 1994 there were already significant disparities of HIV infection between races.
A significant factor determining risk of HIV is the social conditions under which people live. In Africa HIV infection is primarily the result of sexual intercourse. Personal behaviour, which can be modified, is the ultimate determinant of risk of HIV infection. However sexual behaviour - and the significance people attach to the risk of infection with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) -- is influenced by a complex matrix of social factors.
One of the reasons for the failure of the government`s National AIDS prevention plan to date has been that amongst people most at risk the perceived dangers related to HIV infection are considered less pressing than the day to day threats and difficulties that face poor people. In the words of a Zimbabwean researcher "Bread and butter issues linked to day-to-day survival are more pressing for the majority of people and being HIV positive is for some just another burden in an endless struggle for survival.
It is believed that there is a high `AIDS awareness` among South Africans but that this has not resulted in behaviour modification. Again the reasons for this are directly linked with poverty and social conditions.
For example:
- A researcher into mine workers` attitudes to HIV has found that "sex, with its associations of comfort and intimacy (even in the impersonal contact with commercial sex workers) serves as a comfort to workers in the face of fears and stresses. The stressful nature of miners` day to day lives forms a key aspect of the psychosocial context of HIV transmission on the mines.
- Research has suggested that home ownership is a determinant of sexual behaviour that reduces the risk of HIV infection.Error! Bookmark not defined. "A home implies or promotes a family, the likelihood of a more permanent and loyal partner, a location within the context of a community, out and about less and living in a more secure and humane environment.
- Living and working close to one`s family (as opposed travelling far from home to find employment) reduces risk;
- Literacy and levels of educational attainment reduce risk;Error! Bookmark not defined.
- Quick and effective treatment of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) reduces the risk of HIV infection. Therefore access to health care influences risk; the poorer the access the higher the risk. In townships and particularly in rural areas there are insufficient clinics, and health care facilities are often short of drugs, or their staff are not properly trained to treat people for STDs.
- Unemployment among youth between the ages of 16 and 30 is estimated to be 52% creating a huge marginalised population. According to one researcher "These marginalised young people are themselves at risk of contracting HIV, and overall the at risk population is steadily increasing rather than decreasing.
Particularly vulnerable to HIV are youth, women, migrant workers, log-haul truck drivers, men who have sex with men (whose need for information have been by-passed in a mainly heterosexual epidemic, in prisons etc) and sex-workers.
Gender, poverty and HIV
There are obvious gender dimensions to poverty and inequality, which also helps to explain women`s greater vulnerability to HIV.
- The need to supplement income results in many women selling sex either as prostitutes or in a less formal sex-for-support relationship.Error! Bookmark not defined. Research conducted in mining areas has found many women who `sell sex` without regarding themselves as prostitutes per se. Alternatively, many women engage in commercial sex work as their sole source of income. This has led to very high rates of infection: in one area of Johannesburg an estimated 80% of sex workers who took part in a survey were found to have HIV.
- Research into Female Migration and Prostitution in West Africa found that women entered prostitution "to earn enough to establish economic independence through a business or similar activity. Sadly, very few women succeed in this goal, and HIV means that often meager savings are consumed in health care." (Anarfi, 1995)
- Inequality in employment and wages has reinforced women`s financial dependency on men which has reduced a woman`s power to insist on safer sexual practices.
- Unemployment and inadequate education have an important gender dimension. Combined together, they make it difficult for girls and young women to be empowered and to have the necessary life skills. Poor socialisation is related to increased domestic violence and inadequate parenting, while we know that positive life skills are essential in HIV prevention and coping.
- Domestic violence and rape have associations with poverty. Abused women and rape survivors also risk HIV infection. On the part of Welfare Services and the South African Police Service there are no policies to inform women of the risk of HIV transmission or to improve accessibility to prophylaxis which can reduce the risk of HIV infection as long as it is taken within hours of a rape.
- Poor women are less able to access treatment for sexually transmitted diseases whose presence significantly increases the risk of HIV infection.
- Access to confidential and voluntary HIV testing is very difficult away from major public hospitals. In addition, voluntary testing is not free and even a nominal fee of R50 is too expensive for many people.
- Pregnant women infected with HIV are dependent on the public health service, where it exists, and are unable to access therapies (such as AZT) that dramatically reduce the risk of mother to child transmission of HIV. Consequently, most of the children who are born with HIV are born into already poor and over-burdened families.
- It is known that breast feeding an infant is an activity that carries with it a substantial risk of HIV transmission. But women with HIV are unable to afford milk formula or they lack access to clean water and electricity that are necessary to prevent other infections in a new born infant.
Social conditions and the absence of progress around the realisation of socio-economic rights that are guaranteed in the Constitution are therefore at the heart of the AIDS epidemic. Inequality and poverty supports vulnerability. Those with the poorest health experiences the world over are generally those who come from the most disrupted social settings.
The vicious circle II: HIV infection compounds poverty
HIV infection leads directly to even greater poverty and inequality:
- A larger amount of household income is spent on health care for adults and children who are ill because they are HIV infected or have AIDS.
- Greater costs are incurred paying for burials.
- Breadwinners and future breadwinners will die resulting in a loss of income to a family. The death of a breadwinner may also lead to loss of housing, medical benefits etc for remaining members of the family.
- Some people may have to give up paid employment to look after other family members. This role will fall particularly on women, thereby reinforcing gender inequalities.
- The reduced capacity of a household to secure a livelihood when its productive members are sick or have died will affect health and mortality of children and their educational attainment.
- Industry will experience additional costs through having to train replacement employees and find ways to cope with a demoralised workforce. In some industries and areas of South Africa there are already signs of this. A large mine reports that 100 employees are dying of AIDS related illnesses every month. In industrial areas of KwaZulu Natal, such as Richards Bay, company managers comment about a marked increase in morbidity (illness) and mortality (death) amongst employees.
- Educational attainment will suffer as children stay at home to care for an infected parent or other children, or suffer bereavements that affect performance at school.
- "Extended" families will have to assume additional costs related to looking after orphans. One NGO, Children in Distress (CINDI), estimates that the epidemic will result in three million orphans over the next ten years. Unless proper plans are put in place the "orphan generation" will be characterised by poor socialization, insufficient education and hardship. This is hardly the human foundation on which to build the African Renaissance.
HIV also triggers a spiral of discrimination that contributes to poverty.
Because of the stigma attached to HIV infection the principle of confidentiality is supposed to operate in relation to information about a person`s HIV status in a health setting, in employment and in regard to commercial relationships such as an application for life insurance. In practice there is very little regard for confidentiality and privacy. The result is that already poor people face discrimination that makes it almost impossible to do anything to alleviate their poverty. The following examples should illustrate this:
- Many employers screen job applicants for HIV, despite the unlawfulness of this practice. Examples include the SANDF, South African Airways, Liberty Life, employers of domestic workers. People found to have HIV are denied employment. There are indications that this practice may be gaining in currency.
- People with HIV are prevented from making financial arrangements for their families by the fact that they are denied death and disability benefits as well as individual life cover. Sadly, people also experience great difficulty in obtaining home loans because of the bank`s practice of requiring life cover as surety for a bond.
- People with HIV are denied health security by the drastic limitations and exclusions that are placed on cover for HIV related illness by a large number of private medical aid schemes. For example, the Johannesburg City Council Medical aid scheme (Jomed) limits cover for HIV/AIDS related illnesses to R100 per annum. The Nampak medical aid scheme excludes cover altogether.
- Many people with HIV report that they are refused treatment in public hospitals or denied operations. In some public hospitals scarce resources mean that doctors have begun to `play God` with the lives of HIV infected patients: denying access to the intensive care unit if there is a person without HIV who needs attention, or refusing infants with HIV access to neo-natal facilities.
Human Development and Poverty indexes:
Poverty is fertile ground for HIV infection. The AIDS epidemic will fundamentally alter the fabric of South and Southern African society. The 1997 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report illustrates how.
The UNDP has developed two new indices of development. The Human Development Index (HDI) compares variables such as life expectancy, educational attainment and GDP. The Human Poverty Index (HPI) compares percentages of people expected to die before they are 40, illiteracy, economic provisioning and child malnutrition. These indices reveal dramatic declines in African countries that will be repeated in South Africa.
- Of the 30 countries with declining HDIs, 12 are in Sub-Saharan Africa with the main reason being "falling life expectancy due to armed conflict and HIV/AIDS."
- In 18 Sub-Saharan countries HIV/AIDS will reduce life expectancy by at least 10 years, and in 14 it will push child mortality up by at least 50 deaths per 1,000 live births.
- A study of 15 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa predicted a doubling in the number of orphans by 2005 - to 4.2 million.
The United Nations has described HIV/AIDS as a "new force of impoverishment in sub-Saharan Africa."Error! Bookmark not defined. Clearly if unchecked the UNDP`s prophesy that "AIDS will reverse poverty gains and set off a cascade of economic and social disintegration and impoverishment" will be fulfilled. AIDS will also impact significantly on human rights, law and South Africa`s achievements in science and culture.
What is Being Done: The Poverty of Policy
The link between AIDS and poverty seems not to be understood by politicians, trade unionists or the employees of government departments. Hence there is no serious attempt to consider AIDS as a factor that must be calculated in the planning or implementation of policy in every sector. AIDS is still regarded as the responsibility of the Department of Health.
In addition, the effect of many government and private sector policies and practices is to contribute to the AIDS epidemic and the harm suffered by people with HIV. This is the case both directly (policies of discrimination) and indirectly (consequences of economic policy, unemployment, lack of progress with housing delivery etc)
South Africa is a society totally unprepared for an AIDS epidemic and totally without the wherewithal to begin reduce the rate of new HIV infections. This is a gross omission in one of the countries worst affected by AIDS in the world.
People with HIV are marginalised and without access to dedicated services. Outside of what is offered by the non-profit sector (NGOs) there are no welfare services, no legal services or health services.
What should be done:
A political commitment to preventing HIV and managing an AIDS epidemic needs to be made visibly by the government and this commitment turned into transparent plans and actions.
The inter-Ministerial committee on AIDS, chaired by the Deputy President, needs to assume a much more visible presence and to dictate the actions that are required to manage the AIDS epidemic. For example it should:
- Investigate the impact that AIDS will have on poverty, reconstruction and development in South Africa.
- Insist that budgets, time-frames, monitoring mechanisms and personnel are attached to every departmental intervention.
The inter-Ministerial committee must also initiate definite steps to ensure that the sharing of this responsibility goes far beyond the public sector. At present the private sector is shirking its responsibility and is mainly involved in devising strategies that will protect its own interests rather than serve the national interest.
A representative National AIDS Council, drawn from the private, public and non-governmental sectors needs to be established. This council needs a dedicated secretariat, statutory powers to enforce implementation of strategies and a substantial budget.
There needs to be a re-assessment and calculation of the impact that the government`s present economic policy has on HIV/AIDS.
Finally, it has to be recognised that the longer it takes to make progress with the realisation of socio-economic rights (such as to a healthy environment, access to primary health care, housing) the more endemic poverty and AIDS will become in our society.
Drafted by Mark Heywood
The AIDS Law Project Centre for Applied Legal Studies,
University of the Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg
Tel: 27 11 403 6918
Fax: 27 11 403 2341
All contents copyright © Aids Law Project.
DEBATE 1 - ARTICLE 1
South African Communist Party Discussion Paper
Johannesburg`s Igoli 2002
A Case for Extending the Public Service
This document, with a focus on local government, is intended to
contribute to the debate that will assist in
ensuring that we achieve our strategic objective of developing the National Democratic
State. Such an
objective must ensure that we strengthen the position of the working class, the
poor, women and
the disabled in taking their rightful place in driving governments` developmental agenda.
Background
Johannesburg is one of the most developed cities in Africa. It contributes more than any other conurbation to the national economy and fiscus. On the other hand, it represents the epitome of the legacy of apartheid, namely the huge gap between black and white, rich and poor, capitalist and working classes. Johannesburg has within it its boundaries several urbanities. On the one hand there are modern developed areas with infrastructure and systems designed to serve the white minority. On the other hand there are under-developed areas with decaying infrastructure, poor and low service delivery levels, and often no tax base. Johannesburg has therefore within it its boundaries the two nations President Mbeki has referred to, one with a lifestyle equivalent to a tropical Sweden and the other with a lifestyle equivalent to some of the poorest countries in the world.
This circumstance is essentially one of an escalating financial crisis with a developmental contradiction. The GJMC faces the task of having to increase service delivery, both in terms of quantity as well as quality, ensuring equity in terms of service provision, and creating the environment for the development necessary to transform this apartheid legacy. It must do this while simultaneously removing the duplication, inefficiency and poor institutional arrangements that are also a legacy of the apartheid era. In the context of this crisis and these challenges the Johannesburg Transitional Metropolitan Council adopted IGOLI 2002 in March 1999 as a plan to address a "financial crisis" and a "poor institutional design"1. The plan included the privatisation and sale of certain assets and restructuring of core functions of the municipality into internal and external corporate entities2.
Igoli 2002 negotiations are considered to have broken down between the city of Johannesburg Metropolitan Council and South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU), as well as (IMATU). There is agreement on the guarantee of central bargaining rights, a plan for skills training and development, negotiation on changes to the work organisation, and for remuneration levels to be equal or better than existing ones. There is disagreement on Johannesburg`s proposals for privatisation, corporatisation and job security.3 However, engagement with the GJMC by various parties has resulted in significant shifts from the original plan that addresses some of its identified weaknesses. These weaknesses include the lack of a developmental agenda, concerns about continuing council ownership of basic infrastructure, concerns about council control over the newly created entities, and about accountability to council on policy formulation and implementation by the same.4
Analysis of issues arising out of IGOLI 2002
In summary, the following key issues have emerged from the Gauteng SACP`s May 1999 IGOLI 2002 Critique, the SAMWU / Johannesburg Bargaining Council discussions and various Alliance meetings.
- There was inadequate consultation in the development of the plan. The current impasse is a result of this weakness.
- Implementation of the plan began before there was agreement with organised labour and the Alliance. This led to unnecessary tensions and contradictions.
- The plan suffers from a lack of a developmental agenda.
- The threat of future job losses and the erosion of job security have not been adequately dealt with by the plan.
- The privatisation process is still not agreed to.
- Corporatisation is still a controversial issue.
- There has been a problematic conflation of the need for crisis intervention and of a broader long-term transformation agenda in the process of developing and implementing IGOLI 2002.
- An unhealthy climate for continued transformation of local government has been created by the impasse.
- A shared understanding of the challenges of creating a National Democratic State is obviously still lacking.
The Issue of IGOLI 2002 has placed a serious challenge on the SACP and the Alliance to develop an approach to local government transformation that advances our objective of building socialism now and achieving a national democratic state. The challenge presented by IGOLI 2002 could be repeated 235 times with the amalgamation of the 834 local authorities into 235 municipalities over the next year. It is therefore crucial to place the issues above within the context of this strategic perspective.
Addressing the current impasse at the Johannesburg City Council
The developmental perspective that has been inserted into IGOLI 2002 include the issue of de-commodification, such as in ensuring a basic supply of water and electricity at no cost to households.
In addition, the Party that could begin to unlock the current impasse suggests the following principles and decisions.
- Broader and more meaningful consultation on the institutional reorganisation choices.
- Implementation should be paced to ensure the parties to the current dispute could attempt to resolve their differences.
- Privatisation of certain assets should be negotiated in terms of the current framework agreement. The emphasis should be on retaining key strategic assets and particularly those involved in the delivery of basic public goods and services.
- The specifics of the difference of 5 years from labour and 3 years from Johannesburg should be the subject of a collective bargaining agreement. The proposals for restructuring and job security should not be a stumbling block to the transformation process.
- The SACP in Gauteng has developed proposals for an approach to corporatisation that ensures that government is not only responsible for development but is able to drive development in a manner that expands the concept of the public service.
The disagreement over IGOLI 2002 is creating a climate that will negatively impact on local government transformation in general and on the fast approaching elections. It would not be in the best interests of attainment of the Alliances common goal of the NDR to create an impression of a split in our movement nor indifference by workers to an ANC election victory. It is therefor imperative that steps be taken to achieve a common understanding on local government transformation in general and IGOLI 2002 in particular. It is important that our party initiate a discussion in our movement of the challenges facing the creation of a national democratic state and the challenges facing our struggle at this period in our history.
Extending the public sector
The IGOLI 2002 Plan talks of the creation of a "world class city". Engagement with concepts such as these is essential to the development of the notion of extending the public sector. A world class city concept is based on the idea that the global environment is more central to the development of the city than a developmental environment driven by local inequalities and conditions. The key issues arising from the IGOLI 2002 plan is to ensure the following:
- The strategic agenda of the NDR drives local government transformation. This can only be achieved through thorough engagement with the alliance, the broader democratic movement, and all the affected residents.
- That the public sector, particularly local government, is an inheritance of the apartheid system and that creative approaches are need to improve and extend the public sector.
The basis for extending the public service can include alternate forms of management, organisation of service delivery and partnerships with the community and the private sector. These alternatives must build the developmental character of the state and ensure the extension of services to the citizens not only as consumers but also as contributors to the development of the service. It is imperative for management and the local administration to recognise that the knowledge of citizens and their ownership is essential to an effective and efficient service. The following issues need to be addressed through increased consultation and dialogue.
Privatisation
The Framework for Restructuring of Municipal Service Provision between SALGA and COSATU is a guide for privatisation and restructuring of the Councils` services and assets. In the case of IGOLI 2002 there have been deviations from the Framework Agreement. The SACP does not advocate or support privatisation, but where it occurs it should be in terms of the above principles.
Principles for Restructuring
The SACP places the following principles for the continued restructuring of the administration of service delivery:
- Meaningful engagement and involvement between the council and all stakeholders, particularly workers affected by the restructuring
- Collective political leadership of restructuring through the Alliance that manages the differences that must and will arise but should not be allowed to jeopardise the Alliance.
- Councils must continue to be responsible for setting the agenda and program for development, for the delivery of the services including setting the tariffs.
- Transformation must ensure the promotion of equity and redressing past inequities and injustices.
- The citizens of the Councils are entitled to a service that meet the principles of "Batho Pele".
The following principles are proposed for the establishment of utilities or agencies:
The utility must strengthen a developmental agenda and be established to ensure the service is delivered to all
The utility must remain publicly owned and publicly managed with a public service ethos (public service ethos sees citizens as consumers, partners in development, entitled to service according to the principles of Batho Pele and ultimately to whom public sector management and workers account).
Council must set broad and strategic policy, developmental objectives, management performance mechanisms and goals, oversight of achievement of goals and targets, oversight of expenditure and revenue.
Democratic management such as work-place forums, co-determination, and increasing self-management must be promoted.
Core functions are not to be contracted out. Public-public and community-public partnerships are preferred where such partnerships are needed.
Community prioritisation, participation in planning, oversight of delivery, establishment of priorities and budgeting to be promoted.
Transparency of Financial, human resource and asset management and cross-subsidisation to be transparent.
Establishment of an association of utilities to enhance best practice to be ensured.
Profits to be returned to Council for cross-subsidisation of other services or reinvestment to increase service.
The creation of utilities or agencies should not undermine our hard-won labour rights, including centralised bargaining, job security and maintaining conditions of service.
Utilities to be established by statute and the Executive Mayor, Executive Committee or Council to appoint the board and chairperson
The composition of the board should be as follows:
- Community representation
- labour representation
- Developmental specialists on finance, legal issues, etc
Council, executive committee or council representatives
Public participation to be guaranteed through an advisory or co-ordinating structure at local community level to provide a local developmental perspective.
The Igoli 2002 Plan states the problems and the its reason under the heading a " A Case for Change" that " the challenge is to transform the current bureaucracy into a business approach because the city is a `big business`ö a big business indeed, but the city has never been run as such" (p6).
The Igoli 2002 Plan states that "the salient features of the plan are:
- A single metropolitan council for Greater Johannesburg (unicity)
- The creation of utilities for water sanitation, electricity, and waste management (Programme A)
- The creation of agencies for roads and stormwater, parks and cemeteries (Programme B)
- The privatisation of Metro Gas, land, housing, the Fresh Produce Market, Rand Airport and stadium
- The corporatisation of the zoo, the civic theatre, farms, housing company property and projects, urban and economic research and promotion of special projects such as the Newtown Development Authority
- A core administration including community services, planning and development, corporate services and finance, infrastructure and corporate management, the creation of a metropolitan police force and a metropolitan transportation authority representing the `client side`. Centralised contractor for arts and culture, museums, sport and recreation and emergency services; and regional directors contracting for local community services (Programme E)
- A financial plan (Programme F);
- Special projects (Programme G) and a labour relations plan (Programme H).
Over 230 hours of negotiation within the Bargaining Council on three major issues, namely the deliver of services to address social needs, a labour relations plan and the IGOLI 2002 restructuring proposals. There is apparently agreement on the programme of action to deliver social needs. There is disagreement on the following labour relations issues:
- Labour maintains the view that the plan is not to be implemented until after it has been negotiated with labour. Johannesburg holds the view that it is negotiating the plan to reach an agreement.
- Labour holds the view that there should be a five-year employment guarantee while Johannesburg has given an offer of a three-year guarantee.
- Labour holds the view that employees should be returned to the original structures should the new entities fail or are restructured. Johannesburg disagreed with this because it offered a three-year guarantee.
- Labour holds the view that there should be ring fencing of council entities while Johannesburg holds the following view:
- Water and Sanitation should be delivered by a council-owned utility with a limited period management contract;
- Electricity should be delivered by a Distribution Utility as a step to a regional electricity distribution entity.3
- Corporatise the services of
- Roads and stormwater;
- Johannesburg Zoo;
- Metro Bus Company with a management contract;
- Fresh Produce Market;
- A ring-fenced parks and cemetery agency
N.B. Ring-fencing is a concept of separating the finances and management from other functions within the council.
The following is a tabulation of the IGOLI 2002 document as presented by the Johannesburg Metropolitan Council in March 1999, the view of a SACP critique of May 1999 and the current status of IGOLI 2002 plan and implementation.
| - | IGOLI 2002 MAR 1999 |
SACP CRITIQUE MAY 1999 |
IGOLI 2002 TODAY |
| Privatisation |
|
|
|
| Development Agenda |
|
|
|
| - | - |
|
|
| - | - |
|
|
DEBATE 1 - ARTICLE 2
COSATU - iGoli 2002
Briefing Statement
This statement is meant to inform COSATU affiliates on the current issues arising out the iGoli 2002 process. This includes areas we believe constitute serious problems for the restructuring of Johannesburg.
Introduction
The iGoli 2002 approach to service provision and capital investment envisages an increase in private sector participation and the corporatisation of service provision. This is potentially a dangerous strategy, for in the short-term it concedes that existing management cannot be reformed, a conclusion that fails to incorporate the possibility -one proven across the world, as well as in Cape Town water supply- that workers and communities can enhance management of municipal assets and delivery. In the medium-term, such a strategy virtually always leads to job losses and consumer price increases that disproportionately hurt the poor. In the long-term, the failure to meet social needs associated with "public goods" and the drain of resources to (monopolistic) private sector suppliers represent very significant social costs.
Differences with the council include:
- The separation of councillors from the day to day management through a board of directors and a CEO.
- Whether there is council capacity to manage.
- That individuals are only motivated through performance contracts.
- That everything can be reduced to a contract between the council as the client and the contractor (the private sector, the utility, the agency, etc).
- Privatisation
Problems with the content
The iGoli 2002 programme argued that various processes, (including privatisation, agencies, corporatisation, utilities, financial plans etc.), should be undertaken in order to address the problems faced by the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council. This programme essentially projects the State as being inherently inefficient and unable to deliver the much needed services to our people. Instead the Council takes an ideological position that the private sector is inherently efficient and professional.
iGoli 2002 proposes essential services such as water, electricity and refuse removal be corporatised and made private entities that are directly accountable to the CEO`s and the board which are completely independent from the Council. This effectively means that basic services are now privatised and will be run on business principles, central to which is the generation of profits at all costs. The council`s role will be reduced to that of a shareholder and its functions will be limited to regulating tariffs. In future, political accountability for service delivery will be taken away from elected representatives and service delivery will be reduced to a commercial relationship between private companies and individual residents. This is the core of the disagreement between COSATU and the Council.
Finance.
There are mechanisms of raising the money to fund delivery programmes. Council could explore the following options:
- Increasing payment rates to the municipality through:
- Improving metering/billing systems (including establishing lines of accountability and public legitimacy);
- Focusing more resources on non-payment (including arrears) by those who can afford to pay doing business or residing in wealthy areas.
- Making use of current capacity that exists in the council;
- By restructuring tariffs to achieve social justice through free lifeline, and
- Development of humane means of limiting consumption for those who do not pay for services beyond their lifeline entitlement;
- Increasing the inflow of tariff revenues
- By establishing a steeply-rising block tariff (as in the example of Hermanus)
Increasing the inflow of property rates revenues
- By raising rates with the dual objective of restructuring property investment patterns in Johannesburg consistent with compact-city principles, and raising revenue for Johannesburg.
- Through a Henry George tax on land that is not fully utilised.
More creatively accessing provincial, national, and international funding opportunities:
- By arguing convincingly that investment in human and social capital on an ongoing basis has important social, economic and environmental multipliers that will make Johannesburg a decent place to live;
- Funding such as the equitable share grant and international donor aid would thereby link the increased subsidised consumption of water, electricity and other municipal services to specific social goals such as gender equity.
Council claims to have set aside R390 million for infrastructure spending this year. This estimate is unlikely to even make a short term difference to the poor state of service delivery as this capital comes from simply selling off assets for a once-off payment, or transferring money committed elsewhere to boost the amount reflected in the capital budget.
Allocations from central government to the GJMC have dropped from R450 million in real terms in 1994 to a paltry R24 million last year, whereas services need to be extended to millions more citizens.
Accountability
Council has claimed that for the 2000/2001 financial year, R550 million will be available as committed capital for infrastructure spending. Yet the only indication as to where this will be spent has been council`s suggestion that they build thousands of put latrines in Johannesburg`s townships on top of the water table.
In the meantime, minor infrastructural problems continue to cause major financial losses. SAMWU`s suggestion that water workers be deployed to fix leaky township pipes was ignored. There is a need to introduce a package of lifeline services funded through steeply rising block tariffs (high users cross subsidise low users).
The list below constitutes a basis for further discussion:
- 50l water per day per person
- Flushtoilets
- 1 kw/h per person per day; 20A connections, etc.
- 25l bins for each household, collected once a week.
Other services cross-subsidised to ensure both affordability and access to the poor. Again the list is subject to further discussion:
- The extension and direct involvement in social and rental accommodation. A strategy to link this to the appropriation of buildings as compensation for arrears;
- Cheap and affordable distribution of land, with mechanism to prevent re-sale to the middle class; Accessibility through the expansion and upgrading of roads;
- Cheap, accessible public transport (major component of workers costs);
- Public health care; and
- Cultural and recreational facilities.
COSATU will never give up the demand for free lifeline levels of service. It is nothing short of criminal that while officials earning millions of rands per year refuse to marginally increase the tariff of the rich, children die of easily curable diseases for the lack of running water and heating. The council agreed in principles that lifeline services were necessary but refused to set targets for these. Judging by the proposal to install put toilets, the council`s idea of a minimum service level is far below internationally accepted standards set by the World Health Organisation.
The following issues need to be carefully considered:
- Ring-fence the operations of particular departments e.g. water or electricity. This will immediately amalgamate fragmented service delivery, and avoid "considerable duplication and complex arrangements;"
- Devolve management authority and introduce new and more efficient systems, but efficiency should not displace democracy;
- Place in the operation of these departments auxiliary functions such as fleet, IT, training and the collection of outstanding money, that are linked to the effective operation of the department;
- The council set targets for the CEO, regulates and monitors.
- The need to construct something new in order to avoid negative historic baggage. This could mean constructing new departments. How to ensure that departments compliment each other and create synergies and do not compete between themselves, narrowly focusing on their own targets. At what level should such integration or complimentarily occur. For example is this just at the level of planning or also on a day to day basis? Such questions give rise to further questions and debates: What activities, from a social point of view, would best fall under which department (we need to go beyond the narrow logic pursued in the iGoli 2002 plan which groups activities according to their ability to make a profit and pay their own way).
"Public good" benefits
By demonstrating, e.g., the public health benefit that people derive from having access to potable water (a benefit shared by society as a whole), and then establishing how the city of Johannesburg can directly benefit from provision of such public goods (and tax society accordingly to assure such benefits are sustainable).
iGoli2002 will not erase mismanagement
In 1996 SAMWU marched against the establishment of five current MLC`s, and in favour of a unicity. Since then, the inefficient bureaucracy of the MLC`s has wasted millions of rands that could have been used for service delivery.
SAMWU opposed council`s reliance on overdraft facilities at extremely high interest rates, urging instead that a system of rising block tariffs and cross subsidisation be put in place. This was ignored, as it is being ignored now, and the overdrafts have built up millions in debt.
The high number of unfilled posts across departments has led to inefficient, badly managed and financially wasteful services. In waste management, there are vacancy levels of 46% in management and 22% in skilled workers.
Communities must now pay for councils poor management, which is not going to be improved by transferring the problems to corporate entities.
iGoli 2002 and jobs
Notwithstanding the so-called guarantees around no increases to services and no retrenchments, international experience shows that once the honeymoon period is over, pursuit of profits will lead to massive tariff increases and retrenchments.
Throughout negotiations and the mediation process the Council refused to take into account that labour is a stakeholder in any restructuring processes. Council sought to reduce the role of labour to labour relations issues such as retrenchments, collective bargaining rights and job security. Whilst these matters are important to us, we see ourselves as also representing the aspirations of our unemployed family members who we support - the working class as a whole. This is the proud history of COSATU and we will refuse to be reduced to mere employees or just a gumboots-and-overalls union.
Problems with the process
The negotiations started in June 1999 and ran until August 1999 when a dispute was declared as a result of bad faith negotiations by council. The parties to the mediation process agreed on the following terms of references for the mediation:
- discussions are without prejudice no public statements by parties during the process - all press queries to be handled by the mediator
- seek an expedited process
- that the agenda consists of the sale of 3 facilities and the restructuring of a further 10 services
The reason why there could be no bone fide negotiations was that the council consistently and frequently contravened the terms of reference (number 2 above) and kept on either issuing provocative statements or willy nilly going ahead with restructuring that was subject to mediation. This included the sale of Orlando Stadium, Metro Gas and Metro Centre, as well as calls for tenders for equity partners for water and electricity.
Furthermore, the council has been firm on the following issues which labour find highly problematic:
- The existing management cannot be transformed or retrained and the private sector needs to be brought in (external ring-fencing)
- The introduction of ethos derived from the private sector both in the field of delivery and the relationship with communities will help improve the city (client/contractor split)
- The programme as it stands is not up for negotiations but for consultation and labour must simply get on board.
Way forward
The variety of problems outlined in this briefing document clearly indicates the need for a multi-pronged approach to unlock the current deadlock. All affiliates must urgently take up the task of informing and educating communities about the dangers of iGoli 2002. We must bear in mind this process has series implications for the rest of the country`s municipalities - which is going to impact on jobs and service delivery across South Africa! eThekwini 2002, iKapa 2002, and iPitoli 2002 will rear their heads in the next few months. The Jhb Lekgotla already made one presentation to the Cape Metro council a few months back. Until now, we have tended to allow the council to determine the agenda and the pace of negotiations.
The following steps need to be taken as a matter of urgency:
- Engaging the public - This must include clarifying the public about our own position on iGoli 2002. The council has until now committed resources to ensuring that the public is broadly on board with its positions. This area is as important to us as it is to the council.
- As such we must present our detailed positions on the following:
Utilities
The debate around this area has been narrowed to a contest between the council model based on municipal business enterprises that seeks to introduce in all services such as water, electricity etc. some form of external ring-fencing. This includes registering under the Companies Act with a CEO that is accountable to a board of directors that are not councillors. The role of council becomes that of a regulator that is merely to look at tariff structures etc. We believe this will have the following unintended results - breakdown in public accountability commodification of services.
We have argued for an internal form of ring-fencing as this will ensure public accountability whilst allowing these services to raise the necessary capital and ensuring that some form of cross subsidisation across services is retained.
Privatisation
We have already indicated in earlier paragraphs the problems associated with both the ideology and the effects of privatisation. We however need to further clarify our position with regard to the assets that are being put up for sale, viz:
Metro Gas
This is a form of cheap energy that Johannesburg`s working class has traditionally been denied access to. The sale of Metro Gas is particularly short sighted. There is national legislation around energy, including gas as the energy of the future, to be tabled this year. Cape Town municipalities are investigating transforming old power stations into gas stations, using the cheap and plentiful gas from the Namibia Epupa project. There are similar initiatives underway in Mozambique, which in a few years time are sure to reap enormous profits for the consortium that purchased Metro Gas. Until then, the company will not risk anything as it is under no obligation to extend gas into the townships
Johannesburg Stadium
The key issue here is how recreational facilities are managed by the council. We need to develop mechanisms of using the stadiums to increase council revenue. The Johannesburg Stadium is a community asset that could also bring in a significant amount of funding if it only had a simple marketing plan
Rand Airport
Before it was sold, the airport was breaking even. Given the demarcation of local government, there are developmental possibilities here worth considerably more than the sale price. The airport is located in Germiston and the Germiston should have been given preferential status in buying into this asset.
All affiliates must take up the iGoli campaign!
There is a need to ensure that all affiliates are brought on board and become part of the broader campaign. We believe the struggle against iGoli 2002 needs to be taken up by all affiliates because it is related to other current problems which unions are facing. The roots of iGoli 2002, as is the case with many other struggles, lie in the macro economic framework (GEAR policy) which is based on fiscal constraint, slimming of the state and opening of doors to the private sector and profit-driven programmes. As long as we do not make these linkages, we weaken ourselves to the neo-liberal attack which is currently facing the working class. Privatisation is affecting almost every industry in our country. Most affiliates have clear programmes against privatisation as we have already seen the result - which is massive job losses!
Legislative framework
The finalisation of the legislative framework for local government restructuring is extremely important. We must ensure that the principles of transformation contained in the National Framework Agreement on Local Government Restructuring, find expression in various chapters of the Systems Bill, especially the chapter dealing with municipal services. Already the council has declared they want to influence this piece of legislation through iGoli 2002. The challenge to COSATU and the broader democratic movement is not only the iGoli 2002 plan. We need to prevent a neo-liberal legislative framework on municipal services from being promulgated. The implications for this are very clear. We need to include in our campaign the Nedlac agreement on negotiations of the Systems Bill, so as to create the necessary room for engagement, both at a political and parliamentary level. w
DEBATE 2 - ALLIANCE 2000
Missions and Tasks of the National Liberation Movement
Input on the role of the African National Congress in the current phase to the meeting of Alliance officials, 10-11 December 1999
The strategic objective of the National Democratic Revolution and motive forces
The ANC Strategy and Tactics, amended at our 50th Conference, restated the strategic objective of the National Democratic Revolution (NDR), as the creation of a united, non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society. This in essence means the liberation of Africans in particular and black people in general from political and economic bondage. It means uplifting the quality of life of all South Africans, especially the poor, the majority of whom are African and female.
We therefore continue to define the motive forces as Africans in particular and blacks in general and in class terms include the unemployed and landless rural masses, the unskilled and semi-skilled workers, professionals and small business operators. Furthermore, the immediate interests of the rising black bourgeoisie and the middle strata objectively coincide with that of the majority.
The Mission of the National Liberation Movement
The primary mission of the ANC as a national liberation movement remains the mobilisation of all the classes and strata that objectively stand to gain from the success of the cause for social change. Along with the poor and the rural masses, the working class stand to gain most from the successes of transformation. The ANC drives this mission by: -
- Engaging in the critical tasks of organisation, education and mobilisation of these forces;
- Channelling the energies of these forces towards this goal;
- Identifying common interests
- Uniting the motive forces and others in joint action;
- Working amongst sectoral formations and joining with them both in sectoral and inter-sectoral campaigns to realise the aims of the NDR.
The ANC also seeks to win over to its side those who previously benefited from the system of apartheid and to persuade them that their long term security and comfort are closely tied with the security and comfort of society as a whole. The ANC is therefore not a leader of itself, nor just of its supporters, but it must lead South African society as a whole in the quest for a truly non-racial, non-sexist and democratic nation.
As the leading force in government, the ANC must continuously improve its capacity and skill to wield and transform the instruments of power. This includes: -
- A systematic approach to parliament as the forum, to lay a detailed legal framework for transformation;
- Creative employment of public representatives in organisational work;
- A cadre policy to ensure that the ANC plays a leading role in all centres of power; and
- A proper balance in its day-to-day activities between narrow organisational work and organisational tasks.
Character of the ANC
The ANC Constitution and Strategy and Tactics (1997) defines the character of the ANC as a non-racial and non-sexist national liberation movement, with a mass-based democratic structure which enables it to fulfil its historic mission. The ANC also contests elections as a registered political party, drawing its electoral support from all sections of South African society.
Our strategic objective, the motive forces and the character of the terrain in which we operate (mass work, parliament and government) are central in defining our organisational character.
Our Five Pillars
In this phase of transformation therefore, we seek to expand and deepen the power of democratic forces in all centres critical to the NDR, at the same time as we improve the people`s quality of life. Our efforts are founded on five basic pillars:
- To build and strengthen the ANC as a movement that leads the people in the task of social transformation;
- To deepen our democracy and culture of human rights and mobilise the people to take active part in changing their lives for the better;
- To strengthen the hold of the democratic movement on state power, and transform the state machinery to serve the cause of social change;
- To pursue economic growth, development and redistribution in such a way as to improve the people`s quality of life; and
- To work with progressive forces throughout the world to promote and defend our transformation, advance Africa`s renaissance and build a New World Order.
Our Programme of Action
Our 1999 Elections Manifesto and `Accelerating Change` document set out our broad vision for the next five years. Our broad objectives are spelt out as: -
- Accelerating change;
- Building partnerships with the people;
- Building a new patriotism;
- Work for a better Africa and world; and
- Build a strong ANC (and Alliance).
Our programme of action, therefore, identifies a nu8mber of priority areas such as safety and security, economic growth and job creation, meeting basic needs and delivery to the poorest, education and training, transforming the state, nation building, and the governance and organisational tasks we need to perform in each of these areas.
Our programme to build the ANC as a movement capable of leading the process of transformation include: -
- Campaigns: anti-crime, getting schools to work, HIV/AIDS and strengthening developmental local government;
- Preparing for local government elections;
- Strengthening our organisation and developing our cadreship;
- Building effective partnerships with the Alliance, broad forces for transformation and communities; and
- Strengthening dynamic inter-action and effective communication between ANC structures and governance.
Conclusion
The breakthrough of 1994 and the foundations laid in the first five years of democratic rule present the Alliance with opportunities to take this phase of the NDR to a higher plane. "Our history has shown that we (the Alliance) are a powerful force because our organisations are mutually reinforcing" (OR Tambo: 1981).
References
- Strategy and Tactics and Constitution amended by the ANC 50th Conference, 1997
- Elections Manifesto, 1999
- State of the Nation address of President Mbeki to Parliament, 25 June 1999
- ANC shall never forego its Alliance with the SACP, cde. Alfred Nzo`s Message to the meeting convened to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the SACP, London. July 1986
- ANC Programme of Action, 1999/2000
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