Southern Africa . Vol.ll ~ ~~d]Y@lli~ April 1996

,...... i' ., I .... ·r

~• A-

I 0

-1 price$ 4.50 ~(QJl!dl101ffi®~lli ~if~fl©@], April1996 REPORT Vol. 11 No.3

Contents

Editorial: Whose Globalization? ...... 1

COSATU: Old Alliances, New Strategies .... 3

COSATU and Corporatism: A Response to Eddie Webster ...... 6

"Globali zing" from Below: Southern Africa The Trade Union Connection ...... 9 REPORT Trade Unions and Politics: is produced 4 times a year by a volunteer collective of TCLSAC, What Next in Namibia 13 the Toronto Committee for Links between Southern Africa & Canada The World, Society and the Individual 17 603-1/2 Parliament St. Toronto, M4X 1P9 Democratizing Heritage: Tel. (416) 967-5562 The South African Challenge 22 Email [email protected] Submissions, suggestions and help in production are welcome and invited. Zambia and the Media - a letter 25 ISSN 0820-5582 SAR is a member of the Canadian Failure in the Townships? Magazine Publishers Association. The Development Bottleneck 26 All rights reversed. "In Search of Hope": Subscriptions Zimbabwe's Farmworkers 31 Annual TCLSAC membership and Southern Africa Report subscription rates are as follows: SUBSCRIPTION: SAR Collective Individual (1 year) . ... $18 .00 Institution ...... $40. 00 Margie Adam, Carolyn Bassett, Christine Beckermann, Lois Browne, Marlea Clarke, MEMBERSHIP: (includes subscription) David Cooke, Kourosh Farrokhzad, David Galbraith, David Hartman, Regular ...... $35.00 David Pattie, John S. Saul, Marit Stiles, Lauren Swenarchuk, Unemployed Joe Vise, Mary Vise Student $18 .00 Senior Sustainer over $100.00 Overseas add $10.00 Cover de~ign by Art W ork

Canadian Publications Mail Product Sales Agreemen t No. 569607 c: "'E -e I"' ·"0:;; 0"' A laid-off worker walks through his recently closed steel plant - 1992 Whose Globalization? In our last issue, under the gen­ the context of the stern global eco­ cussion. After all, South Africa eral heading "Southern Africa's nomic environment in which they possesses a much stronger economy Tragedy," we sought to locate the find themselves. We did not, on than any of the countries we did fo­ troubled circumstances of a number that occasion, include South Africa cus upon and is, at least for the of southern African countries - An­ within the frame of such a dis- moment, much less "tragically" sit­ gola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe - in uated than most of its neighbours.

Southern Africa REPORT april 1996 1 And yet South Africa cannot eas­ Africa only in passing, we have of governments increasingly com­ ily escape the contradictions created found it - alongside other of Leys' promised in their dealings with by its insertion into the process of recent writings referred to in the that economy elsewhere in south­ "globalization" that it is now so dif­ editorial of our last issue - a useful ern Africa. For this reason we are ficult , everywhere, to ignore. Con­ point of reference in our work and, pleased to include here Gretchen sider, for example, the exchange we on that basis, recommend it as a · Bauer's careful and sympathetic feature in this issue between Eddie brilliant "backgrounder" to current analysis of the current status of the Webster and Leo Panitch - labour­ policy debates throughout southern trade unions in Namibia- while also linked activists both, but also South Africa ... and also here at home. noting with interest just how impor­ Africa's leading industrial sociolo­ Throughout southern Africa ... tant she feels a vibrant labour move­ gist and Canada's preeminent politi­ and in Canada as well. Here Leys' ment to be in safe-guarding politi­ cal scientist, respectively - regarding article also provides a useful bridge cal and economic democracy in that the strengths and weaknesses of the to another of the articles that form country. South African trade unions' present the core of this, our "labour issue": Moreover, Bauer's attempt to politico-economic strategies. At the Judith Marshall's careful and illu­ give voice to labour and its "pro­ core of their disagreement in this minating account, drawn from her gressive" allies in civil society seems debate is , precisely, a difference of own first-hand experience, of some particularly important in a regional opinion reg.arding the presumed im­ of the novel links that are cur­ context where, too often, popular as­ peratives of globalization and what, rently being forged between Cana­ sertions have now begun to be dis­ if anything, trade unions might do dian trade unions and their South credited - in the name of "realism," to resist them. African counterparts. For Marshall "responsible planning," and, no sur­ Thus, where Webster sees new emphasizes, quite specifically, the prise, "global imperatives." Such opportunities for working class self­ way in which this labour solidar­ discrediting is occurring in debates assertion in the apparent compro­ ity is increasingly being grounded about South African urban devel­ mises with corporate power and are­ in a shared understanding, at both opment, for example: in attacks formist state that the South African ends of the exchange, of the vulner­ often launched upon the "unrea­ labour movement seems compelled ability of workers to capital's world­ sonable expectations" that are said to adopt, Panitch fears a "corpo­ wide dictate. And such solidarity to exist, negatively, in the town­ ratist" outcome that will be increas­ can contribute, in turn, to creating ships. And yet, as Greg Ruiters ingly detrimental to the hopes of the kind of active global "civil soci­ and Patrick Bond document in these ordinary South Africans for a bet­ ety" whose political assertions might pages, the new South African regime ter life. And where Webster seems eventually democratize and social­ is still very far from discovering ef­ to envision little alternative to the ize a globalization process that cur­ fective means for realizing even the labour movement's seeking merely rently seems beyond workers' con­ most "reasonable" of expectations to "modify" (rather than transform) trol. that are held by township dwellers the capitalist structures that cur­ * * * in that country. rently drive South Africa's economy, In this issue, too, you will find Panitch smells disaster in the logic Of course, workers face the chal­ lenges of the global economy and South African writer and cultural of "competitiveness" and "business activist Luli Callinicos worrying as usual" that underpins such com­ aloud (during a recent Toronto promises. visit, reported on below) about We will leave our readers to the dangers of depoliticizing, in arbitrate this debate for themselves. the name of "reconciliation ," the However, they may wish to do so II people's own history of oppression in light of the more general article ARTCRAFT I ACTION PRINT and resistance. This is a history by Colin Leys on the nature of Specialists in Multicolour and that, Callinicos reports, is struggling the globalization process that we Black & White pre-press, to find its voice, with important, include in the present issue. His printing and finishing potentially positive, implications, key themes: "The assumptions on Newsletters * magazines * brochures within the culture of a new South .,.. which the globalization process rests Envelopes of all sizes are our forte Africa. Fortunately, she can also . . . are literally absurd" and that Business and Personal Stationery report that on this terrain - the "any society that is not in a position terrain of "heritage" - real progress to resubordinate. the market will Desktop output *& *camerawork· * services is being made despite countervailing be destroyed by it." While the 2370 Midland Ave., Unit C-10, Scarborough, pressures. So, in a phrase: cast of this article is, precisely, Ont MIS 5C6 (416) 412-<>412/Fax 412-<>414 "Historians of the world, unite." "global" and therefore deals with Call today for estimate and advice! Workers, too.

2 april 1996 Southern Africa REPORT 0 ------~Tilln©Till~------COSATU: Old Alliances, New Strategies

BY EDDIE WEBSTER It has signed GATT which is likely from 15.32% in 1979 to 57.98% Eddie Webster is professor of Industrial to send a. wave of anti-protectionism in 1993. Unions provided black Sociology at the University of the and deregulation rippling through workers with a voice, not only an Witwatersrand. one industry after another; abol­ economic voice in the workplace, ished the old financial rand; and but also a political voice dtrring the There is a great irony for COSATU sharply cutting real wages in the apartheid period. in the present political moment. public sector. More recently, the The existence of powerful 'polit­ After decades of opposition to GNU announced its intention to ne­ ical traditions' of resistance among apartheid, culminating in their gotiate "the restructuring of state black workers forced the labour strong electoral support for the assets" (or, if you prefer, privatisa­ movement to confront its relation­ African National Congress (ANC) in tion). ship with the national liberation the April 1994 elections, the unions Liberal commentators have wel­ movement. At the centre of this find their allies participating in a comed "this realism" as evidence "hidden world" was the national Government of National Unity (the that· "normal politics has at last be­ democratic tradition led by the ANC GNU) in which their main enemies gun" in South Africa, but find it and the SACP. Shortly after its are now their partners. They also odd that COSATU is willing to ac­ formation in late 1985, COSATU's face a global economy that dictates cept a policy where it is likely to be leaders travelled to Lusaka and en­ neo-liberal market-based policies as the "chief potential victim." Many dorsed the exiled ANC as the leading the only acceptable solutions. This on the left have also concluded that element in the liberation struggle. places COSATU in a dilemma: does the ANC has succumbed to neo­ it continue to operate inside the liberalism, while the media regularly The Triple Alliance between the Alliance and try and shape the predict the end of the Triple Al­ ANC, the SACP and COSATU is agenda of the GNU , or does it "go liance between the ANC, COSATU deeply rooted in the struggle against for divorce" and risk confrontation and the South African Communist apartheid. This has led to sig­ and possible marginalisation? Party (SACP). nificant shared leadership between There can be no doubt that These responses, I argue, miss the Alliance partners. Furthermore, COSATU played a central role the innovative part of South Africa's during the anti-apartheid struggle in the transition to democracy response to neo-liberalism and the "social linkages" were forged. These in South Africa. However, it crucial role of the Alliance in shared identities and networks of remains an open question whether acting as a "left pressure" on the personal ties that were built up dur­ labour can sustain this involvement ANC. This dynamic, where labour ing years of cooperation and shared during the period of consolidating is powerful both on the streets hardship in detention, prison or ex­ democracy when the "rules of the and in the centres of power, could ile are likely to endure well into the game" have changed so markedly. be described as a process where future. Comparative experience suggests Cosatu is both "inside and outside Besides, Cosatu faces no serious both that labour has difficulty the state." While signalling an opposition from rival unions on the adapting to this kind of new phase, acceptance of the need for more left that could "poach" its mem­ and that pro-democracy forces may open markets, this approach has bers when they find it costly to sup­ be dramatically reconfigured. This also strengthened labour and given port policies which threaten living arises from the fact that there it a firmly institutionalized voice in standards. With a total member­ are two transitions at play: a decision-making. ship of 1.3 million, Cosatu has more political transition to democracy members than all the other federa­ and an equally profound economic The triple alliance tions put together. Neither does the transition to growth, productivity, South Africa is one of the few ANC face serious opposition from its and global competition. countries in the world in which parliamentary opponents. In these The GNU has accepted the trade unions have grown over the circumstances, union leaders may macro-economic constraints of the last decade-and-a-half. This has decide that continued cooperation liberal international economic order. involved a growth in union density with the GNU - in the hope that it

Southern Africa REPORT april 1996 3 ------~Tilln©Till~------could minimize any negative impact saw the mass action campaign in the political game" do pose for of neo-liberal policies - is preferable June in support of labour's negoti­ labour the need to find, on a to political isolation. ating position, as a challenge to the continuing basis, an appropriate However in spite of the Alliance, democratic process. Quite the op­ balance between cooperation and the labour movement is relatively posite is the case. By engaging in protest. Whether labour will have autonomous from the state and from peaceful protest, the leadership of the will and the capacity to walk its political leadership. COSATU one of the key social partners was this tightrope successfully is the big was able to achieve what SACTU, signalling to its membership that it question. Moreover, it must be its official trade union wing in exile was an autonomous actor. admitted that some of the initial until it was absorbed into Cosatu in Tripartitism assumes a pluralis­ signs in this regard are not especially 1990, never achieved: its recognition tic society where autonomous groups encouraging. and acceptance by the ANC as an with divergent interests recognize Firstly, organised labour has lost equal, not subordinate, partner in each other's existence while promot­ significant layers of leadership to the Alliance. During the eighties ing their own distinctive views. By government, political office, and the COSATU built up its own leadership channelling their demands and or­ corporate sector. Often labelled cadre, its own democratic political ganising their conflicts within the "the brain drain," th~s has seriously culture and its own constituency. framework of representative institu­ diminished the pool of skilled and As a result the Triple Alliance tions, the conflicts that took place experienced senior leaders developed is fundamentally different from the in and around the Labour Relations over years of struggle. Soviet-style model where the union Bill were playing a real role in pro­ Secondly, a growing gap has is little more than a conveyer belt for moting labour's interests and consol­ developed between leadership and the party. COSATU is financially idating democracy in South Africa. base. A union organiser has written independent of the state, and retains Importantly, these tripartite ar­ of the dilution of the relationship a capacity to mobilise through a rangements are not part of neo­ between leaders, shop stewards and leadership that is accountable to its liberalism - instead, they are a cre­ the rank and file through the members rather than to a political ative challenge to the global agenda emergence of an alternative set of party. of neo-liberalism. The launch of relationships. In the author's pithy NEDLAC in February 1995 is the phrase, the upper echelons of the Stresses in the alliance key to this innovative strategy. It labour movement begin to share Does this high degree of labour provides labour with a central role with their counterparts in other autonomy and record of militancy in the negotiation process. Through spheres an "increasing similarity not point towards a break up of the creating a statutory body designed only in the style of dress, language Alliance after an initial period of to create consensus between labour, and common pubs they begin to cooperation? While the Alliance is government and employers on eco­ share, but also in the style of likely to be put under considerable nomic and social policy, NEDLAC thinking and the approaches to basic strain in the next few years, labour institutionalizes the potential power political and economic questions." is unlikely to defect before the next of labour in the heart of decision­ For example, has the move to elections in 1999. making. Through the creation of parliament, under the ANC banner, industry-wide statutory councils de­ By virtue of its independent of key COSATU leaders, opened up signed to jointly negotiate training possibilities of labour increasing its power base labour is able to mobilise and industry policy, the Labour Re­ outside of state structures, yet influence in the heart of the state? lations Act creates the basis for long Or has there been, as one informant through its Alliance with the ANC it term industrial policy. is able to influence state policy. By has put it, "an exodus without a being both "inside" and "outside" Above all, through Workplace map." the state, labour has the potential Forums, workers are potentially Certainly the union movement to influence the agenda of the ANC drawn into decision-making at an expects those seconded to parlia­ in pro-labour directions. early stage, challenging manage­ ment "to struggle inside Parliament ment's prerogative to unilaterally for labour's positions." But par­ This was best illustrated dur­ make and implement decisions on liament is the very antithesis of ing the struggle in the National the shop floor. COSATU members' notion of direct Economic Development and Labour democracy. As one grass-roots ac­ Council (NEDLAC) over the Labour What balance? tivist, now representing the ANC in Relations Bill in 1995 when labour In short, the GNU has taken a bold parliament, observed: "took to the streets" twice during and decisive step in the direction the two-and-half month negotiations of co-determination. At the same "One of the most remarkable things over the Bill. Many commentators time, the resultant new "rules of about this parliamentary process

4 april 1996 Southern Africa REPORT ------~Tilln©Till~------

1s how it has decollectivized us. caucus because it is believed any In the words of one informant who It has individualised us and the such initiative would be divisive. complained about the large amount ethos of collective engagement that At the same time, as ANC mem­ of money spent on salaries of politi­ we had outside Parliament is fast bers they are subject to parliamen­ cians: "Its a transition ... which we evaporating. . .. There is something tary caucus discipline and are no are trapped in . . .. And we have to about Parliament that is inherently longer formally accountable to the get out. People are getting sucked hierarchical." COSATU membership. In addition, into it and enjoying the benefits of it. Parliament, in the words of a clause in the interim constitution It would be very difficult for people another informant, "is like a sink forces Members of Parliament to re­ to give away what they have now." hole. You work frenetically, you sign their seats if they leave their work very hard, but you do not see party, this providing the party lead­ immediate material success flowing ership with further powerful sanc­ Strategies and tactics tions over dissident members. from the amount of energy you Still, to see such strains inside the invest in a particular issue." Of course, the close informal , Alliance as signs of possible rup­ While COSATU's influence may social linkages between the parlia­ ture would be premature. "To re­ increase, a very different outcome is mentarians and their erstwhile col­ treat now," Jeremy Cronin, Deputy also possible, one in which these in­ leagues in the labour movement re­ General Secretary of the SACP ar­ dividuals - now detached from their main. But disenchantment is emerg­ gues, "would be to hand over victory old federation - are also isolated ing in the Alliance as they see to our strategic opponents, whose from the centres of power in the their former colleagues earning high agenda is also to capture the heart ANC. They do not have a labour salaries and driving expensive cars. and soul of the ANC, and they are

V> ~ ..,::J ro

Southern Africa REPORT april 1996 5 0 ------~~n©~~------having some successes." A simi­ "There's all sorts of pressures, and form." In the longer term, how­ lar point was made rather more pic­ sometimes you get the feeling that ever, there is an additional ques­ turesquely by a leading COSATU of­ certain individuals are battling in tion to consider: whether labour's ficial: "This is a transitional period, the light of these pressures. But power will be used to resist the mar­ that's why we have a GNU, that's that's where your mass struggles ket through strategies such as na­ why you have to hug the hyenas of outside parliament come into play tionalisation and the like, or used the past in order to make advances because if a person only gets merely to modify it - through what, in the future." pressure from one side, from the to take one example, the Green IMF, the World Bank, from John Paper on new employment stan­ I And yet the question persists: is Major and Thatcherite economists dards calls "regulated flexibility" r COSATU in a "no-win" situation - then for a few months with that (this regulated flexibility seeking to where it gains little from remaining sort of pressure on an individual, he balance the protection of minimum in the Alliance yet faces possible will begin to soften up and follow. standards with the requirements of marginalisation if it withdraws from But if there is equal pressure which labour market flexibility). While it? Or does the possibility exist is coming from left forces outside union leadership has, at least for of labour redefining its role and, parliament on the same issues that the moment, identified itself with a through a combination of struggles he is getting pressure from the market-modification approach, it is inside and outside the state, find IMF, then he begins to think as not clear what the f~ll implications the means of challenging those who an individual instead of thinking on of such an economic strategy are for wish to embrace the market as the behalf of other external forces." the unions' own membership. Can panacea for the meeting of all social As this quotation suggests, and we hazard a guess that the very fu­ needs? as we have argued above, labour re­ ture of the Alliance depends on the In the words of a leading Cosatu tains the capacity to block the most outcome of debates about just such official: negative aspects of "economic re- issues? COSATU and Corporatism: A Response to Eddie Webster

BY LEO PANITCH tiona! and regional leadership of one strategy adopted is that of a "pro­ of the country's most creative and gressive competitive" accommoda­ Leo Panitch, professor of Political powerful unions, supplemented by tion to globalization (as analyzed Science at York University in Toronto, further discussions with two Minis­ in the essays by Panitch, Albo and has written widely on working class ters, three very senior civil servants Saul in the 1994 volume of The So­ politics and trade union strategies (all formerly key figures in COSATU cialist Register). The term corpo­ around the world. unions), various provincial and mu­ ratism is used more positively on the nicipal political activists and offi­ South African left than anywhere I was in South Africa in October cials, as well as busin~ss analysts else I have ever known in my many 1995 as part of a CAW-NUMSA and socialist intellectuals in Dur­ years of studying tripartite struc­ project to analyze the contempo­ ban, Cape Town and Johannesburg. tures. And this is so despite the rary political economy, as well as to Eddie Webster's comments on the clear trajectory towards the GNU's develop teaching modules for trade dilemmas facing COSATU provides sponsoring the type of integration union leaders and shop stewards on an appropriate context and opportu­ of trade unions with the state that globalization, competitiveness, cor­ nity to offer the following reflections. has traditionally - and deservedly poratism and the restructuring of - given corporatism a bad name work. Such an experience is hardly It is, sad to say, my impression among trade union mrlitants and so­ sufficient to make one an expert. that the GNU's "response to neo­ cialists. Yet it would perhaps be irrespon­ liberalism" has NOT been as "inno­ Assessing NEDLAC sible not to share the impressions vative" as Eddie Webster suggests. and insights gleaned from long and Borrowing heavily from the Aus­ There is no doubt, then, that intensive discussions with the na- tralian Labour Governments, the NEDLAC has been designed as

6 april 1996 Southern Africa REPORT 0 ------~Im~@Im~------a means of institutionalizing and a legal framework for collective intellectuals" was a comment I heard harnessing trade union power. But bargaining, on questions of economic quite often from the trade unionists the question is: institutionalizing it and industrial policy, union leaders I met. And what was meant by with what effect and harnessing it to have been reacting to an agenda this was not just that people had what end? set by capital and the state. Not gone to work inside the state, but Webster is correct to see the only do the union leaders not have that those very people were the Labour Relations Act as a major much confidence in these areas, but authors of a strategy that left capital reform which the trade union they are also expected by state and rather than labour in the driver's leadership won through combining business officials to play a far more seat and that made no provision for tough negotiations in NEDLAC passive role. "capacity-building" on the part of with timely and effective "mass Lost potential? the unions to challenge this agenda. Eddie Webster may wish it were so, action." (Note, however, that a This is especially tragic in the South but the government is not fostering good many militants and socialists African case, because it might have "counter-pressure" from the unions are very uncomfortable with the been thought that the potential was and social movements in relation to Act's proclamation of fundamental there for a different story to unfold its industrial strategy. class harmony between bosses and than the usual corporatist one - and workers and with what that suggests no doubt it is this potential that The separation between those about closing down class struggle is still inspiring Webster's vision of who have gone into the state and on the shop floor - and in the corporatism. Certainly there is a the rest of the movement that Web­ community- especially through the level of political sophistication and ster points to expresses itself cultur­ provisions for workplace forums.) intelligence among the NUMSA ac­ ally in a most poignant fashion, go­ But it is an illusion to think that tivists I met that is quite remark­ ing beyond the more visible man­ this portends the autonomous and able. More than once, hearing it ifestations of high salaries and ex­ effective use of trade union power in articulated during my visit, ~ felt pensive cars. One middle ranking the decisions that govern economic a lump rise to my throat. For it NUMSA official told me one night life in South Africa. Far from the brought to mind just how much it at Kippies jazz club in Jo'burg that industrial policy being discussed at has been the case that the more for­ it used to be the case that when NED LAC amounting to, as Webster mally educated the North Ameri­ COSATU people went to a place like suggests, "a creative challenge to can and European workers have be­ this, heads would turn - they were the global agenda of neo-liberalism," come (and the more institutional­ seen as heroes in the centre of the ac­ it is in fact a policy which seeks ized have their unions and parties tion. Today, those who have stayed to integrate South Africa into become), the more have they be­ with the unions rather than gone the framework of free trade, the come politically illiterate. And it into the state are seen as "losers" deregulation of capital flows and raised the question of whether the - not only financially, but because exchange rates, the promotion of workers' enormous political intelli­ that's not where the political "ac­ privatization, and export-oriented gence, developed through years of tion" is any longer seen to be. competitiveness. The active union struggle, might be dissipated, rather role in such a framework is expected than be built on, in the new South Embourgeoisification to be one ~f supporting plant Africa. Moreover, the process of embour­ closures and wage restraint. It is There was in the original RDP, geoisification extends far beyond a policy which runs directly counter a significant commitment to the the perks and hierarchies associated to the predominant emphasis in the "capacity-building assistance" the with parliamentarism. Just as with original RDP on a "people-centred" democratic government would give the creation of an Afrikaner bour­ development strategy of "growth to the unions and other popular geoisie in 1948, so is there a strat­ through redistribution." movements. A measure of how egy on the part of the old ruling In the case of NEDLAC, as disappointing NEDLAC must be classes to facilitate a black bour­ all other such tripartite bodies, seen in this respect is that it gemste. And this even extends - for all the talk about partnership has translated this into the meagre dangerously - to certain unions. As in decision making, the actual provision of funding one person to one particularly perceptive analysis decisions about what is to be "coordinate" union representations. noted of trade union involvement in invested, how , where and when Far from developing union capacities the partial sale of Anglo-American's are not made in NEDLAC, but to challenge creatively the political Johnnie holdings as part of "the cur­ remain the preserve of the capitalist economy of globalization, there has rent wave of black economic empow­ class. Moreover, whereas the union been the "brain drain" from the erment equity transfer deals ... [this] leaders had a clear agenda and unions that Eddie Webster refers to. will have far-reaching implications a strong mandate on negotiating "We have been abandoned by the not only for the broad thrust of black

Southern Africa REPORT april 1996 7 ------~Tilln@Till~------~-- empowerment, but also for the trade been prepared to pay a 5% capital as in parliamentary ones, without union movement . . .. Trade unions levy across the board as a necessary losing movement autonomy, But cannot be expected to engage in a capitalist recompense for Apartheid this will prove true only if there business venture on this scale and had the government insisted on it. is a clear appreciation of the not expect it to influence their atti­ This alone would have paid · for corporatist contradictions entailed tude toward capital. Hence it must the mass housing programme - and in such tripartite participation, -I impact on the character of unionism much else. More generally, there can and a concerted attempt to limit itself ..." [Business Map, Sept. 4, be little doubt that the GNU could the effects of those contradictions 1995] It is doubtful if this is what the have claimed far more "good-will" on union autonomy - so as to l RDP originally meant by "capacity­ space in the international arena - by maximize the capacity to represent 1 building." way of exemption from so quickly and mobilize members, and to retain While I was in South Africa accommodating to the rigours of and develop radical policy proposals last October, 7000 lowly paid black global neo-liberalism - than it has and a long-term socialist vision and nurses were dismissed for going on chosen to assert. strategy. strike in the Eastern Cape. I And in South Africa? One union Opting FOR capitalism? heard one Minister boldly predict leader told me that the form the the closure of five of the seven auto In other words, there has not just transition to demooracy in South plants in the country. And I was told been a tactical accommodation TO Africa has taken has reduced the by another Minister that the reason capitalism. Rather, there has been a possibility that union leaders like for the complete failure of the mass strategic opting FOR capitalism. It him would end up in prison, but housing program was (a) that the is a depressing story, but, of course, that the question he had now to people would rather live in shacks it is hardly one that is unique among address was whether union leaders than rent publicly built apartments, erstwhile socialists and communists like himself could avoid becoming and (b) that international investors in today's world. As Patrick Bond "imprisoned in NEDLAC." The jury would not cover South Africa's trade and Mzwanele Mayekiso put it in is still out on the answer to that deficit if price controls existed on their important essay in the 1996 question. construction materials! volume of The Socialist Register: And there are signs that, at least "Indeed, an important reason that How should one explain such be­ among some COSATU unions, the neo-liberal compromises character­ haviour and abject rationalizations? approach now to be taken - vis-a­ One explanation no doubt is to be ize South Africa's transition is that vis NEDLAC in particular and the there were so many selective justi­ found in Webster's quote from a GNU in general - will be that of fications [for such a course to be] union organizer who notes an "in­ developing an autonomous capacity drawn from across the world"! creasing similarity not only of styles for economic and industrial analy­ of dress, language and common pubs Still, it is in a context so defined sis and policy-making. On this ba­ ... but also in the style of think­ that the appropriate strategy of the sis, continued participation by trade ing" between the old and new rulers labour movement now needs to be unions leaders in NEDLAC and sim­ in South Africa. A more chari­ assessed. The issue is not one of ilar forums may continue and even table interpretation would be one leaving NEDLAC or staying within be somewhat useful, but always to that emphasizes the narrow range it. Trade unions by their nature be undertaken with a clear and of manoeuvre open to the ANC in must engage with employers and the autonomous strategic mandate for the GNU. After all, the transition state. The issue is only what kind such participation. (Whether busi­ from Apartheid was, in the end, a of engagement with what effects on ness and government will continue to negotiated one, a compromise, and union autonomy? Corporatism is participate on such non-corporatist it reflected as such the continuing the kind of practice that stresses terms is another question.) And strength of the old ruling class and class harmony "in the national this will have to mean, in turn, state as well as their weaknesses. interest" despite the continuing the advancement of an alternative This question on how large was existence of class inequality and economic strategy through educa­ the room for manoeuvre was the domination; it is the kind of practice tion and mobilization well beyond one I most often asked during that puts far more emphasis on the confines of NEDLAC so as to my visit. There was virtually the ability of centralized union build up (as Bond and Mayekiso unanimous agreement outside of structures to control their members put it) a "working-class civil soci­ government circles that the room in that "national interest" than it ety" oriented to "people-centred de­ for manoeuvre was rather broader does on their representing them velopment" - rather than to the ac­ than the government had taken. in the class struggle. In a commodation to neo-liberalism that One business analyst told me, for liberal democracy, it is possible to a strategy of "progressive competi­ example, that business would have participate in tripartite structures, tiveness" amounts to.

8 april 1996 Southern Af rica REPORT "Globalizing" from Below: The Trade Union Connection BY JUDITH MARSHALL allies. Each of the discourses asserts a rapid donation towards purchasing itself strongly in particular moments Judith Marshall is a writer and edu­ tarpaulins. South African trade and contexts as the dominant way to cator who worked for many years in unionists wanted to use these make sense of a given historic mo­ Mozambique in workplace literacy. She tarpaulins for a rally as a way to ment or experience. is currently the Education and Linkage get around the apartheid regime's Coordinator for the Steelworkers Hu­ The discourse of global compet­ latest manoeuvre, a ban on outdoor manity Fund in Toronto. itiveness has come at our members meetings. Popular organizations in South with particular intensity over the The third discourse that shapes Africa and their global counterparts past decade. It pits Canadian Steel­ the links between Canadian working established significant ties over the workers against working people in people and working people in course of the long struggle to dis­ other parts of the world, all be­ South Africa is the discourse of mantle apartheid. These ties have ing urged to greater efficiency and development. The standard framing come up for redefinition as the polit­ flexibility in order to attract for­ of the development discourse for ical configurations of post-apartheid eign investment. Under global com­ our members comes through the petitiveness, whichever jurisdiction South Africa emerge. Some of these mainstream media, advertising and connections between civil society ac­ can offer the most plentiful cheap, travel brochures. It tends to be tors like the trade unions, women's skilled labour, the biggest tax and premised on a stereotypical south groups, churches, literacy and hous­ tariff concessions, the least environ­ uniformly peopled by impoverished ing activists have begun to disap­ mental protection, the fewest fetters masses for whose alleviation we, pear. Some analysts in Canada at­ on taking out profits, wins the day. in countries like Canada, have the tribute this to reductions in Cana­ The logic offered by management is remedy. It supports a set of dian government support, the loss "us" - workers and management to­ practices that have to do with a flow of moral purpose associated with the gether - versus "them," the compe­ of financial and human resources demise of apartheid or the ambigu­ tition. While global competitiveness from north to south. North­ ity of the enemy. But for Cana­ may be felt with more immediacy south power relationships tend to be dian Steelworkers - and many oth­ for Canadian workers in the invest­ operationalized as a set of donor­ ers in the labour movement - I ment flow to the Americas and Asia, beneficiary relationships through would argue that the ties with South there is no doubt that our mem­ the development discourse. African working people have never bers also feel connected with work­ These discourses are, of course, ing people in southern Africa in fac­ been stronger. fluid rather than static. Solidarity, Canadian workers' global rela­ ing the global challenge. which has all too often been tionships over the years have been The discourse of solidarity is something of a one-way flow, is organized through three different an old one to the trade union having to take on new dimensions discourses. These are the discourse movement, whether with fellow­ in an era of unregulated capital. of globalization, the discourse of sol­ workers, a nearby workplace or The hegemony currently enjoyed idarity and the discourse of develop­ internationally. During the long era by the discourse around global ment. By discourse I do not mean of apartheid, Canadian labour, like competitiveness makes it urgent just a way of talking but a fluid con­ other sectors, built up a practice for our members to find new stellation of institutions, forms and of political and material support forms of north-south connections practices, including language prac­ for the forces working to dismantle and strategies for working together. tices, through which international apartheid. Leaders from the major In this new era, workers will either relationships are organized. The trade unions in South Africa became be played off haplessly against each social relationships between work­ familiar figures at Canadian labour other as rights and standards fall ing people in Canada and South gatherings. Steelworker director to the lowest common denominator Africa are shaped through these dis­ Leo Gerard likes to reminisce about or find ways to work in concert to courses, offering a repertoire of pos­ moments like the time when Cyril level rights and standards upwards, sible roles ranging from donors and Ramaphosa, then a National Union inventing new bottom-up forms of victims to competitors and strategic ofMineworkers leader, called him for globalization.

Southern Africa REPORT april 1996 9 The prevailing development discourse has also come up under new scrutiny by the creation of international development funds in four major trade unions in Canada over the past decade. The efforts of these funds to put a distinctly labour signature to their work at this historical moment creates an interesting interface between the three prevailing discourses.

Labour-based development funds, a new phenomenon

The increased involve­ ment of Canadian labour in international development emerged more strongly just as the formal apartheid system began to wind down and the forces of neo-liberal funda­ mentalism preaching the gospel of global competitiveness inten­ sified. Since 1985, four major Canadian unions, three in the private sector and one public sector union, have established funds for international work. The pioneer was the Steelworkers Human­ ity Fund, established An education pack at a policy conference in 1985 and now in lor activists its tenth year of op­ erations. After it came the Communica­ tions, Energy and Pa­ mi1 per Workers Human­ ity Fund (CEP), es­ tablished in 1990. In 1991 , the Canadian INTERNATIONAL LABOUR RESOURCE- AND INFORMATION GROUP

10 april 1996 Southern Africa REPORT Auto Workers (CAW) established tiona! questions are coming at our the four funds and the CLC. the CAW Social Justice Fund. members or we will lose it." For The LIDC successfully negotiated a The newest union to create an Saare, this meant addressing inter­ 5.2 million dollar programme with international development fund is national questions like NAFTA. It CIDA that will channel greatly the Canadian Union of Public meant a hemispheric trading bloc of increased resources to southern Employees (CUPE), whose Union the Americas. It meant BC mining trade unions to build up their Aid fund was incorporated as a companies opening rounds of bar­ capacity to represent their members registered charity in 1993. gaining by telling Canadian miners effectively, and to contribute to what profits they could make from stronger civil societies in their The mechanism for these funds their operations in Chile or South respective countries. is a characteristically labour mech­ Africa - and how Canadian miners anism, the collective bargaining had to lessen wage demands and lean agreement. There are now, a decade on their governments to lighten up Post-apartheid labour connec­ later, close to 400 Steelworker bar­ on environmental standards, on cor­ tions with southern Africa - gaining units that have included porate taxes, on protection of na­ where next? the Humanity Fund in their agree­ tive people's land rights, if Canadian ments. This means a penny for The Steelworkers Humanity mining was to be competitive glob­ each hour worked is donated to Fund marks its tenth year with ally. the fund . About 10 percent of a level of strength and resilience the contracts include a matching During 1994 the four labour to its connections with African penny an hour from management. funds and the Canadian Labour trade unions far beyond its own The other funds have similar mech­ Congress (CLC) entered into a se­ projections. The most active anisms. For the Steelworkers, this ries of negotiations with each other connection, by far, is with the means raised revenue of $8-900,000 and with CIDA about changes National Union of Mineworkers annually which, when matched by in the funding of the Canadian where there are now multiple layers CIDA co-funding, becomes a size­ labour movement's international de­ of connections weaving in and out of able development fund . velopment activities. The four a variety of areas in the institutional labour funds found themselves in an life of our two unions. There is a Each of the four unions brought a anomalous position vis-a-vis other complex and fluid mixture of links, distinct history of international con­ some fuelled by funding and others nections into its development fund, NGO development agencies. As "new kids on the block" with sub­ driven by the similarities of outlook some through a history of active stantial capacity for raising rev­ of the two organizations as they face involvement in International Trade enue, they argued for the same management - at times even the Secretariat activities in different re­ right to matching funds that long­ same employers - and the global gions of the world and some through established NGOs enjoyed- and this economy. direct union initiatives. All of them had developed direct working links in an era of shrinking funds. with counterpart unions in South The specific projects supported Another major concern of the by the Steelworkers Humanity Fund Africa in the final years of disman­ labour funds was the large portion of tling apartheid. are five, with co-funding from CIDA funding going to private sec­ the LIDC programme and the tor initiatives, both through bilat­ The Steelworkers Humanity South Africa Special Fund/South eral programmes and programmes Fund emerged in the wake of the Africa Bilateral Country Program. like CIDA Inc. Given the historic Ethiopian crisis, at a time when peo­ There is a housing project which understanding operative in Canada ple throughout Canada wer.e invent­ supports the establishment of a that the private sector is comprised ing ways to respond to this human NUM Housing Unit that has made of both a labour and a management tragedy. If the original mandate of housing a bargaining issue and side, the labour funds put forward the Fund was relief and development tackled the complex question of strong arguments about the need to activities triggered by the Ethiopian mine hostel up-grading. The second balance CIDA's much increased sup­ experience, the events during the ten project is with the NUM Education port for the corporate side of the pri­ years of its existence have consid­ Department. NUM has recently vate sector with significantly larger erably broadened its mandate. As negotiated paid educational leave for CIDA funding specifically for trade Jim Saare, a long-time board mem­ its shaft stewards and has acquired a union development in the south. ber who had travelled for the Fund training centre in Johannesburg. It to Nicaragua in the early 1990s com­ The upshot of all of these is now piloting courses for stewards mented at a Board Meeting in 1993, discussions was the formation of a on various themes and will carry out "Either we find a way to make Labour International Development exchange visits to look at how labour the Fund relevant to how interna- Committee (LIDC) made up of education is organized in Canada.

Southern Africa REPORT april 1996 11 A third project is with the NUM five regions of the world. This resisted the tendencies to make these legal department. This department development assistance has, at its into "donor inspections" with our will send a senior staff person for core, a funding mechanism, with members seeing themselves/being a three month training visit. The a transfer of monetary resources seen as "mini-project officers ." The NUM staff person will be based in from a northern trade union-based objectives of the visits have to the Steelworkers legal department, fund to finance the activities of do with education of our members looking at labour law and the role an organization in Africa, Latin about the realities of the south, of unions, corporations and govern­ America or Asia. and solidarity. Members are asked ments in labour governance. The to speak from their own strength fourth project is with the NUM de­ Yet even while this practice, and experience, as social activists in velopment department. NUM is organized through the development Canada, carrying out their activism supporting laid-off mineworkers re­ discourse, has been consolidated through their unions. These visits, turning to their rural region or coun­ over the past decade, the discourse like the courses, straddle "develop­ try of origin with a programme of of development is too narrow to ment," "global economy" and "soli­ credit and training for cooperatives contain the global connections that darity" discourses. predated it and are now being and micro-enterprises. Some of the Our members are being con­ funding comes from bargaining re­ fed by it. The expectations of the organizations receiving support fronted with international questions trenchment packages with manage­ on a daily basis, forced to compete ment and some of it comes from ex­ from the labour funds are high; they expect a "labour signature" globally, with the threat of closure ternal funding sources like the Hu­ and a move to Mexico or Chile con­ manity Fund. to the work. They want the relationship to a labour-based fund stantly held over their heads. Ef­ NUM's role in labour develop­ to take them beyond a donor fective servicing of the needs of our ment goes beyond strengthening its relationships, important as funding own members forces the union to es­ own organization. It is also play­ may be, towards working links with tablish new international practices, ing an active role in setting up re­ the union as a social actor in ones which cannot be carried out by gional structures such as the South­ Canada. old forms of labour diplomacy and ern African Mineworkers Federation solidarity. The forces of globaliza­ (SAMF), to strengthen smaller min­ The development education pro­ tion demand sectoral links between ing unions in countries like Zambia, gramme of the Humanity Fund has, workers in the same industry in dif­ Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The from the outset, situated the de­ ferent jurisdictions, or working for Humanity Fund grant will support velopment work of the fund in the same company in different parts training workshops in SAMF. the broader context of the global of the world. economy. The week-long "Think­ The interweaving of the con­ ing North South" course gets mem­ Arguably the really interesting nections organized through dis­ bers working with the concepts of space being created by the labour courses of development, globaliza­ the globalization, looking at their funds is the work and the connec­ tion and solidarity is captured by own insertion into the global econ­ tions they are creating in points of the exchanges between our mem­ omy, putting themselves into the interface between the three all too bers. While the focus of a visit shoes of southern workers. It often unconnected discourse of de­ may fall solidly within institutional specifically challenges the comfort­ velopment, solidarity and globaliza­ strengthening logic of the "develop­ able relationships organized through tion. Our members live these in­ ment discourse" woven into any ex­ the development discourse and re­ terconnections in their daily lives, change are strands coming out of inforced by media images of north­ caught between powerful macro a deep sense of common interests south power relationships that as­ forces of multinational companies as trade unions and an urgent need sume "donor-beneficiary" relation­ and international institutions like to share experiences and strategies ships with Canadians as the "devel­ GATT and NAFTA and the micro around globalization. oped" offering our resources to the realities of their fights for jobs and "undeveloped." Role plays explore communities and social wages and a future for their children. Can the Global labour t ies the differences between relationships of dependency and relationships of new labour development funds use the institutional space these funds After ten years of existence, solidarity based on mutual interests the Humanity Fund has built up and strategic alliances. create to promote alternative kinds a solid practice of development of labour connections and practices assistance with a $1.6 million The education programme in­ of global solidarity, ones that, over programme supporting projects of cludes working visits to the organi­ time, contribute towards building up about 30 labour and community zations supported by the fund as a forms of globalization in which work­ organizations in 12 countries in fundamental component. We have ing people have genuine input?

12 april 1996 Sou t hern Africa REPORT ______ml@mmn@fuiD ______Trade Unions and Politics: What Next in Namibia? BY GRET CHEN BAUER 1950s, and among mineworkers at legally classified as 'employees' in Gretchen Bauer, a professor at the several mines around Namibia in 1978 in Namibia and thus were only University of Delaware, is a long time the 1970s, none of these efforts able to form and join trade unions observer of the Namibian scene. survived persistent persecution by from 1978. At the same time, colonial authorities and a completely prohibitions against political party After playing a significant mobiliza­ hostile legal environment. Indeed affiliations continued to hamper the tional role during the final years of black workers only came to be emergence of mass-based unions in the liberation struggle, trade unions in Namibia have continued to strug­ gle in the more than five years since independence. While labour move­ ments in many parts of Africa have provided crucial impetus and sup­ port for emerging democratization efforts, organized labour in Nami­ bia has faced numerous constraints and challenges. As in the rest of Africa, however, active engagement by trade unions and other popular sectors is sorely needed if Namibia's fragile democracy is to be consoli­ dated. Trade unions in their present form have existed m Namibia for just over a decade. There are two trade union federations representing over 118,000 workers [see Box] . The major trade union federation, the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW), is comprised of eight member unions and has an estimated "total rank and file membership" of 88,000. A second trade union federation, known as the Namibia People's Social Movement (NPSM), has a membership estimated to be more than 30,000. Just as Namibia only gained its independence from South Africa in ....u ro 1990, decades after most African c. countries won their independence, E so too were workers in Namibia c only able to organize themselves 0 Ul into trade unions much later than ro workers elsewhere in Africa. While ·--·.dO"!!!!,.. w initial attempts were made among Q) fishworkers in Luderitz in the 1920s, ~--~~~~~~::::~ 5 Luderitz and Walvis Bay in the Rossing uranium mine, Namibia

Southern Africa REPORT april 1996 13 Namibia even after 1978. While Wages Commission, and Namibian union movement. Since indepen­ a number of the unions of the workers have an extensive, though dence the SWAPO government has NPSM grew out of early white qualified, right to strike. Labour committed itself to a mixed econ­ staff associations, the unions of the relations have been decriminalized omy in which the private sector acts NUNW only emerged in the mid with complaints processed in newly as the engine of economic growth to late 1980s during a groundswell established district labour courts. and recovery. The government's de­ of community-based organizing in Union members are allowed access to velopment priorities involve reviv­ urban townships around Namibia. employer premises for the purposes ing and sustaining economic growth, of organizing workers, and unions creating employment opportunities, Today organized workers in N a­ must no longer demonstrate 'repre­ alleviating poverty and reducing the mibia make up roughly half of the sentativeness' in registering with the aforementioned income inequalities. formal sector labour force. The for­ Labour Commissioner. In general, The outstanding characteristic of mal sector workforce in Namibia is the new labour relations dispensa­ the Namibian economy remains the estimated at about 230,000 people tion in Namibia is based on the prin­ overwhelming but declining signifi­ out of a total economically active ciple of tripartism - of consultation cance of the primary sector (mining, population of about 500,000; those and cooperation among the state, fishing and commercial agriculture) not in the formal sector are pri­ workers and employers. Unfortu­ and the economy's export orienta­ marily to be found in subsistence nately for the unions, an overriding tion (minerals, fish and beef). agriculture. Moreover, workers are concern remains whether they have particularly well organized in such Given the protracted weakness of the overall capacity, political clout regional and international economies strategic export sectors as mining and economic muscle to participate and in the public service where they and persistent tension in some com­ effectively in new tripartite arrange­ modity markets (diamonds, cop­ confront the largest single employer ments. in the country - the government. per, uranium) on which Namibia While the formal labour rela­ relies heavily, since independence Just as important as their rela­ tions framework is a favourable one, the Namibian economy has not ex­ tively strong numbers, trade unions current economic and social indica­ panded at rates which could be de­ in Namibia today face a generally tors are less promising for unions scribed as realizing its full poten­ favourable legal environment. For and their members. As a result of tial for growth. Moreover, even eco­ decades the leading liberation orga­ decades of apartheid policies, Nami­ nomic growth rates of up to 3.5 per­ nization, the South West Africa Peo­ bia suffers from significant inequal­ cent annually barely keep up with ple's Organisation (SWAPO), drew ities of wealth and income and ac­ the population growth rate. Still, consistent and loyal support from cess to public services that corre­ considerable progress has been made among Namibia's sizable migrant spond closely to racial and ethnic in reviving and developing the fish­ labour force - not surprising given categories. The legacy of apartheid ing sector and key industries in the link between exploitative labour rule in Namibia will take years to the manufacturing sector ( construc­ relations and oppressive colonial re­ undo, and early reports indicate that tion and fish and meat processing). lations in South African occupied in workplaces throughout Namibia ­ Steady growth in agricultural out­ Namibia. One of SWAPO's early especially on commercial farms, but put and a post-independence expan­ stated priorities after independence, also in factories, on the mines and in sion of government functions and as it took on the role of ruling party other smaller worksites - past atti­ services have also been experienced. in government, was to legislate a tudes and practices endure. To most In general, the atmosphere of peace new labour relations dispensation. trade unionists, employers remain a and stability (and a favourable In­ The new labour law, finally imple­ formidable opponent with superior vestment Code enacted in 1990) mented in late 1992, represents a financial, material and human re­ have played a significant role in en­ dramatic gain for Namibian workers sources and as such are much better hancing the investment climate. by, for the first time, introducing the positioned to influence government The Namibian government's own notion of unfair labour practices. than are the unions. recent Economic Review predicts Moreover, in the new Labour Limitations of the Namibian that Namibia's economic prospects Act, employees may only be dis­ economy for the mid to late 1990s are missed for a valid reason and in a fair favourable. The projection hinges way, and the onus lies with employ­ Many factors combine to erode the mainly on the mild economic up­ ers to show that disciplinary actions position of organized labour in N a­ swing expected in the world econ­ and dismissals have indeed been fair. mibia. First, the limitations of the omy and in South Africa (Namibia's Minimum wages can now be intro­ Namibian economy, and especially largest trading partner). Growth duced in specific sectors of the econ­ the very small manufacturing sector, rates of more than five percent are omy following the directives of a do not bode well for a strong trade predicted for the mid to late 1990s.

14 april 1996 Southern Africa REPORT ______m~mmn~fuill ______

A number of factors will determine the federation's first congress after are not SWAPO members from the future outlook, including: cli­ independence in 1991. Affiliation joining the NUNW, and it certainly mactic conditions (already improved was challenged by member unions, has been an impediment to trade in 1994) and beef prices, diamond including MUN and NANTU, at union unity in the past. output and offshore marine opera­ the NUNW's second congress in late tions, uranium output and export 1993 but the challenge was defeated Several very unambiguous state­ prices, and the expansion of the fish­ without even being voted upon by ments by SWAPO officials since in­ ing industry. congress delegates. During 1995 , dependence have indicated just how the NUNW sought to clarify the seriously and unfavourably some Ties that bind: unions and within SWAPO view the potential SWAPO meaning of its affiliation to SWA.t>O through the adoption of a formal ac­ disaffiliation of the NUNW from the While the limitations of the Namib­ cord with SWAPO. By mid 1995 , party. When then General Secre­ ian economy do not encourage a however, little progress had been tary Bernhardt Esau announced in strong union movement, a number made on the accord, reportedly be­ March 1994 that the federation was of other factors combine to fur­ cause of a lack of response from the considering forming its own political ther erode the position of orga­ party. party, his comments were "greeted nized labour in Namibia. One is­ with consternation in some union, sue that has dominated the trade Those who support affiliation SWAPO and even state security cir­ union movement more or less since maintain that it ensures union input cles," according to The Namibian independence has been that of the into party and government decision Esau was summoned to SWAPO NUNW's affiliation to the ruling making processes; in any case, headquarters and quickly retracted party SWAPO. The longstanding the relationship between workers his statement. support of many Namibian work­ and SWAPO is considered to be During the years of exile, some ers fo r SWAPO has been noted; a historically tested and mutually SWAPO leaders reportedly voiced but the ties run deeper still. From beneficial one. Those who oppose just this fear , that the unions might 1970 among SWAPO in exile an the NUNW's continued affiliation ultimately attempt to form a sep­ NUNW was established and run to SWAPO charge that it prevents arate party. Indeed, many in N a­ out of the SWAPO Department of the unions from developing their mibia feel that the potential is very Labour. Moreover, key SWAPO own programs and identity as many strong for a split within SWAPO cadres (former SWAPO combatants workers fail to distinguish between with, for example, union members released from Robben Island in the the two; many fear that affiliation joining together with the Namib­ mid 1980s) were instrumental in subordinates the unions to the ian National Students Organisation the final formation of the NUNW party making trade union leadership (NANSO), which long ago disaffil­ and its member unions inside N a­ accountable to the party leadership iated from SWAPO and has suf­ mibia. From the 1989 election rather than to their rank and file fered dearly for it. Alternatively, onward, the NUNW and affiliated members. There is a strong sense union members could join with the unions have participated actively in that the unions' support is taken Namibian Non-Governmental Or­ SWAPO election campaigns. for granted by party leadership. ganisation Forum (NANGOF), are­ The NUNW 's affiliation to Finally, some fear that political cently formed non-governmental or­ SWAPO was formally reaffirmed at party affiliation prevents those who ganization (NGO] umbrella group, Major Trade Union Federations National Union of Namibian Worker s Namibia P eople's Social Movement • Namibia Public Workers Union • Public Service Union of Namibia • Metal and Allied Namibian Workers Union • Namibia Building Workers Union • Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union • Local Authorities Union of Namibia • Namibia Transport and Allied Workers Union • Namibia Wholesale and Retail Workers Union • Namibia National Teachers Union • South West Africa Mineworkers Union • Mineworkers Union of Namibia • Bank Workers Union of Namibia • Namibia Domestic and Allied Workers Union Total membership; approximately 30,000 • Namibia Farm Workers Union Total membership: approximately 88,000

Southern Africa REPORT april 1996 15 ______llil@Nffi~@~@------and perhaps even members of the Other issues that have preoccupied to influential government positions. SWAPO Youth League, to form a the unions since independence have After the December 1994 National new party. Moreover, many spec­ included the enactment of social se­ Assembly and Presidential elections, ulate that this is the only way in curity legislation (containing mater­ the NUNW and member unions which a viable opposition political nity benefits for women workers) , lost three more of their top leaders party will ever emerge in Namibia. public sector negotiations and union (also SWAPO Central Committee input into various reform processes, members) - Bernhardt Esau, John The issue of affiliation has also for example, in education. Shaetonhodi and Walter Kemba - been one of the main factors inhibit­ to SWAPO seats in the National The most recent concern of trade ing unity between the two major Assembly. On the one hand, this unionists in Namibia, however, has trade union federations. Not sur­ may be merely further evidence of prisingly, there has been intermit­ been the proposed establishment the co-optation of union leadership of export processing zones (EPZs) tent talk of the need for labour unity by the party with little benefit to in the country and particularly in in a country where more than 15 the unions. On the other hand, unions represent just over 100,000 Walvis Bay (returned to Namibia in it may offer the chance for greater workers. In 1995, trade unions came February 1994). While the unions representation of worker interests together for formal unity talks, issu­ have not objected to the notion of in Namibia or for a more militant ing a document containing 20 points EPZs in and of themselves, they leadership to come to assert itself objected strongly to the govern­ of agreement and six of disagree­ within the unions. ment. At the least, delegates agreed ment's attempt to have Namibia's on the need for the establishment progressive labour law not apply Ten years after their emergence, of a forum representing all Namib­ in the EPZs. For months during unions in Namibia, in particular the ian unions in order to be able to 1995, union and government lead­ unions of the NUNW, continue to discuss common socioeconomic con­ ers attempted to reach an agree­ face an uncertain future. Overall cerns and input into national policy ment, with government calling the membership in the federation has making. According to The Namib­ unions' attitude "confrontational" grown considerably in the last few ian Worker, most of the delegates and the "wrangling" between the years and several member unions to the talks indicated their wish two sides "unfortunate," and the have strengthened markedly their to form a single umbrella body for unions threatening to take the gov­ organizational, administrative and Namibian trade unions. ernment to court over the matter. financial capacities. The unions are servicing their members better than Since independence Namibian Ultimately, both sides agreed to ever before, they are taking advan­ unions have not only been pursu­ a compromise. The Labour Act tage of the experience and expertise ing unity talks with each other, but would apply in EPZs, . but EPZs of regional and international affili­ they have continued to work closely would be considered essential service ates, and they are conducting myr­ with other community-based orga­ areas and thus strikes and lock­ iad educational and training pro­ nizations (CBOs). As noted, the outs would be prohibited. For the grams for their own members. While NUNW unions emerged during a pe­ unions, however, this has been just still lacking in the requisite research riod of heightened grassroots activ­ one more instance of the government capacity, the unions have recognized not consulting properly with the ity in Namibia, and there has long the need to represent their members' unions on a major policy issue been an overlap among those active interests in national policy debates, directly affecting them and their in the unions, churches, student and and on a few occasions have joined membership. In March, NUNW women's organizations and NGOs together with national NGOs and in general. This collaboration was President Israel Kalenga described CBOs to do so. manifest most clearly in September the problem of the EPZs as one 1994 when the unions joined forces of "gravity and magnitude" for But in many respects the unions' with a number of NGOs to convene Namibian workers; in the days future direction seems fundamen­ their own conference on land reform before the EPZ Amendment Bill tally tied to that of the ruling party, in Namibia. The groups charged was to be taken up in Parliament SWAPO, and broader political de­ I that the government had failed to he warned the government that velopments in Namibia. With ev­ address competently the land ques­ Namibian workers would not be ery election SWAPO grows stronger ) tion in Namibia. Moreover, ac­ "sacrificed" for their cheap labour. and the fledgling opposition parties cording to the unions and NGOs, ever weaker. In such an environ­ An uncertain future? land grabbing by government offi­ ment an active and insistent civil so­ cials was rampant in the commu­ For the NUNW unions, input into ciety - including vocal trade unions nal areas of Namibia. The land is­ policy making might be both an - is all the more crucial to Namibia's sue in Namibia is one around which opportunity and a threat, as they attempt to consolidate its nascent numerous groups remain agitated. lose more and more of their cadres democracy.

16 april 1996 Southern Africa REPORT ------~Jl©@CIDJlil~CID'liail©m ______The World, Society &the Individual

Our citation of recent works by Colin Leys on the African development prospect and the process of globalization (his article "Confronting the African Tragedy" in New Left Review, #204 and his new book, The Rise and Fall of Development Theory, for example) in the editorial that framed our last issue of SAR sparked considerable reader comment. We publish here a further text by Leys - a talk given at Carleton University last year but l1eretofore unpublished - that casts his analysis even more broadly. Here at SAR we have found this text a most useful reference-point for situating our own thinking about both southern Africa and Canada- and about the relationship between them. We are pleased to share it with our readers.

BY COLIN LEYS opposed to societies. Mrs. Thatcher soon as capital became free to move On October 5th, 1994, 25 members expressed it accurately, if naively, across national borders, as it did of the Church of the Solar Temple when she declared that "there by the early . 1980s, these national killed themselves, or were killed by is no such thing as 'society', policies could no longer be pursued. their leaders, in a house belonging only individuals and their families." The immediate subordination of to the Church in Switzerland. The The assumptions on which the social goals to the interests of private reaction of the media, and of most globalization project rests, then, are capital is only made more complete people, was one of amazement and literally absurd. But this does not, and immediate by the size of some horror. A community of people obviously, mean that the project is countries' public debt, especially if had destroyed itself, or had been unreal. On the contrary, it is well foreigners are allowed to own it. destroyed by its leaders, in the name under way. Once the debt becomes very large, of some far-out utopian ideal. We There are some misconceptions as it now is in Canada, where saw it as sick, pathological. If it about globalization which I don't debt service consumes a third of all occurred to anyone that it might be have time to discuss. Let me just tax revenues and poses a problem a symbol of what was simultaneously say this: it is not a question of for the balance of payments, the happening to the surrounding, so­ how close we are to having a single owners of the debt have the power called normal society, I did not see global market, or of how big a to veto any new policies they it mentioned. Yet I believe that percentage of total world production dislike. In industrialized countries the self-destruction of the Church is traded internationally, and so like Canada, this power is exercised of the Solar Temple is a symbol on. Globalization is a policy in through the credit ratings that "the of wh?-t is currently happening on the service of an irrational idea, market" awards to governments. A the world's stage: that our leaders not a realizable world. But in the budget that meets with disapproval are directing a process of the self­ name of this idea a critical decision leads to a lowering of the credit destruction of our societies in the has been made to accept capital's rating, which raises the interest rate name of a utopia no less irrational freedom to move across national payable on the outstanding debt. than the beliefs of the Church of the boundaries. Controls over the As a result, national goals have Solar Temple, .whatever they may movement of capital were the linch­ been progressively abandoned. For have been. This utopia is the idea pin of the international economic example, corporate taxes have fallen of a world-wide market in which the system agreed on at Bretton Woods. sharply while corporate subsidies people of the world relate to each As long as capital was not free to have expanded, which accounts for other directly as individuals, and leave, states could pursue collective a significant part of the so-called only as individuals; ."globalization" goals such as full employment, "fiscal crisis" of the state. is the process of trying to reach this equitable income distribution, care According to Canada's former ideal. for the helpless, preservation of Auditor General, in the late, 1980s As an idea, it is strictly nonsense. the countryside, decent housing, a corporate "tax spending" (i.e. taxes In reality individuals cannot survive more highly educated or healthier due from corporations but not on their own ; we are social animals, population, and so on. Meeting collected) came to about $35 billion totally dependent for our very such goals involved ensuring that annually; but it is not these psychic stability, let alone the capital was invested appropriately, expenditures that are cut in the material means of survival, on through a mixture of incentives and budgets. Instead it is the social complex and constant connexions sanctions, including taxes. Private programmes that we put in place with others, i.e. on society. The owners of capital were obliged to to make this the kind of society doctrine on which globalization accept this because they could not we wanted to live in that are cut, 1s based, however, is positively take their capital away. But as while people who try to defend

Southern Africa REPORT april 1996 17 them are denigrated as "special It is significant that no one is man beings and their natural envi­ interest groups." In underdeveloped talking about this. I do not have ronment, indeed even of the amount countries, the mechanism is cruder. time to discuss the assumptions and use of purchasing power, would Power over a government's policies made by the neoclassical economists result in the demolition of soci­ is now exercised directly by its whose ideas are supposed to lead to ety . . . Robbed of the protective foreign creditors, as a condition of this conclusion. I will only say that power of cultural institutions, hu­ further lending. The principle is my secretary at Queen's has a notice man beings would perish from the the same in either case: policies over her desk that seems to me effects of social exposure; they would that serve to strengthen societies by more plausible than the reasoning of die as victims of acute social dis­ serving collective goals are sacrificed the MacDonald Commission on the location through vice, perversion, in favour of those approved of by Economic Union; it says, "to save crime, and starvation. Nature would creditors. money, the light at the end of the be reduced to its elements, neigh­ tunnel has been turned off." bourhoods and landscapes defiled, Those policies that they approve rivers polluted, military safety jeop­ include cutting government spend­ What is most frightening about ardized, the power to produce food ing until the deficit is reduced. In what is happening is that it has and raw materials destroyed . .. practice, this is not compatible with happened before, and its essential (pg. 73) logic has been perfectly clear for at ' the kind of society we have had up to But is this really what global- least half a century. In his famous now in Canada, let alone with that ization implies? That depends, of book, The Great Transformation, of Ghana or Malawi. The general course, on where you are starting impression given by the mainstream the Hungarian Karl Polanyi, wrote that: from. In privileged parts of the media is that things must get worse world like Canada, we have still a so that they can get better. But why To allow the market mechanism to long way to go before that limit is should they get better? be sole director of the fate of hu- reached. Instead, what we are wit-

c ro -eE ro I ·":;: ro 0 Last day at Champion Spark Plug plant, Windsor Ontario, before it shut down and moved away - 1992

18 april 1996 Southern Africa REPORT nessing here is a series of staged re­ collection and road maintenance to meant as a warning, a dystopia: it ductions in expectations. Instead of a national train system, and inde­ was something that had only ever looking forward to growing real in­ pendent public broadcasting service, been imposed on colonial peoples, comes, as we used to be urged to do, and, next, unemployment insurance, when (as he wrote) "unimaginable people are induced, through the dis­ broad-access higher education, and suffering [had] ensued." What course of the deficit, to be grateful health care. At each stage in the de­ would he think of a world that, for modest annual real income reduc­ cline there is less to defend, less we thirty years after decolonization, is tions; and instead of being mobilized feel proud of, less we feel identified imposing it on those same peoples to bring capital back under control, with. This slow way of killing a so­ again? I am not arguing that they are set to fight each other over ciety through death by a thousand Africa represents the fate of the the incidence of these allegedly "in­ cuts can go on for a long time, but rest of the world. The global evitable" income losses - young ver­ it is death all the same. logic of capitalism will work itself sus old (the discourse of "Genera­ In less fortunate places, the out unevenly, with some poles of tion X"); public sector versus pri­ death of society comes more quickly, accumulation appearing, while older vate (the intellectually scandalous even catastrophically. This is ones decline. But what I am discourse of the "Social Contract" most clear in the countries of sub­ confident of is that any society that of Ontario and Bob Rae, and the Saharan Africa, where pre-colonial js not in a position to re-subordinate cheap rhetoric of "cutting bureau­ societies were chopped up into some the market will be destroyed by it cratic waste"); recent immigrants 40 colonies which later became - each in its own way, at its own versus the grandchildren of ear­ 40 would-be post-colonial societies. speed and by its own standards, lier immigrants (the Reform Party's Through the 1950s and '60s, these but destroyed. The question then racist discourse of "the burden on new societies were in a process of becomes, are there any reasons social services"); the employed ver­ relatively rapid coalescence, assisted to think that this process can be sus the unemployed (the discourse of by the steady expansion of pro­ reversed? "repeat users" and "welfare bums"); duction and dramatic improvements Polanyi noted that since the doc­ and so on. This process also works in collective consumption, includ­ trine of the self-regulating market to accelerate a necessary historical ing transport, health and education. was first form•Ilated, capital's at­ amnesia. What has to be erased is Then came neo-liberal globalization: tempts to free itself from social reg­ the memory of the 1950s and 1960s, commodity prices collapsed, leading ulation had twice been effectively re­ the memory that we once had collec­ to a decline in per capita incomes versed, -once by the "social-liberal" tive control over our lives, that we and the collapse of trade surpluses, reforms of the late nineteenth cen­ formed a society, as Canadians, On­ followed by rapid increases in debt. tury, and a second time by the Key­ tarians, Quebecois, Ottawans and so nesian reaction to the depression of on, and that as members of this soci­ This opened the way for the imposition of Structural Adjustment the 1930s. In 1944 he wrote, confi­ ety we made decisions about how it dently, that it was now "an absur­ should evolve, and arranged the fis­ Programmes which aimed at forcing these societies to "adjust," within dity" to think that "a community cal regime, interest rates, the money would remain indifferent" to the de­ supply, public borrowing and spend­ the space of a few years and without serious thought about the social struction that any fresh deregulation ing to serve these decisions. We of capital would cause. But it is did not make -these decisions per­ costs, to the alleged "realities" of world market prices. The result not so easy to be optimistic today. fectly, but we made them. Today One of the most disturbing possibil­ we no longer do so . This we must has not been a market-based social and economic recovery based on ities about the present project for be made to forget, or at least to the emancipation of capital from so­ look upon that epoch as unrepeat­ individuals and their initiatives in the marketplace. It has been, cial control - about globalizati

Southern Africa REPORT april 1996 19 are perceived as being weaker in a parently uncontrollable momentum views, interpretations of national world of deregulated capital move­ now reached by unregulated interna­ history, analyses of the current con­ ments, and governments are exploit­ tional capital. Maybe I am wrong; juncture and a moral and practical ing this perception to reduce their but what else can it mean when utopia (a vision of a new social or­ accountability to voters. This aggra­ magazines like Harpers and Atlantic der) - emerge from conscious intel­ vates people's sense of inefficiency. Monthly and even Vanity Fair head­ lectual effort. Of course, they do Then there are some closely line articles full of fin-de-siecle angst, not emerge in the form proposed by related changes that are ·bound when the Toronto Globe and Mail's any one intellectual, or even one in­ up with globalization, though not Business Week runs excerpts from tellectual current: their form crys­ necessarily resulting directly from Kevin Phillips's book Arrogant Cap­ tallizes in debates between social it. One, the forms of life have ital, when financial mega-capitalists groups in the emergent bloc. But been rapidly individualized over the like George Soros and Sir James intellectual work is an indispensable past three decades, through con­ Goldsmith publish urgent calls for precondition. Otherwise the com­ sumerism, the media, and comput­ the regulation of currency specula­ mitment of effort and acceptance ers. These and other changes have tion, and when the Economist sud­ of costs that any successful politi­ gravely weakened the labour move­ denly rediscovers the merits of pub­ cal project needs from huge num­ ments and lethally weakened the lic ownership and planning? Could bers of people will not be forthcom­ mass-membership political parties the organic intellectuals of capital ing. There has to b~ a coherent, that used to express the most active be experiencing some anxiety about convincing, morally persuasive dis­ sociality of ordinary people. Second, the disappearance of the allies they course, offering answers to big ques­ the death of meetings (whether pub­ could have turned to in the past, tions about identity, meaning and lic, or intra-party, or union) leaves now that the ordinary working pop­ dignity, as well as offering practi­ the diffusion and testing of infor­ ulation has been so comprehensively cal solutions to material questions, mation, and the formation of opin­ neutralized politically? and pointing to a way of living that ion, largely to the media, and es­ makes sense, and that appeals. pecially television. But the media The conclusion I draw from this and other evidence is that a fresh I think that many elements of have been made into a field of capital organic crisis (in Antonio Gramsci's such a discourse are present in the accumulation, not a neutral, equal­ various discourses of contemporary access arena in which information sense of the term) is already on the horizon. The hegemony social movements of all kinds, but is circulated, and any idea tested constructing them into a unified and formed. Third, public educa­ of neo-liberalism has not been firmly established, even among the hegemonic project remains largely tion does not provide most people mainstream Canadian intelligentsia, to be attempted. There is also with any systematic understanding the fundamental problem of capi­ of modern history. Its main focus and its contradictions are beginning to show. We - I at any rate - cannot tal's control of "the means of mental is on adapting young people to be foresee how it will be resolved, by production" to be confronted, which useful employees. For all these rea­ most social democrats have not yet sons we cannot rely on the auto­ what combination of social forces: all that presently seems clear is that taken seriously. This set of tasks matic reappearance of the kind of - the task of analyzing globaliza­ social forces that twice succeeded in it will not be a combination just like the last one, any more than tion, alerting our society to its real recovering control over capital in the meaning, and working out and prop­ past. that resembled the coalition of the late nineteenth century. But what agating a new post-capitalist social On the other hand, I do not we can and must do is prepare the project - is very urgent, and one to believe in Orwellian dystopias. I ground for a new social project m which anyone with a grounding in conceive that somehow, at some which the social surplus is used to the essentials of political economy point, some effective coalition of so­ serve society, not destroy it. can, if they wish, make a contribu­ cial forces will turn against the rule tion. There is a distinctive role to of capital that is now being repre­ We need to take Gramsci seri­ be played here by intellectuals (in sented to us as both rational and in­ ously, as Stuart Hall spent the early Gramsci's sense of people who ex­ evitable. I think we can already see 1980s reminding us. Historic blocs ercise the social function of intellec­ a belated recognition ofthe threat to do not put themselves together and tuals). I think this is the perma­ society beginning to occur at the re­ become politically dominant except nent truth in Kautsky's observation flective, socially conscious margin of on the basis of a common project that socialism was brought to the the mainstream liberal intelligentsia within which each element in the working class "from outside," i.e. by in the west: not exactly a counter­ bloc finds its aspirations expressed people of non-working class origins. current, but more like a sort of ner­ and potentially fulfilled. Hegemonic Today the boundaries of class have vous hand-wringing about the ap- ideologies - that is to say, world- become much less distinct, and the

20 april 1996 Southern Africa REPORT c:: E"' ~ I"' ·:;"0 . ~------~------~~--~~~----~~=-~--~ 0"' I Unemployed Steelworker in his newly emptied plant after it was shut down- Hamilton Ontario 1992 i genesis of the new post-capitalist task, work that has to be under­ tant in history happened twice, only project will occur neither "outside" taken. The reassertion of Polanyi's he forgot to add, the first time as nor "inside" the working class, but "double movement" will not be a re­ tragedy, the second time as farce. be the work of intellectuals (of vary­ vival of either of its two previous in­ But what if it occurs a third time? ing class origins) involved in a fairly carnations, but a new one, that must We have to ensure that the third wide range of class and non-class be constructed. According to Marx, time will be the last, and that it will struggles. But the task is still a Hegel said that everything impor- not end in a world-wide catastrophe.

Southern Africa REPORT april 1996 21 ______lli@~~~~~@ ______

Members dining room, Parliament, Cape Town - old paintings about to be removed Democratizing Heritage: The South African Challenge BY SHELLEY BUTLER ments, place names, signs, public tion of the status quo, in South holidays and government buildings Africa heritage promises to become Shelley Butler is a graduate student. is being debated, as the new gov­ a tool for social change and empow­ in anthropology at Toronto's York ernment seeks to democratize her­ University. erment. A key challenge in post­ itage and offer fair representation to apartheid South Africa is to redress Heritage has become a contested ter­ South Africa's diverse cultures. past injustice; museums can play a rain in post-apartheid South Africa During the last few years, a num­ significant role in documenting the where, historically, state museums ber of proposals to create museums past, as well as providing a forum and monuments either mirrored the which document the legacy of apart­ for discussing the future. colonial legacy or were tributes to heid and the anti-apartheid struggle Afrikaner nationalism and apartheid have been put forward . Thus, while A Toronto workshop racial ideology. Currently, the future heritage is often associated with con­ The challenges of democratizing her­ of apartheid-era museums, monu- servative politics and the preserva- itage in South Africa were the sub-

22 april 1996 Southern Africa REPORT ject of a recent workshop in Toronto erally regarded as the architect of communities in museum collecting facilitated by Luli Callinicos, a his­ apartheid. and education is also a cornerstone torian and cultural worker. Call­ The political challenge of pre­ of the recommendations made by the inicos is involved with the History senting critical evaluations of the Arts and Culture Task Group. She Workshop at Witwatersrand Univer­ past in mainstream public institu­ stressed how current heritage poli­ sity and the new Worker's Museum tions is not unique to South Africa, cies are being articulated in relation and Library in Johannesburg; she is of course. In Washington, for ex­ to the government's Reconstruction the author of books in the series, ample, the Smithsonian Museum re­ and Development Program, reinforc­ A People's History of South Africa; cently became enmeshed in contro­ ing its emphasis upon developing a and she has served on the national versy when it attempted to present a participatory democracy. Arts Council Task Group (ACTAG), critical exhibit of the Enola Gay and Cape Town's new District Six which has recently completed a re­ the dropping of the atomic bomb Museum, which is located in the port on heritage. Drawing on these on Hiroshima. The proposed ex­ Buitenkant Methodist Church, uses experiences, Callinicos spoke with a hibit was vigorously protested by street signs and official registers to group of cultural workers, activists veterans' groups, and eventually the evoke the texture of everyday life and academics about the challenges Smithsonian yielded to them by in this culturally diverse commu­ of linking heritage to social change. eliminating the exhibit's most chal­ nity before the periods of forced re­ Callinicos also stressed the spe­ lenging questions and haunting im­ movals. In 1901 Africans were relo­ cific challenge for the linking of her­ ages. Fortunately, and in contrast cated to Ndabeni, and in 1966 Dis­ itage to social justice issues that is with the Smithsonian, a powerful trict Six was declared a white area posed by Mandela's current empha­ exhibit on the destruction of Hi­ under the Group Areas Act. District sis upon reconciliation. In the high­ roshima was mounted in the student Six was renamed Zonnebloem and lighting of "reconciliation" - how­ center of the American Museum. the state demolished homes and "re­ ever legitimate that goal may be This is an example of how smaller settled" some 60,000 people in the in its own right - there also lies a community or university museums Cape Flats. risk that history will be sanitized are often more successful than estab­ Visitors to the District Six mu­ and merely retold in euphemistic lishment ones (which are often big seum are invited to add their mem­ terms. For example, many people tourist sites) at producing provoca­ ories of places in the community to are disappointed that June 16th - tive and politicized exhibits. a large map of the district. A pam­ the anniversary of the 1976 upris­ The community speaks phlet for the museum explains how ing by black schoolchildren - has Similarly, in South Africa, commu­ this memory project is related to been declared "Youth Day." This nity museums - such as the Worker's both the past and future: "In this name erases the history of Soweto Museum in Johannesburg that Call­ exhibition we do not wish to recre­ and stresses commonality over con­ inicos has helped to establish, and ate District Six so much as to re­ flict. It will be interesting to the District Six Museum in Cape possess the history of the area as see how people commemorate June Town - are on the cutting edge, cre­ a place where people lived, loved 16th, for even if it is officially called ating exhibits that include the arti­ and struggled. It is an attempt to Youth Day, alternative commemora­ facts and voices of people who have take back our right to signpost our tions focused on Soweto will surely been erased from official history and lives with those things we hold dear. take place and make a point about marginalized from public culture. At one level the exhibition is about the politics of history. These projects are remarkable for signs of the past. We would like In the spirit of inclusiveness and having responded to the needs of to invite you to write your names reconciliation, the transitional gov­ long ignored communities. More­ and addresses and make comments ernment recognizes two national an­ over, in contrast with traditional in the spaces around the exhibits or thems, eleven official languages, and museum practices, these museums in our visitor's book. This is im­ a flag that incorporates past colo­ have been developed with commu­ portant in helping us to retrace our nial colours with those of the ANC. nity consultation and participation. past. At another level the exhibi­ Mandela has also promised that The Workers' Museum, for example, tion is also about pointers to our fu­ white monuments will not be dis­ has begun an oral history project ture." Clearly, this sort of memory mantled without careful discussion conducted by the worker members project has the potential to be useful and negotiation. However, people themselves, to record, in the mother in tackling land reform and reclama­ have acted. In Bloemfontein, for tongue, the memories and life stories tion issues. instance, Africans pulled down a of older migrants who spent the bulk twenty foot statue of Hendrick Ver­ of their working lives in mining and Contradictions woerd, South Africa's prime minis­ municipal hostels. Callinicos stated The new Truth and Reconciliation ter from 1958 to 1966, who is gen- that such commitment to involving Commission in South Africa is also

Southern Africa REPORT april 1996 23 evidence of how important memory Mosia, development director of the politics surrounding 'the Holocaust and knowledge is in relation to South African Institute of Interna­ in Germany and other countries. redressing past injustice (see, on tional Affairs, stated: "People can't The problem with such responses in this subject, Colin Leys' article eat a name." post-apartheid South Africa, is that "Amnesty not Amnesia: Dealing The uses of memory whites may understand apartheid as with the Past in South Africa," in Heritage sites such as the Worker's being "over," and not engage with SAR, vol. 10 no. 4, May 1995). the issue of redressing inequalities. Museum may prove to be especially But, as is clear from the title useful for helping people to under­ * * * of the commission itself, it too Memory has always been an im- stand the complexity of relational is constrained by the government's portant aspect of anti-apartheid ac­ histories and segregation in South chosen priority of forgiveness for tivism. And clearly, whatever the Africa. For example, the phys­ (among other reasons, perhaps) the challenges inherent in doing so, ical space of the worker's hostel, sake of economic stability. the past will continue to be in­ which is located immediately next voked to inform South Africa's fu­ to the artisans' cottages exclusively Another challenge for heritage ture. At Robben Island, Nelson set aside for white workers, reveals work involves the tension that arises Mandela himself recently unveiled both the commonalities and unequal from seeking to deal with sym­ a plaque that reads: "Embedded power relations that existed between bolic concerns during a period when in these stones you will find the Africans and Afrikaner workers: - the majority of the population have pain of our struggle, the sorrow of a testament to the migrant labour urgent material needs. Callinicos losses, and foundation of our vic­ system - the homes of white work­ noted, for example, that when the tory." Triumphalist representations ers even included backyard shacks Worker's Museum and Library was of the past are also being questioned for domestic servants. By witness­ established in an electricity worker's as people recall, for example, that ing this reality, communities that hostel in Johannesburg, some peo­ the present-day town of Triomf was have long been isolated by segrega­ ple felt that the land should have cruelly so named by white politi­ tion can begin to take stock of their been used for affordable housing. cians after their destruction of the overlapping histories. One way of justifying the project community that proceeded it on the was to point to the potential eco­ A key concern for cultural work­ same ground: Sophiatown, a site nomic benefits that could develop ers, however, is how to challenge of defiant resistance to segregation. as the museum becomes a tourist responses of amnesia and nostalgia As Callinicos suggested, such exam­ site. In this context, the question with regard to apartheid. Without ples may remind us that, in the new of heritage is not unrelated to eco­ a doubt, there are whites in South South Africa, the role of heritage in nomic development. Still, tensions Africa collecting apartheid memora­ the debate over reconciliation ver­ do continue to arise in the sphere bilia in order to create right-wing sus reappropriation is only just be­ of democratizing heritage in post­ nostalgia dens. Others may sup­ ginning. It reflects a wider strug­ apartheid South Africa precisely be­ port efforts to commemorate apart­ gle over the contradictions of redress cause of current material conditions. heid out of a problematic cathar­ and empowerment on the one hand, To take one recent instance, in re­ tic desire to neatly dispose of the and detente with the former enemy sponse to the general enthusiasm past. This sort of response to on the other, in the perilous and of­ about changing place names Lebona the past is also evident in memory ten ironic task of nation building.

24 april 1996 Southern Africa REPORT ------====~~mill@~~====------

Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Private Bag 13386, Windhoek, Namibia Dr. Kaire Mbuende Executive Secretary Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) February 7, 1996 Dear Dr. Mbuende, For three years now, MISA has been highlighting the deteriorating media freedom situation in Zambia. Sadly the abuse of media freedom by Zambia 's supposedly-democratic government has now plummeted to new depths with the banning of the Monday February 5 edition of the privately-owned daily newspaper The Post, and the detention of three of the paper's editors. The Post's Editor-in-Chief Fred M'membe, Managing Editor Bright Mwape and Editor Matsautso Phiri were detained on February 5 after armed police spent several hours searching their homes and The Post 's premises in Lusaka. M'membe, Mwape and Phiri appeared in court on Tuesday February 6 and were charged with contravening the Official Secrets Act, and with being in possession of a prohibited publication - namely the February 5 edition of their own newspaper, which President Frederick Chiluba banned in terms of Section 53 of the Penal Code the day it was published. In its February 5 edition, The Post reported that the Government planned to hold a referendum on a new constitution. It appears the charge of contravening the Official Secrets Act relates to this story, while under the second charge, the three editors are accused of being in possession of the banned edition of their paper. During their raid of The Post 's premises on February 5, police reportedly censored articles which were to be published in the following day 's edition of The Post, production of which was delayed by the search. The police continued their search throughout February 6. When M'membe, Mwape and Phiri appeared in court on February 6, they were denied bail, and as I write, their lawyers are making further applications to the courts for the three to be released on bail - hearings which have gone on almost the entire day. This latest clamp-down on The Post is perhaps the most severe in the past three years, during which time the Zambian authorities have become increasingly hostile towards the private media in general, and The Post in particular. The Government has resorted more and more to using arcane legislation inherited from the previous one-party regime of Dr. Kenneth Kaunda, much of which dates back to British colonial rule. Such legislation violates international human rights standards and treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Zambia has acceded, and the African Charter on Human and People's Rights, which has been ratified by Zambia. The actions of the Zambian Government also clearly conflict with the 1991 Windhoek Declaration on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press, which Information Ministers from SADC member states - Zambia included - have adopted. On comirg to power, the government of President Chiluba promised to scrap such legislation. With this pledge in mind, the independent Media Reform Committee in September 1993 submitted to the Government recommendations for the reform of legislation affecting the media. Yet the Government has chosen to ignore these recommendations, preferring instead increasingly to apply these out-dated and undemocratic laws in a bid to silence its critics and opponents. As the 1991 Windhoek Declaration on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic Press points out, media freedom and diversity are prerequisites for social and economic development, as well as for the advancement of democracy. By adopting the Windhoek Declaration, SADC Information Ministers have shown their commitment to promoting media freedom and diversity in the region. The actions of the Zambian government are increasingly I undermining that commitment- and thus the development process. Therefore we urge SADC member states, i through your good offices, to bring pressure to bear on the Zambian Government to stop its persecution of the media, and to set in motion - as a matter of utmost urgency - an overhaul of the statute books with a view to bringing legislation in line with accepted international norms for media freedom, freedom of expression and other fundamental human rights. Yours sincerely, Methaetsile Leepile Director

Southern Africa REPORT april 1996 25 L Failure in the Townships? The Development Bottleneck

BY GREG RUITERS AND Like their apartheid predeces­ social policies promised by the ANC PATRICK BOND sors, the ANC councillors of South during its national campaign two years ago? More broadly still, Greg Ruiters is senior tutor of politi­ Africa's impoverished, violent town­ what are the prospects for building cal science at University of the Witwa­ ships are beginning to bear the brunt robust participatory democracy at tersrand. Patrick Bond was, until re­ of popular frustration. This is ironic the local level, revitalising civil cently, assistant professor of social pol­ perhaps, for one of the prime scape­ society, and ensuring that South icy at Johns Hopkins University. He goats for the lack of Reconstruc­ Africa's political transition begins to is currently associated with NIEP, the tion and Development Programme make a socio-economic difference to National Institute for Economic Policy (RDP) delivery between May 1994 and November 1, 1995 - the date the lives of at least millions of urban in Johannesburg. of the country's local elections - (and rural) residents still trapped in "They make a path directly to was that previous municipal govern­ unemployment and the ghetto? my door, asking me for money, ments lacked legitimacy. Not good in the short term, healthcare, jobs, housing," says Today, if freshly-minted local we must conclude after reviewing Trevor Ngwane, a newly-elected councils are the RDP's "hands and the society's structural contradic­ ANC councillor from Soweto. "But feet," in Minister Jay Naidoo's tions, political compromises and I don't sit on the committees where words, what are the prospects for mainstream ANC reactions to both. the big decisions are made. And breaking the townships' so-called Consider first the highly-constrained I don't have the power to do "culture of entitlement," and for ("low-intensity," as some call it) na­ anything." the implementation of the expansive ture of South Africa's local demo-

Cyril Ramaphosa f3 Jay Naidoo at COSATU congress in 1991

26 april 1996 Southern Africa REPORT ------~@~~~ ~~~li©~------cratic transition. We are all too provincial bureaucrats to the en­ dela and three key ministries (RDP, familiar with the late 1992 "sun­ forcement of "social contracts" - Constitutional Affairs and Hous­ set clauses" that paved the way for meant to involve all "stakehold­ ing) to reverse the "culture of non­ a Government of National Unity, ers" (i.e., government, business and payment" that was alleged to have for an excessive degree of federal­ NGOs) - as a precondition to emerged as a cancerous side-effect ism (even big business now con­ the project-level dispersal of hous­ of the 1980s ungovernability strug­ cedes), and for the absurd job guar­ ing and many other developmental gle. Masakhane was aimed at both antees that protect apartheid-era goods and services; and improving services (through the in­ civil servants. But there were also • a wariness by even ANC politicians jection of R700 million, a piddling several rather less- understood local­ regarding former allies in civil amount compared to the Rl. 7 billion level corollaries as well, which to­ society that sometimes borders on the defense ministry is requesting gether mean that the new-found le­ paranoia. to buy four high-speed "corvette" gitimacy won't run terribly deep: ships) and goading more residents • the far higher voting weight These conditions are not univer­ into paying the rent/service bills (as accorded to whites in the recent sal throughout the country, and we well as, in the process, atomising res­ election (30% of municipal seats would not want to discount coura­ idents as consumers and deradicalis­ were reserved for formerly white geous efforts by sincere, competent ing township organisations). But it residential areas - or wards - at the and sometimes radical politicians was not to be. outset, added to which is the white (like Ngwane) drawn from the rank­ In August 1995 , Tokyo Sexwale, proportion of the total vote); and-file of the ANC and SACP, the the leader of Gauteng (Johannes­ unions, civics, churches, women's burg-Pretoria-Vaal) province, pro­ • the lumping of so-called coloured groups and the like. But these and Indian residential areas into claimed, "The people of Gauteng women and men are quickly learn­ have rallied behind the call to im­ the white wards, hence splitting the ing the limits of their power, which unity of "black" South Africa; plement the Masakhane campaign are not only technical and political as a vital step in the reconstruc­ • the extraordinary veto power that in character but also social (all lo­ tion and development process." In white councillors now enjoy (with cal councillors had to endorse a for­ reality, official statistics released a just a third of the local council seats, mal "code of conduct" that prohibits month later showed that Gauteng they can prevent passage of local them from participating in mass ac­ townships from Mamelodi outside budgets and town planning bills); tion). In particular, there is danger Pretoria, to Ivory Park in north­ • the failure to develop coherent, fair that the best councillors will be split ern Johannesburg, to Daveyton in systems for rural local government from their social base, as is evidently eastern Johannesburg, to Sebokeng (here the voting weight given white the case with nearly all national and and Sharpeville in the Vaal Trian­ farmers was even greater than in the provincial ANC politicians. gle, were all recording payment rates cities); Maintaining strong South of less than 5%. Masakhane seemed • the persistence of white bureau­ African traditions of consultation to be having the opposite effect to crats at many local government and accountability will be no mean that desired. In most townships, the points of contact with the public; feat , for the local government elec­ R10 million spent on publicity coin­ tions failed to energise and mobilise cided with a 15% drop in rate pay­ • local govemment's intensifying the masses of township dwellers. ments. Following a crisis meeting in budget constraints, accompanied by Voter registration and turnout were January 1996, Department of Hous­ neo-liberal cost recovery principles less than reassuring, as no more than ing director-general Billy Cobbett and municipal privatisation pro­ a third of potential voters bothered commented, "The campaign and the grammes; and to vote. Far from greeting local gov­ ideas behind it are correct but it • the sometimes undemocratic pro­ ernment elections with enthusiasm, needs to be politically reinvigorated. cess by which local candidates had many expressed the view that if cen­ It's not just about getting people to been chosen, which led to enor­ tral government cannot deliver un­ pay for services but a social contract mous acrimony and numerous inde­ der conditions of the power-sharing between government and the people pendent candidacies (some by pro­ compromise, how is local govern­ in terms of rights and responsibili­ gressive local SA National Civic Or­ ment going to. ties on both sides." ganisation leaders). The primary vehicle for restor­ But social contracts - which un­ ing government's links to alienated der South African conditions boil Add to this two somewhat more township residents was meant to down to a weak appeal for corpo­ subjective political features: have been Operation Masakhane ratism - are not only untenable in • a surprisingly widespread corpo­ - "let us build" - launched in townships, they have not succeeded ratist commitment by national and February 1995 by President Man- in the boardrooms either.

Southern Africa REPORT april 1996 27 To illustrate, by all accounts gov­ developers to provide serviced sites grandiose mid-1994 claim by ernment's housing programme is a (i.e., put in pipes and toilets), and Sexwale that with the assistance of national tragedy. This is mainly the on banks to hand out subsidies to the developer Stocks & Stocks - gar­ case, we argue, because the RDP's low-income blacks whom they re­ ish builders of Sun City's R1 bil­ more progressive, decommodified, ally did not want to see in their lion Lost City complex) - Gauteng "people-driven" policy framework branches. Not surprisingly, the sys­ province would witness construction was rejected in favour of an ali­ tem crashed, and fewer than 15,000 of 150,000 homes in the coming year. in attempt at a social contract in houses were delivered during the na­ By January 1996, millions of rands October 1994 (see Bond, "Under­ tional housing programme's first 18 in government subsidies earmarked mining the RDP," SAR July 1995). months. for Stocks & Stocks were withdrawn, The official policy relies entirely on Most embarrassing was the since the developer had delivered

would not be surprising if these add, in many residents' Why Rent Boycotts Continue minds, to their own justification for disowning Opera­ tion Masakhane: If you lived in a South African township during the 1980s and early 1990s, there were any number of com­ • We must never forget that blacks historically sub­ pelling reasons - related, but not exclusive, to the sidised white residents' rates, because blacks worked legacy of undemocratic local government and the 1985 and bought goods in white towns from fir~s and retail ANC campaign "Make South Africa Ungovernable" - outlets that paid their rates to white town councils, thus for not paying the monthly bill for rental or service generously supplementing residential rates (while black (mainly electricity, water, sewage) charges. townships had only the beer hall for revenues). This reverse-Robin Hood phenomenon was well-understood Indeed, sporadic rent boycotts in the Western Cape, in the townships, and formed the basis for the civic East Rand and other sites pre-date the 1983 launch­ movement's "One City, One Tax Base" demand. ing of the United Democratic Front, and represented not merely anti-apartheid campaigning pressure, but Only a few municipalities- Johannesburg stands out­ a more durable mode of informal struggle based on have begun to redress the black-white subsidy by intro­ the survival mechanisms implicit in the township moral ducing progressive tariffs that would allow redistribu­ economy. This was logical given that the black town­ tion to occur in the other direction. ship was, as SACP intellectual Jeremy Cronin once • Due to the effectiveness of earlier boycotts, many local remarked, "essentially a creation of Colonialism of authorities simply neglected to send township residents a Special Type." And the township political econ­ their accounts (published reports suggest billing rates omy remains financially barren. Although monthly in many large townships are still at just 50%). This charges are often less than RlOO, the vast majority of is only beginning to change, and naturally is a high black South Africans today survive on less than R300 priority for the new government, but it will require ac­ per month, according to a recent World Bank study. curate township residents' rolls and the identification Poverty and mass unemployment are the simplest and of addresses in informal settlements, which will not be most durable rationales for not paying the bills. easy. If authorities responded to non-payment by cutting in­ • Those townships residents who received electricity ac­ dividual accounts or threatening eviction, then a supply counts from the parastatal Eskom - which had simply of electricity or water could simply be stolen (with the left black townships without power until the 1980s - help of informal electricians and plumbers) or mass ac­ were often most justified in boycotting. Their com­ tion by civic association street committees would pre­ plaints about much higher average payments per unit of vent a forced removal. Moreover, the quality of the service than in white areas were based on the fact that services - and of the decades-old matchbox houses for whites had long ago paid off capital charges. For blacks, which residents paid rent without any secure urban capital charges were internalised because services were tenure rights - was generally abysmal. This was also newer, and that infrastructure provision was far more the case for many of the 150,000 or so houses built by costly in peripheral areas of the metropolis where most the private sector and financed by banks during the late blacks reside. Then, when Eskom began installing in­ 1980s, leaving homeowners little choice but to refuse to dividual pre-paid metering points in an effort to break pay their loan, so as to compel the banks to force the the payment boycotts, these also cost more than ordi­ original developers to repair their shoddy work. nary hook-ups, and the interest on the pre-paid funds Aside from resistance politics, the waning household went to Eskom. budget and poor quality homes and services, there While some progress has been made in equalising the were - and in many cases remain still today ~ other unit rate of electricity in Johannesburg, this is not true important structural contradictions contributed to the in most other areas, and even Johannesburg has not success of the rent and service boycotts. Today, it begun to cross-subsidise from rich to poor consumers

28 april 1996 Southern Africa REPORT only 1,000 of 10,000 serviced sites is not merely due to broader gov­ tract applied to housing - that is , (not even full houses) that it had ernment fiscal constraints, as many the developer-driven, bank-centred, contracted for during the previous policy wonks argue; more than three fully-commodified, inadequately­ 18 months. Stocks & Stocks was also quarters of the state housing bud­ subsidised, gender-insensitive, geo­ deemed ineligible for future funding get goes unspent. Indeed, it re­ graphically-segregated provision of as a result. Lost City indeed. With mains eminently feasible to subsidise sites, with the hope of "incremental" what effect on local morale? an Affordable Housing For All pro­ housing construction later - consti­ Physically and psychologically, gramme within present budgetary tutes the prime delivery bottleneck. the housing crisis contributes to limits. Hence we would proba­ In contrast, barriers identified by township degradation and continu­ bly conclude, at this stage, that Cobbett and his colleagues in Jan­ ing unwillingness to pay. And this the philosophy of the social con- uary 1996 included housing indus-

as is called for in the RDP. • Schools, clinics, creches, libraries, recreation and • The state of a township's housing stock signals to res­ other publicly funded facilities are of very low qual­ idents the merits of paying the rent and service charges. ity in townships, if they exist at all, and the physical During the 1980s, the apartheid state simply stopped environment (air, water, hygiene, etc) is lamentable. building new township houses, instead turning to banks • Police are far worse at combatting township crime and developers to take over. Today, notwithstanding - which in any case is far more extensive and violent detailed policy attention to the housing crisis and huge - than they are at tracking criminals in well-fortified increases in the state housing budget, fewer than 800 white neighbourhoods. new low-cost houses are being built each month ( 4% of the rate the ANC RDP promised). Government de­ • Promises made by government to those community­ partments at all levels are failing to construct, or even based organisations (especially the civics) that were facilitate construction of, proper houses, and instead charged with implementing Operation Masakhane - - in contradiction to RDP provisions - channel subsi­ promises ranging from financial support for organisa­ dies to for-profit developers. Their developments are, tional capacity-building and basic infrastructure, to in the words of a Business Day journalist, "remarkably funding for explicit projects - were mainly broken, and like the discredited site and service schemes advocated most community organisations are still overlooked by during the apartheid era." the major non-governmental donors. • Government subsidies are insufficient to finance a • Perceptions of racial, class and gender injustices run house, and it is nearly impossible to build a solid struc­ very deep. Reports (and public perceptions) of increas­ ture on the serviced sites because of the lack of afford­ ing inequality between low-income blacks and upper­ able credit. Commercial banks not only charge 22% for income whites contribute to these, and feed a gen­ low-cost township housing loans (compared to 17.5% eral social alienation that is entirely understandable if on home loans to the petty and haute bourgeoisie) they one considers what hell it is to live in apartheid town­ also still formally "redline" more than a quarter of all ships. In many cases, such rationales for rent/services townships. Both these practices ensue with the explicit boycotts flow easily from the apartheid era to the approval of the government, whose timid goal is simply present day. No amount of multimillion rand Operation to have the banks involved at all. Masakhane advertising campaigns (featuring the likes of Archbishop Tutu and former SANCO leader Moses • The long-awaited transfer of existing council houses Mayekiso) can change the material realities and the psy­ to long-term residents has been extremely inefficient, chological aversion many township residents have to with just over one-third completed to date in even the spending declining take-home pay on inferior services advanced, wealthier provinces. and rented matchbox homes. • In addition to housing policy failures, most household To reverse these causes will require far more serious investments in township homes (and hence greater will­ policy and financial commitments by the new govern­ ingness to pay for services in order to avoid cut-offs or ment and by society at large than appears possible in eviction) will be financially fruitless because there is the near term. A tough first question often posed by still nothing much of a secondary housing market to our own sources is this: in a middle-income country ultimately recoup the investments. like SA, why should anyone pay anything to live in a • Apartheid spatial location and the high cost of (ex­ typical township? Reviewing a list of reasons for the tremely dangerous) transport - the single largest com­ legacy and durability of rent boycotts - or merely tak­ ponent of the urban black household budget - together ing a close look at one of South Africa's open township have meant that the average township resident pays far sores - makes it difficult to argue. Yet at this stage of more of her household budget on commuting than do the country's political development, to even pose such whites (incredibly, most new developments are still be­ a question in policy circles is to run the risk of being ing sited on the periphery of cities). labelled "dangerous ultra-leftist" by ANC politicians.

Southern Africa REPORT april 1996 29 try "perceptions" of differences be­ tween the Housing Department and Ministry. (In July 1995, Minister Sankie Mthembi-Nkondo had pub­ licly criticised the programme she had inherited from the late Joe Slovo as unacceptable "toilets-in­ the-veld," generating much hand­ wringing amongst fiscal conserva­ tives, but she was brought back into line.) Symbolic blame-shifting aside, Cobbett also identified actual bot­ tlenecks in the operations of the nine provincial housing boards. But these multi-stakeholder boards re­ flected the social contract mentality brought from national to provincial level, and Cobbett had a major role in their constitution and member­ ship. Most striking about the housing boards were the heightened conflicts of interest implicit when banks and developers were granted a decisive role in doling out the subsidies. Banks, for instance, were vigorous opponents of situating low­ cost developments in the (generally well-located) apartheid-era buffer zones between black and white areas, for fear of dragging down property values (i.e., their collateral) in the latter. The solution that Cobbett now favours is to give more responsibility for housing facilitation to local government, an artful bit of buck-passing. Again, there is no chance for this incremental reform to a fundamen­ tally-flawea policy to deiiver the goods, given enormous local-level fiscal constraints and power im­ balances. Effective control still largely lies in the white bureaucracy, with white councillor vetos stand­ ing by. In short, the real social problems - mass poverty, intensify­ ing income inequality and the ongo­ ing cementing of apartheid geogra­ bourgeois South Africans who ex­ no substitute for the back-breaking phy - are simply not being recog­ hibit what Mzwanele Mayekiso has work of rebuilding mass organisa­ nised and grappled with. Hys­ termed a "culture of privilege" tions. Now that official racial op­ terical demonisation of those low­ (SAR, January 1995) - is no sub­ pression is being supplanted by neo­ income South Africans allegedly suf­ stitute, though we can expect the liberalism, those organisations - per­ fering a "culture of non-payment" whining to increase. And for pro­ haps with a few sympathetic coun­ - coming as it usually does from gressives committed to a sustained cillors - will have to tackle South those white, petty bourgeois and campaign for social justice, there is African urban capitalism head on.

30 april 1996 Southern Africa REPORT 0 ------~®\Wn®ww~------"In Search of Hope": Zimbabwe's Farmworkers BY BLAIR RUTHERFORD contributions from seven Zimbab­ farm workers in Zimbabwe and pro­ wean journalists) and put out jointly vides a number of recommendations. Blair Rutherford is an Ottawa-based by the Panos Institute and Date­ Unlike other studies with similar graduate student in anthropology at line Southern Africa. Through a analyses and prescriptions, however, McGill University. mixture of political economy anal­ this report appears to be spurring on "The government must really force ysis, journalistic detail, and first­ changes which could help the nearly these farmers. This is very crucial, person testimonials, In Search of one-fifth of the national population otherwise they don't want to give Hope powerfully captures the objec­ that has been forgotten by Indepen­ protective clothes. From next tionable predicament of commercial dence. month on we'll have a big problem of mosquitos, flies and disease spreading. We get good water from the borehole, but there's no tap in the compound, not even one. The money we're being paid is not enough. Look at the housing. We are badly treated. We are people and we are the producers ..." These words of a Zimbabwean farm worker plainly but accurately express the long history of neglect facing the nearly two million men, women, and children who work and live on the predominantly white­ owned 4,500. commercial farms in Zimbabwe. More than fifteen years after Zimbabwe's Independence in 1980, the colonial legacy of poorly regulated working conditions and typically grim living conditions of farm workers and their families has continued without much sustained discussion in government and media circles. Sporadic attention to the predicament of Zimbabwean farm workers, including on these pages (see SAR, March 1994), has done little to challenge concretely the power that individual commercial farmers hold ov~r the lives of their workers. Ho"'\.ever, a newly .., launched report, from which the u ctl above quotation comes, seems to c. E be making a positive impact in the

struggle to improve the situation of c: Zimbabwe's farm workers. ..,0 ctl In Search of Hope for Zimba­ 0... <1> bwe's Farm Workers is a report writ­ u 2 ten by Dede Amanor-Wilks (with en

Southern Africa REPORT april 1996 31 0 ------~®W~®~~------~---

In Search of Hope demonstrates ernment continued the colonial-era seminar that launched the report how political and social disenfran­ disenfranchisement of non-property­ led to the formation of the Farm chisement combined with paternal­ owning ratepayers or rent-payers on Workers Action Group (FWAG). istic control of commercial farmers commercial farms (i.e. farm workers) Composed of representatives of vari­ has produced ill-effects on the health from local government elections in ous non-governmental organizations and rights of farm workers. Charac­ its amendments to the relevant leg­ (NGOs), GAPWUZ, ALB, CFU, the terising its findings as a "huge failure islation in 1988. Ministry of Education as well as two of policy," In Search of Hope stresses Given that farm workers are farm workers, a woman farmer, and that government departments need a journalist, FWAG will seek solu­ to re-assess their responsibilities vis­ "so marginalised politically and socially," the report shows how farm tions to the problems facing farm a-vis farm workers. It points out workers and act as a lobby group. that working conditions are rarely workers fall under a paternalistic regime, or what it terms a "domestic By the end of January, it has al­ monitored, despite the fact that the ready established an agenda of pri­ agricultural sector annually com­ affair." Commercial farmers tend to treat relationships with their ority issues, with housing being the petes with mining for the most oc­ first one. cupational fatalities a year and that workers as a "family matter," an estimated 160,000 people are poi­ where "farm workers are at the The formation of FWAG is a sig­ soned by pesticides each year in the mercy of the individual farmer nificant move in the, struggle to im­ country. Living conditions for the [and) everything depends on his prove the situation of farm work­ majority of workers and their house­ goodwill." As In Search of ers in Zimbabwe. A key ingre­ hold members are not covered by Hope explains, the "master-servant dient in the · predicament of farm any legislated regulations. relationship that exists between workers has been public neglect and the farm owners and farm workers the lack of sustained advocacy on Although these issues have been today is the legacy of a system their behalf. FWAG should act raised by the General Agricultural & developed under white minority as a forum in which viable policies Plantation Workers Union of Zim­ rule." The · report emphasizes and programmes are developed and babwe (GAPWUZ) in their negoti­ that this colonial legacy has been are strongly promoted to govern­ ations with the Agricultural Labour nurtured by the "huge failure ment, the ALB/CFU, GAPWUZ, Bureau (ALB) and the Commercial in policy" of the Zimbabwean donors and NGOs on a consistent Farmers' Union (CFU), there has government to the point where farm basis. Will FWAG lead to an im­ hardly been any progressive change workers' "problems presently seem provement for farm workers in Zim­ coming from the collective bargain­ insurmountable." babwe? Maybe. Like all strug­ ing agreements. As In Search of But the careful documentation of gles for progressive change, its suc­ Hope details, GAPWUZ has a hard this "huge failure in policy" has set cess depends on tactics, commit­ time enforcing the industry-wide in motion some important dynam­ ment, and historical circumstances. regulations that do exist given its ics. In Search of Hope has had ini­ Its chances of success rest on the limited resources (it has 48 field staff tial success because the author has activities and impact of five rele­ to liaise with 80,000 members) and included a broad spectrum of organ­ vant groups - politicians, commer­ its own organizational weaknesses. isations, including the key actors in­ cial farmers, GAPWUZ, develop­ The Zimbabwean government volved, in the discussion of its find­ ment organizations and farm work­ has not only neglected the situa­ ings. Also important has been the ers themselves. tion; its own policies have exacer­ involvement of the Zimbabwean me­ The commitment of the govern­ bated matters. In Search of Hope dia in carrying out the project and in ment to progressive change for farm provides example after example of the one-day seminar that has made workers is uncertain. With its cur­ the marginalisation of farm work­ this discussion a public event. , rent fiscal crisis, it is hard to imagine ers from social development pro­ A few days after the launch, the government providing develop­ grammes, such as education and the Minister of Local Government, ment funds for farm workers, unless primary health care. It also ar­ Rural & Urban Development an­ donors specifically earmark funding gues that the government's trade lib­ nounced that the government is for farm worker programmes. This eralization policies (see SAR, Jan­ planning to amend legislation this is especially so since many Ministers uary /February 1996) have adversely year or in early 1997 to allow farm and senior bureaucrats are them­ affected farm workers by providing workers to vote in local government selves owners of commercial farms a context in which increasing casu­ elections. Although this major pol­ and have been shown to be more alization of farm labour and low­ icy change is not a direct conse­ sympathetic towards the CFU than ering of real wages have become quence of the report itself, the tim­ GAPWUZ. The lack of representa­ the daily reality. The report even ing of its announcement likely was. tives on FWAG from ministries more notes the shocking fact that the gov- Just as momentous, the one-day directly connected to farm work-

32 april 1996 Southern Africa REPORT 0 ______E'®Wdl®~fffJ ______

ers (such as Ministries of Agricul­ ers , there needs to be more concrete ers are not intimately connected to ture, Local Government, Rural & ways to ensure that farmers will buy a group that represents farm work­ Urban Planning, and Public Service, into the plans proposed by FWAG. ers (s uch as GAPWUZ), progressive Labour & Social Welfare) is also dis­ The third group is GAPWUZ. change for all farm workers is un­ concerting. Ms. Amanor-Wilks notes that GAP­ likely to happen. Then there are the commer­ WUZ has been plagued by internal As for farm workers themselves, cial farmers. The CFU and ALB disputes and that it is well-known they live with the knowledge that sidestep any questions concerning that they have organizational prob­ advocating for change leaves them ways to ensure that their mem­ lems. The report suggests donors open to reactions from their bosses. bers obey regulations. When Dede and academics work with GAPWUZ Only a strong GAPWUZ that can Amanor-Wilks raised the issue with to develop their capacity to effec­ truly represent them both with them, they told her that they can tively represent farm workers. Such the commercial farmers and the "o nly apply moral pressure" and steps desperately need to be taken. government is likely to be able to that aside from a "few rotten eggs, protect the workers from negative 80% of their members are 'looking Development organizations com­ repercussions of this sort. In Search after their labour.' " Ms. Amanor­ prise the fourth group. There is a of Hope has helped to set in motion Wilks beli eves that advocates need danger, as witnessed in other devel­ the possibility that the basic, but to try to amplify the moral pres­ opment activities, that NGOs will long neglected, demands of farm sure on farmers - the report suggests only help those few people who hap­ workers are met. At the very the increased vulnerability of com­ pen to be involved in their spe­ least , it has helped to publicize mercial farmers to bad press given cific project, or that they will set the predicament of farm workers in their growing reliance on interna­ their agenda without any input from Zimbabwe as expressed in the words tional markets. However, given the those they seek to help. If the ad­ of the farm worker above, "We are weight of farmers' "domestic" au­ vocacy and programmes urged by badly treated. We are people and thority on the lives of farm work- FWAG and NGOs for farm work- we are the producers ..."

Southern Africa REPORT apri l 1996 33 BUILDING A SOCIAL MOVEMENT

Unions were born out of Together, in coalitions with struggles to change the status others committed to social quo. Our successes extend pro~ justice, we are confident that gress beyond the workplace. progressive change is possible. Our struggles are part of a social We are committed to building movement for a more humane social solidarity and a better society here, and for peace and tomorrow. justice internationally.

National Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers Union of Canada, (CAW-Canada)

(") 0 0 ,.....0'> 7 72006I 19 00 3 91111 ~1