{"id":1173,"date":"2020-03-27T18:38:28","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T16:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marxistworkersparty.org.za\/?p=1173"},"modified":"2020-04-22T13:23:33","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T11:23:33","slug":"lockdown-covid-19-exposes-bankruptcy-of-ancs-capitalist-policies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/?p=1173","title":{"rendered":"LOCKDOWN! Covid-19 Exposes Bankruptcy of ANC\u2019s Capitalist Policies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Prepare a Mass\nWorkers Party on a Socialist Programme <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by Weizmann Hamilton<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 26 March countrywide lockdown\npresident Cyril Ramaphosa announced in an emergency attempt to contain the\nspread of the corona virus, has been hailed as the decisive intervention the pandemic\nrequired. Worldwide the number of infected is rising to half-a-million. The\ndeath toll has passed 20,000.  New York\nCity, the \u201cBig Apple\u201d of the wealthiest country in the world, has now become that\ncountry\u2019s epicenter of the pandemic, reaching speeds its Mayor has described as\nthat of a bullet train. SA has had its first two deaths \u2013 two women aged 28-\nand 48-years-old respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\npandemic has had a devastating impact on the world\u2019s most powerful economies,\nthe US, China, and especially Italy, Spain and France. It has also thrown the\nworld economy into the biggest turmoil since the 2008 global financial crisis\nfrom which it never fully recovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Guardian<\/em> (UK) 25\/03\/2020 reports that according to economist Nouriel Roubini, amongst the few who predicted the 2008 financial crisis, the \u201cCoronavirus pandemic has delivered the fastest, deepest economic shock in history. The financial crisis and Great Depression took three years to play out, this crisis has taken three weeks. The Greater Depression beckons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\neditorial headlines in the prestigious bourgeois Financial Times<\/em> shows what lies ahead for the former colonial world\nin particular.  \u201cCoronavirus risks calamity for the emerging world.\u201d (23\/03\/2020). \u201cAfrica faces a catastrophe\nthat will dwarf all others.\u201d (20\/03\/2020)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

ANC’s Covid-19 Strategy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business Day (<\/em>23\/03\/20) reports that according to a projection\nmodel developed by a team of Wits University researches, up to  one million South Africans could contract\nCovid-19 within just forty days, unless the government takes drastic action to\navoid the country reaching a tipping point of 100 locally acquired cases. As fears of the pandemic\ngrip society, these measures will be accepted as an unavoidable necessity and\neven welcomed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite its restrictions on civil liberties, the majority of people,\nhorrified by the rapid increase in the number of deaths in the advanced\ncapitalist countries, and television pictures of coffins with dead bodies\nparked outside overburdened mortuaries in Italy, have resigned themselves to\nthe 21-day lockdown as an unavoidable necessity. There is hope that it will\nflatten the curve and bring forward the end of the pandemic. Everyone rightly\nwishes that, given the already disease-stricken, unsanitary, overcrowded\nconditions in townships and informal settlements, hundreds of thousands could\nbe saved from illness and death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has been praised across the board\nas the actions of a government that has learned from the experience of other\ncountries where such measures have had success in flattening the curve of\ninfection and transmission, like China and South Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time there is also deep\nskepticism. Governance under the ANC has become synonymous with corruption,\nincompetence, as well as indifference, even animosity, towards the working\nclass and the poor.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Will the lockdown succeed?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst hoping for the best, it is necessary to prepare for the worst. It\ncannot be assumed that the ANC government\u2019s measures, on their own, and in\ntheir present form, will defeat the pandemic. They are nowhere near adequate.\nOn the contrary, the conditions for a pandemic with the potential to devastate\nthe lives of working class people in particular \u2013 prepared over the entire\ntwenty-six years since the ANC came to power \u2013 are a virtual invitation to\nCorona to sweep through working class communities like a Tsunami. The pandemic\nis lapping at the country\u2019s shores to take up the offer of being hosted by a population\nwhose health is already severely compromised by the highest HIV\/Aids infection\nrate in the world, by TB and the ravages of hunger that sees 15 million go to\nbed hungry every night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The World Health Organisation has described SA\u2019s actions as \u201ctoo little,\ntoo late. These measures should have been taken a month ago\u201d.  The actions of the ANC government is a study\nin total incomprehension of, and indifference towards, the economic social and\nhealth situation in SA and globally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government\u2019s 2020 budget was announced on 26 February, the very day the German Health Minister declared an epidemic, and just fourteen days before the World Health Organisation declared a global pandemic. It made provision for brutal social spending cuts of R260 billion, including of the health budget. R160 billion of these cuts would entail not paying this year\u2019s public sector wage increase \u2013 the last of the three-year collective bargaining agreement signed in 2018. The government chose this moment to launch an attack not just on workers, but on the right to collective bargaining \u2013 a fundamental right won through struggle against the apartheid regime whose defeat cleared the way for the ANC to come to power. (Read our full analysis of the 2020 Budget here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2020 budget did not fall out of a clear blue sky. It is but the\nlatest offensive in a war again the working class that began in earnest when\nthe ANC adopted its neo-liberal Growth Employment and Redistribution (Gear) strategy\nin 1996. However, even without Gear, the capitalist policies the ANC has always\nstood for would have made it impossible for its government to meet the basic\nexpectations of the masses. Gear was merely the accelerator of the capitalist\nvehicle the ANC always was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The adoption of Gear served two purposes simultaneously: firstly to\nenable to enable the ANC government to march in step with the neoliberal ideological\ndrumbeat of the dominant capitalist powers and their institutions, the World\nBank, IMF and the rating agencies; secondly to open up state-owned enterprises,\nand social service provision to the ambitions of the aspirant emerging black\ncapitalist class to enrich themselves.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the capitalist ANC has governed as the servant of the wealthy for\nmore than a quarter of a century of post-apartheid democracy, it should be no\nsurprise that it is failing the masses now in the face of the greatest global\nhealth and economic crisis since World War Two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Financial Measures<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The financial measures accompanying the lockdown merely confirm the\nclass character of the ANC as the quislings of big business. If the\ngovernment\u2019s claims that the interest of the working class and the poor are its\nprimary concerns, then that should have been reflected in their measures they\nhave taken towards the pandemic. In particular those imprisoned in the squalid\nconditions in informal settlements, ideal for the spread of the virus, should\nhaven prioritised. Instead the lockdown measures, presented as if they are\ndirected at the poor, small businesses in distress and the informal sector, in\nfact prioritise the interests of the wealthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nfact that the key vehicle, the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), is in surplus\nis itself an indictment on the government in a country with 10 million+\nunemployed. Even the UIF\u2019s R60 billion investments housed at the Public\nInvestment Corporation have now declined in value following the fall in JSE\nshares. But the fact that the UIF is funded by both employer and worker\ncontributions means that workers\u2019 savings are to be spent, not on the purpose\nfor which it was created, that is, when workers lose their jobs, but to save\nthe bosses the expense. It will cost the bosses nothing as they have already\nbudgeted for this and have spent the money. The bosses\u2019 profits remain intact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Theft\nof workers\u2019 contributions is widespread. Bosses deduct contributions from\nworkers, wages but don\u2019t pay it over to the UIF. They will get off completely\nscot-free because the Department of Labour, understaffed because of budget cut,\nhas done very little or nothing about this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UIF\npayments are in any case for a limited duration \u2013 twelve months. The limit has\nnot been lifted. So those already claiming will not be able to claim beyond the\ntwelve months regardless of when the lockdown ends. The economic consequences\nof the pandemic are going to result in companies closing as has already\nhappened with Edcon, which is closing 1,000 Edgars and Jet Stores, sacrificing\n1,800 jobs. The UIF is already under pressure to pay out to the thousands of\nworkers dismissed before the pandemic, in what is now commonly described as a jobs\nbloodbath. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All\nthe workers jobless after\nStuttafords\u2019s liquidation; the 151 Edgars stores already shut before the total\nclosure of Edcon; the 263 Standard Bank branch closures; job losses at Massmart,\nwhich owns DionWired, Builders Warehouse and Game; ArcelorMittal\u2019s Saldanha Bay\nclosure, and; Telkom and the big four banks\u2019 retrenchment plans, with Absa already\ngiving thousands of employees notices, threatens the UIF with rapid exhaustion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other\nmeasures include assistance to employers and employees through the tax system\nand additional funding of R3 billion from the Industrial Development\nCorporation and R200 million from the small business department for small\ncompanies in the tourism sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ngovernment also intends to establish a national disaster benefit for employees\nwho were laid-off, either temporarily or permanently, who would be able to\naccess support at the level of the R3,500 monthly minimum wage for three\nmonths. But Labour and Employment Minister Thulas Nxesi refused to be drawn on\nthe size of the fund to avoid \u201craising expectations\u201d! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If an\nemployee is ill, temporarily laid-off, or unemployed for longer than three\nmonths, the normal UIF benefits will apply. Those who fall ill through exposure\nat their workplace will be paid through the Compensation Fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For distressed\ncompanies there are the UIF reserves through the existing training lay-off\nscheme, which ordinarily removes workers from the payroll for six months, while\nthey access funds equivalent to part of their salary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employees\nof businesses in distress who earn below R6,500 will be assisted with a tax\nsubsidy of up to R500 per month for the next four months, using the\ngovernment\u2019s Employment Tax Incentive \u2014 or wage subsidy programme. The\ngovernment claims this will help more than four million workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SA\nRevenue Service will work towards accelerating reimbursements under the Employment\nTax Incentive from twice a year to once a month to get cash into the hands of\ncompliant employers as soon as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tax compliant businesses with a turnover of less than R50\nmillion will be allowed to delay 20% of their pay-as-you-earn liabilities over\nthe next four months and a portion of their provisional corporate income tax\npayments without penalties or interest over the next six months. The common\nfeature is to protect the capitalist class whose system has caused this crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hawkers,\nthe self-employed and those scratching a living together, like rubbish\ncollectors and recyclers, remain out of the loop of the economic support\nmeasures, from debt relief and resilience funds for small businesses to the\nR500 tax break for those earning less than R6,500 a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of these measures have no detail yet. The government\nhad time to prepare for this calamity. But it spent all its time devising an\nausterity budget to cut social spending and wages. What is worse is that the\ngovernment is completely unprepared for the economic fall-out from the\npandemic. The economy could contract by as much 7%, prolonging the recession\nthat started in the last quarter of 2019 throughout 2020. Capitalist experts\nare telling them that the February budget is as dead as a Dodo and even the\nMoody\u2019s downgrade would be a side show compared to what is lying ahead. Everything\nhas to be recalculated. More savage spending cuts will be demanded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ngovernment has gone on its knees in gratitude to the Oppenheimer and Rupert\ntycoons, whose wealth was\naccumulated through the exploitation of the labour of the working class. Their donation of R1 billion\neach to a proposed Solidarity Fund is an insult. It confirms the groveling\nmaster-servant relationship the ANC elite has with the capitalist class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Health Measures<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no question that social\ndistancing and the washing of hands, for example, are absolutely necessary\nmeasures to combat the virus. But how can the estimated 1.4 to 1.7 million\nresident in SA\u2019s 2,700 informal settlement practice this? They live in shacks accommodating\nfamilies of at least five, and often many more, which are separated from each\nother by less than the required two metres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Community leader\nSibongile Nyalela told Groundup (25\/03\/202): \u201cIt\u2019s hard to wash\nyour hands when 380 families share three taps as is the case in Madiba Square, Khayelitsha, Cape Town. If I use the one bucket of water to do\nlaundry then I remain without water to cook and wash hands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Astonishingly,\nthe government is determined to carry through its attack on public sector\nworkers\u2019 wages and has rejected the unions\u2019 demands to abide by the three-year\nagreement. It is deaf not just to the needs of the workers themselves but the\nworking class public they serve in highly pressurized conditions in a\ndysfunctional health service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Lockdown Enforcement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nmain instrument of enforcement of the lockdown regulations is supposed to be\npolice. The army is supposed to provide only support. But is clear that the\ndeployment of the army is calculated to send a message particularly to the\nworking class masses that force will be used, as Defence Minister Nosiviwe\nMapisa-Nqakula made clear. The army she say, \u201c\u2026 will only \u2018skop, skiet en\ndonder<\/em>\u2019 when circumstances determine that. For now, we\u2019re a constitutional\ndemocracy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nthe Police and Transport Ministers appear to relish this as an opportunity to\ndisplay apartheid-style kragdadigheid<\/em>\nin the tone in which they explained the do\u2019s and don\u2019ts of the regulations\nwithout the necessary preparations. There is little policed visibility in the\ninformal settlements and no education on the Corona virus at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\narmy is being deployed against the background of a disastrous failure to root\nout gangsterism in the Cape Flats, where 3,000 murders took place right under\nits noses. This deployment is of an entirely different order of magnitude. The\narmy\u2019s deployment is intended to restore the ANC\u2019s and Ramaphosa\u2019s standing in\nthe eyes of the public as capable of taking measures in the interests of the\npeople. The army is normally for defending the country in times of war and\ninsurrection, Commander-in-Chief Ramaphosa told the soldiers on the evening\nbefore the lockdown was to begin.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nthe problem of enforcement is already evident on Day 1. It is impossible to\nenforce social distancing and hand washing in the informal settlements. There\nwas no coordination of pay day so many have been forced to go and do shopping\nduring hours they are supposed to be off the streets to ensure they have enough\nfor the 21 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the\nregulations decree that taxi ranks and bus depots are closed to the public, it\nis unclear where commuters would be allowed to catch the taxis and the buses. As\nmany shops only open at 8 am or later, and close at 5 pm or 6 pm, it is not\ngoing to be easy for people depending on public transport to do essential\nshopping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Housing Minister\nLindiwe Sisulu drew gasps at her press conference when she explained how\novercrowding and lack of basic amenities would be addressed. \u201cWe will need to urgently\nmove some of our people for the de-densification to be realised. Land parcels\nto relocate and decant dense communities have been secured. This will not be\nfar from the current place of residence. We appeal to our people to recognise\nthat the threat posed by Coronavirus in our informal settlements is real. It\nis, therefore, in their best interest to avoid this risk by co-operating with\ngovernment as we relocate them to healthier and safer homes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These\nmeasures are the equivalent of apartheid-style forced removals and are likely\nto be met with resistance. For years demands for decent housing and sanitation\non land close to workplaces have fallen on deaf ears and claims that there is\nno land. Land occupations have been met with assault, kidnapping and murder orchestrated\nby corrupt councilors in collusion with the police. Community organization\nAbahlali Base Mjondolo has been a regular victim of these, receiving no police assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Residents\nin informal settlement have for been left with no alternative but to make the\nsettlements at least semi-tolerable to eke out an existence in. The proposals\nannounced, for which there is no budget, no identified land, and therefore no\nprior site preparation, no guaranteed food and water supplies, amounts to\ndumping people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthese circumstances, the army may well resort to force. Ramaphosa has had a\ntaste of blood \u2013 that of the martyrs of Marikana whose strike action he\ninfamously denounced as a \u201ccriminal act which should be dealt with\nconcomitantly\u201d. Will he place SANDF soldiers in a position where if the force\nof argument is legitimately rejected, he will order them to resort to the argument\nof force in the name of keeping SA safe?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ndeclaration of a State of Disaster is only one step away from that of a State\nof Emergency. Is this Ramaphosa\u2019s fall back plan if protests spread throughout\ninformal settlements and spill over into townships as people forced to look for\na source of income feel they have no alternative but go out onto the streets?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

What should the government have done?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ngovernment should have immediately established a relief fund of the billions\nneeded to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Deploy thousands of water tankers to\nall informal settlements and drought stricken areas like the Northern Cape,\nWestern Cape, Free State<\/li>
  • Requisitioned\npersonal protective equipment, masks, sanitisers, soap and testing kits<\/li>
  • Requisitioned\nfood supplies to continue the feeding schemes during the compulsory closure of\nschools, for the unemployed, the poor and the elderly  <\/li>
  • Initiated\na mass recruitment campaign of adequately equipped volunteers, on at least the\nminimum wage, for training in the provision of mass education, the\nadministration of basic health care in the diagnosis, testing and  at least the initial treatment of corona\ninfection in communities<\/li>
  • Engaged\nin mass testing and tracing of potential corona infected patients<\/li>
  •  Conducted a rapid needs audit of all hospitals\nand clinics and requisitioned the necessary supplies  and equipment<\/li>
  • Issued\nan  order for all big companies to\ncontinue to pay workers for at least the duration of the lockdown, whatever its\nduration<\/li>
  • Requisitioned\nthe R1.5 trillion on corporate bank accounts to finance the Relief Fund<\/li>
  • Introduced\na basic income grant immediately for all the unemployed<\/li>
  • Lift the twelve-month limit for UIF\nclaims<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The\nhandling of the pandemic by capitalist government worldwide have demonstrated\nlike no other crisis before the irreconcilable conflict between the private\ninterests of the capitalist class and those of the working class, the\nobsolescence of capitalism, and the necessity to overthrow it and replace it\nwith a democratic socialist order under workers democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This\nunderstanding should underpin the approach of the working class towards this\ncrisis. Tragically, in SA and internationally this understanding and the\nstrategies and tactics that flow from them, are completely absent from the\nposition taken by the leadership of the trade unions and political\norganizations that have their origins in the working class. In the next in this\nseries of articles, the MWP will outline what we believe to be the way forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The government had time to prepare for this calamity. But it spent all its time devising an austerity budget to cut social spending and wages. What is worse is that the government is completely unprepared for the economic fall-out from the pandemic. <\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1244,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coronavirus"],"aioseo_notices":[],"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1173"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1182,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173\/revisions\/1182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}