Johannesburg - The fight against white monopoly capital and equal economic opportunities should not end up turning into black monopoly capital, head of ANC's political school Nathi Mthethwa said on Monday.
"We warned comrades who raised the issue of white monopoly capital that there's nothing wrong with raising that, but that they're expressing a form, and not content... content is white monopoly capital, in South Africa monopoly capital took a form of race," Mthethwa told reporters.
"We should not be aspiring to changing white monopoly capital to black monopoly capital... the uncompetitive nature of monopoly capital raises the issue of contestation, whether it is black or white."
It was important to understand the "colonial culture" of the economy, he added.
"What has always distinguished us as the African National Congress is the high level of political consciousness among our cadres" #ANCPolicy pic.twitter.com/L7MwgX6pcy
— Year of OR Tambo (@MYANC) July 3, 2017
Mthethwa presented his report on organisational strategy and tactics to conference over the weekend.
He said it was a fallacy to "claim that white monopoly capital does not exist".
#ANCNPC Mthethwa - Our attitude to monopoly capital should not change, that is cooperation & contestation #ANCPolicy
— Year of OR Tambo (@MYANC) July 3, 2017
"To the extend of what has been in the public discourse on this matter, we submitted that its a fallacy for anyone to say that there is no white monopoly capital in South Africa... that notion boils down to denying how colonialism is characterised, and that our struggle was about dismantling all forms of oppression."
#ANCNPC Mthethwa - ANC has to get its house in order for its own good & for the good of the people of South Africa
— Year of OR Tambo (@MYANC) July 3, 2017
Gauteng African National Congress chairman Paul Mashatile had told the provincial policy conference the previous week that white monopoly capital did not exist in the ANC Gauteng vocabulary, and that the term was a ''distraction'' used to divert attention from state capture, allegedly by the politically connected Gupta family.
#ANCNPC #Mthethwa- ANC has always been one with a once China policy. We've not changed on that. #ANCPolicy
— Year of OR Tambo (@MYANC) July 3, 2017
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. The governing ANC has in recent times called for radical economic transformation meant to ensure all sectors of the society benefited in the country's economy, and not just a few.