7 July 2000
The IMF, together with the World Bank, has been responsible for a trail of economic and social destruction across the developing world, locking countries in debt and forcing them to run their economies according to the IMF and World Bank's structural adjustment policies. The social effects include cutbacks in education, health, welfare and other social expenditure. It is the working class in the developing countries that feel the brunt of this assault. Workers, women, the disabled, youth and the rural poor are locked in the poverty that results from their programmes.
The example of Zimbabwe is a case in point. The structural adjustment programmes forced onto the country during the 1990s intensified poverty and heightened tensions in the country. Zimbabwe is now faced with an intensely difficult road to recovery. In South Africa, the IMF and the World Bank have been behind the introduction of VAT, the imposition of Gear and the privatisation of local government.
We see this visit as a consolidation of the attack on the working class, all be it in the guise of a supposed new language. We have heard these words of moderation before, but they have always proven to be a prelude for an intensification of the activities of these organisations against the working class.
These institutions are meeting ever-growing resistance across the globe. On Kohler's trip through Africa, he faced protest from Nigerians angry at the IMF's policies, and here in South Africa he encountered more opposition at his meeting at Nedlac. The SACP is amongst those taking up the call against the policies of these institutions, as evidenced by our call "Africa is not for sale" in our protests against privatisation