OUthern AfriCa / Vol. 15 No. 3 rnJ..----0~ f0Bd])@lli~ J'dQuarter 2000 Mugabe's last Card ~(QJ@~Thl®Jrdlli ~~Jrit©@J 3rd Quarter 2000 REPORT Vol. 15 No.3

Contents

Editorial: Mugabe and the MDC ...... 1

:· ·. · .. . :· c)" A New Zimbabwe? : •.• • p.Y_.,, ·: ·.·.' SWAZILAND ••• ••• • -<..'<- ••• Tsvangirai Interviewed . 4 ,pv LESOTHO Eddie Cross & the MDC 8

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canadian Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement No. 569607 Rober·t Mngabe at a rally in :;uppor·t of h-i:; govermnent and the wru· vets, Hamr·e, 12 Apr·il 2000 Mugabe and the MDC Events in Zimbabwe are breaking into the parliamentary elections in the next parliament (although, in so quickly it is impossible for a thought to be forthcoming in the truth, the MDC does seem to feel quarterly magazine like our own to next few weeks (and now finally set confident that it could actually turn pretend to keep up with them in for June 24-25). An unpromising such a situation to its advantage). any effectively journalistic manner. enough fi gure even in the days of Recall , too, that with respect to When we first thought to build armed struggle, Mugabe has gone the parliament itself there are thirty the present issue around the two from bad to worse during twenty seats (of its total of 150) that are Patrick Bond articles on the nature years in power, dragging his country not elected. These are seats that, of Zimbabwe's opposition party, the down with him. without strong popular pressure to Movement for Democratic Change The elections (MDC), the context still seemed allocate them more proportionately, ) True, it has seemed possible that relatively straightforward. Mugabe seems certain to grant ZANU might yet win the election, to ZANU-PF supporters in order It was easy, for example, to such are Mugabe's wiles and the to help guarantee a majority for hail the potential passing of Robert extent of his ruthlessness. And his party even if it is defeated Mugabe and his shop-worn ZANU­ remember: Mugabe himself isn't at the polls. Finally, it hasn't PF colleagues from the citadels of up for election in any case: the been entirely clear as to just how power in Zimbabwe - if, indeed, the presidential race won 't be until 2002. deeply the opposition MDC, so trend towards popular rejection of No-one quite knows what would be strong in the cities, could hope to ZANU-PF that was demonstrated in the political and constitutional fall­ cut into ZANU's base in the rural the constitutional referendum earlier out of Mugabe being confronted, as areas with its message of change: this year was to be carried forward President, with an MDC majority Mugabe's loss of his referendum on

Southern Africa REPORT 3rd quarter 2000 1 the constitution was, of course, a Mugabe's presumptive successor, The land question good sign. So too was the fact Tsvangirai himself, and the other Key here, of course, is the land that this was partly achieved when an evocation of the emerging, question, now brought so much the bulk of rural dwellers refused to rather worrying role of Zimbabwean more forcefully to the surface in be mobilized to vote by ZANU, an businessman Eddie Cross within Zimbabwe. And it's a complicated indication of some distancing from MDC economic planning circles. one. Indeed we have encountered ZANU-PF that various electoral Moreover, Bond's findings are now a certain amount of bewilderment surveys of the countryside have also rather more sobering than last time . among comrades as to how to think confirmed. round as he documents the extent about these developments. Isn't So the question has been: can to which neo-liberal emphases have Mugabe on the side of angels here, the MDC win? It has a chance, indeed found their way deep into some ask? The land question is certainly, and it is difficult for the fabric of the MDC's alternative real enough after all , one crucial anyone at all concerned for the politics. Our readers should perhaps index of just how little has seemed fate of ordinary Zimbabweans not consider themselves well warned in to change with respect to socio­ to hope that it .does. Nonetheless, this respect. economic inequality as the transition "can it win?" is only one And yet, despite this, it remains from white minority political rule of several questions that might true that the MDC has grown has taken place. across southern be posed regarding the MDC as out of a much more substantial Africa. possible government-in-waiting (or, process of social mobilization than Moreover, working out from at the very least, as the most anything seen in Zambia. This healthy anti-colonial and anti­ effective centre of on-going and has been a process deeply imperialist premises, many will find meaningful opposition in Zimbabwe rooted in the trade union movement it tempting to blame the British. since independence) . What, we and in consultations with base The constitutional limitations on so­ wanted to know , can be expected structures - that both antedated cial and economic transformation from a possible MDC government? the MDC's formation as the party that the latter happily helped write and that has given rise to a clearly into the original Lancaster House Evaluating the M D C negotiated program of action. Given agreement impacted negatively on Sometimes this question is put this record, and leadership of the substance of liberation in Zim­ rather baldly in progressive circles, the quality of Tsvangirai himself, babwe. And the British govern­ along the lines: "Is Morgan Tsvan­ Gibson Sibanda, Tendai Biti, Isaac ment has never been keen, up to girai not likely to be just another Matongo, Gift Chamanikire and the the present, to guarantee the kind of Chiluba?" As our readers will know, like, Bond and others suggest that funding of land reform that its his­ Frederick Chiluba, the current pres­ we should continue to have a healthy toric responsibility for the crimes of ident of Zambia, sprang, like Tsvan­ measure of confidence in the bona dispossession and exploitation com­ girai, from a dissident trade union fides of the MDC. Certainly Bond mitted on its colonial watch in movement to challenge the high­ himself sees nothing - and here we Rhodesia would seem to require. handed and bankrupt rule of an­ agree with him - to qualify his sense Add to that, more broadly, the neo­ other all too tired veteran President, that the MDC offers a far better colonial vise-grip in wh ich global Kenneth Kaunda. The long-term hope for Zimbabweans than does its capitalism has held Zimbabwe since result: a regime that has followed tawdry and corrupt ZANU-PF rival. independence (and especially since even more slavishly than Kaunda the imposition of "structural adjust­ Enough said for one issue on the dictate of the International Fi­ ment" in the early-80s) and one Zimbabwe, you might have thought, nancial Institutions (IFis) and has especiall y when Bond's pieces are could almost make a case for Mu­ come to emulate most of the crypto­ complemented by Larry Swatuk's gabe as more sinned against than authoritarian and corrupt practices article on regional politics which, sinning. of its predecessor. in addition to critiquing the nature But not quite. You don't have How to answer the Chiluba of South Africa's emerging role to defend either the British or the question? Several issues ago Patrick in southern Africa politics, also IFis also to be absolutely scornful Bond wrote approvingly in these uncovers some venal truths about regarding Mugabe's own bona fides , pages of the Tsvangirai project, Mugabe's own for eign adventures. past or present, as a tribune of so­ arguing that it might become And yet, as everyone knows, much cial justice and equality in Zimba­ the "first post-nationalist, post-neo­ has happened in Zimbabwe in recent bwe. His twenty yeais in power liberal regime" on the continent. weeks. Even on the eve of going has been marked far more by elite Here he returns to the story with to press, it seems necessary t.o make plunder than by any significant pro­ two articles that interrogate this at. least passing refenmce to some of gramme of popular socio-economic issue further, one an interview with these developments here. empowerment - including with re-

2 volume 15 number 3 Southern Africa REPORT ______@@~~@~~@n------spect to the land sector where even PF precisely because it would have cessfully vis-a-vis the Zimbabwean such very limited amount of land denied them access to levers of pa­ population as a whole. as has been "redistributed" over all tronage and other perquisites of There is an even more sinister those years has tended to find its power. This is unfortunate since ex­ connotation to the present situation, way into the hands of that very paneling on the 1998 position might however, and a far more damaging eli te. No , the land invasions that also have enlarged the possibility one. Put quite simply, ZANU-PF have captured so much attention re­ that real substantive demands, not has used the drama of the land crisis cently have been more the result merely rhetorical ones, could have as cover for a ruthless escalation of of a desperate last minute politi­ been made on those (the British in violence against opposition activists cal calculation by Mugabe and hi s particular) who should be pressured and politicians. Thus, a growing increasingly cornered cronies than to help fin ancially with any such number of the latter have been killed they have been of any higher pur­ transition. And the chances might by vigilantes and paramilitary ele­ pose. Quite simply, they represent also have been enhanced of phasing ments clearly linked to established a populist attempt to stir things up in changes in such a way as t.o do centres of power. Meanwhile, the and to then profit from the resultant miniwum damage to the productiv­ police and military circulate omi­ chaos by pressing the unique claim ity of Zimbabwe's agricultural sec­ nously throughout the country as a to precedence of those who hold es­ tor, instead of virtually guarantee­ further earnest of pre-elections in­ tablished power and authority. Cer­ ing that economic crisis falling for­ timidation - with innumerable gross tainly, in this respect, the most as­ eign exchangf' (tobacco) and famine incidents of abuse of power already sertive of "ex-combatants" - many (maize and wheat) - he the primary documented. of them young lumpen elements who result. of thf~ chaos now unleashed. As for the elections themselves, can never have seen combat and who We must not overstate this there are numerous signs of fraud­ are also very unlikely to have any in-the-making as electoral rolls are real rural vocation - are best seen case. Activities that find those at the bottom of a profoundly tampered with, supervisory organs as ZANU-PF shock troops, paid for stacked with ZANU-PF loyalists, and logisticall y supported by party unequal society challenging the status quo are never likely to be and the further gerrymandering of and state, and not as some kind of constituencies is said quite possibly heroic force for on-going liberation. entirely "orderly" or "cost-free." However much such an outcome to be on the cards. So bad is A more plausible land reform in may have been incidental to his this situation that the MDC itself indicated momentarily that it might Zimbabwe would look very different, own more narrow and self-serving left observers suggest. To begin purposes, Mugabe's actions actually be left with no alternative but to It with, its core constituency would have helped send progressive shock­ pull out of the elections. has now have included the farm-workers waves through a region where the said that it will not do so, but asks for as much international monitoring already on the farms who, self­ impoverished have good reason to as possible so that the worst abuses evidently, have strong moral claim lose patience with the political elites of ZANU-PF's governmental powers to a stake in any redistribution who allegedly speak in their name. during the electoral process may that might occur: at the moment If such people now feel emboldened be minimized, or, if not that, at such workers are merely one of the by the aura spun off events in least thoroughly exposed for future prime targets of the land invaders. Zimbabwe to press their own claims reference. And it wou ld 'speak much more more dramatically, so much the Of course, even against such directly, as well, to the concrete better. odds, the MDC may yet win. needs and aspirations of the landless Mugabe's last card? Moreover, it has pledged to stay and semi-landless in the existing the course until 2002 even if ZANU rural reserves, those who really do But let us repeat: it is precisely does manage to create a "victory" want and need land. In short, not any such self-empowering trans­ for itself this time round. A such a process would by crafted formation fr om below that was in­ courageous position to take in the and framed in a politically astute tended, or that is actually occurring, teeth of a truly vile regime that can manner, one that could facilitate in Zimbabwe. True, Mugabe has only become more abusive and more a more equi table arbitration of the attempted to manipulate the situa­ destructive of the fabric of its own diverse claims to any land that is to tion so as to reclaim his much fr ayed country in the unhappy event that it be redistributed. mantle as popular populist leader. To the same end, he has dusted off is once more "confirmed" in power. In fact, adhen~ nce to the agreed the racist rhetoric that has always SAR will endeavour to keep you national consensus position on land been one of his most familiar and un­ posted on this story, grim and heroic reform, adoptf'd in 1998, might have pleasant stocks-in-trade. Fortunate, by turns, whether the elections take been a good plaC'(' to start. But then, that none of these demagogic place or not and whatever their that was roundly ignored by ZANU- tri cks seems to be working very sue- outcome. DOD

Southern Africa REPORT 3rd quarter 2000 3 ------~nlliill~~~ww@ ______A New Zimbabwe? BY PATRICK BOND Patrick Bond is author of a 1998 book Uneven Zimbabwe: A Study of Fi­ nance, Development and Underdevel­ opment, published by Africa World Press.

Chinja Maitiro! (Change in the way things are done!) Guqula Izenzo! (ditto, in Ndebele) M aitiro Chinga'f (The way things I are done must change!) l Chihurumende Bzisa! (Govern­ ment - sweep it away ') Hezcoko? Bwa! (We are coming? There we are!) Unotya Here? Aiwa! (Are you afraid? No') Change is urgently needed. The country is bedeviled by a fuel shortage that has dragged on for weeks. Its army is overcommitted in a hopeless war, faraway in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Zimbabweans grieve lost family and friends in the midst of an horrific AIDS pandemic. The economy suffers unprecedented price inflation and soaring interest rates, and is losing businesses and shedding jobs at a rapid rate. Income inequality has risen to amongst thi world's worst levels, especially with :!!"' respect to control of good farming ~ V> land. Rife with corruption, the 5... Zimbabwe African National Union ~ (ZANU) government led by Robert Cl.E Mugabe has finally reached death- throes stage. The country's 12 a; million people appear restless and often furious. ~ ·cu Morgan Tsvangirai, the cele- w brated trade union leader who pre- Tsvangirai Interviewed

4 volume 15 number 3 Southern Africa REPORT ------~nmm~~~ww® ______sides over the MDC, is on the verge babwean, South African and inter­ opment strategy failed to raise liv­ of winning a majority of seats in national capital on board - in ad­ ing standards, aside from a few ini­ the national parliamentary election visory positions (including a top tial rural clinics and schools and scheduled for May (electoral roll Confederation of Zimbabwe Indus­ the growth of a 200,000-strong lower chaos has already caused one de­ try dealmaker, Eddie Cross), but middle-class state bureaucracy. also as donors - Tsvangirai will lay, however). A February refer­ Then the adoption of a structural repeat the wretched experience of endum on a new constitution pro­ adjustment programme authored by Zambia. There, trade unionist Fred­ moted by President Robert Mugabe the IMF and World Bank during the erick Chiluba won the 1991 election revealed both impressive mobilisa­ 1990s, compounded by two severe against veteran nationalist Kenneth tion of MDC supporters (who voted droughts, set the country on a raw Kaunda with a multi-class alliance, 55-45 percent against government and often chaotic capitalist road. and quickly applied neo-liberal eco­ proposals) and an apathetic turnout Zimbabwe became disastrously de­ nomic policy with even worse results from peasants who normally cham­ pendent upon Bank and Fund debt than his predecessor. · pion the ruling ZANU party. as well as cookie-cutter neo-liberal It was Mugabe's first electoral Zimbabwe's only two other sig­ policy advice. From 1991, living defeat ever. The next presidential nificant opposition movements line standards plummeted and the dein­ election is in 2002, but although up far right of the MDC: a col­ dustrialization of a once-strong man­ Mugabe, 76, recently announced lection of octogenarian 1960s-70s ufacturing sector caused huge job he won't stand again, there is no nationalists - Ndabaningi Sithole, cuts and a rash of expensive imports obvious successor in the wings of his Abel Muzorewa and even the white (mainly from South Africa). fractious, crisis-ridden party. Rhodesian rebel Ian Smith, back from political retirement - launched The lost decade Former mineworker Tsvangirai, a "United Democratic Front" in As leader of the Zimbabwe Congress 48, claims this puts the MDC in February, and the Democratic Party of Trade Unions, Tsvangirai pre­ a unique position, for nowhere in of charismatic former ZANU ac­ dicted to me in a 1991 South­ Africa has a post-nationalist po­ tivist - now self-described liberal - ern Afr·ica Report interview, "What litical movement capable of taking Margaret Dongo (one of just three is going to be sacrificed in this power been so well grounded in non-ZANU members of parliament) [structural adjustment] programme working-class and allied civic organ­ whose supporters are quickly shift­ is democracy. When people go to isations. ing to the MDC. the streets, complaining about these Tsvangirai visited Johannesburg things, the state will be forced to use In part because the MDC is in early March to seek the bless­ power to quell these riots." Tsvangi­ the first political party over the ing of the huge Zimbabwean ex­ rai spent the 1990s defending against past two decades with a chance of patriate community here. In two repeated state attacks, deepening upsetting ZANU's hold on power, well-attended meetings he also eased his organization and engagement on this is a crucial time for defining the fears of South African busi­ key socio-economic issues, and tak­ the ideological struggles within ness elites, who through the con­ ing the union movement along a the . struggle. For Mugabe, the servative Business Day newspaper zig-zag strategic path. He began MDC's popularity has occasioned recently condemned the new move­ with classically leftist opposition to a renewed round of bashing a ment as "unproven." In fact, Tsvan­ structural adjustment from 1989- few thousand white farmers and girai took South Africa by storm, ap­ 92. When that was rebuffed by the International Monetary Fund pearing across a diverse spectrum of brute state force (he spent two weeks (IMF), a performance Tsvangirai print and broadcast media in his role in jail in 1989 simply for defend­ - accurately - derides as hollow as a modern, moderate reformer, ca­ ing student protests and a peaceful political posturing. pable of restoring "investor confi­ 1992 protest against structural ad­ dence." Recall that two decades ago, justment was broken up and organis­ Zimbabwe's independence from ers arrested), Tsvangirai shifted into Given the fluidity of Zimbab­ conciliatory gear. wean politics, the apparent pres­ 200,000 white, settler-colonial ident-in-waiting argues the need to Rhodesians was won after a bru­ In a 1996 alternative economic quickly build a broad coalition, tal war (with 40,000 black casu­ plan issued by the unions, he ar­ drawing support from far beyond the alties) waged by guerrillas and a gued that government's free-market union movement he has headed since mass support base of peasants. Mu­ economic programme was "neces­ 1989. In what direction will that gabe and his on-off-on ally Joshua sary but insufficient." From 1992- lead the MDC? Nkomo (who died in 1999) estab­ 97 Tsvangirai sought tripartite bar­ lished an ideology of national unity gaining forums (with big govern­ The ideological tightrope with "socialist" overtones. But over ment and big business). This also Some fear that by bringing Zim- the years ZANU's status quo devel- proved fruitless, so when a deep eco-

Southern Africa REPORT 3rd quarter 2000 5 ------~nlliill@~@~@ ------nomic crisis began in late 1997 and the constituency organization in the ness, which is just not able to de­ was amplified by Mugabe's political grassroots, so we're making sure velop under present conditions. gaffes, the ZCTU offered a logical the leadership constantly gets out PB: Is this reflected in a particular base for a more sustained attack on to the rural areas, and ensuring development strategy? political power. that when we build policy forums , MT: Development must be genuine, Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's middle­ it is with the rural problems in mind. The working people provide defined by people themselves. We class public intelligentsia - which in know that export-led growth is not the MDC base but the linkages Zambia had helped shift Chiluba's a panacea. And we place a high Movement for Multiparty Demo­ to rural people are crucial. You must. remember that 40 percent of priority on meeting basic needs. cracy from political liberalism to How could we not, with 75% of wages used to end up in rural areas, economic neo-liberalism - began to the population li ving below poverty? through remittances and migration. self-destruct. One reflection was the So our development strategy will ease with which, in the course of What with the economic crisis. those highlight land, health, education debate over constitutional reform in resources are no longer there. Rural and the like. 1999, Mugabe picked off several key people have come to realize this, and PB: How do you answer the academic opponents who were once now demand change. concern that with such a multi-class left-leaning critics , and turned them PB: Are rural conditions so desper­ project you might 'end up like the into ZANU boosters. Thus over the ate as to undermine liberation move­ Zambian Movement for Multiparty past two years the MDC came to­ ment loyalty? Democracy? gether as the "Workers' Party," still its colloquial name. MT: In many ways, we are moving MT: I think Chiluba did not come from the nationalist paradigm to on board with any ideology at all. What are the weaknesses of the politics grounded in civic society But the main Jesson there is that MDC project? The prime electoral and social movements. It's like the if the workers are not careful , they challenge will be overcoming rural role and influence that in South may give up their initiative over generational loyalties to Mugabe, Africa, the labour movement and the party. That means that even lib e~ation-movem e nt memories, and civil society organisations had over patnarchal/ethnic traditions. More­ though we need to build coalitions, the African National Congress in over, to simply get permission from the structure of MDC has to be, the early 1990s. MDC politics white farmers for access to two mil­ and is , participatory, with far more are not nationalist inspired, because lion farmworkers on 3,000 large plan­ control from the base than normal they focus more on empowerment parties. tations, for example, pressure will and participation of the people. emerge for the MDC to soft-peddle PB: What lies immedi ately ahead in ZANU 's nationalist thinking has building this party and contesting redistributive land demands. Like­ always been top-down, centralised, the April election? wise, the movement has a desperate always trapped in a time warp. need for business contributions to Nationalism was an end in itself MT: I expect that we 'll win a fund a national electoral campaign. instead of a means to an end. majority in parliament. Then, of What degree of ideological flexi­ One of ZANU's constant claims course we need to redefine a political bility is, therefore, required to add is that everyone in Zimbabwe path in a context where Mugabe peasant votes and capitalist bucks owes the nationalist movement our is president until 2002. Unless his party says he must go earlier, to the MDC's core union and so­ fr eedom. It's therefore also become that is. There are two options. cial movement networks? Given the a nationalism based on patronage One is to seek a confrontation, for party's lack of skilled politicians and and cronyism. its relatively short, undeveloped pro­ example, over whether Mugabe has gramme, Tsvangirai's ability to in­ PB: What, then, is the MDC a moral right to appoint 30 members voke a "social democratic" line fol­ ideology? of parliament in addition to those lows largely from his own enormous MT: We are social democrats. The ZANU wins. Confrontation might personal influence. MDC can never be pure, ideologi­ be counterproductive. The other option is cohabitation, which may cally, because of our broad orienta­ Tsvangirai speaks tion. Besides, social democracy is a be necessary until 2002 if we are going to avoid martial Jaw and rule In a .Johannesburg interview, I be­ half-way house, a spaghetti mix. In gan by asking how the MDC's mod­ our case, the main characteristic is by decree. ern industrial workers and urban that we are driven by working class PB: Mugabe is one of the most community activists can persuade interests, with the poor having more intolerant rulers in the world today. the rural folk to abandon national­ space to play a role than they do Will he let the MDC win control of ism. now. But one of the components is parliament? Will the election be free MT: The strategy hinges around an element of participation by busi- and fair?

6 volume 15 number 3 Southern Africa REPORT ------~~mm@~@WW@ ______

MDC JJ'I'C-election rally in Harare , 15 Apr·il 2000

MT: We should take stock of the PB: Does Zimbabwe need a financial to go back now, to the possibility of fact that he accepted his defeat lifeline from the IMF and World a fascist state. in the constitutional referendum Bank? Indeed, fascism sometimes seems humbly. I hope he maintains MT: They have put us into a not far off in Zimbabwe. Intimi­ that attitude. Otherwise, social serious debt trap. We may have dation of the MDC is readily con­ instability is a danger. Therefore, to negotiate with the IMF to get doned by Mugabe, and had the ef­ getting election monitors across the out of that. What is important, fect in May of compelling many country is cruciar, and international clown the line, is for Zimbabwe to white farmers and their labourers support is needed here. work itself out of the IMF and World to retract support from the MDC PB: The armed forces are another Bank's grip. In the short term, we and give donations to ZANU. (This factor , given how much the leaders have to distinguish between financial turn of events made the MDC are committed to the Congo war and support that serves Mugabe, versus yet more dependent upon donations the spoils they receive there. that which serves the country. from urban white business elites.) The mid-June parliamentary elec­ MT: Obviously the armed forces are PB: What kind of support is the tion may yet transpire, but it is un­ anxious about the situation, but MDC after? clear whether free campaigning con­ they too are fed up with Mugabe. ditions will restore grassroots MDC MT: Solidarity. Zimbabwe is in a members' confidence and leftward PB: The immediate crisis points are transitional phase, becoming a more momentum, especially given the in­ around petrol shortages and other progressive, more democratic soci­ fluence of Eddie Cross and his allies. manifestations of fiscal crisis. ety. The international community, MT: I am confident that the energy especially the progressive world, can {The Movement for Democratic Change situation can be managed. Sasol facilitate with ideas and resources. website is www.mdc.co.zw / or alterna­ (the SA state oil company) is A free and fair election requires tively www.in2zw.com/mdc/J supplying a lifeline. monitors. Zimbabwe cannot afford ODD

Southern Africa REPORT 3rd quarter 2000 7 ------~limm@@@~------A New Zimbabwe? Eddie Cross &the MDC BY PATRICK BOND controls on staple foods (mid-1998, "you [Mugabe] go and kick them in in the wake of mass food riots), the teeth. A telephone call to the Patrick Bond is author of a 1998 book, and c) a luxury-goods import tax Uneven Zimbabwe: A Study of Fi­ chairman of BP and we are sunk!" (late 1998). Although all three mea­ nance, Development and Underdevel­ sures were emergency responses to a The point was becoming clear: opment, published by Africa World deep-rooted crisis, pressure from the only Cross can restore to Zimbabwe Press. CZI, IMF, World Bank and foreign the confidence of economic elites. donors, was sufficient to win Mu­ As for Mugabe's recently-announced A leading official of the Confedera­ economic programme, the "Millen­ tion of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), gabe's consent and were rewarded with a temporary inflow of funds. nium Recovery Programme," Cross Eddie Cross, was appointed eco­ railed, ' nomic secretary of the Movement But when Mugabe also pegged the for Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe dollar to the US dol­ It is toilet paper. It is · worth February. His first public presen­ lar after a speculative run in early nothing. Complete junk and tation, in mid-March, represented a 1999, holders of forex accounts be­ if implemented it would simply decisive signal that the MDC has gan hoarding hard currency, and by compound our problems. They talk graduated from its initial "Workers' late last year Zimbabwe ran out of about exchange controls, they talk Party" image and constituency, to foreign reserves and, in turn, could about price control, they talk about ally with big business elements. not pay for petrol imports. The cri­ continuing to maintain controls on sis continued deepening, with Mu­ the Zimbabwean dollar. They talk While the balance of forces gabe taking recourse in bashing the control on wages. But nothing within the MDC remains fluid, IMF, the British government and in the document to address the the worker-capitalist alliance against his own white subjects. But Zim­ fundamental problems, absolutely Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African babwe's rich political terrain pro­ nothing. I actually met with National Union (ZANU) regime will vides additional space for alterna­ the IMF team after they had no doubt win the MDC a large - tive strains of populism, as demon­ spent four fruitless days in Harare, potentially majority - share of votes strated in the speech given by Cross going througl1 the document, going in the May 'parliamentary elections. to a packed house at Harare's Book through the planning with the But the implications are complex, Cafe on March 16: "Zimbabwe at Government and everybody that the because Cross appears intent on the Economic Crossroads: Which Government could bring to speak to mixing divergent political traditions. Way Forward." them - including Bernard Chidzero Cross comes from a faction that the ex-Minister of Finance - to has long supported the introduc­ From the corporate critique ... plead with them to reconsider their position. They saw me after the tion of structural adjustment, and Cross began with a diatribe against process and said that there was which applauded Mugabe for turn­ the massive state debt accumulated nothing in the document that they ing to free-market policies during by the ZANU regime (there was no could take back to Washington. the 1990s. Even after a decade of mention, until a questioner pointed Nothing. They said if they took that failure, Cross told the Zimbabwe In­ it out at the end, that the debt was dependent in May 1999, "We in in­ back to Washington they would be mainly built up as a result of the the laughing stock of the financial dustry believe that the only way to pro-corporate structural adjustment community in Washington. And make a significant impact is to com­ programme's logic) . Cross turned I am afraid tl1at throughout the ply fully with the IMF conditions." quickly from the critical shortage of financial institutions of the world, forex to the fact that Mugabe is "to­ Two months earlier, the Inter­ Zimbabwe is the black sheep. national Monetary Fund had explic­ tally politically isolated," with only itly ordered Mugabe to reverse the friends like Kabila, Nujoma, Ma­ Similarly, Cross remarked, the only three progressive things he had hathir and Qaddafi - "providing you controversial trip to Harare by South done in recent years, namely his don't ask them for money." He African president Thabo Mbeki and imposition of a) a ban on holding noted the total dependency of Zim­ several key officials in early March foreign exchange accounts in local babwe upon one company, British generated very little. A threatened banks (November 1997), b) price Petroleum (for petrol imports) - but cut to Zimbabwe's electricity sup-

8 volume 15 number 3 Southern Africa REPORT ------~nlliill@@@~------ply from SA's Eskom parastatal due We are in favour of reduced levels tem. And you know, we have looked to nonpayment was reportedly de­ of taxation. We are in favour at the numbers and we think we can ferred pending Eskom's takeover of of introducing Value Added Tax get government employment down Zimbabwean state facilities, but a and we will do so quickly, within from about 300,000 at the present US$120 million loan hinted at by six months. We are in favour time to about 75,000 in five years. Zimbabwe and widely reported as a of a National Revenue Authority, This emphatic agenda has repre­ bailout in the SA press was hastily these things are things which the sented the medium-term wish-list of denied by the SA Finance Ministry. government has been talking about the CZI for several years. As Cross As Cross interpreted, for years. We believe they are sound reaffirmed, "There is no doubt in my South Africa is terrified of our developments. We would like to cap mind that the only way to grow the situation here. When Tlwbo Mbeki tax levels, both for individuals and economy is on a free market basis." was here he agreed to a programme for companies. We would like to of assistance with Mugabe and he reduce the levels of border duties agreed to a wide variety of other . . . The tax burden is simply not ... to anti-corporate populism? . . sustainable. It is negative in terms things. Went back to Pretoria and Yet Cross is not without the sophis­ the guys in Pretoria said there is of the way it impacts on our society. Now that means we have got to tication required to work within a no way on this earth that we are party formed by trade unionists. He going to allow you to prop up their reduce the size of government and not just talk about it. talks of "a mixture of a highly con­ regime in Zimbabwe. He had to go servative approach to economics and back to the drawing board, as you On privatisation, Cross was a strong social emphasis on improv­ know. The financial proposals that especially brash: ing the quality of life for the aver­ were agreed to here in Harare were We are going to fast track privati­ age Zimbabwean." Indeed, Rhode­ torn up and the South Africans are sia hosted a peculiar brand of white giving us very limited assistance. sation. All fifty government paras­ tatals will be privatised within a politics traceable to British working­ What, then, does Cross propose two-year time frame, but we are go­ class immigrants who during the to resolve the economic crisis? ing far beyond that. We are go­ 20th century brought their success­ First of all, we believe in the ing to privatise many of the func­ ful struggle for a generous social wel­ free market. We do not support tions of government. We are going fare state out to the colonies. Con­ price control. We do not support to privatise the Central Statistical firmed Cross, government interfering in the way Office. We are going to privatise vir­ My father was an alcoholic and I was in which people manage their lives. tually the entire school delivery sys- raised by a single mom. My mother

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Southern Africa REPORT 3rd quarter 2000 9 ------~imm@~@ww®------could not afford to pay school fees politics, "fundamentally a populist industry in Southern Africa? Let us and I would not have received protest designed to remind the State open our border posts ... It is com­ an education if the government of that its primary consideration lay petition that will sort out the fat Rhodesia had not simply treated not with the protection of profit, cats in the private sector. me like a special citizen and given but with the promotion of institu­ Cross was especially scathing of me a free education of a very high tional safeguards that would insure his CZI colleagues: standard. against a repetition of the recent ex­ perience." They have been too complacent, At first blush, positive references they have been playing footsie­ to the IMF and "international com­ After Huggins drifted towards es­ footsie with this government for too munity" may disguise the fact that tablishment interests, angry white long. They need to be tougher. This historically, this political tradition men reappeared on the political Millennium Reform Programme - often contested the interests of for­ scene in 1962, when Ian Smith we see leaders of the private sector eign capital. Indeed, to hazard led the Rhodesian Front to power. saying it is a good programme! It a label, Cross is today a leading Smith's broad coalition of white is, well I was going to use a rude post-independence representative of Rhodesians included not only those word but I won't. It is absolutely a relatively patriotic white settler­ racists fearful of British decolonisa­ nonsense. bourgeoisie. Notwithstanding its tion, but others who were adversely affected by the colony's early-1960s . . . to corporatism and social British-colonial world-view, the as­ democracy? sets of this class are more fully de­ economic cns1s. Indeed, the 1965 veloped and cemented within Zim­ Unilateral Declaration of Indepen­ Critical of fat cats living off ultra­ babwe than anywhere else, thanks dence (UDI), according to sociolo­ cheap Zimbabwe labour and acqui­ mainly to the 1960s-80s period of gist Giovanni Arrighi, "was directed escing to ZA U power, Cross adds rigid exchange controls (a large de­ as much against large-scale capital­ two additional pillars - corporatist gree of capital flight occurred in the ism as against the Africans. The industrial relations and an expanded 1990s, but Zimbabwe remains an populist undertones of the UDI cam­ social plan - to the foundations of extremely comfortable habitat for paign were very noticeable." Those the MDC programme: wealthy whites). undertones harked back to the 1933 On the social side we are going Reform Party victory, Wetherell in­ to re-visit the issue of minimum The roots of Rhodesian populism sisted, since Smith's intention was wages. Now I am an industrialist are in intra-white struggle against "undoubtedly to conserve a system and I am well known in industrial Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa of safeguards that the radicals of the circles for actually followin g this Company (BSAC), which formally 1930s fought so hard to establish ... political strategy I do not believe ran the colony from 1890-1923. Var­ The inheritors of the pre-war pop­ in low wages. I do not believe ious factions of the white community ulist or 'left-wing' legacy [were] now in an industrialist or anybody else expressed such strong grievances - self-defined as 'right-wing'." being allowed to pay wages which small miners over royalty rights; It is this uneasy combination are well below the basic cost of white unions over wages; settler which Cross appears to have in­ living in cities .. . So we will, as a farmers over their need to block herited. It combines "conserva­ Government, and with the private black competition; and the church tive" economic policies that meet sector through a social contract, and over social and political relations - the needs of the white-dominated working with the trade unions and that "self-governing status" was cho­ business elites, with the memory of employers, work towards a situation sen in a 1923 whites-only vote. In state support for a then-white, now­ where we will pay much higher 1933, struggling white farmers, ar­ black working class. For even while wages in industry, even if it means tisans, and civil servants elected a punting rapid privatisation, the ar­ losing jobs, so that people working ,. "left" -sounding (yet very racist) Re­ gument Cross makes has an anti­ in the cities will be able to afford form Party under the leadership of monopolistic flair: to live in those cities on a whole Godfrey Huggins. An MDC government will sell our family basis. He will be able to Huggins promised to rescind shares in the Dairy Board {the send his children to school, he will be BSAC's mineral rights, to impose partially-privatised national milk able to rent or own accommodation protectionism, to nationalise key and cheese marketing board} imme­ which means he can live there with parts of the economy, to provide un­ diately, use the proceeds to retire l1is entire family. For us that is employment relief and white labour debt and we will work actively to fundamental. rights, and to establish a central encourage competition. What about In addition to "attacking that bank for the colony. The election all the other cosy monopolies? What [migrant labour] system with every­ was, as Iden Wetherell observed in about Anglo American Corporation thing at our disposal" - in part be­ his seminal 1975 analysis of white and their stranglehold on the sugar cause of migrancy's contribution to

10 volume 15 number 3 Southern Africa REPORT Votcr·s queue outside Hamre polling station- 8 April 1995. the spread of AIDS - Cross sets out provide site-and-service schemes in vice president), John Nkomo - who impressive social promises: all our cities for the entire backlog tried often enough to fracture the Education is the key and seven years of housing within five years. And trade union movement - but by the of compulsory free education - free you say, "Can we afford to do it?" IMF and international community. education - and free , not in the way Yes, we can! Yes we can, and the Here arises the central contradiction. we are doing it at the moment [with international community is prepared Cross, ironically, now implies that parent fees}. We mean free , parents to help us with a programme like his own ticket to the MDC dance is will not be required to pay for it. that .. . v'ife have got to have primary IMF access. And you ask, "Can we afford that?" health care throughout the country. Yes, we damn well can, we damn '-''e have got to get our hospitals This leads to the obvious ques­ well can' And the international back on their feet . . . Our social tion: what is, and will be, the bal­ community has the resources to help programme is going to be strong and ance of power within the MDC when us build that system and they are it is going to be dynamic and it is the obvious choice between free ed­ willing to do so . . . We have a going to be directed at the absolute ucation and free markets must be programme for housing - we are poor, and there's no compromising made? That will be the real cross­ going to give tenure, freehold tenure, that. We are totally committed to road. to everybody who holds tribal trust that, and you need to know it - this To his credit, Eddie Cross is land leases, immediately we come is not a rhetorical commitment, this transparent about his agenda. But to power . . . The government has is not a party of the "haves," this is it will be up to the MDC's left­ been talking about this for the past not a party on the gravy train. leaning populists, not populists ten years, we are not going to who distortedly echo questionable talk about this, we are going to Beginning around 1990, Zim­ traditions, to better represent the do it and we are going to fast­ babwe's have-nots were ferociously needs of Zimbabwe's black povo. track the administration procedures pummelled not only by Mugabe through massive housing schemes, to and his then labour minister (now ODD

Southern Africa REPORT 3rd quarter 2000 11 South Africa in the Region .. Botha would be proud ..

BY LARRY SWATUK parochial nature of South African SADC region (and beyond) is the government policy, but the increas­ rhetoric of "renaissance." It is no ac­ Larry Swatuk lectures in the Depart­ ingly belligerent attitude taken by cident that the idea of an "African ment of Political and Administrative policy makers in regard to the "hege­ renaissance" spearheaded by South studies at the University of Botswana. mon's" involvement in the region. Africa was first presented to an Throughout the 1990s, there was Without doubt, South Africa is American audience in April 1997. much speculation regarding the emerging as the bully on the block. Built around a neo-liberal discourse post-apartheid era. "What futures Indeed, what rankles most with and trading on inclusive language for southern Africa?" asked Rob other member states is South of continental econ9mic integration, Davies and Bill Martin. "Gazing Africa's increasing disregard for the African renaissance purports to into the continental crystal ball," viewpoints emanating from beyond locate South Africa within the con­ I along with Dave Black wondered its own borders. When it comes to tinent and the continent within the if it was now possible to "bridge the "how" of regional development, world. Supporters of this "renais­ the rift." Other interested ob­ South African policy makers believe sance" rely on a mix of economic servers questioned whether South they know best. According to one and political argumentation, choos­ Africa would emerge as a "partner or observer, "South African officials ing particular aspects for emphasis hegemon" and, if the latter, would behave as though they are 90 depending on whether the audience it be "benevolent, benign or ma­ percent ahead of the rest of the is domestic (e.g. the importance to lign"? More recently, Berti! Oden region . . . and they are. So, South Africa's economy of expanded has interrogated the possibility that they behave in an arrogant manner, manufacturing exports to Africa), or South Africa, far from being the re­ because they can." Aside from the continental (e.g. South Africa's abil­ ity to serve as a launching pad for gional "dynamo," will instead be its ongoing controversy between South "albatross." More directly, Michel Africa and Zimbabwe concerning the international capital investment into Chossudovsky speaks of "exporting SADC Organ on Politics, Defense the continent). apartheid to sub-Saharan Africa." and Security (OPDS), few policy The idea of "renaissance" and makers seem willing or able to Few of us have been willing South Africa's "pivotal state" po­ challenge South Africa. According to abandon optimism, continually sition therein have been of funda­ looking back to statements made to SADC statistics, although South mental importance to American and in the RDP, early ANC policy pa­ African GDP growth was a meagre EU policy on Africa. According to 0.6 per cent in 1998, its proportion pers and formal government state­ USAID 's Regional Centre for South­ ments regarding the importance of of total regional GDP had actually ern Africa (RCSA), peace in this risen by about one percent over balanced and equitable regional de­ "strategically important region" can velopment to South Africa's future. 1990 totals, from 92 to 93 percent. have a "stabilizing effe ct in Africa." In the intervening years, it has be­ The tendency among SADC state If southern Africa is to be a "zone come clear that South African pol­ policy makers, therefore, is one of peace," South Africa must play a icy makers are committed to the re­ of hard-bargaining at the bilateral determining role. At the same time, gion and to SADC as a vehicle for level: get what you can, since South part of SADC states' perceived in­ regional economic development. But African business, industry, capital ability to resist South African state it has also become clear that South and military power are preeminently and business penetration is that it African involvement on the conti­ determining factors in current, and slots so neatly into neo-liberal pro­ nent and in the region reflects a nar­ in all probability future, regional cesses of globalization. There is a rowly neo-liberal agenda, the benef­ relations. It is a regional strategy of very clear line extending from South icent language of the "African Re­ which P.W. Botha would be proud. African support for (or acquiescence naissance" notwithstanding. to) global multilateral organizations Renaissance and p enetration The recently held SADC con­ like the WTO, World Bank and sultative conference in Mbabane, Legitimizing - at least among South IMF, to a domestic economic strat­ Swaziland offers a lens through African policy makers - this in­ egy which rests on the same neo­ which to demonstrate not only the creased economic domination in the liberal principles, to South Africa's

12 volume 15 number 3 Southern Africa REPORT penetration and domination of mar­ plementation of the protocol - for tation Office (PIO) to be located kets on the continent, and defer­ example, an appropriate formula at the Secretariat headquarters in mined search for the same beyond. for determining "rules of origin" - Gaborone, a move the donors firmly There has been a great deal of South African officials felt it in their supported. The idea of a PIO has pressure exerted on SADC members best interest to sign. And, as the been in the works for some time, by donor countries, particularly ninth member state to ratify the pro­ with a reticent Tanzania, as sec­ the US and the EU, to bring tocol, it is now able to take effect. tor coordinator for trade and in­ individual state policy into line with South Africa sent a delegation dustry, leery of loss of status and "global imperatives." Both US of more than 45 people, including power. In preparation for the Mba­ and EU policy makers are keen what one observer described as "a bane meeting, the Secretariat bar­ to see liberal forms of regional never ending parade of ministers gained very hard to gain Tanzania's integration. For America, the and senior officials," to Mbabane. acquiescence in the matter, appear­ hope of a "democratic peace" forged This behaviour runs contrary to ing at one point to have reached around a regional constellation of SADC rules of procedure which agreement. Indeed, SADC officials "market democracies" hinges on clearly state that each delegation expressed surprise when they discov­ South Africa. A great deal of is to be led by one minister. ered in Mbabane that Tanzania was effort has been expended by Western Other SADC member states sent being represented not by a minis­ powers in the concerted attempt the normal complement of three or ter, but by a permanent secretary to make this formula "work" in four representatives. According to whose presentation to the Council South Africa. So, recent economic one SADC official, it was hard to clearly stated Tanzania's opposition indicators notwithstanding, South not draw parallels between South to the creation of a PIO, thus send­ Africa's "negotiated revolution" is Africa's behaviour at Mbabane and ing the issue back to square one. unambiguously celebrated the world the US's behaviour at the US/SADC South African, EU and American of­ over in the context of liberal forum held in Gaborone the previous ficials are doubtful whether Tanza­ triumphalism. Extended to the July. At that meeting, US behaviour nia has the capacity to act as the region, USAID/RCSA's long-term was said to resemble a bullying implementing agent of the protocol strategic plan includes, first and father lecturing recalcitrant and and so have created a united front in foremost, helping foster "a cluster of ignorant children. support of PIO. Other SADC mem­ ber states - at least those who have well-functioning democracies in the There are two explanations mak­ region." ratified the protocol - appear to be ing the rounds regarding South in agreement with "big brother" on The Mbabane meeting Africa's behaviour, one specula­ this issue, but fear the precedent If South Africans have long been tive, the other more informed. that the loss of a sector, or part of a enamoured of all things Ameri­ The speculative explanation cen­ sector, would set in the region. can, policy makers are increasingly tres around infighting and suspicion behaving, as one local newspaper within South African government The push for the PIO corre­ dubbed them, like "the Yankees of and policy making circles. Rather sponds with advances in the finance Africa." A very clear demonstra­ than trust one minister to ade­ and investment sector, coordinated tion of this swaggering approach quately represent South African "in­ by South Africa, whereby a regional to regionalism · took place at the terests," the decision was taken to "bank of international settlements" recent SADC Council of Ministers send all interested parties. This has been agreed to by SADC finance meeting in Mbabane, Swaziland, a explanation jibes quite closely with ministers. Led by South Africa, this meeting dubbed "Peace, Progress member states' general impressions sector is clearly a club of like-minded and Prosperity in the New Millen­ of undue paranoia and scheming in central bankers. At the same time, nium." Shortly before the February the South African camp. The more South Africa has been highly critical 2000 meeting, on 25 January, South informed explanation derives from both of the proliferation of sectors Africa ratified the long delayed trade the observed behaviour of the South in SADC and of general organiza­ protocol. The stated objective of African delegation at the Mbabane tional malaise. Making the rounds the trade protocol is to "liberal­ meeting. Keen to have their in­ at Mbabane was the so-called "se­ ize inter-regional trade in goods and terests prevail, South Africa made cret document" first leaked at the services, ensure efficient production sure that their sector representa­ Maputo summit in which it is ar­ within SADC, contribute toward a tives were present during all delib­ gued that SADC restructuring and climate for investment and enhance erations. rationalization is to now be a top­ the economic development, diversi­ In particular, with the ratifica­ down affair, with responsibility ly­ fication and industrialization of the tion of the trade protocol, South ing firmly in the office of the pres­ region." While there remain many African officials pushed hard for the idents. This runs contrary to the contentious elements regarding im- creation of a Protocol Implemen- 1997 review which suggested forma-

Southern Africa REPORT 3rd quarter 2000 13 tion of national SADC councils and control of a "social" sector wo uld that greed rather than goodwill other bottom-up institutions. But it provide them with the legitimacy was the driving force behind the is clearly in line with the increasing to interfere in virtually all SADC SADC decision: visions of land, tendency toward personalized poli­ activities. Were that to come to minerals, water and energy made tics and "big man" diplomacy in the pass, all that remains to complete Kabila's Congo virtually irresistible. SADC region. Where Mbeki cannot South African hegemony would be Symbolizing the present bitterness trade on the charisma and force of to put their own national at the and feelings of ill will is the character of former President Man­ head of the Secretariat. According continuing dispute over the state dela, he clearly carries with him to one official, however, this is of the OPDS, chaired since its in regional forums, the backing of one eventuali ty to which no other creation by Zimbabwe's president the world's most powerful states and member would agree. Indeed, it is Robert Mugabe. multilateral institutions. one of the only issues that unites the As is only too well known, Mu­ In spite of its criticism regarding alliance. gabe has been parading Zimbabwe's the proliferation of sectors, South The OPDS, Mugabe and South intervention in the DR.C as a SADC African officials at the Mbabane Africa action under the direction of the meeting pushed for the creation of a One other issue that is said to unite OPDS. In April 1999 at Windhoek, social sector to be headed by them. SADC members is their mutually he convened a meeting of heads of Arguing that the impetus for such felt regret at fast-tracking the state and government as well as a sector comes from preparations D.R. Congo into the organization. their ministers of security and de­ for the upcoming UN-sponsored Mandela's "gesture of goodwill" has fense. Only four of SADC's 14 global social summit, more cynical reaped an extremely bitter harves t. member states attended this meet­ observers feel that South African In retrospect, it seems fair to argue ing. Undeterred, Mugabe forged a

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Ko.h'iln t'1 M·ngabe at Victoria Falls on 7 August 1998. "Mngahe has been pamd'ing Zimbabwe's intervention in the DRC as a SADC action. "

14 volume 15 number 3 Southern Africa REPORT favour bilateral "defence and se­ curity" initiatives with NATO/EU member states. In this way, it ap­ pears South African policy makers are committed to regional peace and contineutal renaissance but only on their own terms. Regarding South Africa's trade negotiations with the European Union, it is both troubling and ironic that it is EU member states - not ~ South Africa - which most consis­ LO ,..... tently raise the issue of the agree- G ment's implications for SADC mem­ ;f ber states (granted, largely in de­

Southern Africa REPORT 3rd quarter 2000 15 Raw Deal South Africa - E.U. Trade Pact

BY STEPHEN GREENBERG tic producers. The EU did the same Tariffs and subsidies in the preparatory talks for a new Stephen Greenberg is a policy re­ Domestic markets may be protected round of trade liberalisation negoti­ searcher at the Environmental & De­ either by imposing customs duties ations in Seattle in 1999. Regarding velopment Agency (EDA) TI-ust. This (which increases costs for competi­ trade in agriculture, what we see is paper was written in his personal ca­ tors) or by offering producer and ex­ a fluid situation with no clear (much pacity and does not necessarily reflect port subsidies (which reduce costs less inevitable) trend towards liber­ the position of the organisation. for domestic producers). The em­ alization. phasis of the TDCA, is to reduce and in some cases do away with customs After 5 years of negotiations the Under the TDCA, this pattern holds: South Africa has not duties, thereby reducing the costs SA-EU Trade, Development and for exporters. Co-operation Agreement (TDCA) achieved fully liberalized access for was signed at the end of 1999. its agricultural products. The Indeed, since 1994 South Africa EU will give duty free access It deals with "substantially all has focused on reducing agricultural trade" between South Africa and to 61 percent of South African tariffs as a means to make its the European Union (EU), including agricultural imports and another agricultural exports competitive, trade in agricultural products. 13 percent will be subject to cutting them at a rate faster than preferential tariff rates. The EU required by GATT. Thus the TDCA The South African government buys 40 percent of South African will push South Africa further down approached the negotiations with agricultural exports, making it a this path. The EU, in contrast, two misconceptions. The first was significant market for South African has emphasized subsidies under the that global trade liberalization was a exporters. Yet these imports Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) fait accompli that South Africa must account for less than 2 percent rather than tariffs as a way to accept. Integration into the global of EU's total agricultural imports. protect exporters. EU subsidies to economy was the only option. The More importantly, some of the farmers under the CAP were valued second misconception was that trade more lucrative exports have been at US$40 billion in 1998 - as much liberalisation is beneficial to most, if given quotas for their preferential as the South African government's not all, South African citizens. tariffs rather than full duty free entire annual budget. Subsidies are These misconceptions need to be access. These exports include not affected by this agreement. dispelled. canned fruit, fruit juice, dairy, cut flowers, wine and sparkling wine. South Africa should itself con­ Agriculture in the T D CA Approximately 26 percent of South sider protecting small farmers as Africa's agricultural exports have they struggle to become self­ To shed some light on the first mis­ sufficient by offering well targeted conception, recall that since the for­ been put on the 'reserve' list, meaning they have been excluded subsidies. In this way the govern­ mation of the General Agreement ment could enhance local economic from the agreement for now. on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in development and protect emerging 1947, international agricultural ne­ black farmers from competition from South Africa, in contrast, will gotiations have been battles between highly subsidized products that are provide duty free access to 83 per­ the US, Europe and Japan about dumped on the South African mar­ cent of EU agricultural imports. how best to protect domestic pro­ ket. ducers while simultaneously ridding The EU contributes a significant 20 themselves of their vast agricultural · percent of South Africa's agricul­ Even if over the longer term surpluses. Until the 1986 Uruguay tural imports. The trade agreement, trade liberalization forbids such Round of GATT, agriculture was therefore, is not equally free on both measures, at present, it is still possi­ barely considered a topic for inter­ sides, with the EU gaining greater ble to use domestic policy to build national negotiation. At that time, access to the South African market the capacity of small and subsis­ the US effectively blocked any agree­ than South Africa is accorded to the tence producers to remain competi­ ment to reduce subsidies to domes- EU market. tive in local markets. Domestic agri-

16 volume 15 number 3 Southern Africa REPORT ------~@~~lli @~~~@@ ______cultural policy can and should focus of agriculture in domestic markets. since the early 1990s. Yet now on building capacity and resilience The Agribusiness Chamber of South they are discovering how quickly for local food security by injecting Africa has been the driving force be­ consumer demand in rich coun­ resources into small farmer devel­ hind the government's policy pre­ tries changes. Some apple grow­ opment, rather than unnecessarily scriptions for domestic and interna­ ers have been unable to respond emphasizing export production and tional trade liberalization in recent rapidly to the changes - even to sacrificing the local market. But years. The National African Farm­ produce the new varieties of ap­ such an approach would require that ers' Union (NAFU) tends to support ples that are in demand. To over­ the national government change its this approach, with export markets emphasize export-orientation with­ attitude. However, the government the goal of some of the few bigger out a counter-balancing focus on lo­ does not consider state support for commercial African farmers. Mean­ cal and household food security is food production to be a priority. while, resource poor and subsistence therefore a dangerous strategy. farmers and farm workers have vir­ At present, most state resources Export earnings will remain in tually no effective voice, and are for agriculture are allocated for con­ the hands of private companies. mainly disorganized and marginal­ servation, establishing of small farm­ The benefits to workers in these ized from the debates around policy. ers on the land and administration. industries are supposed to come But merely putting a few farmers The TDCA in no way puts the about through the infamous 'trickle on land is patently different from rural poor at the centre of the down' effect. But few farm providing the resources and support transformation of the rural economy. workers in South Africa have yet required for them to sustain them­ It merely entrenches the status quo experienced the benefits of sub­ selves in the long run. Central gov­ in the countryside. The South sectoral economic growth and there ernment cut-backs have seen agri­ African government has not given seems to be little reason why this culture's share of the budget de­ enough thought to transforming might change soon. The TDCA does cline from 0.49 percent in 1999 to the rural economy to benefit the not offer transformation, merely 0.34 percent in 2000. Agricultural rural poor, which was its historical intensification of the privileges of a support is a provincial competency, mandate. small and already wealthy segment meaning that nine provinces receive of the population. Impact on farm workers on average about R80 million to The other side of the coin will spend on agriculture each year. This Indeed, the second misconception of be the closure of farms unable to has not been enough money to pre­ the South African government is the compete with highly subsidized Eu­ vent the collapse of basic extension notion that South Africa has one ropean products (up to 48 percent services to poor farmers. Thus the "national interest." The suggestion of the production costs are sub­ provincial governments have been has been put forth that an inter­ sidized through the CAP). In the unable to do more than preside over state trade agreement benefits all early 1980s, a third of (mainly small the gradual decline of state support citizens. This, however, is untrue, and medium sized) white commer­ to agriculture. as the potential effects of the cial farmers were so in debt that they Who gains? (who loses?) agreement on the agricultural and were a credit risk. The situation has rural sector show. The National Department of Agri­ worsened since then and there has been a wave of farm closures during culture predict~ that South Africa The agreement is liable to re­ could make a net gain of up to R2 sult in a shift in commercial pro­ the 1990s. billion on the agreement. This fig­ duction patterns to emphasize more One can expect that as the ure is arrived at by deducting po­ profitable high value crops (e.g. hor­ commercial agricultural sector is tential customs duties losses from ticultural production). In other restructured to engage in the global the gains made through duty free sub-sectors one can expect intensi­ economy, some farms and associated access for exports. However not fied global competition that will cut processing labour will bear further everyone gains equally. The state prices and profits in domestic mar­ losses. Farm workers are hardest will lose customs revenue, and pri­ kets. Since horticulture is labour in­ hit since they have no land or vate exporters will gain through re­ tensive the result may be more jobs assets to protect them once they are ductions in tariffs. The agreement but not necessarily better conditions thrown off the farms. Like resource therefore benefits a small minority of for farm workers. poor farmers, farm workers are large scale private exporters at the Moreover, export orientation very disorganized and the conditions expense of the public sector. places producers at the mercy of faced by progressive unions are Since the late 1980s, the power­ fickle consumer fashion. For ex­ extremely difficult as they try to ful white commercial farming lobby ample, South African apple grow­ organize the approximately 800,000 has been pushing for deregulation ers have been leading exporters workers in this sector.

Southern Africa REPORT 3rd quarter 2000 17 Small scale and subsistence (or a combination of domestic and countries were excluded from the farmers foreign companies) on terms that negotiation of the agreement, even are "attractive to investors'' The though they asked to be involved. South Africa has a history of chiefs will be the ones to lease the The BLNS countries rely heavily national food security but not local land. Small scale producers will food security. Indeed, a large on tariffs for state revenue. Lesotho lose access to the land for their relies on tariffs for 60 percent of proportion of the population do not own production (formerly they had have enough to eat on a daily basis. government revenue. The agreement at least had nominal access to the will resul t in an estimated 21 While the country as a whole is self­ land) but will "benefit" fr om the sufficient in key food items - grain, percent reduction in these revenues. scheme as sub-contractors for the Swaziland could lose up to 22 vegetables and meat - this masks agri-business consortia. high levels of food insecurity locally percent of its revenues as a result of and within households. Contract farming has been a the TDCA. global trend in agricu ltur ~ for It would be possible for domes­ South Africa has granted SADC some decades now. Multmat10nals countries preferential tariffs under tic policies to be developed to sup­ dominate the sector both through port and build local food security ca­ regional agreements. But, the inputs like seed, fertilizers and TDCA undermines this by allowmg pability amongst the approximately credit and processing, packagmg, 823 000 subsistence farm households duty free access for h'ighly subsidised mark~ting and retailing of final EU products. A substantial por­ in the former homelands. About products. They prefer to sub­ 72 percent of these are headed by tion of the trade component of the contract the least profitable and TDCA deals with "rules of origin," women. As yet, there are no in­ riskiest aspect of the production ternationally agreed upon rules that which essentially say that only those of food commodities the actual products that are certified as origi­ prevent the government from sup­ production of the crop or livestock. porting a program that would trans­ uating in South Africa will be given preferential access to the EU mar­ fer land rights (whether collective Small and subsistence farmers or individual) in communal areas will at best engage in dependant ket. The combined effect is to uncler­ to the people living in that area. contract farming, and at worst be miue SADC regional economic inte­ It is also possible, under the cur­ marginalisecl entirely from surplus gration; it could potentially result in rent international trade regime, to food production for local needs. the (re-)concentration of production support the production of locall y­ Soon, small-scale fanners may be­ ;mel processing in South Africa. It is needed food crops that can generate come dependent on the multina­ also estimated that unfair competi­ and circulate income and resources tional for income and hence food. tion from EU products will cost the BLNS countries at least 12 ,000 jobs. locally. This undermines the already weak local food security by disrupting The agreement therefore has Yet the Department of Agricul­ those few local markets that have ture has chosen an export orienta­ caused tension between South Africa been built up tenaciously - against and its neighbours. l\1any in SADC tion at the expense of local food se­ all odds - over decades and that arc curity. The primary reason for this and in the African, Caribbean responsive to local supply and de­ and Paci fi c (ACP) trade bloc feel is that agriculture is viewed as a mand conditions. way to earn foreign exchange rather that the SA-EU agreement has than a way to produce locall y re­ Impact on the Southern African established a pn•cedent for the quired food. This is in line with region formation of regional trading blocs. the governments economic strategy, The EU is attempting to pressure The TDCA is a matter of grave con­ these groups into doing away with Growth, Employment and Redistri­ cern to countries in the southern bution (GEAR), which asserts the the old Lome Convention type African region as well. The agree­ agreement based on preferential need for an export oriented growth ment contains no special provisions strategy. trade, replacing it with 'reciprocal' for the Southern African Develop­ trade agreements between the EU Nowhere is this more evident ment Community (SADC) or the and a number of separate fragments than in current proposals by the Southern African Customs Union of the ACP. The 71 ACP countries Department of Agriculture together (SACU) . Botswana, Lesotho, Nami­ sc'P this as unfavourable since with the United Nations Food bia and Swaziland (BLNS) who reciprocity will require that they and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) together with South Africa form further open their domestic markets to draw communally owned land SACU share a common rxternal to the EU. It also promises to in the Eastern Cape into "the tariff with South Africa. Therefore give them less bargaining power as market driven economy." Tracts they wi ll be forced to reduce their the EU plays one regional bloc off of communal land in t.he Transkei tariffs on EU products at the same against another. DOD will be leased to multinationals rate as South Africa. Yet these

18 volume 15 number 3 Southern Africa REPORT ------~@~~ill @~~~©@ ______Land Reform in South Africa Still Waiting

BY SAM K ARIU KI AND central component of the struggle in labour tenancy, to increase the pool LUCIEN VAN D ER WALT South Africa. of migrant workers for the cheap Sam I

Southern Africa REPORT 3rd quarter 2000 19 ------~©w~rn ~~~~©~------million people were relocated into the poorest section of the rural pop­ Actually existing land reform ulation and aspirant farmers." Spe­ segregated urban and rural areas. In practice, the land reform pro­ cial attention was also paid in the By the early 1990s, when the gramme implemented by the ANC RDP to women who faced custom­ apartheid government finally un­ massively fell short of achieving its ary and legal obstacles to accessing banned and entered into negoti­ stated goal of redistributing 30 per­ land. ations with the ANC, ownership cent of South African land by the Yet the actual policies set out of arable land was concentrated 1999 national elections. Despite the in the RDP to attain land reform into the hands of an estimated fact that the Land Claims Court were radically counterposed to the 55,000 mainly white capitalist farm­ was supposed to have finished its program's general Keynesian and ers holding 102 million hectares of work and disbanded by then, less developmentalist thrust. The sec­ land. In the former reserves re­ than 800 claims out of nearly 64,000 tion on land reform rested cen­ named "homelands," 1.2 mill i o~ mi­ had been processed, mostly in urban trally on a restrictive and neo­ cro farmers shared about 17 million areas. Evictions continued apace, liberal policy framework that had hectares. In 1994, apartheid ended and overall employment in the agri­ been lifted directly from a World officially with the electoral victory of cultural sector fell by 10 percent be­ Bank report on land reform in the ANC, backed by grassroots com­ tween 1989 and 1999. Despite the South Africa entitled the Rural Re­ munity, labour, and student move­ extension of union rights to farm structuring Programme. According ments. Yet, the "new South Africa" workers in the 1995 Labour Rela­ to this framework, land reform in began with 86% of the land remain­ tions Act and the 1997 Basic Con­ South Africa rested upon two cen­ ing under white ownership, and an ditions of Employment Act, union­ tral pillars termed "restitution" and enormously impoverished rural pop­ ization in the sector remains ex­ "redistribution." "Restitution" re­ ulation, of which an estimated 70 ceedingly low, with the most opti­ ferred to the establishment of legal percent earned less than R300 a mistic estimates placing the number channels to allow claims to be lodged month per household. The rural of union members at under 40,000 with a Land Claims Court for the working class, outside of such indus­ out of one million paid employees. return of, or compensation for, land tries as forestry and food processing, The main union, the South African lost through racial laws or through was largely bypassed by the labour Agricultural Plantation and Allied illegal means after the passage of the movement that emerged in the 1970s Workers' Union, a COSATU affili­ 1913 Land Act. "Redistribution" and expanded throughout the man­ ate, has remained ineffective and its referred to a process whereby the ufacturing industry in the 1980s and closure was suggested at the 1999 government would help communities the public sector in the 1990s. More­ special COSATU congress. and aspirant farmers buy land from over, almost the entire agricultural existing land holders on a willing­ sector was exempted from labour Farm labour remains highly buyer-willing-seller basis by provid­ law prior to 1995. flexible and insecure, with at least ing grants of R15,000 to households. 300,000 casuals and seasonal paid Land reform in the early post­ These two pillars were incorpo­ workers in addition to numerous apartheid era rated into official government pol­ labour tenants and undocumented Given these enormous disparities, it icy after the April 1994 elections workers. Average wages in 1995 were around R457 per month, with might be expected that the newly­ swept the ANC into power, although 50 percent of agricultural workers elected government would introduce a third pillar was added: the reform earning R400 or less. The highest a radical land reform programme. of land tenure. In an effort to regu­ wages in the sector were barely over Indeed, the ANC had formally com­ late the evictions of labour tenants R1 ,000 a month. Violence remains mitted itself to this goal in the Re­ the 1997 Extension of Security of a common feature of agrarian construction and Development Pro­ Tenure Act set in place procedures social relations on the commercial gramme (RDP), initiated by labour governing how evictions would take farms. Recent high-profile cases and finalized after consultation be­ place. Previously, tenants could be include the death of six-month-old tween the ANC and its allied social removed at the whim of the farmer. Angeline Zwane, after a farmer fired movements. The RDP had identi­ Evictions would now be regulated by on her sister for trespassing; the fied the issue of land redistribution court orders taking into considera­ appearance of a farmer and his as vital, stating "a national land re­ tion factors such as length of res­ sons in court for dragging a worker form programme" that addresses the idence on the farm, and the rea­ behind a tractor; and the arrest of a injustices of the apartheid past "is sons for the eviction. The law how­ farmer for painting a worker silver. the central and driving force of a ever, was criticized by organiz~tions such as the National Land Commit­ programme of rural development." On the ground Such a programme would be "de­ tee and COSATU for doing too little mand driven" and "aim to supply too late, for regulating rather than In retrospect, the failure of the land residential and productive land to ending evictions. reform programme seems inevitable.

20 volume 15 number 3 Southern Africa REPORT ally owned by the chief. · In other cases, they recognized the unfair na­ ture of the situation, but accepted it as the only way of accessing land. The reconstitution of the chieftaincy - and the attendant dangers of trib­ alization and ethnic division that this portends - may have been un­ expected by the formulators of the land reform policy. But it certainly underlines how a process meant to benefit the poor has not only failed to challenge existing power relations, but also laid the basis for the devel­ ·> opment of new exploiting classes. How the land was lost A range of factors help explain why South Africa came to adopt such an evidently flawed land reform programme. In part, the reasons lie in the nature of the compromise The fis cal austerity policies of the its inability to address the underly­ reached in the transition to a new AN C government - codified in the ing class relations that produce and South Africa. With neither the post-RDP neo- liberal Growth, Em­ reproduce unequal patterns of own­ national liberation movement nor ployment and Redistribution Strat­ ership. Simply ignoring the skewed the apartheid regime able to secure a egy (GEAR) of 1996, continually power relations in the market, the decisive victory in the clashes of the undermined the overall land reform ANC government dressed up a pro­ 1980s, the democratization process process. cess of actually buying back land of the 1990s proceeded on the basis In the largely rural Mpumulanga originally acquired in highly unjust of a series of compromises. province, for example, it is not at circumstances as a program of redis­ The class content of these com­ all uncommon to find Department of tribution to the poor, rather than promises centred on an agreement Land Affairs (DLA) district offices, a radical retreat from popular de­ that private property would not be such as the one in Ermelo, with a mands. redistributed and that capitalist re­ staff of two people. Leaving aside In addition, strict limitations on lations of production would remain the injustice of restricting land resti­ state expenditure also provided an unchanged, although reformed in tution claims to the post-1913 Land incentive to government structures ways that were politically desirable. Act period, the land restitution pro­ to hinder the allocation of grants The land question, in this context, cess, which relies heavily on research and ensure that sufficient funds differs fundamentally from questions and documentation, has foundered would never be available for buying such as the desegregation of the so­ as the result of neo-liberal budget back 30 percent of land in South cial welfare budget. Land, as a pro­ cuts. Infighting within the DLA Africa. The limited size of ductive resource, was evidently not itself as well as · between national, the grants, which were wholly simply something that would be up provincial, and local structures, and inadequate to purchase farmland in for grabs for the working class. This underdeveloped land reform proce­ most areas, also encouraged people compromise meant, in effect, that dures compounded these capacity to band together as "communities" the class interests of capital - agri­ problems. Research in Mpumulanga in order to pool enough resources to cultural capital included - would not showed that government has pro­ gain access to land. be threatened by democratization, vided no real post-transfer support In several cases in Mpumulanga, even if social categories such as the to resettled farming communities . this has effectively meant the in­ white working class would lose their The market-driven willing- vention or reconstitution of tribal privileged position. buyer-willing-seller approach cham­ groups under authoritarian chiefs The international context rein­ pioned by the World Bank and in­ who subsist on rent paid by other for ced class domination in South corporated into the RDP had con­ community members. In some in­ Africa. The unipolar neo-liberal tinually shown its inability to deli ver stances, community members were world order ruled out more statist real land reform across Africa. The under the impression that the land forms of capitalism and narrowed basis for the failure of the policy is that they had purchased was actu- the space for radical reforms. The

Southern Africa REPORT 3rd quarter 2000 21

J ------~@~~ill ~~~~©~------under-resourced, and subject to de­ championing rural capital accumu­ general demoralization of the Left, clining funding in the 1990s. As lation and rural class relations, al­ the enormous influence of neo­ such, the NGOs are unable to mount beit now partly deracialized by the liberal ideology, the power of the a major drive into the countryside, entry of African capitalists. This multi-lateral institutions and multi­ and their ability to capacitate rural is underlined by proposed reforms national corporations, and the over­ communities is limited. Indeed, or­ of the government grant system for all context of post-1973 global capi­ ganizations such as the Farmworkers "land redistribution." To receive ta.list crisis provided the backdrop to Research and Resource Project have R30,000 , the aspirant farmer must the apparent victory of the national collapsed entirely in this context. contribute RlO,OOO. To access be­ liberation struggle in South Africa. By contrast, the chieftaincy, one tween R35,000 and R100,000, the as­ In this context, it is not sur­ of the few beneficiaries of the pirant farmer would be expected to prising that the World Bank's Rural current land reform measures, had contribute R40,000. For projects in Restructuring Programme was able long been represented in the ANC the next window of up to R300,000, to secure such an impressive influ­ and in the ANC-aligned Congress the aspirant farmer would have to ence within ANC circles. Lavish of Traditional Leaders of South raise R135,000. conferences and presentations by the Africa, founded in 1987. The Poor rural women, who consti­ Bank on this program helped secure ANC's increasing accommodation to tute one of the most oppressed lay­ this hegemony; and the ANC's neo­ the institution of the chieftaincy ers in South African society, are also liberal position on the land question reinforces the power of this group. set to be losers. The lot of working preceded and prefigured its dramatic From bad to worse? women on the farms has often been general neo-liberal drift after 1994. to provide cheap and often seasonal It would be mistaken, however, to Recent developments indicate that labour, with access to land typically see the ANC as the victim of over­ the land reform process is set to dependant on employment in the whelming forces. The ANC itself, as become even more anti-labour than homelands. In addition, women's Oupa Lehulere pointed out in a pre­ before. Following the 1999 elections, access to land has been limited by vious issue of Southern Africa Re­ the new Minister of Agriculture and traditional institutions such as the por-t, was a party of the frustrated Land Affairs, Thoko Didiza, set out chieftaincy. The ever-increasing cen­ African petty bourgeoisie with a a policy statement, the Strategic trality of the market to the govern­ mass working class base, not a rad­ Directions on Land Issues. The ment's land reform programme is set ical opponent of capitalist property document dropped the RDP's focus to reproduce these patterns, as poor relations. At its most radical, the on "the poorest section of the ~· ural rural women lack the money neces­ ANC championed a mixed capital­ population and aspirant farmers." sary to set up as independent farm­ ist economy. Its petty bourgeois and The focus was now explicitly on ers. bourgeois layers readily accommo­ creating a black agrarian capitalist The land reform process in South dated themselves to the new world class by changing the "structure of the South African agriculture by Africa underlines how patterns of order, even at the cost of the black class, gender, and racial inequality working class. opening opportunities and thereby creating a significant number of have been reproduced in the "new Nor were working class forces black commercial farmers operating South Africa." The achievement able to stop this development. Trade on a medium and large scale." of a non-racial parliament was unionism was historically centred This policy directive is bound to au enormous advance for ordinary in the urban areas, as were most reinforce and reshape rural gender people. Yet in the wake of this post-1950s struggles, and rural is­ and class based rural inequalities. accomplishment, there has been a sues never featured highly on the The new focus on the creation of steady consolidation of the power agenda of the 1980s national lib­ a "black class of emerging farmers" of a newly deracialized capitalism. eration movement. Rural workers represents a particular kind of The class agenda of the Mandela and labour tenants remained largely response to the failure of the 1994- and Mbeki governments may be seen disorganized and inarticulate out­ in the implementation of GEAR; in 1999 land reform process. It side of forums organised by NGOs, is a response that abandons any the drive to privatize; in cuts to and they lacked the power to chal­ concern for the working class and social services; in the deregulation lenge the ANC's land reform poli­ support for poor communities in the of capital and commodity flows; in cies. The only exception was labour context of redistribution, in favour attempts to discipline labour; and in tenants in the KwaZulu-Natal and of redistributing land to bourgeois a land reform programme that has Mpumulanga provinces, whose 1996 and aspirant-bourgeois Africans. moved from bad to worse. In the rallies and threats of "war with the twenty-first century, the struggle for farmers" underlay the passage of the An overall commitment to ru­ a new South Africa continues. 1997 Security of Tenure Act. Over­ ral development and rural redress all though, the NGO sector remains has been replaced by a programme DOD

22 volume 15 number 3 Southern Africa REPORT Mozambican Heroism The Floods

BY BILL BUTT personnel lacked the resources to ways including the Estrada Nacional adequately assess the situation in Bill Butt, who works for the United 1, the main north-south spine of affected flood zones, a handicap that Church of Canada division of World Mozambique. This major artery increased the loss of life. Outreacl1, is communication consultant is used by hundreds of trucks each to the Christian Council of Mozam­ day to distribute goods around the A million livestock perished with bique and is based in Maputo. country. The devastation of the many more at risk for flood­ floods was more pronounced due to In the wake of Mozambique's eco­ borne diseases and malnutrition. the country's poor infrastructure, nomic collapse caused by the The floods covered 100,000 hectares a legacy of Portuguese colonialism, decade-long South African spon­ of Mozambique's best farmland, the costs of the liberation war and sored economic and military destabi­ destroying crops and in many the destabilization campaign, Fre- lization project, Mozambicans made painstaking efforts over the last few years to rebuild a devastated coun­ try. Recovery was seriously set back, however, by floods that as­ saulted the country earlier in Febru­ ary. There was extensive and sen­ sationalized media coverage around the globe focusing on the assis­ tance that had been provided by military forces - including South Africa's - and foreign development agencies. And while this assistance was appreciated, there was little coverage by the western media of the many ways Mozambicans helped each other, even when they had very little to offer except for courage and resilience. The floods affected more than three million people, of whom one million were evacuated from their homes and are now homeless as their property was damaged or destroyed. By mid-April, St1·ects of Chokwe in Xai-Xai several hundred people were already confirmed dead and bodies were cases contaminating or eroding soil. limo's own failed economic experi­ About 150,000 families lost their being discovered daily as the waters ments of the 1970s and 1980s, and slowly receded from river basins in crops, meaning that for these the impact of the structural adjust­ the south and centre of the country. subsistence farmers there is no ment program imposed by the IMF Due to a lack of communications means of survival until the next and the World Bank. It is estimated technology and an adult illiteracy harvest in February 2001. that recovery could take as long as rate of 60 % - higher in the rural In Maputo, the floods created 15 years. areas - most Mozambicans did not canyons several kilometres long and The extensive western media at­ have timely warning of the water's as deep as 20 metres. The wa­ tention lavished on Mozambique was approach and many had no time ter eroded a number of streets in not due to the scale of the floods. to flee. Even emergency relief the city, and many important high- Many other countries such as China

Southern Africa REPORT 3rd quarter 2000 23 and Bangladesh have suffered worse floods in the past with significantly less media interest. What the Mozambican floods offered for west­ ern consumption were sensational TV-ready images and the opportu­ nity for westerners to reassert their perceived benign role as the saviours of passive Africans in desperate need of assistance. And since Mozam­ bique is of political and economic in­ terest to South Africa, it is of inter­ est to the West. Even in the infamous case of the woman giving birth in a tree - images shown repeatedly in the western world - the stress was less on the mother's courage and competence than on the drama, suspense, novelty, and tabloid-level grotesqueness of the circumstances. aJ The coverage was dehumanizing. The woman's name is Sofia Chivuri. Her calm and resourceful mother­ survive for days in those famous for example, individuals had to in-law, who was in the tree with treetops could not be captured defecate. Cameramen were not her, helped in the delivery. The on film . Nor could journalists interested in the women who had to baby's name is Rosita. Her father capture the cooperation necessary tie children and other weaker ones to Salvador Josine had gone to Maputo to contrive a bit of privacy when, branches to keep them from falling looking for a job, and Sofia had into the waters while they slept. made her way to Maputo with their They did not go to the emergency three children to be with him as he shelters to film the patience and the found work on the docks. Sofia and discipline with which the evacuees Rosita met Mozambique's President organized themselves, queued for Chissano, a fund was set up to food, water and toilets, cooked and provide for Rosita's education, and kept clean their individual spaces. she has become a hopeful symbol In short, the stories of how people for Mozambique - coming by way of managed with what they had were disaster and on to a better future. stories that never made it to the top This information was hardly noted of the news hour. in the international press. Had journalists gone to commu­ nities far from the flooded regions, Once the novelty of helicopter they might have recorded scenes of rescues had worn-off, the western Methodist and other churches gath­ journalists left. The story was ering sacks of food and clothing that "over," and as a media event, the were distributed by volunteers from floods no longer existed. This the congregations who knew their highly selective media coverage neighbour's needs. led to the erroneous perception - In the ba·irros around Ma­ even by Mozambicans themselves puto, Presbyterian churches orga­ - that Mozambicans lacked the nized teams to go door to door, initiative to help themselves. Yet wading through the floodwaters to what viewers and readers did not find those unable or afraid to leave see was the dignity, co-operative their homes for the central emer- spirit, bravery and persistence of ~ gency shelters. The churches or­ Mozambicans battling against the al ganized food, dry clothes, personal c flood conditions. Their strength ~ prayer, and frequent visits for those and ingenuity that was needed to ~ who wished to stay home.

24 volume 15 number 3 Southern Africa REPORT H.otaract, the youth group of What was not shown on tele­ rected to the arduous, expensive Maputo Rotary Club turned up vision screens or written about and unglamorous task of recovering in the nearly inaccessible bairro of in newspapers was Mozambique's from the floods. Mozambique needs Liberdade in a Coca-Cola delivery greatest strength in confronting this structural changes that would make truck they had wheedled from a local natural disaster: human resilience, the next floods less destructive. Of business. The youth group brought courage and generosity; the real stuff course the cycle of debt peonage, donated supplies and comfort and of human drama and strup;gle. which forces Mozambique to repay joined neighbours working together Reporters frequently point out, a $5.84 billion debt while two-thirds to repair collapsed fences and house in their own defense, that if it were of the population lives in absolute walls. In the Anglican parish of St. Mary Ketwene near the village of Salamanga in Matutuine district, pastor Alberto Daniel and his small congregation helped list the families in need. They turned out with machetes to hack down trees to widen the road for relief-supply trucks, and spread the word so that all the essential supplies could be gathered, ready and waiting for the trucks that arrived on the newly constructed road. Lichinga, the capital of Niassa Province is several days drive from the affected region. In this northern city, congregations took up weekly collections for the Christian Council to distribute to people affected by the floods. Wealthier Mozambicans lent Q) u power launches, tools, vans, diesel c: pumps, warehouse space, or what­ ...,ro ·u;V) ever they could offer in their own V) communities. <{..., Others rescued people stranded c: Q) by the floods. Titasi Josine is a 70 E a. year old widow who lives in Chokwe. 0 (ij Here is her story in her own words. > Q) "Water was covering all my body. I 0 V) spent three days 'standing on a table. ro Q) I then decided to face the monster V).... Q) and save my life by getting off the > table and walking across the waters 0 .r:: to safety. No one was available to ...,V) help. As I was going out of the ·;:: house, a man arrived and said that aJ he would take me to some safe place. not for their cameras, many individ­ poverty, leaves little left over for re­ When I asked of his name, the man uals and organizations in the west­ building Mozambique. The Jubilee refused to let me know of his name ern world would not donate so much coalition in Mozambique has called saying that it was not important at to causes such as Mozambican flood for this debt to be cancelled, and that time. The man left me once we relief. However, the distortion of this call is supported by the Jubilee arrived on dry land and said that I imagery in the direction of what coalitions around the world includ­ had to continue because he had to makes good TV and the shortness ing the Canadian Ecumenical Ju­ go back in search of other people." of the media's attention span have bilee Initiative. If only this issue (This case was supplied courtesy of created a challenge for Mozambi­ were to get as much media attention. Nicodemus Chipfuma, Help Aged cans for they need constructive long­ International.) term international partnerships di- ODD

Southern Africa REPORT 3r d quarter 2000 25 ______lliffi@~~~fuillW@ ______

0"' The Mozambique Elections Renamo Demands a Recount BY DAVID POTTlE while the Renamo-Electoral Union presence limited to only a handful of David Pattie is a senior researcher won 11 7 seats with 38.8 percent. observer organizations. However, as witl1 the Electoral Institute of Southern Two other party coalitions failed to in 1994, the distribution of votes in Africa. reach the 5 percent threshold neces­ the 1999 elections repeated the pat­ sary to assure a seat in parliament. tern of electoral support with Fre­ In December 1999, President The smaller party votes totaled 12.8 limo retaining a majority of the seats Joaquim Chissano was officiall y re­ percent of the popular vote which in the southern half of the country as elected President of Mozambique was slightly higher than in 1994. well as Cabo Delgado in the north. and the ruling Frelimo party re­ Renamo retained its stronghold in turned to power with a major­ Whereas the 1994 elections were the central provinces. While the ity in parliament. Chissano won widely hailed as a vote for peace, presidential election is based on the 52.3 percent of the vote while his much of the focus on the 1999 total national vote, representation in only presidential opponent, Afonso elections was on electoral manage­ the national assembly is based on Dhlakama of the Renamo-Electoral ment. Unlike in 1994 when the the results of 11 provincial elections. Union coalition won 47.7 percent of elections were guided by the UN Thus, while parliament is elected the vote. Frelimo also won a ma­ with widespread international atten­ on the basis of proportional repre­ jority of seats in parliament (133 tion, the 1999 elections were run by sentation, regional electoral strength seats) with 48.5 percent of the vote Mozambique with an international plays a significant role in a party's

26 volume 15 number 3 Southern Africa REPORT ______Nffi@~@Nffi@~~~@ ______electoral success. Nampula, Zam­ would boycott parliament until a re­ Frelimo" and therefore Dias "should bezia and Cabo Delgado have the count of the votes was ordered. Ren­ correct himself." most registered votes, thus they amo leader Afonso Dhlakama called In the end, Renamo reversed its have the most national assembly the Supreme Court president Mario boycott stance and all parliamentar­ seats assigned to them. On the ba­ Man gaze a liar, and claimed that ians took their seats during the first sis of the distribution of votes in the court was a private institution sitting of the new parliament on Jan­ the 1999 elections, Mozambique is of Chissano. Mangaze denied that uary 14, 2000. now a two-party electoral system any political pressure was brought with party support based on regional to bear on the court and defended E lectoral management strongholds. the ruling of the court by declaring: In contrast to this acrimony, in Despite relative success at the "It is not enough to state the ex­ their preliminary statements all of polls, Renamo clearly hoped to win istence of fraud or illegality. It is the international observer missions both the presidential and parliamen­ necessary, as the law determines, to present for the December elections tary elections. The party rejected present proof which leads unequivo­ considered the elections to have the official declaration of results cally to the conclusion that the facts been free of any systematic prob­ when they were announced Decem­ alleged correspond to the truth." lems. While there were minor prob- ber 22, 1999, alleging widespread electoral fraud. Distribution of National Assembly Seats Renamo challenges the results Renamo -- Province Frelimo Renamo alleged that the comput­ Electoral Union erized compilation of results in the Niassa 6 7 provincial centres was fraudulent and that hundreds of individual vot­ Cabo Delgado 16 6 ing station registers were ignored in Nampula 24 26 both the presidential and parliamen­ Zambezia 15 34 tary races. The party took its alle­ Tete 8 10 gations of election fraud to Mozam­ bique's Supreme Court but lost the Manica 5 LO appeal to have the votes recounted Sofala 4 17 when the Court issued a January 4, Imhambane 13 4 2000 ruling that upheld the official results. The Supreme Court ruled Gaza 16 0 that the computerized results could Maputo Province 12 1 be properly reconciled against the Maputo Cty 14 2 registers, and that while there were errors in some registers, they were ITota l 133 117 insufficient to alter the results signif­ I I I icantly. The CojJrt did re-qualify a Moreover, some of the smaller !ems encountered on voting day, it number of ballots and redistributed political parties that shared an was clear that there was no sys­ these among the various parties. electoral platform with Renamo and tematic attempt to manipulate the While the crux of Renamo's al­ accounted for 18 of its 117 seats voting process. One of the mi­ legations was the charge of fraud­ made it clear that they would not nor problems identified was inade­ ulent compilation of the 11 provin­ join any parliamentary boycott. In quate distance between the polling cial results that form the basis of mid-February Dhlakama criticized booth and polling station officials, representation in parliament, Ren­ Maximo Dias, the leader of the and party agents who were present, amo also alleged that its members Mozambican Nationalist Movement thereby threatening to compromise had been denied full access to the (MONAMO), one of the parties in the secrecy of the ballot. In an­ provincial computer centres respon­ the Renamo-Electoral Union, after other instance some voters, par­ sible for the counting and transmis­ Dias had publicly distanced himself ticularly older voters, were con­ sion of results to Maputo. Both from Dhlakama's claims that he fused about the actual voting pro­ the Supreme Court and Frelimo was the legitimate president of cess itself and received consider­ have rejected Renamo's allegations. Mozambique. Dhlakama accused able instruction from station offi­ Following the Supreme Court de­ Dias of insulting the voters of cials, party agents and domestic ob­ cision, Renamo General Secretary Zambezia, Dias' home province, on servers. However, it was also gen­ J oao Alexandre said that Renamo the basis that Dias was "a lackey of erally noted that voting station of-

Southern Africa REPOR T 3r d quarter 2000 2 7 ficials were well-trained, the polling jected to political bargaining. Nev­ ful and the elections were orderly stations opened on time and oper­ ertheless, Mozambique was able to and well-administered. There were ated according to established proce­ mount a successful 60-day voter reg­ technical problems with the count­ dures. istration process, registering 85 per­ ing process, as there were many cent of eligible voters. This regis­ exhausted polling station officials In this regard then, Mozam­ tration process was also observed by counting ballots by candlelight, and bique's second general elections were domestic and international groups repeated computer glitches in the relatively successful, though the and was found to be relatively well­ provincial counting centres. In this staging of well-run elections is a sep­ administered with very high rates of case there is room for improvement. arate issue from gaining acceptance registration among female voters. However, it appears that the over­ of the official results by all parties. all election results are not in ques­ Mozambique is a case in point since Renamo has always been pre­ pared to play a game of duplicity tion. South Africa was among the the legitimacy of Mozambique's re­ first of foreign governments to rec­ cent commitment to multiparty elec­ in the elections. Regional party of­ ficials in Chimoio displayed a gen­ ognize the December 22 announce­ tions, like many of its neighbours in ment of the election results, with southern Africa, hinges on all parties eral suspicion of the electoral pro­ cess, claimed for instance that there the US government and others con­ recognizing the election results. One gratulating Mozambicans on their of the key mechanisms for achieving were "rumours" of disappearing ink for the ballot papers, and that "their successful elections'. The European this acceptance of election results is Union, present as international ob­ people" would be on the look out for to ensure that the body administer­ servers, reiterated their assessment ing the elections operates in a trans­ a high number of blank votes during the counting process. Indeed, there that the elections were "broadly free parent and accountable manner. Af­ and fair." ter all, even the suspicion or alle­ was an exceptionally high number gation of wrongdoing, well founded of blank votes (9.6 percent of leg­ For the moment, Renamo has or not, can be sufficient to derail islative ballots, 6.5 percent of pres­ claimed that it will take its case an electoral process. Mozambique's idential ballots) but Renamo still for a re-count of the election re­ 1999 elections must also be assessed came out ahead in the very provinces sults to parliament, although Fre­ against the background of the widely where its officials claimed they sus­ limo maintains that the results are criticized local government elections pected the worst. The blank ballots non-negotiable. At one level, the in 1998. Renamo and other oppo­ indicate the need for improved voter 1999 Mozambican elections demon­ sition parties boycotted those elec­ education, not the use of invisible strate general compliance with due tions and voter turnout was only ink! process and the use of formal chan­ 15 percent. The opposition parties Renamo's suspicions are even nels for complaints. After all , Re­ alleged that the National Elections more difficult to accept given that namo was fully within its rights to Committee (CNE) and the Techni­ their own party officials were inte­ submit its appeal to the Supreme cal Secretariat for Election Admin­ grated into the national and provin­ Court. However, interim statements istration (STAE), the two bodies re­ cial electoral commission staff as by Renamo officials that Frelirrio sponsible for elections in Mozam­ well as the technical and adminis­ had "stolen" the elections, that the bique, were partial to Frelimo. trative staff at district level (STAE). party would make Mozambique "un­ To be sure, there were problems at governable," and that the Supreme For the 1999 elections a new elec­ Court lacked independence should toral law was passed and an en­ the level of election management, and it was evident that some Fre­ serve notice that Mozambique's path tirely re-constituted CNE was made limo officials made their Renamo to democracy continues to require responsible for charting the course counterparts feel less than welcome careful navigation. Immediately fol­ of the national elections. The po­ in administrative posts. But R.e­ lowing the voting, Renamo's chief litical parties represented in parlia­ namo also wanted it both ways, lawyer, Manuel Frank, expressed ment were represented on the CNE demanding representation through overall confidence in the election and their representatives were also the politicization of election man­ process despite his party's allega­ present on the technical staff of tions of a limited number of specific STAE. Opting for the overt politi­ agement on the one hand, and hold­ ing out by calling the legitimacy of incidents over the course of the vot­ cization of the administrative pro­ ing. Obviously Renamo's evaluation cess, in the name of achieving con­ the electoral process into question on the other. of the electoral process changed as sensual decision-making, Mozam­ the results were tabulated and they bique hoped to gain confidence in The election campaign itself was saw much the same regional patterns the elections. One of the results of largely peaceful, although there were of voting being repeated. this approach has been a long and incidents of intimidation alleged by often agonizing process in which all the two main political parties. The Manuel Tome, secretary-genei·al administrative decisions were sub- three polling days were also peace- of Frelimo, argued that whereas

28 volume 15 number 3 Southern Africa REPORT Renamo has twice given Frelimo ten days to order a re-count but each deadline has come and 'gone with no further action, other than that Renamo has announced the removal of its party headquarters from Maputo to Beira. Renamo's threat· to "return to the bush" is largely an empty threat. After all, its party officials and par­ liamentarians would hardly be look­ t ing to turn-in their salaries and privileges and return to extracting rents from rural folk, particularly

~I in the immediate context of the devastation caused by heavy rains and widespread flooding that has destroyed much of Mozambique's transport, housing and agricultural infrastructure. But their tactics are also a partial indictment of the po­ litical power-sharing that has char­ acterized electoral management in Mozambique. While intended to add Civic erlncation par·ade legitimacy to the elections by in­ Renamo campaigned on ethnic­ inroads were evident in the town of cluding political representatives in regional identity, Frelimo still pur­ Meringue. Since the 1994 elections the electoral administrative struc­ sued the goal of national mobiliza­ Frelimo has constructed a ·health ture, Frelimo does continue to make tion. Frelimo campaigned on its clinic, an administration building use of its constitutional right as traditional social issues such as im­ and over a dozen brick houses with the governing party to appoint all proving investment in health, food electricity in the town. Perhaps not provincial governors at the national and education. But the right­ surprisingly, the Frelimo regional level. This constitutional right - ward shift in Frelimo's economic pol­ party headquarters were adjacent agreed upon by both Frelimo and icy was also evident in its support to the new administration building Renamo ten years ago - imposes a for increased foreign investment and while Renamo's headquarters were major obstacle to continued recon­ the promotion of development cor­ abandoned and the thatched roof of ciliation in Mozambique. After all, ridors linking Mozambique to South their building had collapsed. But Frelimo is rightly suspicious that Re­ ;}fric~, Zimbabwe and Malawi. Par­ neither claims of peaceful party namo governors might be tempted to tially on this basis, Frelimo hopes relations, nor the attempt to run play the same game of working with to build on the estimated 10 percent Renamo out of its strongholds Frelimo inside the government while growth rate posted for 1999, and the produced much of a windfall for threatening to undermine, as was of­ stabilization of the currency and in­ Frelimo. In the end, Renamo ten the case in the dynamics that flation in recent years. captured twice as many seats (10) emerged in the CNE. Frelimo is also obviously frustrated and refuses to Post-election pitfalls in Manica province than did Frelimo (5), and routed Frelimo in Sofala bend to Renamo's demands in this While Frelimo claims successful province by winning 17 out of 21 regard, particularly because a hard economic management for itself, the seats. fought constitutional settlement was controversial aftermath of the 1999 lost immediately before the elections "Return to the bush"? elections is likely to continue to when Renamo refused to honour haunt the party. For example, Moreover, Renamo now threatens its commitments, calculating that it before the elections, Frelimo officials to establish parallel administrations stood to win more power through maintained that there were no at the provincial level m the the ballot box. Having failed in that real campaign problems in Manica six provinces where it won a goal, Renamo once again holds the and Sofala provinces and they majority of the national seats. country hostage, seeking the very were confident of victory despite Dhlakama has said, "There will be political power it has won neither Renamo's traditional strength in fighting if government tries to hinder through constitutional amendments the region. Frelimo's attempted Renamo's governance in the north." nor through elections. DDIII

Southern Africa REPORT 3rd quarter 2000 29 South Africa The Inequality Challenge

BY SARAS JAGWANTH advancement of human rights and tution, with this strong commitment freedoms." Section 1 may only be Saras Jagwanth , who is a senior to addressing inequality, was ap­ amended by a majority of 75% of lecturer in the Department of Public plauded by women's organisations, the National Assembly supported by Law at the University of Cape Town , trade unions, human rights groups six of the provinces represented in teaches constitutional law and is an and many individuals in the coun­ the National Council of Provinces. active member of the Law, Race and try. Indeed, the Act has earned Chapter two of the Constitution, Gender Unit based in the Faculty. the respect and admiration of many the Bill of Rights, contains sev­ human rights activists around the Inequality is often cited as the eral important references to equal­ world. But, of course, like all other biggest challenge facing develop­ ity. In section 9, equality is listed as policies and legislation, equally im­ ment and transformation in post­ the first substantive right. Section portant to the writing of the docu­ apartheid South Africa. Given the 7(1) provides that the Bill of Rights ment is its implementation and in­ history of apartheid, this is no is the cornerstone of democracy in terpretation. In South Africa, the surprise. Indeed, severe poverty, South Africa and that it enshrines task of interpreting the Bill of Rights inequality and discrimination are the values of human dignity, equal­ will fall primarily on the Consti­ three key consequences of apart­ ity, and freedom. Furthermore, sec­ tutional Court. Given the impor­ heid's economic growth strategy and tion 39(1)(a) provides that in inter­ tance and pre-eminence of the right policies of social control. As a result, preting the rights contained in the to equality, how has the Constitu­ a number of new laws and policies Bill of Rights the courts and other tional Court interpreted and given aimed at addressing different forms tribunals must "promote the values meaning to it? In one of the first of discrimination have been passed that underlie an open and demo­ cases dealing with equality under the since the election of the ANC gov­ cratic society based on human dig­ South African Constitution, Brink ernment in 1994. The implementa­ nity, freedom and equality." The v. Kitshoff (1996), Judge O'Regan tion of a concept of equality, how­ centrality of freedom and equality described the right to equality in the ever, has proven to be problematic. in the vision of democracy embod­ following terms: ied by the Constitution is apparent Understanding Equality "The policy of apartl1eid, in Jaw and throughout the Act, from its section A significant step in the process in fact, systematically discriminated of addressing discrimination and in­ on local government to the chap­ against black people in all aspects ter on public administration. Sec­ equality was the adoption of a new of social life. Black people were Constitution in 1996. The right tion 36 ("the limitation of rights") prevented from becoming owners to equality occupies a central place specifically ensures these principles of property or even residing in in it. For example, section 1 pro­ are used to guide the development areas classified as 'white', which vides that the Republic is founded and implementation of other legisla­ constituted nearly 90% of the on the "values of human dignity, tion and laws. landmass of South Africa; senior the achievement of equality and the The adoption of the new Consti- jobs and access to schools and Rights Provided by Section 9 (1) Everyone is equal before the law and has the right ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, to equal protection and benefit of the law. disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language (2) Equality includes the full and equal enjoyment of and birth. all rights and freedoms. To promote the achievement ( 4) No person may unfairly discriminate directly or in­ of equality; legislative and other measures designed to directly against anyone on one or more grounds in terms protect or advance persons, or categories of persons, of subsection (3). National legislation must be enacted disadvantaged by unfair discrimination may be taken. to prevent or prohibit unfair discrimination. (3) The state may not unfairly discriminate directly (5) Discrimination on one or more of the grounds listed or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds, in subsection (3) is unfair unless it is established that including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, the discrimination is fair.

30 volume 15 number 3 Southern Africa REPORT ------~@~~lli ~~~~©~------

·'fnf'q?Utl'ity is ... the biggest challenge"- Alexandm and Sandton City, Johannesburg, October· 1998 universities were denied to them; While the former meaning tends to man beings or to affect them ad­ civic amenities, including transport use standard measures to ensure the versely in a comparably serious man­ systems, public parks, libraries and same rights and entitlement to all ner' The issues of whether dis­ many shops were also closed to people, the latter addresses systemic crimination is unfair (and therefore IJlack people. Instead, separate and pervasive group-based inequal­ unconstitutional), was addressed in and inferior facilities were provided. ity. In other words, this meaning this case. Unfairness is presumed The deep scars of this appalling would require the court to examine if the discrimination is based on a programme are. still visible in our the social and economic conditions listed or specified ground (i.e. race society It is in light of that history of groups or individuals in deciding or gender). This question is clearly and tl1e enduring legacy that it discrimination cases. at the heart of the equality enquiry. IJ equeathed that the equality clause It wasn't until the fo llowing year In Harksen, it was held that in order needs to be interpreted." (1997) when the fu ll test for equal­ to determine whether discriminatory This early decision was impor­ ity, and the circumstances under treatment is unfair, various factors tant in that it made clear that the which different treatment may con­ must be considered including: (i) right to equality had to be un­ stitute unfair discrimination was fi­ the position of the complainants in derstood in the context of South nally articulated by the Constitu­ society and whether they have suf­ Africa's own history. This concep­ tional Court. In this case, Hark­ fered from past patterns of discrim­ tion of equality sees the primary pur­ sen v. Lane, it was found that dif­ ination; (ii) the nature of the pro­ pose of the provision being that of ferentiation will amount to discrim­ vision or power and the purpose eradicating past patterns of disad­ ination if it is based on one of the sought to be achieved by it. If, for vantage. As such, the court sig­ specified grounds in section 9 of the example, the purpose of the provi­ nalled its intention to move beyond Constitution, or if it is objectively sion or power is aimed at achieving the narrow meaning of equality (eg. based on a ground which has the a worthy societal goal such as equal­ formal equality) to a wider meaning 'potential to impair the fundamen­ ity for all, this purpose may well re­ of equality ('substantive equality'). tal human dignity of persons as hu- sult in a finding that the discrimi-

Southern Africa REPORT 3rd quarter 2000 31 ------~@~~lli ~~~n©~------nation is not unfair; (iii) any other in this conception of equality, and its services as no meters had been in­ relevant factors including the extent application by the court. stalled to measure individual con­ to which the discrimination has af­ Some background information sumption in these areas. The fl at fected the rights or interests of the about the case is important here. rate was calculated on the basis of complainants and whether it has led As part of urban restructuring pro­ an average cost of the bulk supply to an impairment of their fundamen­ cesses, a number of previously black of services measured over a period of tal human dignity. townships, including Atteridgeville time and dividing the cost amongst In theory, this test (the appli­ and Mamelodi, have been incorpo­ the number of houses in the town­ cation of these factors) is designed rated into the formerly white mu­ ships. nicipality of Pretoria City Council to ensure that the equality clause The applicant, the City Council is interpreted in the proper social of Pretoria, sued the respondent, a and historical context. The impor­ resident of old Pretoria, for arrear tance of enforcing and interpreting charges for services rendered during discrimination within the context of a nine month period. The respon­ past and existing social, political dent contended that he was entitled and economic disparities was further to withhold payment on the basis recognised by the court in the 1998 that it was unfair discrimination un­ case, National Coalition of Gay and der section 8(2) of the interim Con­ Lesbian Equality v. Minister of Jus­ stitution for the Pretoria City Coun­ tice: cil. He argued that it was unfair dis­ "Particularly in a country such as crimination to: (i) levy a flat rate in South Africa, persons belonging to Atteridgeville and Mamelodi which certain categories have suffered con­ was lower than the metered rate siderable unfair discrimination in in old Pretoria (ii) continue levy­ the past. It is insufficient for ing the flat rate even after the in­ the Constitution m erely to ensure stallation of meters on some proper­ that statutory provisions which have ties in Atteridgeville and Mamelodi; caused such unfair discrimination in G (iii) take legal action to recover ar­ the past are eliminated. Past unfair :E: rears only against resid ents of old discrimination fr equently has ongo­

32 volume 15 number 3 Southern Africa REPORT nority which could be regarded in a Bill of Rights tries to address), nation Act, recently passed by par­ political sense as vulnerable and who combined with various institutional liament. The Act provides for the 'in a very special sense' need the pro­ obstacles beyond the control of the prevention and prohibition of un­ tection of the Bill of Rights. court limit its scope and application. fair discrimination, hate speech and Based on this ruling, it appears In addition, it is the task of the harassment, and the active promo­ that the court accepts that the legislature rather than the courts tion of equality and values of non­ group identified in Walker (white to make decisions about the best racism and non-sexism by both state middle class suburban dwellers who ways to equalize the distribution and non-state actors. In this regard have benefited from, rather than be­ of benefits in society. These it goes beyond the requirements of ing adversely affected by, discrimi­ problems aren't specific to South the Constitution, where there is only nation in the past) can be classified Africa, rather are characteristic of an explicit obligation on the state as a group deserving of special pro­ most legal systems in the world. to promote the achievement of the tection. What group then would not Thus, while the court's ability rights in the Bill of Rights. The also qualify as deserving of special to effect meaningful social change obligation on the state includes de­ protection? This ruling has raised through the cases should not be veloping awareness of fundamental questions about whether the Con­ overestimated, critical reflection on rights and programmes of action in stitution's commitment to equality, the role of the Constitution and the order to promote substantive equal­ in terms of addressing systemic and Constitutional Court in addressing ity, providing assistance advice and pervasive group-based inequality, is extreme inequality is necessary. training on issues of equality, and being upheld. Indeed, the require­ A Positive Act? conducting information campaigns. ment of past patterns of disadvan­ Perhaps a more promising sign re­ The Act also sets up Equality tage seems to have disappeared. garding the application of the eq­ Courts, to be based both at High Discouraging for those who had uity clause in the Constitution is Court and Magistrates Court levels, hoped the Bill of Rights would to be found in other policy initia­ to enforce its provisions. The be used to address discrimination tives. Recognising systemic gender powers of the court are wide­ and inequality in the country is and racial inequalities in the labour ranging and provide for such civil South African case law. Case market, and the continued concen­ remedies as granting an interim or law reveals that it has not been tration of social and economic power declaratory order, an apology, a the most disadvantaged groups in the hands of the powerful few, leg­ directive requiring the respondent to who have invoked the protection islation has been introduced to ad­ make regular progress reports to the of the equality clause in the dress current forms of discrimina­ court on its order, etc. It is hoped Constitutional Court. Those who tion and inequality. These policies that through an accessible, cheaper would benefit the most from this and legislation are designed to give and more user-friendly lower court clause - indeed those who the effect to the equality clause in the enforcing its provisions, the Act will clause was specifically designed to Constitution, and as such, are a wel­ be more able to attend to the needs protect - have limited access to come development. One such devel­ of disadvantaged groups in South its application. Socio-economic opment is the Promotion of Equality Africa than has the· Constitutional barriers (the very inequalities the and Prevention of Unfair Discrimi- Court. ODD Sober Second Thoughts

SAR editorials over the years have Some of the feedback we've had re­ rather too bald and judgmental re­ invariably been opinionated and garding the editorial in our last is­ garding the work of comrades whom pugnacious, written not only to sue ("Capitulation?" Vol. 15, No.2) we respect, even if we might con­ frame for our readers the articles in suggests that, in taking sides so tinue to disagree with them on cer­ the particular number of the mag­ forcefully in the debate represented tain important issues. Certainly, we azine itself but also to give some by the contributions of Glenn Adler have no inclination to contribute to sense of our own evolving engage­ and Eddie Webster on the one hand the kind of acrimonious rhetorical ment, as a collective, with the key and Carolyn Bassett and Marlea style that has too often marked ex­ political issues that have come to Clarke on the other, we may have changes on the left, in South Africa mark southern Africa's contempo­ overstepped the mark in this way. as elsewhere, and we apologize un­ rary situation. In our enthusiasm And indeed some of our phrasing, es­ reservedly to those who found our for the fray, however, have we some­ pecially with respect to the contri­ editorial to do just that. times overstepped the mark of edito­ bution of Adler and Webster, does rial propriety and good judgement? appear to us now to have been DOD

Southern Africa REPORT 3rd quarter 2000 33 CAW.TCA CANADA www.caw.ca