Is Zuma selling us a mirage of upliftment?

President Jacob Zuma delivers his State of the Nation address. Photo: Independent Media

President Jacob Zuma delivers his State of the Nation address. Photo: Independent Media

Published Feb 12, 2017

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In his State of the Nation Address President Zuma promised to boost black business and break down monopolies but can he be believed this time? asks Mcebisi Ndletyana

Could it be that the promise of Polokwane may be finally materialising, or are we being sold a mirage yet again?

Gathered almost 10 years ago at the ANC 52nd conference, delegates chose Jacob Zuma over Thabo Mbeki.

They considered Mbeki a moderate who had preserved the status quo and looked up to Zuma as a radical alternative who would reconfigure the South African economy, providing “decent jobs” for the country’s downtrodden. Communists and workers alike hailed Zuma: “the man of the people” - he was one of their own, they claimed.

What unfolded soon after the Polokwane conference, however, was quite the opposite. Instead of the people benefiting, the supposed champions of the people, as Zwelinzima Vavi put it, turned into parasites. They gorged off the resources of the state, prioritising family and friends over the deprived masses.

It seemed a cruel reward for these destitute masses, as they had sworn to die for the champions-cum-parasites, because they believed that they truly cared. And, so the “predatory elite” continued in their gluttonous ways for the next six years and, in the process, threatened to reduce a once vibrant democracy into a fully-fledged neo-patrimonial state.

Just as we await the courts to decide who should dig into the past exposing the carcasses of the predators of Polokwane, we hear the echoes of that historic conference.

In the opening of Parliament on Thursday, the president of the republic and victor of Polokwane, promised us “economic freedom in our lifetime”.

It was Zuma unlike we’ve seen him before from a parliamentary pulpit.

He expressed impatience with income inequalities and uneven distribution of wealth. Henceforth, the president assured us, the state will use its purchasing power to boost black business, and the powers of the Competition Commission will be boosted to break down monopolies over markets.

The idea is to attract new entrants to the economy, and enable them to thrive.

Zuma wants black folk to value assets over cash. This has been a problem in the land restitution programme. Most claimants took cash in lieu of the returned land.

After a while, Zuma lamented, that money got finished and people were back into poverty.

Land, on the other hand, is a sustainable resource that can possibly generate wealth. That’s why, according to the president, government will enhance its programme to support new black farmers.

This will involve promoting co-ownership of farms by white farmers and their black labourers.

I agree with everything said by the fourth president of the democratic republic.

Every patriot should support economic emancipation.

The republic is not safe in the presence of high unemployment and poverty.

Given the track-record of our president, however, one has to ask: Is he for real?

After all, that’s what he said at Polokwane, but went on for the next 10 years caring only for himself, family and friends.

He could be deceiving us even today. This president is simply not trustworthy.

What is different this time, however, is that the impulse for meaningful change is necessary for the party’s prospects as well.

The ANC needs a game-changer to stand a chance of reversing its electoral fortunes. People are no longer dazzled by lights and tarred roads. They too want jobs and upward mobility. Everyone aspires to something better.

And, so changing the economy gives Oliver Tambo’s party a new narrative that appeals to a much broader section of our society.

Organisational benefits aside, Zuma does also have self-interest embedded in this new plan. It has to do with both his legacy and future.

Like most people, Zuma would be gratified being remembered for having done something good for the country.

Presently, one really battles to pinpoint anything positive the president has achieved, and he’s running out of time.

This might just be it - the great economic liberator, which brings me to his other self-interest.

This one is related to Zuma’s immediate future, especially because of his legal problems.

Remember Zuma is likely to face more than 700 charges of fraud and racketeering, and the investigation into the “State of Capture” report could unearth

wrongdoing, for which he could be charged. Zuma not only needs a legal defence, but also public support.

Pursuing economic freedom enables Zuma to dust off his old, stillborn image as a “man of the people”.

Just as he’s dragged to court, he’ll portray himself as a victim of “white monopoly capital”, which he’s trying to break down.

This will be the old populist Zuma, in the same manner as during his rape trial.

Then he claimed to be a victim of the establishment - the counter-revolutionary, unelected judiciary.

This year he’s likely to point at the Oppenheimers and their ilk as the source of his travails.

The finger-pointing has already started, and will increase. Monopoly capital will be lambasted as the enemy that doesn’t want to grant the masses economic emancipation.

The likely result will be popular anger towards established capital and sympathy for Zuma.

This could be enough to force a consideration for indemnity from prosecution, for fear of what might follow should the “man of the people” go to prison.

If he fails to secure indemnity directly, Zuma will do so through his preferred successor, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.

And advancing economic freedom now strengthens his hand to influence the succession. He’ll tout Dlamini Zuma as the most reliable successor to continue what he has started. Conversely, his proxies will berate Dlamini Zuma’s opponent, Cyril Ramaphosa, as a stumbling block to economic emancipation.

Let me reiterate my point: I don’t doubt the necessity of economic emancipation.

South Africa’s social reality and history demand it. It also makes sense for the party to revive its electoral fortunes.

But, Zuma will exploit it for his own self-interest.

His proxies will couch the argument in a way that disadvantages Ramaphosa, as a product of “white monopoly capital” and therefore a likely defender of the status quo.

* Ndletyana is associate professor of politics at the University of Johannesburg.

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