{"id":448,"date":"2018-02-26T12:24:25","date_gmt":"2018-02-26T10:24:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marxistworkersparty.org.za\/?p=448"},"modified":"2019-11-17T12:19:33","modified_gmt":"2019-11-17T10:19:33","slug":"zuma-ousted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/?p=448","title":{"rendered":"Zuma Ousted"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

Inside\ntwo months following his election as ANC president at the party\u2019s December 2017\nnational conference, Cyril Ramaphosa has realised the ambition he reportedly\nset himself whilst still at high school according to a close childhood friend \u2013\nto become the country\u2019s president. If his victory in the ANC presidential\nsuccession race was not at all certain, the narrow margin of his victory made\nZuma\u2019s dramatic resignation so soon after the conference seem improbable.\nRamaphosa\u2019s ascendancy to the highest office in the land was built on a 50\/50\nsplit that ran right through its top structures — the Top Six, the national\nexecutive as well as the national working committees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even\nmore unpromisingly for Ramaphosa, his triumph was the result of the betrayal of\nMpumalanga Premier David Mabuza, the most powerful member of the pro-Zuma\nso-called \u201cPremier League\u201d. This alliance of corrupt provincial premiers\n(including those of the Free State and North West) manipulated provincial\nconference elections, stripping the national conference of all credibility \u2013\nreduced to a gigantic auction of corrupted delegates. By instructing his\ndelegates, in the name of \u201cunity\u201d, to switch their votes from Zuma\u2019s anointed\nsuccessor, his ex-wife, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, it could be reasonably expected\nthat Ramaphosa would be beholden to the most corrupt of the trio.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\noutcome suggested a period of paralysis ahead for the ANC as the two factions \u2013\nRamaphosa\u2019s and Zuma\u2019s \u2013 were set for a collision between the two centres of\npower in the party and the country for the remaining 18 months of Zuma\u2019s term\nas the country\u2019s president before the 2019 general elections and inaction by\nRamaphosa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\nthe evening of the 14th<\/sup> of February 2018, however, the reality\nof the decisive shift in the balance of forces in the ANC that set in after\nRamaphosa\u2019s conference victory, finally dawned on Zuma. He surrendered the\npresidency as meekly as he had ascended to it with such triumphalism nine years\nago. For the second time in ten years, the ANC has humiliated its\npresident by not permitting him to complete his term of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Zuma\nreaps the whirlwind<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ndrama of Zuma\u2019s ousting is rich with irony. He became the victim of the same\nprocess he had led to prevent Thabo Mbeki from completing his term nine years\nago \u2013 a recall. Thabo Mbeki continued as the country\u2019s president for eight\nmonths after Zuma\u2019s triumph at the ANC\u2019s Polokwane conference in 2007, Zuma for\nless than two. His defiance of the ANC\u2019s NEC\u2019s instruction to resign or face\nbeing voted out by the previously unthinkable — the ANC supporting a Motion of\nNo Confidence tabled in parliament by the Economic freedom Fighters, led by\nJulius Malema whose expulsion Zuma had ensured in 2012. The ANC had gone to\nsuch extreme lengths despite the fact that a successful Motion of no Confidence\nwould lead to the dissolution of the entire cabinet \u2013 ministers and deputies.\nFaced with such a threat, Zuma capitulated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nend of Thabo Mbeki\u2019s reign was inglorious. But he accepted his recall with\ndignity and respect for the decision the party he had served all his life, and\nin which he had come to be regarded as political royalty.  Zuma\u2019s\npresidency ended in ignominy and cowardice, protesting his innocence to the end\n\u2013his conduct a study in incomprehension in the parallel universe he inhabited,\nof what had unfolded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zuma\nascended the presidential throne in the slip stream of a revolt against more\nthan a decade of the neo-liberal Growth Employment and Redistribution (Gear)\npolicy Mbeki had imposed on the country in 1996 without any discussion in ANC\nstructures. Although economic growth averaged 4.5% under Mbeki, the regular\nbudget surpluses at the time were made possible by the massive redistribution\nof wealth from the poor to the rich catapulting SA to the top of the global\nleague table of inequality. Gear led to a rapid polarization of the classes,\nreflected in the phenomenon of service delivery protests \u2013 working class\ncommunities in revolt against poor service delivery and corruption which began\nin 2004, and the biggest public sector strike in SA history at the time. The\naloof indifference of the Shakespeare-quoting. whisky-sipping and pipe-smoking\n“Call me a Thatcherite” Mbeki- the personification of the aspirant\nblack bourgeoisie the ANC was founded to represent \u2013 ensured that the\nsuccession battle in the ANC became an indirect expression of the collision of\nthe classes in society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nconsequences of these policies called into existence what subsequently came to\nbe known as the coalition of the wounded \u2013 victims of Mbeki\u2019s marginalisation\nand witch-hunting who opposed the policies he enforced in dictatorial fashion\non the ANC and its Tripartite Alliance partners, the Congress of SA Trade\nUnions (Cosatu) and the SA Communist Party (SACP) as well as the Malema-led ANC\nYouth League. Zuma was to win the presidency with a decisive 60% majority which\nwas to increase to 75% at its next conference in 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then\nCosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said famously at the time that the\nforces would ensure Zuma\u2019s victory would be an \u201cunstoppable as a tsunami.\u201d He\nwas not to know that the Zuma tsunami would cut a swathe of destruction through\nsociety \u2013 through the economy, on the lives of the working class, the\nTripartite Alliance, and in state institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Disaster\nfor the working class<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zuma\u2019s\nregime was born in scandal and morphed into a kleptocracy. Making full use of\nthe Bonapartist provisions of the country\u2019s much vaunted constitution, the\nprerogative to appoint and \u201cdis-appoint\u201d, heads of state-owned enterprises, the\npolice, the priority crimes unit (the Hawks) and the National Prosecuting\nAuthority. Dismissed by Mbeki as deputy president in 2005 over what the judge\ndescribed as a \u201cgenerally corrupt relationship\u201dhe had developed with benefactor\nSchabir Shaik who was sentenced to 15 years for corruption over the arms deal scandal,\nhe was reinstated after he manipulated the dropping of the charges against him.\nHe drove Khwezi, the daughter of a fellow comrade into exile and to her death,\nafter he was acquitted of raping her. He dismantled the Scorpions (SA\u2019s\nequivalent of the US FBI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\nconverted government into a criminal enterprise for the self-enrichment of his\nfamily and cronies. Under the direction of the Gupta family of Indian\nimmigrants he developed a network of cronies so powerful that they even decided\non appointments in cabinet and SoEs that the beneficiaries themselves heard\nabout from this corrupt family even before it was announced in the ANC itself.\nIt is estimated that the looting spree has resulted in the loss of over R100bn\nto the public purse. Under his watch the economy has nosedived gasping for\nbreath at 1% per annum when eliminating extreme poverty (those living on R441\nper month and have to choose between buying food or spending on other\nessentials) will require ten years of 5.4% average economic growth. The SA\nRevenue Service has under collected tax of over R50bn. Under his watch,far from\nhalting the impoverishment of the masses that Mbeki\u2019s regime began, it has\naccelerated. 55% of the population live in poverty, with 9m unemployed \u2013\napproximately 40% (67% amongst the youth) with 15m going to bed hungry every\nnight. The economy has experienced two recessions and a rating agency\ndowngrade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under\nZuma the ANC has undergone two splits\u2014the birth of the Congress of the People\nin 2008 and the Economic Freedom fighters in 2012. The Tripartite Alliance has\nlost all credibility. Cosatu expelled the 340 000-strong National Union of\nMetal Workers following its 2013 decision not to support the ANC in the 2014\nelections.  Nothing expresses the political bankruptcy of Cosatu and\nthe SACP than the fact that they cling on for dear life to the Tripartite\nAlliance having campaigned for the billionaire Ramaphosa \u2013 one of the richest\nmen in the country and butcher of the Marikana mineworkers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The\nRamaphosa Spring<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understandably\nRamaphosa\u2019s victory has been welcomed by most including working class people.\nThey hope he will make good on his promise to root out corruption, lift the\neconomy out of the doldrums, create jobs, eradicate poverty and raise living\nstandards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\ndiscredited had Zuma and his cronies become that the demand that Zuma step down\nwas supported by virtually every layer of society including big business who\nhad been opposed to Mbeki\u2019s ousting. It is this factor, the tsunami of public\nof opinion, that overwhelmed the ANC. Zuma\u2019s erstwhile allies dumped him like\nrats a sinking ship. As we predicted after the ANC conference, with the ANC\nfacing almost certain defeat in 2019 if Zuma remained at the helm, the\nbeneficiaries of Zuma\u2019s patronage would desert him for the same reason that\nthey defended him to the hilt despite all the crimes he committed, from the\nrape charges against Khwezi, to the arms deal corruption and the so-called\nsecurity upgrades at his private home Nkandla which earned him a scathing,\nunprecedented judgment by the Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthe period following his election as ANC president, the Hawks and police appear\nto have been energised leading to raids on the Gupta compound, the offices of\nthe Free State Premier and the arrest of a number of  corruption\nsuspects. Gupta patriarch, Ajay, was prevented from fleeing out of the country\non a private jet, stopped by airport police, and has now been officially\ndeclared a fugitive from justice whilst his nephew has already appeared in\ncourt. The state electricity utility Eskom\u2019s entire board has been replaced.\nThe NPA is under pressure to reinstate the corruption charges against Zuma as\nhis strategy of appeals has been exhausted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These\ndevelopments have given the impression that Ramaphosa means business. He thus\ncomes to power carrying the hopes of all sections of society. But herein lies\nthe contradiction. The expectations of the capitalist class and the working\nclass are irreconcilable. Ramaphosa is the candidate of big business. His\nentire career has constituted preparation for the role the capitalist ruling\nclass has thrust on him and he has enthusiastically placed himself at their\ndisposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\nearned his spurs during his role in the defeat of the historic 1987 mineworkers\nstrike as secretary general of the National Union of Mineworkers he was founder\nmember of. He forged close ties with big business in the 1980s in the Urban\nFoundation, established to create the basis for the development of a black\ncapitalist class as the strategists of capital became increasingly alarmed by\nthe socialist consciousness that had developed especially in Cosatu. He played\na leading role in crafting the constitution of SA\u2019s pro-capitalist\npost-apartheid dispensation at the Codesa negotiations. Embittered at being\noverlooked for the position of deputy to Mandela in the first post-apartheid\ngovernment, he left politics, failed to attend Mandela\u2019s inauguration and got\non with the business of becoming a billionaire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\ncomes to power when rating agencies are demanding savage austerity measures to\navoid a further downgrade. Given the state of the world economy, and lack of\ndemand in the domestic economy because of the levels of poverty, there is in\nfact little incentive to invest at home and no way out on the world market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaphosa\u2019s\nspring will therefore be short-lived. For this reason it is not excluded that\nRamaphosa may call an early election.  The birth of the new SA\nFederation of Trade Unions in 2017 represented the first steps towards the\nworking class reclaiming its political and class independence. The debate on\nthe establishment of a workers party must be concluded urgently and a workers\nparty established. In 2012, Cosatu\u2019s own survey of shop stewards\u2019 political\nattitudes found that 67% were in favour of the establishment of a workers\nparty. In 2013 the EFF was launched exploiting this mood with populist radical\nnationalism. After the 2016 local government elections, the EFF revealed its\nclass character by entering into a coalition with the DA \u2013 which it denounces\nas racist party of \u201cwhite monopoly capital\u201d. Behind this hypocrisy lies its\nreal ambition \u2013 to be part of a pro-capitalist coalition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under\nZuma the ANC\u2019s electoral support has declined to the point where in 2016, it\nlost 8% from just two years before to 54% and relinquished control in three\nmajor metros \u2013 Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela. Its vote was reduced\nto 34% of the eligible voting population.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\n2013 Numsa itself resolved at its special national congress to establish a\nworkers party. The Saftu NEC has the opportunity to put an end to this undue\ndelay. It must set a date for the launch a mass workers party on a socialist\nprogramme that will unite community, students and work place struggles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inside two months following his election as ANC president, Cyril Ramaphosa has realised the ambition he reportedly set himself whilst still at high school \u2013 to become the country\u2019s president.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":449,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-capitalisms-anc-crisis"],"aioseo_notices":[],"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448","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=448"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":864,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions\/864"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}