South Africa Buries Its Freedom Charter
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A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
In refusing to even consider nationalizing the mining industry, South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress, has all but repudiated its most solemn (and fundamentally socialist) document: the Freedom Charter. Created and endorsed by a people’s movement in 1955, the Charter calls for national ownership of minerals, but the ANC government vows that will never happen. Under nominal Black rule, the “ANC has transformed itself into a handmaiden of multinational capital.”
South Africa Buries Its Freedom Charter
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
“South African President Jacob Zuma closed the book on the Freedom Charter’s promise to nationalize the mining industry.”
In 1955, the African National Congress of South Africa sent 50,000 activists into communities around the country to ask the people what kind of freedom they wanted. The result was the ANC’s Freedom Charter, a blueprint for the non-racial South Africa that would finally arrive, two generations later, at the cost of many thousands of lives.
Two key provisions of the Freedom Charter were especially troubling to multinational corporations. The first declared that “The land shall be shared by those who work it,” meaning redistribution of farmland. The other proclaimed: “The mineral wealth beneath the soil, the banks and the monopoly industry shall be transferred to the people as a whole.” The Freedom Charter, which sprang directly from the aspirations of South Africans, and was endorsed by nearly 3,000 delegates at a Congress of the People, was a socialist document.
Through the long night of white rule, the words of the Freedom Charter shouted to the world that South Africa’s revolution would be a thoroughgoing break – not just with racial apartheid, but with systems of exploitation of man by man. The South African people and nation “as a whole” would reclaim their resources.
This month, South African President Jacob Zuma closed the book on the Freedom Charter’s promise to nationalize the mining industry, which is own by multinational corporations. “We’re very clear,” said Zuma. Nationalization “is not our policy. It cannot be.”
“The African National Congress has assigned itself the task of chief protector of corporate rule over South Africa’s mineral wealth.”
Zuma left no doubt as to his position, in order not to upset world “markets” – meaning, the international networks of rich, mainly white men who have effectively ruled South Africa both before and since Nelson Mandela won the first multi-racial elections, in 1994. President Zuma’s underlings and advisors were even more adamant that the corporate mine owners’ property rights were sacrosanct. His Minister of Minerals Resource, Susan Shabangu, declared last year, “there will be no nationalization in my lifetime.” That was at the height of demonstrations organized by the ANC’s Youth Wing, and supported by the nation’s unionized workers, demanding the ruling party honor the letter and spirit of the Freedom Charter. Instead, the African National Congress has assigned itself the task of chief protector of corporate rule over South Africa’s mineral wealth – apparently, in perpetuity.
The same goes for the Freedom Charter’s promise of land to the Black farmworkers. When Nelson Mandela came to power, whites owned nearly 90 percent of the arable land. Since then, only seven percent of farmland has been redistributed, and much of that is not being worked because Black farmers lack money and equipment. The ANC government, which takes its land reform cues from the World Bank, thinks it may be able to redistribute 30 percent of the land by the year 2025 – but, at this rate, even that modest goal is doubtful.
The ANC has transformed itself into a handmaiden of multinational capital. Its program of Black capitalism has served only to graft a corrupt Black political class onto the already existing structures of corporate rule. The Freedom Charter is a dead letter. Instead, Nelson Mandela's face, it was recently announced, will appear on every banknote of the new South African currency – cosmetic consolation for a revolution betrayed.
For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com.
BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.
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Black misleadership goes
Black misleadership goes global.
AFRICAN NEOLIBERAL CONGRESS
I'm not surprised by this development. The ANC lost its way, and my respect many years ago when it ceased to be a serious liberation movement, and, in a desperate attempt to curry favor with its White "allies" in the West, degenerated into little more than the "Free Nelson Mandela" fan club, as if ending his imprisonment was the only serious problem which needed to be solved in South Africa. Other signs of its dysfunction were also evident. While apparently, there were no serious plans to immediately begin the serious and difficult work of tackling the injustices and dispossession inflicted by the White settlers and their allies in the West on the Black population, there was a overwhelming emphasis on screaming non-racialism and forgiveness every five seconds or so. There was also a great deal of effort expended upon repudiating and demonizing any Black person or group who preferred justice and reparations to the ANC's "policies" of empty symbolism and rhetoric. Nelson Mandela's talk about his fears of "replacing" apartheid with a "Black dictatorship" at a time when most Blacks were still trapped in townships, and Whites still controlled the military and police forces as well as the economy was a low point. Another low point was his disowning of Winnie Mandela largely because Whites inside and outside of South Africa didn't like her non councillatory attitude and unsubmissive tone. Unlike her, Nelson Mandela, and most of the leadership of the ANC was fully prepared to accept the West's "offer" of "apartheid with a human face" aka the continuation of White control of South Africa without the stigma of apartheid, in exchange for next to nothing for the vast majority of the Black population.
Throughout Asia, liberation meant an immediate end to the domination of White settler communities, no matter how long they had been entrenched in Asian nations. Only in Africa has "liberation" meant maintaining the racial status quo while calling it freedom. One cannot imagine modern China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, etcs. achieving what they have as independent nations if tiny White minorities continued to control most of the land and the natural resources while the vast majority of their populations remained marginalized and locked out. Only in Africa has the West been able to impose and to maintain this unworkable, crackpot scheme on a grand scale. Unfortunately, it will be probably take many generations for Africans to to fix the unstable and unsustainable mess bequeathed to them by "leaders" such as Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu and by "liberation movements" such as the ANC. Perhaps in keeping with its true ideology, as part of its 100th anniversary celebration, the ANC should redesignate itself as the African Neoliberal Congress.
UK / US / EU Made Example of Zimbabwe Because of Land Reform
Mugabe & Mandela are contempories & were leaders of closely related liberation struggles. So When Mugabe, after UK & US reneged on other agreements, 'pushed' the land reform issue- the UK, US & EU worked to devaste Zimbabwe's Econ & falsely claimed its land-reform was a total disaster- based on corruption, when in fact most of the redistibuted land went to ordinary small farmers & workers & was mildly successful & could have been even more so if UK, US, EU hadn't worked so hard to destroy the Econ.
The one Big fear that the UK, US, EU had / has is that Mugabe's land-distribation ideas could spread to & take root in S.Africa [& then to ALL Africa]! Yet S.Africa was/is in much better position than Zimbabwe to resist western sanctions- due to its size & influence - especially as a member of the BRICS! But- Apparently the ANC has become too 'main-stream' [as opposed to revolutionary]. And Mandela should have struck a hard bargain for agreeing to closed down the Apartheid Regime's 'covert' Nuke weapons prog. On the truth & reconcile commission - notorious regime elements got off w a slap on the wrists for atrocities [= confess & you get amnesty = NO prosecution]- Could the info from these commissions even be used in Civil court to Sue for damages???
Now the ANC is 'All In' for so-called 'Neo-Liberalism' - meaning not only will Zuma NOT nationalize key industries - he's likely to sell off / 'privatize key public works sectors [likely to foreign entities]! Thus It seems that it was about installing the ANC as the Black-faced 'figure-head' as the white power structure retained control of every-thing else. So this time when the people revolt they'll go head-hunting for the ANC - more so than the white puppet masters!
Yup
Which is why Zuma has engineered the ouster of ANC Youth League leaders Jomo Sibiya and Julius Malema, under the direct orders of European/US imperialism.