OPINION | The ANC is not the only obstacle to change: To reimagine a better South Africa, capitalism and its unequal class structure have to be challenged
asked a valuable question: How do we reimagine South Africa after the ANC’s demise?
Behind the ANC lurks another enemy of the people. It is a coalition of actors described by the economist Adam Smith as “the masters of mankind”. A confrontation with this coalition and the system that sustains their dominance awaits us. To reimagine South Africa we must confront capitalism and its class structure.
We rightly bemoan how the ANC abuses power. Its aversion to transparency and accountability, its neglect of people’s basic needs, its use of surveillance and violence to suppress the mobilisation of the poor and working class.
Margaret Thatcher sold off national industries and strangled union power. After the assassination of Chilean president Salvador Allende in 1973, under a United States-backed dictatorship, Chile liberalised the economy while privatising social security and state-owned enterprises. In the 1980s then-US president Ronald Reagan cut taxes on corporations, deregulated major industries and provided corporate finance with new freedoms.
Who elected the executives of Anglo American? What gave them the authority to influence national politics for millions of people? Why did such vital debates and discussions happen behind closed doors?