Johannesburg - The African National Congress in Gauteng has banned the use of the words “white monopoly capital”, deemed a populist term to earn political mileage.
Speaking at the close of the ANC’s Gauteng provincial executive committee (PEC) policy conference on Sunday evening, provincial chairman Paul Mashatile said ANC members should be cautious about the use of “concepts and language to advance political arguments”.
“We [PEC] agreed that the ANC will continue to fight against white domination and other forms of domination within our society. We also agreed that monopoly capital remains the enemy of the democratic revolution… in this regard the conference has made it clear that there is nothing called white monopoly capital in our vocabulary,” Mashatile told the delegates.
The Gauteng PEC’s policy conference over the weekend precedes the ANC national policy conference scheduled for the end of the month.
Mashatile said the use of slogans smacked of populism that would bring confusion in the organisation. “So we say let us rely on proper theorisation as we always had and learnt from throughout the years, and use our own documents, such as that of strategy and tactics.”
White monopoly capital has been widely used in political discourse as a reference to a minority that is still in control the country’s economy.
Gauteng premier and ANC deputy provincial chairman David Makhura said the term was used as a distraction by some.
“The term white monopoly capital is a distraction from serious issues such as state capture… we agreed that we need to tackle state capture as it undermines our people and their course in this country,” he said, adding that the overall agreement at the conference was to advance unity “as things are not OK in the ANC”.
On the ANC’s leadership succession battle, Mashatile said no candidate had been discussed, as the conference was not preoccupied with names. He lambasted rumours that Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s name had been punted at the weekend conference.
“We will continue to discuss the kind of leadership we want to lead the ANC… we are not in a hurry to do that just because names are being forwarded out there. I heard a rumour that the deputy president’s name was put on the table but did not get enough support. I am glad that cadres came here knowing they would discuss policy, not names,” he said to loud applause.
He then took a jab at Ramaphosa’s detractors. “I was actually not aware that people were that afraid of Ramaphosa… we have not made any announcement yet and people are already scared. We will talk at the time and decide,” he said to loud cheers.
Gauteng would persuade ANC members in other provinces to work towards the best leadership. The ANC national executive committee (NEC) “cannot be of people from one province”.
“We want to be led by the best among us. That team should also inspire South Africans and win their confidence. Comrades, there are also good leaders in other provinces… we would not be uniting factions, but choosing the best leaders… our national executive committee can’t be a reflection of just one province,” Mashatile said.
Mashatile has already endorsed Ramaphosa to succeed President Jacob Zuma in December. He threw his weight behind Ramaphosa at the ANC West Rand regional policy conference last week, adding that he supported the ANC traditional process of the deputy president succeeding the outgoing president.
Ramaphosa and former African Union chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma are front runners for the ANC presidency. The ANC in Gauteng will only release its policy proposals at the end of this week.