Content:
 The state
of the nation
Introduction
The UDM's
platform
Differences
between ANC and UDM
Re-alignment of the political landscape
Lessons to be drawn from
the collapse of the Democratic Alliance
ANC versus
Cosatu
The
economic situation
Black
economic empowerment
Restructuring of public enterprises
HIV/Aids
pandemic
Suppression of civil
society opinion
Globalisation
Corruption
Poverty
Party building
THE STATE OF THE NATION
INTRODUCTION
We present hereunder our evaluation of the State of the Nation, in our country
today. In this document we touch on the current political, economic and social
situation in the country. We have placed emphasis on topical day-to-day issues,
which affect our people. We invite your critical evaluation and inputs in order to
develop an informed understanding of the state of our country.
As you are aware, the United Democratic Movement is in the process of a comprehensive
policy review process, designed to ensure that the trust, that South African voters have
placed in the Party, is rewarded with a proper and constructive engagement with the
government and the governing party on all of the important issues and challenges facing
the country.
Accordingly, the UDM Policy Commissions have prepared and circulated ten preliminary draft
discussion documents on policy, i.e. Economic, Trade and Industry, Public Enterprises,
Public Works, Labour, Land, Health, Housing, Foreign Affairs, Safety and Security. The
intention is to consult within the party and its wider provincial and other structures
during the coming months and then to publish the results of the policy review in order to
attract wider comment and public attention ahead of the UDM tri-annual national congress
on 8 and 9 December 2001.
This is a crucial time for the UDM. The policy review process may well shape its
electoral and political destiny. After its successes in the national and provincial
elections of 1999 and the local government elections of 2000, the UDM has at times
struggled to cement its place in the political firmament and while through its leadership
it has managed to maintain a reasonably high profile in the media, there is perceived
uncertainty about its policy direction and focus. A sharper clarity and definition
is therefore sought. This process represents an opportunity to define ourselves and
launch a new period of political and electoral success.
At the centre of the problems facing our country, is the failure of our economy to
perform. Expectations about the economy and its potential for growth were justifiably high
in 1994, when the first democratic government was elected. It was assumed that the
end of sanctions combined with international goodwill and aid, as well as the extensive
natural and human resources of the country would all contribute to a healthy and fast
growing economy capable of swiftly rectifying the damage done by the isolated Apartheid
government. Our policy documents aim to build on the positive strides that have been
taken and to address the current shortcomings that prevent the South African economy from
reaching its full potential and improving the quality of life of all South Africans.
The present government abandoned policies aimed at alleviating the need of especially the
poor and economically marginalized people.
The state of the nation is further characterised by suspicion and mistrust because of
perceptions that government is not equitably distributing the resources of the country.
The resources are exclusively enjoyed by a new privileged political elite. There is no
consensus on a macro-economic policy that can transform the economy in a manner that could
create and spread wealth wider and improve the lot of the disadvantaged majority. There
are in particular concerns about the inadequacies and contradictions of the fiscal,
industrial and labour policies. The government’s order of priorities leaves much to
be desired.
The UDM proposes the establishment of a Presidential Council on Planned Sustainable
Development to reach consensus on these issues. In order for the Council to succeed the
UDM suggests that it could be composed of the Business community, Labour, key state
departments, institutions of Traditional Leadership, NGOs, civil society, religious
groupings, youth, women and others. The Council will operate with nine provincial Planned
Sustainable Development substructures to accommodate and coordinate development at
provincial and local government level.
The Presidential Council for Planned Sustainable Development should be a credible
institution led by non-political experts in order to act as a dependable watchdog in a
situation where the taxpayer has lost confidence in the ability of the Executive that
undermines Parliament and fails to deliver. The public perceives parliamentary
institutions, such as SCOPA, and other agencies as having been stripped of their
institutional capacity to ensure good governance. The envisaged Presidential Council would
be an a-political agency that cuts across party-political affiliations. Its tenure would
not be affected by changes in government because it would be governed by its own
mechanisms, which will be designed to ensure transparency, orderly change of personnel and
protection from political contamination.
Parliament, as it is currently functioning, does not represent the interests of the
country as a whole. It has become a majoritarian party dictatorship, with minority parties
having fewer opportunities to adequately impact on the legislative function of Parliament.
Consequently Parliament has been reduced to the role of endorsing the President’s
will and decrees. This defect in the parliamentary capacity to advance the public interest
is amply illustrated by the arms procurement debacle, where the Executive’s Cabinet
Committee, chaired by President Mbeki, imposed a R66 billion arms deal on Parliament. They
muzzled all opposition to their decision including the Public Accounts Committee, which is
supposed to be Parliament’s watchdog. In hindsight we now know that the deal was
intended to enrich selected individuals whose companies are sub-contracted to the offshore
arms suppliers who were awarded the tenders. We hope the investigation will scrutinise the
relationship between the sub-contractors and the ruling party to establish if they are not
conduits for siphoning funds into the pockets of the Party and individuals aligned to it.
THE UDM’S PLATFORM
The UDM’s platform for government is based on a fundamental review of economic policy
and a new vision for economic growth.
The state must do more. We need a creative state intervention, which
recognises that artificially created impediments to social advancement of the
disadvantaged majority are removed and a programme of accelerated wealth and land
redistribution is implemented without delay. None of the current economic strategies
of parastatal privatisation and selective black empowerment can achieve that
objective. A transformed economic order will give impetus to other social and
educational programmes that are designed to truly integrate our society and create a new
democratic South African ethos.
It is too early and immoral for government to throw the fate of South Africans to the
performance of the market. We still need a regulated, state-led growth and
development strategy. The UDM therefore proposes that government should establish a
Presidential Council on Planned Sustainable Development, which would be composed of all
stakeholders not just ANC, COSATU and Business with a direct interest in the assets of the
state or public sector activities. The government should establish Planned Sustainable
Development programmes, to create jobs and productive and safe environments for all our
people. A Commitment to Small Business Development must drive a new domestic-led
growth strategy.
History has proven that the machinery of government is never efficient and is wasteful of
valuable resources. But Governments have a moral obligation to remain custodians and
owners of key services and assets. However, the private sector does have an important role
to play in the development of return driven state assets with the beneficiaries being the
community. The private sector should be engaged in the management or part management of
state assets with a clear skills transfer target in place. The state clearly does not have
the funding required to ensure equal opportunity and access to services, leaving no other
option but to use private funding. There are creative ways of engaging the private sector
while keeping ownership of state assets. However, it should be said that the present
governments prioritisation on spending creates the impression that the basic needs of
people are nothing but political ambitions at this stage with no practical steps from the
ruling party to help the poor.
The economic choices need not be as stark as either extreme leftwing socialism, or extreme
neo-liberal capitalism. In a globalising world no responsible government can allow
itself to be caught in this ideological trap at the expense of its citizens. That is
why supposedly staunch capitalist countries practice some form of state intervention, and
vice versa, why many supposedly firm socialist countries have introduced some form of open
markets. It must be acknowledged that the terror attacks against the United States
will mean a significant shift in the agenda of the developed world, placing further
responsibility on the South African government to engage in economic and social
infrastructure development.
The private sector shows interest in state owned assets that can ensure sizable returns
and profit remains the single most important objective for ventures. If the states
approach to infrastructure development can be motivated by community needs and adopt a
business like determination for long term sustainability, there would be no need for
seeking alternatives. While the private sector has an important role to play in the
development of the economy, any Government that sells off state assets or infrastructure
will be judged by history for selling off its children’s inheritance.
We should introduce a policy of economic intervention by the state through Planned
Sustainable Development programmes that create jobs on a massive scale whilst developing
and maintaining infrastructure for the whole South Africa. These programmes will
enhance economic and social infrastructure to improve the quality of life of all our
people and communities. The ultimate aim must be to ensure that all the people of
South Africa live in communities that are economically and socially viable.
A Presidential Council on Planned Sustainable Development will oversee the restructuring
of public enterprises, so that the proceeds flowing from this process will be used to
address backlogs and the imbalances of the past. We will look at models of other
free market economies that had successes with state intervention in the economy, to
determine which lessons can be applied to South Africa. We must invest in the future
through Planned Sustainable Development programmes. However, the free market models will
only create a framework for developing the plan. The South African solution must be home
grown. The past few years have borne witness to many state departments engaging the
private sector with success and failure reported. These lessons will form the cornerstone
of the plan. The respect for union fears will create a workable environment for open
debate that is not emotional but realistic, with all stakeholders having the interest of
the country at heart.
The UDM presents policies to South Africa to prove that there is indeed a responsible
policy alternative to increase economic growth and create jobs.
The UDM members should note that there is space in the electoral market. Voters
across the political spectrum are looking for an alternative home to current
parties. This has been confirmed by opinion polls. A major objective of the
policy review should be, therefore, to lay the basis for convincing voters that the UDM
should be their future political home. Our opposition role in parliament has been
one of constructive criticism, in which, we offered alternatives and solutions to
problems. We chose this route in contrast to the Democratic Alliance (DA), which is
manifestly reactionary. The political landscape is no longer about emotional issues but
hard economic realities. The community is looking for an alternative that recognises the
gap between rich and poor getting bigger, an alternative that is sensitive to the
unbearable poverty and unemployment, the UDM must been seen as the party that has the poor
people’s interest at heart while being open to the business community.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ANC AND UDM
Indications are that the ruling party is only catering for the elite and pursuing economic
policies that benefit a few who share a common vision with the elite’s of the core
world economies.
The UDM could well be the focus for an emerging political formation, which will articulate
the concerns and aspirations of the vast majority people of all colours and races in
South Africa, who are marginalised. Therefore, our economic policy centres on the
need to invest in small business and infrastructure development , with a greater emphasis
on domestic-led growth as opposed to relying solely on international markets. The ruling
party has strongly worded policies that read well with the right intentions, but the
reality is that there is no intention by the ANC to implement these policies. The UDM will
introduce people driven policies that are practical and workable. The ANC compromises on
critical issues to satisfy its membership and is not using the economy to benefit the
poor. The UDM will ensure that economy power is given to the people, it is not politics
that runs the country but economics, and we realise the need to design policies that have
political motives but using economic eyes and thinking.
RE-ALIGNMENT OF THE POLITICAL
LANDSCAPE
The political situation in South Africa today is in a state of flux. Political
Alliances which came about as a result of political expediency are being shaken at their
roots and the pieces of the jig-saw are scattering and seeking openings in order to fall
into appropriate spaces. The uncertainty occasioned by this rupture will be
exploited by the majority party to consolidate its dominance of national politics.
At the same time, it offers opportunities to the UDM to vigorously pursue re-alignment of
the political landscape and alter the pattern of which were designed and attuned to
address the problems of an apartheid society.
The DP and NNP represent a predominantly white social group who inherited social and
economic privileges from the previous dispensation. As much as the marriage between these
parties seemed to make sense at the time we realised that even amongst minorities people
are different and have different values. The UDM accommodates all these differences by
being open and clear with its intentions. Much of their thinking and group dynamics derive
from insecurities arising out of the breakdown of law and order and the underlying mass
unemployment, which is responsible for the increase in crime. Our economy has not
been growing at expected levels and has not created new jobs. The political
dislodgement of whites from their traditional position of dominance and the attendant need
to adjust to living under black rule reinforces these insecurities. Incidents of
misgovernment, corruption and lack of experience undermine public confidence and generate
general insecurity especially among the erstwhile privileged minority. It is obvious that
the desperation seen in the behaviour of white parties is the difficulty in accepting
black rule, the UDM gives minorities a comfort zone to express their views and have the
opportunity to see that their fears are not real but rather developed by the past system.
We would like to note that there is a strong opinion that the transformation process
cannot be confined to the economic sphere only and that in the political arena
transformation is also needed. South Africa has a painful history in which racial
divisions and social inequalities have coincided with party political formations.
The resultant antagonisms and mutual suspicions will continue to mar our society for
sometime yet, because they cannot be easily wished away by the constitution that
highlights the non-racialism and unity in diversity. Today, South Africans are still
voting along racial lines, e.g. Blacks vote for Black political parties and Whites vote
for White political parties.
Proponents of this view suggest that such a transformation will culminate into the
emergency of two major political parties in the centre stage of national politics in our
society. Experiences in established democracies elsewhere give credence to this
view. Britain, France and USA are examples that come to our mind. The economic
and political stability of these countries is common knowledge.
We are convinced as a party that such a process will need the support of and acceptance by
the majority citizens of this country. Such support will not only give legitimacy to
these developments but most importantly will prevent them from degenerating into
tendencies wherein appeals to racist and narrow class interests are utilised as a vehicle
for the mobilisation of followers in pursuit of short term gains. The 1994, 1999 and 2000
election campaign by some political parties is a living testimony.
Our analysis of the changing socio-political order in South Africa indicates that there
will be discernible political shifts along interest group divides distinguished by common
concerns and aspirations and not along racial lines as we witness today. This
process will move towards the crystallisation of two major political streams, which
express the ethos of the beneficiaries of the established order, on the one hand, and the
aspirations of the emerging major social groupings that are marginalized on the other
hand. This will necessitate the emergence of two political formations representing
these interest groups.
The National Management Committee,
mandated the party to engage other political formations in discussions that could
culminate in the formation of an alternative government for South Africa. This was
an endorsement of a concept espoused by the UDM at its inception.
In all discussions our point of
departure as a party is the recommitment to the principle of improving the quality of
lives of the people of South Africa as a national objective agreed to by all parties
during the negotiation process in 1994.
This point of departure informs our
insistence in all discussions on re-alignment, that the long-term objective of an
alternative government must address the needs and receive the support of the majority
citizens of our country.
It is for this reason the UDM in
its discussion with other parties and public utterances insist on encompassing people
beyond the existing political formations and reach out to all spheres of society.
The UDM view is that an appropriate
format for discussions will be a National Convention of Political Parties including other
sectors of society.
The re-alignment phenomenon, it
must be clearly understood, is not an alliance of political parties. It is a re-writing
of the political map, a re-alignment of ideas, the regrouping of people around new
concepts that have been thrown up by the changes that have taken place.
We call upon South Africans in
all political formations, civil society, the business sector, academic etc. to take stock
and concede that we should leave the baggage of the past behind and embrace the
opportunity to carry our society forward and write a new chapter in our history.
LESSONS TO BE DRAWN FROM THE COLLAPSE OF THE DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE
This split is an indication of the need for alliances of expediency to dissolve and open
the way for the realignment of political formations and the re-drawing of the political
landscape. We have taken the initiative in advancing this concept in the past but
the political players were not ready or society has not yet produced appropriate political
figures who will be receptive to this view.
Tony Leon is brandishing a rallying flag for whites who still cling to their diminishing
privileged position. His much-vaunted “Fight-Back” slogan is viewed by
political pundits as a last ditch stand of White supremacists’ resistance to living
under black rule.
Marthinus van Schalkwyk may indeed be a political maverick who has jumped into a variety
of beds within a remarkably short space of time. It is not too late to learn even
for him. He must be encouraged and shown that his decision to break away from a
“Whites only” grouping is a good one and a vindication of the wisdom of those
who preceded him and joined the UDM and ANC. Therefore, he must speed up the process
of dismantling the NNP which must disappear from the political landscape by 2004.
On the part of the UDM the NNP’s realisation of the past wrongs comes a little to
late. Their decision to walk closer to the ANC will see the vanishing of the party, the
electorate needs a party that rejoices in the democracy yet fights against the system that
does not see to the needs of the people, this presents an opportunity for the UDM to fill
that void. While we are not a party hooked on old classics we see the need for minorities
to walk with parties like the ANC and UDM, however, the UDM is a political home that is
not blinded by the mistakes of the ANC government and has no fear in opposing a system
that works against the people. We have already submitted that the alliance between the DP
and the NNP was a marriage of convenience because it was not based on a principle.
It was an insidious, illicit cohabitation whose only bond was opposition to the ruling
party and wittingly or unwittingly the preservation of the white material and social
privileged status. At least this was the objective consequence of their political
role then and subsequent years until the recent parting of the ways.
What strikes a discordant note in these developments is the manipulation of the DA split
in a manner that threatens the sanctity of the country’s constitution. The ANC
is desperate, in its quest for absolute political control, to wrest the leadership and
administration of the Western Cape Province and the Cape Town Metropolitan Council in
particular from the DA. Consequently they have flirted and successfully seduced the
NNP to get into bed with them.
This has serious implications for political morality and propriety. The electorate
put the DA in power in the Province and in the Metropolitan Council. To cross the
floor and join the ANC without consulting the voters, who put them in their position, is
to betray the electorate. We hold no brief for the DA. Even the devil is
occasionally on the side of the angels. This is the situation with DA in this
case. The current tinkering with the constitution is politically repugnant and
amounts to political thuggery, and has sinister implications for democracy.
ANC VERSUS COSATU
On the side of government all is not well. The ruling alliance of the ANC, COSATU
and the SACP has outlived its usefulness with the demise of the Apartheid
dispensation. The divergent interests of a ruling clique that is increasingly
embracing conservative orthodox economic policies are in conflict with those of the
mainstream labour movement under the leadership of COSATU and some of the SACP
stalwarts. This may soon trigger a parting of the ways that may result in the
emergence of a labour-based opposition. It would create an interesting scenario
where the ANC, the traditional opponent of the establishment oligarchy could find itself
sharing common ground with the orthodox liberals of the DP with whose economic philosophy
they now implement. It is for this reason that COSATU has called for an Economic
Summit of all South Africans. Typically, the ruling clique is already branding and
calling them names. The UDM however, encourages COSATU in their pleas and we
reiterate our earlier call for a new CODESA type of convention to plan a future economic
course for South Africa. We cannot afford to leave the future of our economy in the
hands of a clique who have been responsible for the unemployment of hundreds of thousands
of our people.
There has been an outcry from COSATU and the SACP in which the varied their opposition to
GEAR and privatisation. They have gone so far as to hold public protests to underscore
their opposition. However, there is a groundswell perception that this could be
stage-managed to contain public anger at the retrenchments, and mounting unemployment, so
that the Tripartite Alliance continues to enjoy the public support at the next general
elections, by raising their hopes that they are championing their cause.
Nevertheless the UDM supports the idea of an economic summit, provided we all agree on a
credible vehicle to drive the process. It certainly must not be the government or its
alliance partners.
It should be made clear to the voters who put the ANC and its allies in power that they
have shifted their position to the right of the political spectrum and are therefore in
cahoots with conservative political parties in the world, such as the Republicans of the
USA and the Thatcherites of the UK, whose economic policies they have embraced since 1995.
In doing so they have ditched the majority of South Africans and joined the league of the
“haves”. However, these foreign policies are being reviewed by those countries
because of their collapse. In Britain for example privatisation was taken too far. On the
train tracks, one private company owns the tracks, another company owns the trains and a
different company owns the stations, this makes coordination a nightmare leaving the
service worse of than when it was in the hands of the government.
The GEAR macro-economic policy has placed the ANC and the DA in an identical ideological
position. Therefore this paradigm shift has created a vacuum in the political landscape.
The policies of the United Democratic Movement place it squarely in the vacuum left by the
ANC in the centre of the political landscape. The ANC and its allies have abandoned the
original agenda of improving the quality of life of all South Africans.
The UDM must remove the confusion created by the ambivalent Tripartite Alliance (ANC,
COSATU & SACP). This is the ruling clique who preaches elimination of unemployment in
the streets and legislates retrenchments and greater unemployment in Parliament.
THE
ECONOMIC SITUATION
The economic policies of the government have spawned a slow and jobless economic
growth. More often than not people have lost jobs, they already had. Government
promised that GEAR would create 270 000 jobs, instead more than 150 000 jobs have been
lost – to date – in the formal sector alone. As a result of economic sanctions
against South Africa under Apartheid, the previous government had intervened by
introducing import tariffs to protect local manufacturers against imports from the
developed countries. The new government rushed to scrap tariffs and other protection
without prior analysis of the implications of this step for the country’s
manufacturing sector, for example. In their blind plunge into a globalised world
economy they failed to negotiate with GATT and WTO a structured withdrawal of tariffs that
would allow local manufacturers time to prepare themselves for global competition on
favourable terms. The result has been the uncontrolled flooding of our markets with
foreign goods to the detriment of the local industries. Many of these factories had to
close shop and throw workers into the streets to swell the ranks of the jobless.
Government has confined itself to the sidelines and carelessly watch this economic debacle
because they want to be seen by the West to be the loyal disciples of a heartless
neo-liberal economic system where state intervention is heresy. On the other hand
they contradict this article of faith by entering into trade agreements with China whose
goods that enter this country come from state factories, while local manufacturers have
been forced to close shop because government would not protect them. The dissent
from COSATU and the labour movement at large is viewed with grave concern by the
inquisitorial ruling clique and the guilty may well go the way of all heretics as was the
case with the Inquisition of the Middle Ages. The knives are already out and the
threats are dark and menacing.
The historical imbalances, which were exacerbated by the advent of economic sanctions,
cannot be left to the dictates of the market to correct themselves. It is flawed
reasoning to suppose that free market enterprise on its own has the inherent magic to heal
the economic ills in a post colonial situation of uneven development, where the indigenous
economies have to compete with the developed metropolitan industries of the first
world. The view has been extensively documented by reputable scholars that
government have a moral and rightful obligation to intervene on behalf of the people who
put them in power to correct these imbalances.
UDM is concluding the review of its policies as decided at our strategic workshop in
Boksburg during April this year. The thrust of our economic policy is the imperative
of state intervention in our unique South African situation as argued above. The
state has a duty to intervene and help shape the process of normalizing socio-economic
relations in a historically distorted economic environment. It would be grossly
irresponsible to abandon our people to fend for themselves in these circumstances.
By focusing on the levels of poverty the country can develop the economy. When
deliberating, our members are urged to recognize the positive gains realised since 1994
and build on them. However we must accept that we have inherited an economy with
severe backlogs. We cannot therefore accept the government’s obsession with
reducing the budget deficit as the Minister of Finance is prone to remind us, as if we
have inherited a first world economy and infrastructure. This obsession is misguided
and based on the view of the “haves”. The Minister of Finance commits the
serious error of viewing roll-overs of budgets by state departments as savings, ignoring
the reality that most economic and social infrastructure programmes have been neglected,
often through bad governance at the national as well as provincial level.
BLACK ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT
The concept of Black Economic Empowerment was a good one when originally conceived because
it envisaged admitting the black groundswell into the mainstream of the economy through
unrestricted participation and access to finance and empowerment programmes. The reality
of black empowerment has been a disillusionment. It became selective and targeted a
small ANC elite, presumably so that they can in turn fund their party. Consequently
empowerment projects in the mining and other industries were concentrated and triplicated
to a few individuals in Gauteng. Black Economic Empowerment is centred around a
chosen elite whose business involvement is triplicated in a number of empowerment
ventures. This tendency is generating a new clique of monopolies very much like the old
order where the South African economy was dominated by the big eight. The public is
concerned by this retrogression and despair about the future prospects for transformation.
This has further aggravated the skewed concentration of wealth and opportunities in
Gauteng, and triggered an influx of skilled people from needy rural communities and other
cities into the well-serviced Gauteng in search of fast riches, hoping to emulate the ANC
elite who became instant millionaires. UDM deplores this approach and argues in
favour of a broad-based empowerment in which the people on the ground will be assisted to
gain access to small enterprises in larger numbers and thereby spread wealth and
employment to more people. Empowerment should reach all levels of the poor all over
South Africa. White companies have also been responsible for panic by giving over funding
to empowerment groups with no proper evaluation of the groups leading to some black
companies tainting the image of empowerment groups by spending funds and having no
knowledge of the business venture. The UDM will create a data- base of dependable black
companies with clear areas of interest and capacity.
This is highlighted, for example, by the discriminatory allocation of the spoils of
privatisation. It is the root cause of the squabble within the ruling alliance. Various
interest groups and formations within the alliance compete for enrichment opportunities in
the privatisation of public enterprises.
These tendencies now have ripples among the potential foreign investors. Recently,
the German businesses have quizzed President Mbeki on the perception that it is a
pre-condition for foreign investors to link their investments to selected black-owned
local companies. This was the case with the Arms deal controversy where foreign
companies were coerced/enticed to go into joint ventures with certain black empowerment
companies owned by certain ANC members, some of whom were state officials. This is a
clear case of the ANC government’s unethical business practices and smacks of brazen
corruption. It has no doubt impacted negatively on direct foreign investment and
confidence. It has a bearing on the instability of our currency which is currently
plummeting to unprecedented levels.
It is not surprising that former President Nelson Mandela confessed his despair at the
levels of greed and corruption among his own comrades. It is apparent that the
systems of graft which are now surfacing were put in place during his term as President
behind his back. One wonders if this was not a deliberate ploy by his trusted
subordinates to tarnish his image and sterling track record.
The on-going black empowerment in the oil industry under the auspices of the Ministry of
Minerals and Energy is a subject of debate in some circles. A perception is doing
the rounds that the criteria for selection of people as shareholders is not clear, and
leaves the impression that it is yet another case of nepotism where people are selected on
the basis of their relationship with influential people in the corridors of power.
These are some of the reasons for the decision by some big companies, such as Old Mutual,
Anglo American and others to relocate abroad, perhaps avoiding being coerced into
selective empowerment of a chosen few, ahead of their own employees who have served them
for decades, and who have experience in the industry.
RESTRUCTURING OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES
The public enterprises that are being privatised were established with taxpayer
money. There does not seem to have been any well-reasoned rationale for selling them
off, because some of them were profitable. An arbitrary decision was taken to
privatise them en-masse, regardless of their profitability or otherwise, simply because it
is internationally fashionable to do so. Had the motive been to stimulate economic
growth and create more employment opportunities, a thorough investigation into the
condition of these enterprises would have been undertaken and allowed the profitable ones
to stay or even improve management on some of the loss-making ones to turn them around.
The country must stay focussed on the inherent reason for owning the asset, which is to
provide a service to the community, the current restructuring of the assets seem to have
shifted and no longer based on this principle. We must realise that a public interest
service can only be properly restructured if the motive is better and affordable service
delivery. That would have averted large-scale retrenchments of employees who
have not been accommodated in alternative economic activity to earn a livelihood.
Privatisation as a result has been another fiasco and is the cause of much division in the
country.
The UDM proposes the establishment of a Presidential Council on Planned Sustainable
Development, composed of all stakeholders. This Presidential Council will, among
others, oversee the restructuring of state assets, so that the proceeds flowing from this
process will be used to address the backlogs and imbalances of the past. We will
look at models of other free market economies (e.g. the UK’s experience with
transport) that demonstrated the fallacy of the argument that wholesale privatisation is
an economic cure-all. South Africa must learn from the lesson of other countries but
develop home grown solutions that are people centred and aim to fight poverty.
The role of the Presidential Council would be to identify suitable public enterprises for
restructuring and those that should remain under state control. These would include
those involved in the provision of essential services to the public e.g. water and
electricity and certain health services. The privatisation of these services could render
them inaccessible to the poor if the profit motive was placed above the needs of the
Community.
These services also represent the moral backbone of the country and should see private
sector involvement and not control. Clear guidelines must be developed for the involvement
of the private sector that will be based on the following principles;
· Accessibility of services: Government must ensure that all citizens have access
to at least a minimum level of services.
· Affordability of services: Government should ensure affordability through setting
tariffs, which balance the economic viability of continued service provision and the
ability of the poor to access service; and determine appropriate service levels.
· Quality of products and services: The services and products should entail
attributes such as suitability for purpose, timeliness, convenience, safety, continuity
and responsiveness to service-users.
· Accountability for services: Irrespective of the delivery mechanism, Government
remain accountable for ensuring the provision of quality services, which are affordable
and accessible.
· Integrated development and service: Government should adopt an integrated
approach to planning and ensuring the provision of services. In other words,
Government should take into account the economic and social impacts of service provision
in relation to policy objectives such as poverty eradication, spatial integration and job
creation through public works.
· Sustainability of services: Ongoing service provision, which is financially
viable, that is environmentally sound and socially just use of resources.
· Value-for-money: Best possible use of cost of inputs and the quality and
value of the outputs.
· Ensuring and promoting competitiveness of local commerce and industry: The
job-generating and competitive nature of commerce and industry must not be adversely
affected by higher rates and service charges on industry and commerce in order to
subsidise domestic users.
· Promoting democracy: Government administration must also promote the democratic
values and principles enshrined in the South African Constitution, including the
principles provided by Section 195 (1); that include the following; a high standard of
professional ethics must be promoted and maintained; efficient, economic and effective use
of resources must be promoted; public administration must be development-oriented;
transparency must be fostered by providing the public with timely, accessible and accurate
information; etc.
HIV/AIDS PANDEMIC
The State President persists in confusing the public and undermining the work of HIV/AIDS
workers by pushing the dissident view that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS. His
involvement in this debate casts doubts in the minds of the ordinary people in the street
as to the reality of the existence of HIV/AIDS. This at a time when HIV/AIDS-related
deaths are accelerating. He has challenged the authenticity of recent
HIV/AIDS-related death statistics released by the government appointed Medical Research
Council, simply because they contradict his earlier claim that violence is the single
biggest killer in South Africa. He based this on outdated 1995 statistics. His
cabinet and senior government officials are obliged to peddle the President’s
official line regardless of their consciences or overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
The UDM joins concerned citizens, the NGOs, religious groups, medical practitioners and
other health professionals and the international community in condemning the
President’s stance on HIV/AIDS. However, there is too much to be done and no time
should be wasted on intellectual debate that is causing confusion. Whether or not HIV
causes AIDS, people are dying and if the medication is not, according to the President
correct he should then have an alternative. This alternative must be medication and not an
argument. The UDM urges government to heed the calls of the taxpayer by taking appropriate
steps to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic and allow health centres to give anti-retroviral
drugs to pregnant HIV-positive mothers to minimize transmission of the disease to their
infants. His chance encounter on the Internet with sceptical opinions on the safety
of these drugs should not be taken seriously simply because those opinions emanate from
the United States. He is obsessed with dissenting views and presents himself as an
authority on a discipline he is not qualified in.
The President’s intransigence on the issue of HIV/AIDS suggests that he is
indifferent to the truth about the causal link between HIV and AIDS which has been
universally accepted. He has no interest in the realities of the scourge of HIV/AIDS
that is decimating the economically active population and therefore threatens not only the
economy of the sub-continent but our very existence as a people.
He goes out of his way to search for any dissident material from dubious sources which he
endows with his own brand of “credibility” just to justify his erroneous
position on HIV/AIDS. He does not care if that entails withholding from the public
proven drugs which can slow the progress of HIV/AIDS and prolong life, or anti-retroviral
medicines which prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child. His
attitude is callous, inhuman, reckless and cynical. It borders on genocide. The time
has come for our people to state unequivocally that they cannot continue to be led by a
person who has no regard for life and human dignity.
SUPPRESSION OF CIVIL SOCIETY OPINION
We had thought we have left behind the culture of muzzling the voice of civil society when
it is critical of the performance of government and public officials on issues affecting
the lives of the people on the ground.
The recent attacks by the ANC on Archbishop Ndungane of the Anglican Church and other
sectors of civil society who are critical of government’s apparent indifference to
the HIV/AIDS pandemic and handling of the Arms deal controversy raises a disturbing
spectre of the revival of the culture of intolerance. Archbishop Ndungane aroused
government’s ire when he questioned government’s stance on the HIV/AIDS
pandemic. He writes, “when the government stands in the way of our right to life,
then the government has trespassed its boundaries”. This criticism is amply
justifiable in the face of President Mbeki’s continued stubbornness and disdain of
popular scientific views concerned with the rapid spread of the killer disease.
We owe our freedom to the religious groupings of South Africa and abroad and civil society
who threw their weight behind the liberation effort, at great cost to themselves. It
is bitter irony that the government that has been empowered by the same civil society and
religious communities and now turn around and bites the hand that fed them.
Civil Society and religious groupings are the conscience of the nation. We urge them
to sustain their vigilant oversight, especially in the present circumstances where
government has a tendency to withhold services from ordinary people if they are deemed to
be critical of its policies. Business opportunities, old age and disability pensions
are given to those who are forced to carry the ruling party’s membership cards.
The levels of corruption and nepotism are at an all-time high. The time has come to
encourage civil Society to be watchdogs in order to monitor the performance and ethics of
public institutions’ officials.
These reactionary tendencies must be nipped in the bud before they become endemic in our
society. We should avert our country sliding into the amoral depths of depravity
where priests and leading religious figures of all faiths are disavowed in order to
silence them. This behaviour is reminiscent of the old Apartheid strategy of discrediting,
character assassination, and finally permanent removal from society.
GLOBALISATION AND THE NEW PARTNERSHIP FOR
AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT
The noble objectives of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, which have been
articulated in the New African Initiative document by the President in the National
Assembly, recently are incompatible with SA’s macro-economic policies. The
latter do not address the inherent disparities between the developed economies of the
first world and the emerging ones of the third world, and Africa in particular. The
neglected economic infrastructure of the colonial era that Africa inherited at
independence has virtually collapsed as a result of misgovernance and the destruction of
internecine wars. There is a yawning chasm dividing these two world that make it
unrealistic to throw Africa and South Africa into the deep-end to navigate the turbulent
waters of a hostile, competitive, cut-throat global economy.
The New Partnership for Africa’s Development plan quite correctly seeks to narrow
this gap. It cannot succeed unless the government acknowledges the shortcomings of
GEAR and begin to seriously intervene to level the playing field. This will enable the
continent and its constituent regional economic entities to develop internal capacity and
lay the foundations for accelerated development by relying on their indigenous human and
material resources. Foreign investors operate on strict business principles and do not do
business for charity. They will be attracted to an investment environment that
demonstrates competences that can reasonably guarantee them returns on their money.
An Africa which takes the initiative to extricate itself from the quagmire of poverty and
squalor on its own will be able to provide that environment.
CORRUPTION
Corruption has taken root in government at the highest level during the last seven
years. UDM members are strongly urged to lead civil society in the fight against
corruption. The incidents of improper conduct and greed have accumulated to a degree
where this administration is so tainted that the public has lost confidence in its ability
and will to root out this scourge. A case in point is the closing of ranks of
leading public officials and shielding their colleagues every time an incident of
corruption involving one of their own is exposed. This happened at the revelations
of mispropriety in the Arms Deal.
The Standing Committee on Public Accounts in Parliament was gagged and inhibited to
execute their duty of probing the Arms deal. The Heath Special Investigative Unit
was dissolved and the responsibility for the investigation of the Arms deal was taken away
from Parliament by the executive and given to preferred government agencies. This casts a
shadow of doubt on the credibility of the probe. The UDM called for an Independent
Commission headed by a judge and we submitted guidelines and terms of reference for the
investigation. The government refused to heed these recommendations, despite
overwhelming evidence that all is not well in the Arms procurement deal.
Former defence Minister Joe Modise is reported to have manipulated the tender evaluation
criteria in the awarding of the R10 billion contract for jet fighter trainers. This
resulted in the awarding of the contract to the British BAe Systems for the supply of the
more expensive Hawk 100. Ironically, the same company (BAe Systems) donated R5 million to
the ANC prior to the awarding of the contracts. In addition, this jet fighter trainer was
an uncosted option. All of this happened in a cabinet committee presided over by
President Mbeki playing the role of a ‘tender board” by usurping the
responsibility of awarding the defence contracts.
Notwithstanding these damning revelations, government continues to claim that there is
nothing wrong with the primary contracts. Moreover, the main off-shore companies
that were awarded the tenders were coerced into sub-contracting selected ANC contractors.
The estimated cost of these sub-contracts is to date between R6 billion and R10 billion to
date.
The total defence expenditure has escalated to R66 billion. This happens against the
reality of massive unemployment, widespread poverty and starvation, declining health
services, escalation of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and death. The moral standing of
a government that is insensitive to this scale of suffering is highly questionable and
must be condemned. The public must be awoken to this reality so that they can
reconsider their support for the ANC. It is the height of hypocrisy for this government to
claim, in terms of reduced budget deficit, that it cannot spend more on social needs, and
then they turn around and prove that the budget deficit can be controlled whilst spending
R66 billion on arms.
POVERTY
Poverty remains a threat to economic development and prosperity of South Africa. The
government should facilitates development and encourage economic activity in an integrated
manner. The message on most election posters during the run-up to the elections has
focussed on poverty. Political parties have realised that the fight is no longer for power
but rather against poverty. Although the challenge for most opposition parties is to
convince the South African public that poverty is a priority for them and not only the ANC
because the ANC has gained a reputation of being the party for the poor, however, people
are beginning to realise that this reputation is an ambition rather than a plan of action.
The UDM has realised that poverty alleviation needs to be a priority on the agenda of all
sectors of society, moving away from the old approach that this issue belongs to
non-governmental organisations and religious groupings only and realising that much more
than just soup kitchens will address poverty. Service delivery can be used as a vehicle to
alleviate poverty and creating sustainable development.
Many political parties in South Africa used the poverty issue for their election
campaigns. The question is whether the concern was about poverty or was the concern
getting votes. If the objective was to win votes, this still means that politicians
realise that many people still live in poverty in our country and the only way to win
votes is to use this issue as a campaign promise and to keep votes to try and do something
about poverty. With the ANC holding the reputation for being a party for the poor, other
parties have shown keen interest in addressing the poverty issue, but there are
fundamental policy differences in priorities.
Although all political parties speak about poverty, the UDM seems to be directing its
energies at the problem, while other parties feel that the solution is in the associated
problems. The ANC has always been accused of avoiding issues such as crime, investment and
hiding behind the poverty debate while spending billions on arms rather than poverty.
Although the ANC deals direct with poverty many say that the poverty alleviation strategy
is a mere revolutionary statement that is impossible to achieve without facing the reality
of other contributing factors. But, as history has shown many revolutions have been won
from ideals of a people.
All political parties in South Africa have an interest in reducing poverty, but all
parties hold different beliefs as to the methods or even the issues around poverty. Across
the political divide there are views that range from the need to address poverty to the
economy being the main focus, which will ultimately lead to poverty being alleviated. Some
opposition parties feel that the government wants to address poverty by taking from the
rich to give the poor. Many explain that there are other ways of addressing poverty
besides this approach. The offer of free water to the poor has been hailed as a victory
for the poor while in other circles it is seen as a start to the creation of a dependency
on government. The argument is whether this does not now justify non-payment by the masses
and bring to an end the possibility for people to pay for services. In other words, will
serves go off the household budget for good.
PARTY BUILDING
The prospects for growth of our party are good when we consider that within such a short
time we have secured substantial representation at national, provincial and local
government levels. Our presence at the three spheres of government guarantees us
scope to grow and significantly impact on the politics of South Africa. However, we
must not be complacent and gloat over our past successes. We must organize with
renewed vigour so that we can be equal to the task of positioning the UDM as an
alternative government. While becoming the alternative to the ANC and working towards
eventual control of the government, the party must capitalise on the success of the
Eastern Cape, by focusing and consolidating UDM support in this province, we can win
political control in the next elections. It is from this seat of Government that the UDM
can prove to the people that it is the only real alternative to the ANC. A proper
administration of the Eastern Cape post 2004 elections will create the right footing for
the development of the party into a national power base. The Province can be strengthened
by the establishment of a Provincial office that will facilitate the programmes of the
UDM.
On the other hand, there is also a debit side in our party. In many cases we
have been our own enemy by allowing petty squabbles to distract us from our main
course. We cannot always, for example, blame external factors for defections.
Indeed, they affect our performance. However, the greater responsibility resides in
our own inability to maturely handle our problems by subjecting self-interest to the
bigger interests of the party. Political loyalty will give UDM members the
opportunity to benefit from the achievements of the UDM.
Our fortunes were aggravated by the weakness of our financial situation after 1999 general
elections when we had to service our election debt. We had to put scale down other
party programmes while we serviced the debt between 1999 and July 2001. The
combination of these negative factors triggered false signals to some political pundits
who began to write our obituary. In hindsight we were wise to tighten our belts
because we have now cleared the debt, unlike the NNP and DP who still owe millions to the
banks. We can now utilize the surplus to build the party. We have already
begun the process in our current policy formulation, which will give us an unmistakable
identity and enhance our national profile.
We have passed the second phase of party building, which is the Storming phase. We
are now entering the Norming phase, where we develop and fine-tune our policies and
strategies. This will culminate in the strengthening and Consolidation of the United
Democratic Movement.
While we have our various structures including Women, Youth and Student formations of the
UDM we must see to it that we co-ordinate and harmonise our activities and walk in step to
compliment one another. By expanding cooperation and co-ordination structures must utilise
UDM public representatives at National, Provincial and local government level to further
the UDM’s programme of action.
The UDM policy commissions have completed formulating the policies and they are now
available for discussion. The structures must scrutinize, analyse, and internalise
them. Policy, just like society, is not static. Policy must be dynamic and
respond to the variables of the political, economic and social environment.
Consequently they are not cast in stone. They are open to change and modification in
response to changing circumstances. This is an on-going process.
With our improved financial situation, our policies in place, and our public
representatives settled in, the time has now arrived for us to concertedly work towards
the goal of 2004. FUNDRAISING NEEDS TO BE INTENSIFIED LEADING TO THE NEXT ELECTIONS AND
CLEAR STRATEGIES ADOPTED FOR CAMPAIGNING.
We have a clear vision for the future. All the required elements are in place. We call on
all our structures and supporters to make the UDM’s Vision a reality. Go out and
build a broader image of what our party stands for and why are the voters’ hope for
the future. |
Discussion document: Consolidate and build a strong alternative - The challenge of our time: Government must do more