The left-wing, being the only viable gateway to power, has always been central to South African politics - during and since apartheid. The African National Congress (ANC) came into power in 1994, riding on the crest of an enormous wave of support from the political left. Having courted the support of prominent leftist organisations like the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP), the ANC looked set to maintain an unassailable dominance in the left, for a lengthy spell. Two decades later that dominance is seriously undermined by a record whose registered successes, left-wise, are far outweighed by its failures.⁽²⁾ A series of clashes with its leftist allies over policy and ideological differences, has further weakened its stranglehold on the left-wing.⁽³⁾

These and other developments have rendered the left-wing in a relative state of chaos and thereby more open to political opportunists.⁽⁴⁾ This paper zeroes in on the debate on the future of South Africa’s political left-wing in the wake of another ANC victory in the 2014 national elections – despite its not-so-great pro-left record. The future of the left hinges on what the left-wing parties and movements will do to address the crisis in the five years before the next elections in 2019. The paper proposes two possible avenues through which the left can re-group and reorganise: one inclusive of ANC partnership and the other in isolating the ANC and presenting a viable, unified leftist alternative to the electorate.

The state of the left: A house in ruins

Alongside the ANC, the left-wing movement led by COSATU and the SACP played a crucial role in dismantling the apartheid regime. This culminated in the latter two prominent left-wing organisations entering into a strategic political alliance with the ANC in 1990, known as the Tripartite Alliance. Under this agreement, the parties undertook to present a united political front in the elections under the banner of the ANC.⁽⁵⁾ COSATU and the SACP dominated the left-wing turf of the political spectrum for the better part of the post-apartheid era, mobilising support for the ANC amongst the workers, the poor and civil society organisations.⁽⁶⁾ The South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) has also been an important ally in galvanising and mobilising civil society. These organisations used their access to or possession of influential positions in the ANC-led government to lobby for policies that were pro-poor and pro-working class. Their advocacy for and influence in policy formation for the poor can be readily found in the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) in 1994, the National Minimum Wage and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), among others.

However, the Tripartite Alliance did not turn out to be a “happily-ever-after” affair as friction soon developed along ideological and policy differences.⁽⁷⁾ COSATU and the SACP have strongly criticised government policies like the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR), the New Growth Path (NGP) and recently, the National Development Plan (NDP), dismissing them as pro-business policies which, they argue, cannot be an adequate guide to radical economic transformation.⁽⁸⁾ Consumed in a series of policy stand-offs with the ANC, COSATU and the SACP have steadily lost grip on the grassroots left-wing movement. COSATU has become weak as a result of the internal divisions and discord culminating in one of its largest affiliates, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), withdrawing its support of the ANC in late 2013 and its secretary general, Zwelinzima Vavi, being suspended.⁽⁹⁾ In the case of the SACP, it has grown invisible in the shadow of the ANC. As a result of their preoccupation with internal and alliance politics, the “custodians” of the political left have lost touch with their original constituency.

Needless to say, the sudden withdrawal of representatives from the traditional left has had a deleterious impact on the once formidable left-wing movement which played an integral role in the anti-apartheid struggle and influenced government policy - at least in the initial stages of the post-apartheid era.⁽¹⁰⁾ The multitude of social movements which were united under the umbrella of COSATU, the SACP and SANCO have been left to their own devices to advocate for representation of their interests. Consequently, there has been a proliferation of politically inoperative and idiosyncratic social movements like the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), the Social Justice Coalition and Abahlali Basemjondolo (shack dwellers) amongst others, all without the political wherewithal to take on the government.⁽¹¹⁾ These movements frequently resort to the use of extra-formal means to express their discontent, most notably through violent and costly protests against lack of service delivery, and a number of prolonged workers strikes. In such a state of organisational disarray, the typically left-wing political constituency of the working class, poor, youth and women became vulnerable to political predators in search of political fortunes.

Indeed, Julius Malema ⁽¹²⁾ and his colleagues moved swiftly to form a radical political alternative in the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) to take advantage of the growing void in the-left-wing movement.⁽¹³⁾ The EFF made its intentions conspicuously known by launching their manifesto at Marikana, where 34 mineworkers were killed in a violent interface with the police. The EFF proposed populist policies like land expropriation, nationalisation of key industries, free education and health care, but emphasised the first two for which the ANC did not share in the EFF’s vision. Mamphela Ramphele also formed her own moderately left-wing party - AgangSA - to cash in on the chaos, hoping to reign in alienated voters looking to lend their support to the left. Other left-leaning parties that contested the elections included the Workers and Socialist Party (WASP), the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and the Azanian People’s Organization (AZAPO). However, the EFF, with its impressive organisational and financial capabilities, seemed the only left-leaning party with reasonable prospects of modest electoral success.

The election outcome and the way forward

That the ANC emerged victorious with an overwhelming majority of the vote at 62%, thus securing another five years at the helm of the government, was a heavy defeat for the left-wing parties individually, and the movement as a whole. The Democratic Alliance (DA) came out a distant, but much-improved, second with 22% of the votes - a 6% increase from the 16% it got in the 2009 elections - while the EFF garnered an impressive 6% of votes in its first election contest.⁽¹⁴⁾ The other left-wing parties like AgangSA, PAC and WASP got less than 1% of the vote share each. On the face of it, the 2014 election was a resounding endorsement of the ANC government despite its failure to meet the expectations of the left in its two-decade stay in power. However, a close reading of the election figures reveals a different story. The figures show a growing number of disenchanted voters as only 18.3 million out of 32 million eligible citizens turned out to vote (56%). That makes almost 14 million people who did not vote. Moreover, the ANC saw a sharp decline in support - from 64% in 2009 to 53% in 2014 - in the Gauteng province, which, by virtue of being the country’s economic hub, is the most important.⁽¹⁵⁾ If the foregoing is anything to go by, there is a case to be made that the realignment of the left-wing, around which South African politics mostly revolves, may not be far off.

Having been taken for a ride by the ANC and having suffered prolonged neglect by COSATU and SACP, it is not surprising that the left is in shambles, politically and organisationally. The challenge of rebuilding the left, while certainly a mammoth task, is not an insurmountable one. This paper argues that this challenge can realistically be shouldered by the leftist elements in the Tripartite Alliance or those outside of it, notably the EFF and NUMSA, through separate, though by no means mutually exclusive, efforts.⁽¹⁶⁾ Inside the alliance, it would require the rehabilitation and reorganisation of the “traditional left”: COSATU and the SACP. They need not necessarily abandon the alliance and form their own party, but rather refocus their energies and resources on building a solid leftist base to add weight to their opinions on policy matters. Without a solid base of their own, their influence on government policy will remain severely curtailed. Recently, the ANC went on to pass the Youth Wage Subsidy Bill and adopted the NDP as the official government policy despite criticism of these documents as being inimical to the interests of the political left. This goes to show that even in the alliance, the game comes down to numbers on the ground. Without a strong and active mass following, COSATU and the SACP risk their support being taken for granted by a hubristic ANC. With that in mind, they stand to benefit from reengaging and rebuilding their relations with leftist social movements and civil society rather than settle for being the perennially ignored complainants in an unhappy alliance.

The other option capable of challenging the ANC’s electoral dominance, outside the alliance, would be through an uncomfortable and odd, though necessary, alliance of unlikely bed fellows: NUMSA and the EFF. NUMSA is one of the largest workers’ unions in the country with a membership of nearly 340,000, and as such, has the influence and the resources it needs to conduct a substantial mobilisation of the leftist social movements. NUMSA has already hinted at the formation of a united democratic left to mobilise the working class in order to present a counter-hegemonic political alternative.⁽¹⁷⁾ The EFF on the other hand, is the third largest party in the National Assembly and appeals to a substantial constituency of the electorate. Therefore, it not only has the financial wherewithal but also the political capital to effectively mobilise the left-wing forces. However, the EFF might have to shed some of the militancy and populism from its rhetoric and develop a more comprehensive policy platform in order to increase its appeal. This would make it a worthy and effective partner in the struggle to remobilise the left into a formidable political force. Moreover, intellectuals have suggested that workers’ unions will have to broaden and expand their definition of a “worker” to include not only those in the formal economy but also those in the informal economy, like domestic workers.⁽¹⁸⁾ This may go a long way in securing support from as wide a spectrum of the working class as possible. Such unity of purpose and effort among the various left-wing forces will be important for the resuscitation of the left on the political scene.

Conclusion

It is too early to pass a verdict on the future of the political left in South Africa based on the 2014 election outcome. Whether the left recovers from this election defeat or not will depend on what the left-wing elements will do in the interim. A diagnosis of the crisis in the left has shown that too much division and disunity as a result of the lack of a unifying force has condemned the left to the political wilderness. What is needed therefore is a fundamental reorganisation and remobilisation of the multitudes of issue-based social movements into a single formidable political front, able to give a political voice to the poor, working class, youth and the unemployed. This can realistically be done either by the erstwhile left partners, COSATU and the SACP, or by other forces outside the Tripartite Alliance, like the EFF and NUMSA, which have formidable organisational and political capabilities.

Written by Sizo Nkala ⁽¹⁾

NOTES:

(1) Sizo Nkala is a Research Associate at Consultancy Africa Intelligence (CAI) with interests in electoral systems and processes, party politics, political participation and civil society. Contact Sizo through CAI’s Elections and Democracy Unit ( elections.democracy@consultancyafrica.com). Edited by Liezl Stretton. Research manager: Charlotte Sutherland.
(2) York, G., ‘Inequality spurs a leftist uprising in South Africa’, The Globe and Mail, 29 April 2014, http://www.theglobeandmail.com.
(3) The ANC has ignored COSATU and the SACP’s criticism of some aspects of the National Development Plan, especially the macroeconomic policy that emphasises fiscal discipline, tight exchange rates, promoting the private sector and the fact that it is ambiguous on how the state will regulate the market. See the National Development Plan document, http://www.npconline.co.za. See also, Marrian, N., ‘Cosatu says NDP threatens SA’s progressive advances’, Business Day, 7 June 2013, http://www.bdlive.co.za.
(4) Buccus, I., ‘Left wing dips into ocean of irrelevance’, Mail and Guardian, 16 May 2014, http://mg.co.za.
(5) ‘About: Tripartite alliance’, Cosatu, http://www.cosatu.org.za.
(6) Hurt, S., ‘South Africa at 20: The re-awakening of “the left” in the post-apartheid South Africa’, London School of Economics and Political Science, 23 April 2014, http://blogs.lse.ac.uk.
(7) Molefe, O., ‘Top 10 battles raging within the tripartite alliance’, Daily Maverick, 3 April 2012, http://www.dailymaverick.co.za.
(8) Gina, C., ‘Numsa: Our problems with the NDP’, Mail and Guardian, 26 April 2013, http://mg.co.za.
(9) Hurt, S., ‘South Africa at 20: The re-awakening of “the left” in the post-apartheid South Africa’, London School of Economics and Political Science, 23 April 2014, http://blogs.lse.ac.uk.
(10) Buhlungu, S., ‘The Anti-Privatisation Forum: A profile of post-apartheid social movements’, Centre for Civil Society and School of Development Studies, University of KwaZulu Natal, 2004, http://www.africanafrican.com.
(11) Buccus, I., ‘Left wing dips into ocean of irrelevance’, Mail and Guardian, 16 May 2014, http://mg.co.za.
(12) Julius Malema is the leader of the EFF and is also a former president of the ANC Youth League. He was expelled from the ANC in 2011 on allegations of corruption and indiscipline.
(13) Van Onselen, G., ‘Malema’s freedom fighters: Goodbye right wing, hello left’, Business Day, 16 July 2013, http://www.bdlive.co.za.
(14) Election results from the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa, http://www.elections.org.za.
(15) Morken, B., ‘Hollow ANC victory - class struggle ahead’, Fightback, 14 May 2014, http://ireland.marxist.com.
(16) Mazibuko, K.J., ‘South Africa time for a new democratic left politics’, Amandla!, 19 June 2012, http://amandla.org.za.
(17) Ngxiza, S., ‘Zille, Ramphele and the left-wing adventurism of NUMSA’, Politicsweb, 30 January 2014, http://politicsweb.co.za.
(18) McKinley, D.T., 2008. The crisis of the left in contemporary South Africa. Mediations, 24(1), http://www.mediationsjournal.org.