Summer 1995 Volume 21 Issue 2

ell into the second year of the Mandela-led Government of National Unity in , the Southern African region is calm. wElections in May 1994 also peacefully ended the 30- year dictatorship of Hastings Banda in Malawi. Mozambique remains peaceful after elections in October last year completed the United Nations monitored peace process. And, in Angola, the peace treaty signed last November in Lusaka seemed to be on the way to implementation after Unita leader Jonas New Visions, Savimbi met with Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos in May 1995. Southern Africa's new era of normalcy makes it the Hard Realities region of Africa "most likely to succeed in escaping the economic marginalization and renewed crises which have dominated what little news reaches the and Industry, in Labour, in world from the rest of the continent. Yet just as the Water Affairs and in Justice, among unrelievedly negative image of "Africa" is fundamen- others. Foreign Affairs and Defense, in which Alfred tally flawed, so is its opposite media stereotype: that Nzo and Joe Modise have tended to rely on the the "Mandela miracle" has brought change overnight to establishment and were given particularly low ratings. South Africa and its neighbors. The Defense ministry has been particularly criticized Constructive relations between the United States and for continued support of South African arms exports, the Southern African region, as indeed tQe rest of the for example. Foreign Affairs Director General Rusty continent, depends on an understanding of the details Evans, a veteran of South Africa's destabilization of particular situations, as people in both places face campaign against its neighbors, has come under strong intractable problems of sustaining economic growth, criticism in Parliament and from human rights groups solving social problems and making politicians ac- for the absence of both transparency and reform in the countable. foreign policy process. As one would expect, there are mixed results on the In regional affairs, the new South African scorecard to date. i%e Weekly Mail C Guardian (April government's intention to play a constructive and non- 21-27, 1995), in its one-year evaluation of the South domineering role has been clearly expressed in African government, found that one major difference membership taken up in the Southern African Devel- between sectors, was the capacity of ministers to both opment Community and other regional organizations. shake up inherited bureaucracy and set new directions But the range of practical problems is enormous, and versus the tendancy to rely on the established order. the pressure to take conventional approaches is Thus they gave high ratings to in Trade Continued on nextpage b

Printed on Recycled Paper New Visions, Hard Realities Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) and Representatives Dan Burton (R-IN) and Robert Dornan (R-CA), b Continuedfrom previous page was financed to the tune of $1.5 million a year by South African military intelligence. But it is correspondingly strong. Illegal immigrants, in still an open question how much of the dirty largest numbers from Mozambique but also tricks of that era will come to light. now from around the continent, are being This issue of Washington Notes on Africa blamed for unemployment, crime and the gives the observations from two recent visits by growing drug traffic. Zimbabwean manufactur- U.S. journalists, one to South Africa a year after ers, threatened by cheap South African goods, the elections, and the other to after fear the country's industry fifteen years of independence. We also include will be devastated without a short list of recommended periodical sources Z%e collective a new more favorable for keeping up on the region. tariff agreement with The Washington Office on Africa, along with capacity of Africa South Africa. other groups, is engaged in the day-to-day One hotly contested battles to preserve aid to Africa and to ensure advocates in the US. subject has been the U.S. responsiveness to crises such as those in establishment of the Truth Nigeria, Rwanda, Burundi and Sudan. We are to have an impact on and Reconciliation convinced, however, that the collective capacity Commission, which was of Africa advocates in the U.S. to have an policy will depend on finally approved by impact on policy depends on maintaining maintaining Parliament in June, and connections with the successful initiatives as should be appointed well as the crises experienced in Africa. connections with the soon. As the commission Counting only from the initial divestment begins to examine human campaigns of the mid-1960s-and one could go successful initiatives rights violations of the even farther back-it took more than 20 years era, new to communicate to a critical mass of the Ameri- as well as the crises revelations may further can public the simple messages that apartheid is implicate South Africa wrong and that the world had a responsibility eqerienced in Vice-President F. W. de for it. It may take longer than that to communi- Klerk and other officials cate more complicated messages such as "Africa Africa. of the former regime, and, is not one place but many," "the U.S. and if they are noticed in African countries are indeed part of one world," Washington, embarrass some U.S. politicians as and "addressing inherited and structural injus- well. A July 16 Newsday story revealed that the tices is a shared responsibility." The current U.S. International Freedom Foundation, a prominent political climate makes getting such messages right-wing Washington lobby with good con- across more difficult. It also makes it even more nections to members of Congress including imperative.

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Q Washington Notes on Africa Reconstruction and Development in the New South Africa

By Gerald Lenoir, Jr. gram to build roads, schools, clinics and hen the African National Congress (ANC) housing and to supply electricity, water and Wswept into office in the first democratic telephone service; to establish a quality system election in South Africa's history last year, many of free and compulsory education for all pundits in the country and around the world children and access to health care. questioned the ability of the ANC to transform itself from a liberation movement into an effective governing party. After all, it's one thing to criticize a regime, it's quite another thing to be responsible for governance. After a year of ANC rule, however, the Government of National Unity (GNU) can count a number of advances, not the least of which is the fact that the country did not descend into a Bosnian or Rwandan-type situation. Sitting in his Cape Town office, Reverend T.S. Farasani, a Member of Parliament from the Transvaal Province, commented, "One of our most important achievements has been the peace and stability the new government has created. It is true we still have a few flashpoints here and there, especially in kwaZulu Natal, but compar- ing this to what was happening before the elections, one begins to appreciate how much the government has achieved." But more than peace and political stability has been accomplished in the country. Unlike a lot How far has the government traveled over the of political organizations which win elections on past year in implementing this ambitious agenda? the basis of a blank check, the ANC fought and From the point of view of reorienting govern- won office based on a fairly elaborate social and ment institutions to carry out its new tasks, some economic plan--the Reconstruction and Devel- important advances have been recorded. From opment Program (RDP). The underlying premise the viewpoint of actual delivery of services, of this program is that in South Africa, there can however, there is still a very long way to go.

be neither sustainable economic growth nor a : For Lithol Suka, member of the provincial long term political solution unless the GNU legislature (MPL) in the Eastern Cape Province, mounts an extensive effort to reverse the social one of the most difficult aspects of moving into and economic deprivation of the masses of the government has been putting in place the people who had been so neglected and de- structures that were not there, e.g., setting up the graded during the apartheid era. various administrations, ministries and departments. The RDP is now official government policy "We were never before in government as the and focuses on meeting the basic needs of ANC and we had to start with a clean slate economically depressed communities, develop- trying to put our house in order so there is ing a skilled and educated work force, estab- transparency, accountability, accessibility," he lishing peace and security within the country, commented. "But over and above, there is a building the economy and democratizing the challenge and a call for us from the people to society. In particular, the RDP promises to deliver at the same time." provide 2.5 million new jobs over the next ten Novice government officials at all levels are years as part of a national public works pro- struggling to master their new tasks. "The biggest

Washington Notes on Africa 3 "Here in the Eastern Cape, we had to merge three different administrations, two homelands [Ciskei and Transkeil and the old department. From some sections, they are very cooperative and there is a spirit of reconciliation and nation . .. I building, but in the two other areas that were administered by the past homeland leaders, there is resistance from them." The hurdles the new government must overcome are qualitatively different than just alternating between two political parties, as happens in the United States. The ANC inher- ited the inherently racist, colonial structures that h%d existed in South Africa for centuries. The major undertaking of the GNU has been the dismantling and reorganization of the vast apartheid government bureaucracy and the establishment of nine provincial governments to 7his elementary school problem for me has been to learn about the serve the majority of people. While advances has almost no books, proceedings and the procedures of parliament," have been made in restructuring government, and two outside taps for rurantng water but Suka continued. "When we were revolutionaries, there is still a certain amount of confusion, as a presidential decree we just had to say we want houses; now if you the sorting out process continues. has brought tzuo pieces say you want one house, there are certain Beyond the exposition of the RDP as a blue- of bread with peanut legalities that you need to follow. So those are print for change, the actual delivery of services is butter- the "Mandela the challenges-to put the legalities coupled where the theories of development will be sandwich"- to each child in South AJizcan with the practical actualization of what we are verified, A poster in the office of Raymond schools. promising outside of parliament." ' Mhlaba, the Premier of the Eastern Cape Province, But it has been more than just inexperience sums up the feeling of many. It reads, "You can't that has slowed the progress of development. build a reputation on promises!" As part of the compromise which led to last So, the ANC struggles to deliver on its cam- year's elections and the adoption of the interim paign promises. Several high-profie Presidential constitution, the ANC agreed that civil service Lead Projects have been funded as pilot projects employees could retain their jobs for the five- to jump start the development process and to year duration of the GNU. Facing a largely provide models to be tested in the field before white and antagonistic civil service has meant being implemented on a wider scale. the pace of change has been hindered. Within One impressive undertaking is the Moretele the South African Development Bank, for Water Supply Project at Maubane in the North- example, a scheme was uncovered to grant west Province. It was the fmt of the twelve concessionary loans to the provincial govern- presidential RDP projects on rural water supply ment of the Western Cape, ruled by the Na- and sanitation, a part of a broader government tional Party (NP), the architects of apartheid, plan to bring clean water to one million people and to deny loans to ANC-led provinces. in rural communities. The three-year project And, as expected, the ANC's relationship to its entails laying down 1,000 kilometes of pipeline junior partners in the GNU has been sometimes to meet the basic water requirements of all less than cordial, since the NP and the Inkatha 150,WO people in the Meretele region. Other Freedom Party (IW) are trying to preserve past projects include a housing development in political and economic privileges. The NP is Duncan Village, a township in the Eastern Cape attempting to preserve economic apartheid, Province; an eledcatien project in the North- while the IFP and other former homeland leaders west Province; and a water project in Oukasie, a are trying to prstect their relative positions of black township in the Northwest Province. power and economic advantage. The most visible and popular presidential 'We have faced resistance from time to time programs are the broad-impact feeding scheme from past administrations," explained Suka. in which all school age children receive a free

4 Washington Notes on Africa meal and the health care initiative through which the world. In particular, as articulated by Jay pregnant women and children under five receive Naidoo, the Minister responsible for the formula- free prenatal and post natal medical care. tion and implementation of the RDP, the South The "Mandela sandwich of peanut butter Africa plan breaks with the logic of neoliberalism, and a cup of soup provide 25 percent of the which promotes an export-led, growth at any cost minimum daily nutritional requirements and, in agenda and, as an afterthought, promises some some of the poorest areas, represent the only kind of trickle down to the most needy. Accord- regular meal the children receive. It is estimated ing to its proponents, the central thrust of the RDP that over 5.5 million children are receiving this is precisely growth through development, not benefit and an increase in class attendance is having those things occupy two separate logical being attributed to the program. spaces, which experience in the global arena has One of the biggest success stories is the shown does not work. RDP's massive program of electrification by To the surprise of many ESCOM, a parastatal (state-owned) public economic forecasters, South Africa "One of our most utility. Because of apartheid policies, half the has recorded a small growth rate people in South Africa do not have access to over the past year, reversing an important electricity. The goal was to electr~300,000 eight-year trend of no growth or houses and by May 1995 the government had negative growth. Going against achievements electrified about 370,000 poor homes in town- the grain of International Monetary ships and villages. Fund and World Bank proscrip- bas been the But despite these high profile projects, to tions of market-led or external date development efforts have not born much export-led growth and vast peace and fruit. The average South African will not see reductions in expenditures in the tangible changes in his or her everyday life public sector, the RDP bases itself stability the immediately. Job creation must keep pace with upon government-initiated the thousands of young people pouring into the infrastructural development and new government job market each year. And the intractable meeting basic needs as the means has created... 11 problem of inadequate housing can only be of stimulating a stagnant economy. solved through a massive, nationwide building Along with government infrastruc- Rev. T.S. Farasani, M.P. program. With the progress made over the last ture investments, foreign corpora- year, the GNU is preparing to seriously address tions are steadily returning to South Africa and development issues over the next few years. domestic corporations are making plans for In parliament and in the cabinet, plans are expansion. being developed to address the issues of This positive economic picture combined affirmative action in education, the workplace with an acceptance (with varying degrees of and government contracting. Formal legislation enthusiasm) by virtually all social forces in will probably be introduced later this year. South Africa that the state has a definitive role Public and private financing mechanisms are to play in redressing the inherited inequities now in place for low-cost housing constructioq from the apartheid era is a clear indication that and ownership. In addition, the GNU has South Africa is progressing under the 'GNU. recently begun implementing an "offset" However, in order to sustain and accelerate requirement for foreign corporation investing in development in the long run, South Africa will South Africa. Offset, a form of government have to address the extreme concentration of mandated countertrade, requires any foreign wealth in the hands of the white minority, i.e., corporation which wins a government procure- the incredible fact that over 90 percent of the ment contract to purchase export products from stock on the Johannesburg stock exchange is South Africa. Such programs have been success- controlled by six corporations. Whatever fully implemented in Asian countries to im- happens over the five-year life of the GNU and prove the balance of trade and stimulate the RDP, the next five-year development plan domestic economic development. will have to address this issue. ?) The most exciting aspect of the South Africa experience is its potential to become a beacon for Gerald Lenoir, Jr. is a freelance journalist. He other developing countries in Africa and around traveled throughout South Africa in May, 1995.

Washington Notes on Africa 5 Zimbabwe's Third Chimurenga

By Frances M. Beal spending, a lowering of the corporate tax rate ifteen years after freedom fighters success- and of import quotas and tariffs, a scrapping of F fully completed what was termed the agricultural price supports and the liberalization "Second Chimurenga," or the "Second National of investment policies for foreign investors. Since War of Liberation," Zimbabwe is engaged in its 1990, the government has been implementing "Third Chimurenga," the battle for economic these policies with mainly negative results. emancipation. The principal foes are the On the bright side, annual inflation rates are International Monetary Fund and the World down from 45 percent to 19 percent, but the Bank, multilateral lending agencies which have average wage is about 600 Zimbabwean dollars forced president Robert Mugabe's ruling a month (U.S. $751, well below the poverty Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic live1 of 830 Zimbabwean dollars (U.S. $100). "I Front (ZANU-PF) Party to implement a version earn 300 [Zimbabwean] dollars a month and my of its notorious structural adjustment program in wife is pregnant. How can I afford 500 [Zimba- order to qualify for badly needed trade and bwean] dollars maternity fees at the hospital?", development loans. queried a resident of Kambuzuma, a nearby Zimbabwe, a country the size of France with suburb of Harare, the capital city. But even a population of 10.5 million people, has vast Zimbabweans who are relatively well off are mineral wealth and is one of Africa's most suffering under economic structural adjustment developed industrial (ESAP). nations. However, for many Further, a 1994 report by the Confederation Stmctu M l adjustment) years the has of Zimbabwe Industries indicates that capital been declining because of investment in buildings has declined by 39 practically) is going to a complex combination of percent and in plants and machinery by 25 factors-drought, world percent, as compared to 1993. Nearly half of make the poor ve y economic recession, a Zimbabwe's manufacturers are operating below dramatic dive in the prices capacity and exports have plummeted by 67 poor and the very for Zimbabwe's main percent, domestic orders by 9 percent. Exorbi- exports (agricultural tant interest rates of 35-40 percent have damp- rich. It means products and raw materials ened industrial investment and discouraged survival of the fittest. for industry), soaring oil consumer spending. prices, economic and In his recent address opening the first military destabilization by session of the fourth parliament, President the former apartheid regime in South Africa and Mugabe stated, "The current unstable macro- the government's own mistakes and overreli- economic environment characterized by ance upon external funds for domestic eco- persistent high inflation, high interest rates and nomic development. The government owns and high domestic borrowing tends to undermine controls some sectors of the economy, while at the supply response to structural reforms and the same time, strategic sectors, like agriculture, creates a hostile environment for both domestic banking and mining, are still in the hands of and foreign investment to take place." domestic corporations controlled by white "Hence, the program to reform public Zimbabweans or multinational corporations enterprises will be intensified with the com- from western countries, most notably, Great mercialization or privatization of parastatals Britain and Australia. Overall, foreign compa- being accelerated." nies control over 70 percent of the economy. Mugabe also promised substantial cuts in The bitter pill that the IMF and the World the size of the military and "speedier ways" to Editor's Note: Bank have prescribed for Zimbabwe to swallow land acquisition for peasants to meet the target The "First Chimurenga" refers to the war of is a package of reforms that include wholesale of 8.3 hectares. resistance against settler privatization of the economy, devaluation of the "In addition, efforts are being made to occupation in 18%-97. Zimbabwean dollar, drastic cuts in government indigenize the economy through the utilization of

6 Washington Notes on Africa graduates from agricultural institutions and univ- munications, transportation and electricity ersities as well as more trained black farmers in generation and supply. the commercial farming sub-sector," Mugabe said. With the newly liberated South Africa joining Structural adjustment is not without its critics. SADC and peace in Angola and Mozambique, Most prominent among them are trade unionists. there is great hope that the countries of south- Morgan Tsvangirai, general secretary of the ern Africa can make progress in forming a Zimbabwean Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) regional common market. However, there is has condemned ESAP and called the government also the fear that South African capital will social fund set up in 1993 to alleviate ESAP- dominate the region and further distort the related poverty as a case of "too little, too late." economic development of other countries. At "Structural adjustment, practically, is going to every opportunity, President Mandela and make the poor very poor and the rich very rich. South African cabinet ministers have tried to It simply means survival of the fittest.", according to ZCTU, which represents over 350,000 workers in the private sector, about 25 percent of the workforce employed by private corporations. Zimbabwean economist Austin Chakaodza, in his book Structural Adjustment in Zambia and Zimbabwe-Reconstructive or Destructive?, concluded that ESAP "is a new form of re- colonization of African countries. The colonists are the bankers, economic consultants and international technocrats based in Washington, headquarters of both the IMF and the World Bank." He rejects ESAP and calls for a program of public works to create jobs and increase spending power; the restructuring and commer- cialization of parastatals (state-owned enter- prises); a renewed focus on the development of human resources through increased expendi- tures on education and training; the alleviation allay those fears. Mandela has stated that South A metaphorfor the of poverty through the reintroduction of price Africa does not seek to dominate. but to situation in Southern controls on basic commodities, subsidies to cooDerate with its neighbors.- He has promised Africa, a man tries tofix peasant farmers, and an increase in expendi- thatAhisGovernment of National ~ni6will be down truck in the middle of the street, tures for social services; the "democratization of sensitive to the needs and aspirations of other at niRht, with a candle, decision-making" in production, distribution countries in the region. and exchange; and a program of land reform. Zimbabwe's Third Chirnurenga, the struggle The ZANU-PF government has committed for economic independence, is taking place itself to restructuring and commercialization of , within the broader context of the regional government-owned corporation and to a land struggle and, even broader, the struggle of the reform program. The reform of parastatals is countries of sub-Saharan Africa to rid themselves proceeding, while land reform has been plagued of the legacy of colonialism and to democratize with false starts and scandal, However, public their societies and develop their economies. pressure is mounting for genuine land reform. Zimbabwe's success in finding a solution to the Zimbabwe has stepped up South-South quagmire of structural adjustment is thoroughly cooperation to lessen its dependence upon bound up with a regional and a continent-wide exports to developed nations and to strengthen solution to the common problems that have self-reliance in the region. Zimbabwe is an plagued African nations for decades. () active participant in the Southern Africa Devel- opment Community (SADC), a group of nine Frances M. Beal is a freelance journalist and the countries dedicated to regional integration and former associate editor of the Black Scholar cooperation. SADC is also developing regional magazine. She traveled to Zimbabwe in May, 1995. infrastructure projects in the areas of telecom-

Washington Notes on Africa 7 Keeping Up: Periodical mail: [email protected] a month. Write for subscrip- tion rates. Packets of medium-length special reports, news Sources on Southern Africa features, documents and fact sheets. or individuals and small libraries in the United States, Southern Africa Political & Economic Monthly. SAPES Trust, F with the suspension of publication by Africa Report P.O. Box MP111, Mt. Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe. Tel: (263-4) earlier this year, following on the earlier demise of the print 727875. Fax: (263-4) 732735. E-mail: [email protected]. version of Africa News, the difficulty of obtaining regular Monthly. North America airmail subscription: institutions $100, news and analysis about Africa has increased enormously. individuals $70. Write for other rates. Issues average more than Increasingly, electronic sources of information are becoming 70 pages, and include debate and analysis as well as news. an alternative. In future issues, and through the e-mail distribution list from WOA and from WOA's educational Southern Africa Report. Toronto Committee for Links affiliate the Africa Policy Information Center (APIC), we between Southern Africa & Canada. 603 1/2 Parliament St., Toronto 4MX 1P9, Canada. Tel: (416) 967-5562. E-mail: hope to provide occasional guides to the newly proliferating electronic sources of information. (For an automatic reply [email protected] times a year. Individual subscrip- with information on our electronic distribution list, simply tion $18; institutional subscription $40 [outside Canada add send any e-mail message to [email protected].) $101. Primarily analytical reports on current developments in We, and others, however, also continue to frnd printed Southern Africa, almost all of relevance to non-Canadian as well as Canadian readers. sources essential, if often far too expensive. The most useful sources are often regionally or country specific. In this issue we have selected the regular periodical sources on Southern Southern Africa: A New Vision Africa we currently find most useful, and would recommend An educational resource piece that provides an overview of to others. This list is limited to those with a broad focus on issues in Southern Africa today, the Southern Africa region, and does not include those which looking at the region's success and concentrate on South Africa itself or other individual countries. at options for the challenges lying ahead. $1.25 each for 1- 10 Southscan. PO Box 724, London Nl6 5RZ, England. E-mail: copies; $1.00 for 11-100 copies; [email protected]. Institutional subscription $.75 for 101-500 copies; and $.60 (airmail) 8165 ($250) in UWEurope 8190 ($285) in rest of each for more than 500 copies. world. Write for individual rates. Eight pages. News and All orders must be paid in news analysis. Roughly 50% to 75% on South Africa, the rest advance, allow 4-6 weeks for on other countries in the region. delivery. Make checks payable to APIC, and send to: Africa Policy Southern Africa News Features. Southern Africa Research and Information Center, 110 Maryland Avenue, Suite 112, Documentation Centre (SARDC), PO Box 5690, Harare, Washington, D.C. 20002. Zimbabwe. Tel: (263-4) 738694/6. Fax: (263-4) 738693. E-

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