Redressing racial injustices in South Africa: a jubilee perspective
ABSTRACT
The genesis of racism in South Africa as well as the policy of separate development popularly known as Apartheid is discussed. The demise of the National Party, which led to the formation of the ANC-led government of national unity is portrayed. Then the track record of the first ever democratically elected government is discussed and found wanting when measured against the code of the Jubilee Year. The socio-economic implications both globally and nationally are investigated.
1. INTRODUCTION
Racial injustices against blacks in South Africa by the colonisers dates back to 1652. This phenomenon of oppression, dispossession, and exploitation was firmly entrenched in 1948 when the apartheid government took office. But since the unbanning of political organisations that resisted apartheid and fought for the national political liberation in 1990 and with the release of political leaders such as Nelson Mandela and particularly with the attainment of democracy in 1994, serious attempts have been made to address these historical racial injustices. This paper argues that much could be done if the injunctions of the Jubilee Year were to be used as a measuring instrument. In other words, imbalances that have accumulated every fifty years since 1652 and especially since 1948 could be levelled off so that all South Africans could be afforded the opportunity to start afresh, all over again on an equitable footing.
2. BRIEF HISTORICAL SURVEY
2.1. Racism
Racism seems to be a universal phenomenon. Racial segregation has been evident in most, if not all, British colonies. In Africa, Australia, and Asia stories of white racism against the indigenous peoples abound. Of course, other colonial powers such as Portugal also practised the segregation policy, as Mzimela (1983:192) says: “Everywhere where people have been colonised, they have been economically exploited, politically oppressed, and racially discriminated against.”
Racial segregation was not merely a separation of the colonisers and the colonised, but a policy aimed at ensuring white supremacy and survival. Davenport (1987:315-338) points out that, as early as 1905, Sir Godfrey Lagden, who was given a task of working out a policy for Natives, recommended a complete and permanent separation of blacks and whites, politically and territorially. When apartheid was legalised in 1948, racism had already taken root as Nolan (1988:72) aptly observes. Motsoko (1984) indicates that blacks had lost practically everything by 1881. That includes land, wealth, political power, national sovereignty, and even human dignity. Well before the establishment of the apartheid state in South Africa, many laws against blacks had been promulgated. The foundation was provided by the British Parliament that promulgated the Union of South Africa Act of 1909, an act that excluded blacks from the envisaged Union of South Africa. Blacks were handed over by Britain to the white minority government, along with black land and black-owned mineral resources (Motsoko 1984:75).
Certain jobs, especially in the mines, were reserved for whites and by 1912 it had become illegal for blacks to strike. Natives (Urban Areas) Act of 1923 regarded blacks as migratory workers in the cities, because racial intermingling had been regarded as undesirable. The Natives Act of 1927 was taken further in 1937 by controlling the influx of blacks into the cities, and by making provision for unrequired black labour to be removed to the homelands. The Land Acts of 1913 and 1936 completed the dispossession of black owned land by whites. It was estimated that 87% of South Africa was in white control, and whites make up only 20% of the total population of South Africa. Most of the 13% of the land given to blacks was arid and rocky (Davenport 1987; Lodge 1983; Brotz 1977).
2.2. Development of the apartheid policy
Between 1948 and 1960, overtly discriminatory and harsher repressive laws were promulgated. Davenport (1987:361) calls this period, “The Age of the Social Engineers”. Population groups were categorised into biological sections, and residential areas were located in accordance with segregation policies. The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949 prohibited marriages between the black and white races. This was followed by the Population Registration Act of 1950 that made provision for race classification. The Immorality Act of 1927 was tightened by closing all other loopholes and making prosecution of offenders easier by accepting unsubstantiated evidence. Group Areas Bills were passed by Parliament in 1950. These were supported by the Separate Amenities Act, Act 49 of 1953. An attempt was made to prohibit even interracial church services through Clause 29(c) of the Natives Laws Amendment Bill of 1957. Mission education was discouraged and undermined through The Bantu Education Act, Act 47 of 1953. To put blacks at an economic disadvantage, the Native Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Act, Act 48 of 1953 as amended in 1973 and 1976, prohibited formation of black trade unions. The Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act of 1959 was promulgated, by which ethnic groups would be allotted some land on which to govern themselves; it was the birth of homelands or Bantustans. In 1957 “Die Stem van Suid-Afrika” was declared the only national anthem for the Union (Mzimela 1983; Davenport 1987; Lodge 1983; Government Gazettes).
One may call the next stage that started in about 1960 the age of social implementation. Laws that had been formulated until 1960 were to be enforced and strictly administered. Loopholes that manifested themselves during the application and administration of the laws were closed and the screws tightened even more. As protests increased in number and intensity – an issue we shall return to later – the government outlawed the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) in 1960 and declared the first state of emergency in the land. The South African Communist Party (SACP) had already dissolved itself in 1950 when communism was declared public enemy number one. The state of emergency gave the police draconian powers. Communists, a term that referred to all those who were critical of apartheid, were hunted down. It became common to speak of South Africa as a police state. For example, in 1962, police detained suspects for up to twelve days without charging them. In 1965 suspects were detained for up to hundred-and-eighty days, and by 1976 such suspects could be detained indefinitely. Police were also called “political” police. They assisted the army in the crushing of demonstrators. In 1960 sixty-nine people were shot dead (many from behind), and thousands were injured in Sharpeville. In June 1976 Soweto pupils marched in protest against Afrikaans as a medium of instruction and against the whole Bantu Education system. The police killed hundreds of students. Thousands were injured and many more were unaccounted for. Four successive states of emergency were declared until the beginning of 1990.
Territorial separation was implemented with the view to denying blacks their South African citizenship. Transkei became the first homeland to obtain self-government status from Pretoria, and others followed. The Bantu Homeland Citizenship Act of 1970 sought to attach every black person to a specific homeland. This meant that, upon a particular homeland becoming “independent” from South Africa, all blacks who might be identified with that homeland, would automatically lose their South African citizenship. A Coloured Persons’ Representative Council was legislated in 1968 to take care of the so-called Coloureds’ political needs. To ensure that interracial political organisations also followed the policy of apartheid, the Prohibition of Political Interference Act of 1968 was passed, with the result that the Liberal Party soon dissolved. The Affected Organisations Bill of 1974 declared certain organisations illegal and foreign funding was stopped. The National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) and the Christian Institute of Southern Africa (CI) were declared illegal. Many black consciousness-orientated organisations including the newspaper “World” were banned on 19 October 1977. More than 5 980 people were detained between 16 June 1976 and 28 February 1977. Some, like Steve Biko, were not very lucky for he died in detention on 12 September 1977 as a result of police brutality. In spite of the crackdown on government critics, the 1980s were turbulent to such an extent that in July 1985 a state of emergency was declared in thirty-six magisterial districts of South Africa. It was partially lifted, only to be reimposed countrywide in June 1986 until early 1990 (Davenport 1983; Government Gazettes).
3. ENUNCIATION OF DEMOCRACY
3.1. The surrender of the National Party
When it became clear to the apartheid government that the survival of whites depended on the freedom of blacks, President F W de Klerk announced in parliament on 2 February 1990 that outlawed political organisations such as the African National Congress, the Pan Africanist Congress and the South African Communist Party would be unbanned. Of great national and international consequence was that Nelson Mandela would unconditionally be a free person on 11 February 1990.
Once prisoners had been released and exiles had returned home, serious talks started between government and the liberation movements leading to multiparty talks known as the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA). With negotiations being conducted at a painfully snail’s pace and at time breaking down and being restarted, an agreement was reached in principle to install a five-year Government of National Unity (GNU) in which all parties polling five percent and over in the envisaged general elections would be proportionally represented in government and cabinet. The establishment of the Transitional Executive Council would ensure and supervise arrangements for the first democratically conducted elections in the country, which took place in April 1994. Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa’s first democratically elected head of State in May 1994.
3.2. Government attempts at redress
3.2.1 The Constitution
The inauguration of the Government of National Unity on the 10 May 1994 was done in accordance with the provisions of the interim Constitution of which the chief aim was to deracialise South Africa (Basson 1994).
a) The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1993 (Act 209 of 1993)With the constitutional agreements reached among the political parties and other stakeholders, the abovementioned Constitution would be written as an interim measure that would hold together a government of national unity after the first democratic election of April 1994. The preamble is unambiguous in its intention: ... a need to create a new order in which all South Africans will be entitled to a common South African citizenship in a sovereign and democratic constitutional state in which there is equality between men and women and people of all races so that all citizens shall be able to enjoy and exercise their fundamental rights and freedoms.
b) The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act 108 of 1996) This is definitely a refined version of the abovementioned interim Constitution. We shall now focus our attention on the Constitution per se. Chapter 1, “Founding Provisions” states in section 1: The Republic of South Africa is one, sovereign, democratic state founded on the following values:
(a) Human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms.
(b) Non-racialism and non-sexism.
(c) Supremacy of the constitution and the rule of law.
(d) Universal adult suffrage, a national common voters roll, regular elections and a multiparty system of democratic government, to ensure accountability, responsiveness and openness.
In section 2 of the supremacy of the Constitution it is stated,
This Constitution is the supreme law of the Republic; law or conduct inconsistent with it is invalid, and the obligations imposed by it must be fulfilled.
c) Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is of so much importance for South Africa that it is already discussed in chapter 2 of the Constitution.
The Bill of Rights is a cornerstone of democracy in South Africa. It enshrines the rights of all people in our country and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom (section 7(1)).
These rights are subject only to limitations spelled out in section 36 of the Constitution. In this chapter all three generations of rights, namely civil, political and due process (first generation), social, economic, and cultural (second generation) and development, peace, social identity, and a clean environment (third generation) are enshrined (Sachs 1990:7-8). To make sure that these rights are respected and protected, the Constitution makes provision in chapter 9 for state institutions such as the Public Protector, the Human Rights Commission, the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities, and the Commission for Gender Equality to be established. Our Bill of Rights is now in line with the United Nations’ Bill of Human Rights (1978).
d) Parliament
Chapter 4 of the Constitution deals with Parliament. One of the most fundamental and radical changes is the fact that the constitutional system, which was based upon the principle of parliamentary sovereignty, was replaced by the principle of the supremacy of the Constitution. When participating in legislative processes and debates, minority groups could still appeal beyond parliament to the Constitutional court for redress. Gone are the days when the majority party (the National party) imposed their will on all of us, and it was the matter of winner-takes-all.
e) Courts and Administration of Justice
The judiciary is covered in chapter 8 of the Constitution. Section 165(2) is very clear that “the courts are independent and subject only to the Constitution and the law, which they must apply impartially and without fear, favour or prejudice” and 165(3) that, “No person or organ of state may interfere with the functioning of the courts.” The courts are listed in section 166 as the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal, the High Courts, the Magistrates’ Courts, and any other court established by an Act of Parliament.
This new dispensation marks a radical departure from the previous dispensation, which rested upon the basic principle that the Constitution was not supreme but that a sovereign Parliament reigned supreme. The National Party misused their majority in Parliament to pass acts or overrule court decisions by way of enacting legislation that interfered with their work.
3.2.2 Land Restitution and Reform Laws Amendment, 1997 (Act 63 of 1997)
The government took seriously the issue of black land dispossession by colonisers. To this end, the Act was enacted
To provide for the restitution of rights in land to persons or communities dispossessed of such rights after 19 June 1913 as a result of past racially discriminatory laws of practices.
“Redress” could be approached in either two ways, namely the granting of an appropriate right in alternative state-owned land and the payment of compensation, and “restitution” would mean the restoration of a right in land or equitable redress.
To make the implementation possible, the act provides for an establishment of a Commission on Restitution of Land Rights whose functions, among others, would be to investigate claims and to mediate and settle disputes arising from such claims, and to refer claims to the Claims Court, and the Land Claims Court whose chief functions would be to determine a right to restitution of any right in land and approve compensation payable.
3.2.3 Labour Relations Act 1995 (Act 66 of 1995)
Although slavery was abolished in South Africa in the early 1830s, blacks have been working under harsh conditions and earning slave wages. The promulgation of the Act was to correct and change the status quo. Farm workers, domestic servants and public sector workers and several other subcategories of employees are also protected under the Act. However, excluded by the Act are members of the National Defence Force, National Intelligence Agency and South African Secret Services as well as certain categories that provide essential services.
Key areas of the legislation are the following:
a) Registration confers legal personality upon a union or employers’ organisation.
b) Fundamental labour rights are entrenched such as protection against more general acts of discrimination of the basis of race, gender, creed or disability. Not only employees are protected but also applicants.
c) A statutory framework conducive to bargaining has been created.
d) Union members are organisationally entitled to access to their premises and other facilities at the workplace, negotiation of leave benefits, representatives on management as well as access to information on the daily transactions at the workplace.
e) Subject to certain stipulations, industrial actions such as go-slow, picketing and total strikes are allowed but so is the lockout of employees by employers.
Three statutory bodies have been put in place to facilitate and to ensure the implementation of the law, namely the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, the Labour Court as well as the Labour Appeal Court.
Strengthening the arm of this Act was the enactment of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 1997 (Act 75 of 1997) which “... give effect to the right to fair labour practices referred to in section 23(1) of the Constitution by establishing and making provision for the regulation of basic conditions of employment ...”. Of utmost importance is the outlawing of employment of children and forced labour. The Employment Conditions Commission has been established to conduct public hearings assisted by labour inspectors by monitoring the labour market and by forcing legally the observance of the terms of the law and its determinations.
3.2.4 Employment Equity Act 1998 (55 of 1998)
Central to this legislation is the issue of affirmative action outlined in chapter 3 of which its measures are as follows:
1. Affirmative action measures are measures designed to ensure that suitably qualified people from designated groups have equal employment opportunities and are equitably represented in all occupational categories and levels in the workforce of a designated employer.
2. Affirmative action measures implemented by a designated employer must include –
(a) measures to identify and eliminate employment barriers, including unfair discrimination, which adversely affect people from designated groups;
(b) measures designed to further diversity in the workplace based on equal dignity and respect of all people;
(c) making reasonable accommodation for people from designated groups in order to ensure that they enjoy equal opportunities and are equitably represented in the workforce of a designated employer;
(d) subject to subsection (3), measures to –
(i) ensure the equitable representation of suitably qualified people from designated groups in all occupational categories and levels in the workforce; and
(ii) retain and develop people from designated groups and to implement appro- priate training measures, including measures in terms of an Act of Parlia- ment providing for skills development.
3. The measures referred to in subsection (2)(d) include preferential treatment and numerical goals, but exclude quotas.
Again, employers are enjoined by the Act to have an employment equity plan with clear targets and deadlines.
The abovementioned pieces of legislation have been selected because, to one’s view, they stand at the centre of transformative process in an attempt to reverse and to redress past injustices against black people. The list is nonetheless not exhaustive for legislation such as Higher Education Act 1997 (Act 101 of 1997) of which the aim was to make redress on the historical educational imbalances has not been discussed.
4. SOCIO-ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE JUBILEE
4.1. Theology of the Jubilee
In the Old Testament two texts loom large, namely Leviticus 25 and Isaiah 61. Whilst in the former text Moses lays down the law for religiopolitical leaders of the Hebrews to administer and to manage, in the latter text Trito-Isaiah takes it upon himself to execute the dictates of the Jubilee. Whilst the Jubilee spirit is discernable throughout the whole of the New Testament especially in the Synoptic Gospels, Luke 4:16-21 stands out clearly in favour of the Jubilee.
There are basically four prescriptions laid down, namely:
a) There will be no ploughing on the seventh year and during the Jubilee Year. God created the earth and everything including humankind in six days and rested on the seventh day. A Jubilee Year would therefore be a holy year.
b) Creditors are instructed to write off debts of their debtors in the form of forgiveness or relief. It therefore calls for a kind of economic levelling off to enable creditors and debtors to make a fresh start.
c) There will be a redistribution of wealth whereby even formally purchased property especially land had to be restored to its original owners. Land for example in Israel was never regarded as a commodity to be sold and the Jubilee Year was supposed to correct this anomaly.
d) Of the utmost importance is the injunction to release slaves, especially Israelite ones. God created humans in God’s image and therefore they should not be held perpetually in bondage. Slavery and ill treatment of people rob people of their human dignity and the Jubilee Year is geared to restoring it.
As God is righteous and therefore a God of justice, God intended to give God’s people during the Jubilee Year an opportunity to start all over again on an equitable socioreligious footing.
Reve (1998) connects very succinctly the Jubilee concept with the concept of the kingdom of God enunciated by Jesus of Nazareth. She argues that Jesus was concerned not only with the future but also with the present and, as a result, the kingdom preached by Jesus had both the socio- political and eschatological dimensions. According to Reve (1998:177) the Lords’ Prayer also emphasises the importance of the Jubilee because, “While protecting and defending the poor on the one hand, the Lord’s prayer, on the other hand, challenges the elite which instead of giving bread to the poor, gives debts.” She (1998:177) cannot overemphasise,
... that Jesus’ ct the divine intervention to destroy the existing corrupt kingdom and establish a new one. Rather, it was a challenge to the existing oppressive kingdom. Moreover, it was a proposal for an alternative kingdom in which there would be no distinction, not only between the rich and poor, but also between men and women.
According to Yoder (1972:64-77) the year 26 AD was a Jubilee Year. Yoder insists that Jesus’ message was meant for all Christians of all ages and therefore Christians were not to observe the code only during a Jubilee Year but to lead jubilary life everyday (cf Yoder 1971 & 1979). If so understood, then the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5-7) in one’s view would make a lot of sense.
Jubilee Year was not a pleasant time for the powerful, the rich and the wealthy. Yoder (1972:69-70) indicates that even rabbis such as Hillel and Shammai who had become the advocates of the strict application of the law of Moses, hesitated to demand the strict application of the Jubilee. To go around the demands of the Jubilee, Hillel formulated a formula called the prosboul. Yoder (1972:69) says that “... Hillel in this way authorised a creditor to transfer to a court the right to recover in his name a debt which the sabbatical year otherwise might have cancelled”.
To become theologically more poignant and focussed, Christians the world over will celebrate 2000 years of God’s gift of liberation through Jesus Christ, who preached God’s kingdom. Human debts have been written off by way of the forgiveness of sins and the justification of the sinner. The cross stands out as a sign of this reality. This gospel has been preached starting in Jerusalem, spreading to Samaria and reaching all parts of the world. An authentic Jubilee practice should be underpinned by repentance preached by Jesus Christ and also by John the Baptist, his forerunner (cf Balasuriya 1999:124-143).
4.2. Jubilee in world context
What comes first to mind in Latin America, Africa and Asia is the evil legacy left behind by colonialism – something that still continues today in the form of socio-economic globalisation. The latter part of this decade (1990) has ushered in a number of Jubilees.
a) The era of Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus five hundred years ago should be commemorated in favour of the formerly colonised continents and countries and the Jubilee injunctions should guide us. MacGarry (1999:13-21) has worked out a formula by which calculations of restitution could be made, namely
(i) direct benefits gained by the colonisers from the colonial relationship;
(ii) benefits to the colonised must be taken into account and subtracted from (i);
(iii) income in the form of taxation and tribute to the coloniser from the colonised, and
(iv) racial or regional inequalities due to colonial policies.
In some measure of agreement with Motha (1999:95-97), MacGarry itemises the contents in the formula as follows: Under (i) it is included loot, land produce of the land, wages underpayment, people maimed and/or killed, uprooting of people and slavery, unfair terms of trade, removal of technology from colony, brain drain, ecological damage. Under (ii) all benefits of colonisation for the colonies such as expenditure on infrastructure, education, health and value of technology transferred to colony. (iii) All income received by the colonial administration from taxation on lands, persons, productions; tributes paid by the colonised and under (iv) imbalances in providing services, policy of divide and rule and consequent social unrest in later times, even after independence.
At the same time countries such as India and Pakistan have just celebrated their Jubilees as free independent countries. The world has celebrated – Jubilees marking the end of World War II that was caused by Europe and the West in general, and the formation of the United Nations. If restitution cannot be effected for whatever reason, at least a substantial compensation should be paid out to the former colonies. Queen Elizabeth II has just celebrated her golden wedding anniversary (1999) and the Queen Mother has become hundred years old (2000) and they can mark these occasions by for example returning all looted items including the remains of our ancestors displayed in the British museums.
b) The era of globalisation has been with us for at least fifty years. Victims of globalisation regard it as another form of colonisation by the countries in the North. Participants in a workshop held in Colombo on “Christianity and Colonisation and Globalisation” from 19-26 April 1998 published in Logos 36 (3 & 4) 1999:46 defined globalisation as
... the transnationalisation of capital ... transnationalisation of production and standardisation and homogenisation of consumer tastes.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB) and World Trade Organisation (WTO) are international instruments used by the powerful and wealthy nations to drive the process of globalisation and the organisation principle is profit maximisation. Participants went further to note (Logos 1999:147) that
Creation of exchange-values becomes all-important to the neglect of the creation of use- values. Wants, or to put it bluntly, greed of a few is more important than the livelihood and needs of the many. Those who have no exchange entitlements (money) are legally excluded from the market. Emerging market is the keyword and not emerging nations or struggling people.
As we prepare celebrations of the 2000 Jubilee, Balasuriya (1999:127-128) proposes the following means among others: (i) Fairer terms of trade that are based not on mere market forces. (ii) Resource transfer from the rich countries to the poor ones on a multilateral basis and with no strings attached. (iii) Compensation for past and present injustices. (iv) Cancellation of foreign debt of countries especially highly indebted ones where such countries have paid much more than they owe to the rich countries. (v) Curbing of the power of Transnational cooperations. (vi) Reform of the United Nations and its organs such as the IMF, WB and WTO.
4.3. Jubilee in the South African context
4.3.1 Election promises
When Nelson Mandela appealed to South Africans to vote for the ANC during the 1994 general elections, he promised them a South Africa in which people will live in peace and with equal opportunities in a document entitled, “A Better Life for All”. A policy document was produced known as “Reconstruction and Development Programme” (RDP 1994) in which means and ways are outlined by which the ANC together with its alliance partners would realise its vision. To demonstrate that the ANC was serious about poverty alleviation, empowerment and indeed transformation of the society, when it formed government, a cabinet minister without portfolio was appointed to facilitate and minister the programme.
The pieces of legislation including the country’s Constitution discussed in 3.2 indicate to us that the State through the ANC dominated government of national unity was seriously concerned about inequalities and injustices of the past. Labour that comprises the majority of blacks has relatively been empowered whilst at the same time the fears of big business have been sufficiently allayed. The ANC promised to create 500 000 jobs and build a million houses during its term of office, but unfortunately the promises especially on poverty alleviation were not accurately costed. In addition the government inherited apartheid debt of about U$250 billion. In fact, the poverty crisis has deepened.
So serious was the situation that according to Paton Carol (1998:1) Thabo Mbeki had to convene a conference on poverty and inequality in June 1998 among which the following were discussed:
a) “Increased expenditure on social services;
b) increasing the resources available for the redistribution of assets such as land reform;
c) maintaining social pensions;
d) adopting a labour intensive approach to the construction of infrastructure;
e) public works programmes;
f) making micro-finance available to the poor;
g) directing resources to needy schools;
h) increasing capacity of local government; and
i) establishing a system to monitor the impact of government policy on the alleviation of poverty.”
The ANC’s goals in their second term may yet again not be reached mainly because it has reneged on two crucial fundamental policies namely, nationalisation and market protectionism.
4.3.2 Nationalisation
It has been the policy of the ANC and others to nationalise State assets and property and thereby regulate the distribution of wealth among the people. The Freedom Charter says in Nolan (1988:222),
The national wealth of our country, the heritage of all South Africans, shall be restored to the people; the mineral wealth beneath the soil, the banks and monopoly industry shall be transferred to the ownership of the people as a whole; all other industries and trades shall be controlled to assist the well-being of the people ...
Nelson Mandela reiterated this policy in his first speech after his release from prison on the 11 February 1990 at Bishopscourt, Cape Town. In his preface to the RDP document (1994) Mandela says, “In preparing the document, and in taking it forward, we are building on the tradition of the Freedom Charter.”
During his 1996 travels abroad especially in Europe and the USA, Mandela announced a policy change that dismayed and shocked the ANC alliance partners notably the Congress of the South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the SACP the ANC led government would abandon nationalisation and embrace privatisation. Key State assets such as railways, airways and telecommunications and parastatals such as Eskom, Iscor, Sasol and Telkom would be privatised. Once privatised, these corporations adopted policies such as rationalisation, right-sizing and downsizing which are actually euphemisms for retrenchment. No wonder that 1994 to 1998 saw job losses of up to 500 000 instead of creation of 500 000 jobs as the government promised. But the government did not learn from this experience but instead it was dissatisfied with Stella Sigcau as minister of Public Enterprises and as a result she was removed to another portfolio by the Mbeki administration. Jeff Radebe, an SACP central member of that, was put in charge and he seems to be focussed on a privatisation course as Hogarth (1999:20) puts it, “... is overseeing the withering away of the state by rapid privatisation”. Sydney Mufamadi as Minister of Provincial Affairs and also an SACP central committee member, “... plans to trim public servants at a local level by introducing ‘public-private partnerships’” (Hogarth 1999:20).
After selling off its assets, the government would render the State bankrupt. It would be placed at the mercy of big business and economists in terms of tax for its revenue. South Africans already are one of the highest paying tax people on earth; even pensioners are paying tax on their income. One would like to submit that this is not the way to celebrate Jubilee 2000. What kind of a Jubilee 2050 will our children and grandchildren celebrate when transnationals, WB and IMF would be in charge of government since the State would have withered away?
4.3.3 Market protectionism
Directly linked to privatisation is the concept of globalisation. The ANC promised South Africans protection against unfair trading and commercial competition from outside. The Freedom Charter in Nolan (1988:222) says, “All people shall have equal rights to trade where they choose, to manufacture and to enter all trades, crafts and profession.”
But how will this dream be realised if South Africa in its democratic infancy is already opened to world markets? George Soros caused economic sorrows in 1992 when he bashed the Bank of England and caused the Chancellor of the Exchequer to lose his job (Blow 1998:2). We witnessed towards the end of 1997 the fall of the so-called Asian tigers such as Malaysia and Thailand, the Asian economic giants regarded as success stories by the IMF and the entire West. South Africa seems to have bought into this “success story” myth. Virtually anybody from anywhere can buy property in South Africa. As airways such as Fly Star and Sun Air went into liquidation, outside companies have moved in to buy them. Yet another SACP central committee member Alec Erwin as Minister of Trade and Industry is making sure that global capital flows in and out of the country with as few restrictions as possible (Hogarth 1999:20).
An instrument being used to apply both privatisation and globalisation was the macro- economic strategy known as “Growth, Employment and Redistribution” (GEAR) adopted by the government in June 1996. Bullard (1998:19) writes, “SA went to market and cried all the way home”, and Vally (1999:15) also is unambiguous, “SA’s low Gear to national suicide” and continues, “We live in the shadow of Gear which, far from transforming society, deepens capitalism and the rich-poor gap.”
By the time the market forces which we are told by the economic priests cannot and should not be tamed, are finished with us, there will not be any jubilant Jubilee 2050.
4.3.4 Nonetheless
In spite of problems indicated above, there are still reasons to celebrate Jubilee 2000 and to ensure a successful Jubilee 2050 and even Jubilee 2100 and beyond, especially if government takes the critique seriously.
a) South Africa is a democracy at last and we must protect and nurture it by respecting the Constitution.
b) South Africa belongs to all who live in it. Land Restitution and Reform Laws Act has succeeded in restoring land to some of its original owners who lost it from 1913, or given compensation to victims of uprooting. (But the government should stretch this 1913 limitation back to 1652.)
c) Labour Relations Act and the other Acts have strengthened the workers’ power base, and increased their ownership of labour; the exploitation of farm workers and domestic workers is no longer tolerated.
d) Employment Equity Act has addressed the question of groups who have been historically marginalised in the workplace such as blacks and women by legislating for affirmative action measures. Giant black and women empowerment corporations and projects have been established.
e) South Africa must pressure the international community to write off the apartheid debt. It is not only a theological imperative to do so but also a moral imperative. Apartheid debt is blood money.
At the same time, the manner that was suggested by the IMF and the British government is unacceptable namely, the selling off of their gold reserves. Debt write off of this kind will only keep Africa and the rest of the former colonies in chains. A double morality adopted by Britain is exposed by Ohazuruike (1999:7) when he says,
In the apartheid years, the British government refused to impose economic sanctions on apartheid South Africa, saying they would hurt black workers most. Today we have a free and democratic South Africa and the British government is dumping its massive gold reserves onto the market, without minding that such a sudden flood of bullion will hurt black workers most.
Elsewhere he (1998) says, “The IMF’s herbs are so harsh and bitter they lose their medicinal value.”
f) In time for the Jubilee 2000 is the most important work (1998) just completed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) constituted in terms of the Promotion of national Unity and Reconciliation Act 1995 (Act 34 of 1995). The TRC’s work achieved far-reaching success both politically and spiritually. Politically, the blood bath that was predicted just before the 1994 general elections was relatively contained and the spiritual and physical hurt ameliorated and sometimes completely healed. In one publication by Meiring (1999) a commissioner himself takes us on a journey covered by the Commission and there is another publication by Anthea (1999) condemning the work of the Commission. Bishop Tutu himself has just published his perspective on the work of the TRC entitled, “No Future Without Forgiveness” (1999). Obviously the work of the TRC should not be regarded as complete and final. Reconciliation must stretch back to 1652 and one would like to see also Afrikaners and the English reconciling with one another as they commemorate one hundred years of Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902).
5. CONCLUSION
The Jubilee injunctions are meant to redress economic injustices of geographic, racial and gender nature. Economic relations between the North and the South should be normalised, so are the relations between black and white as well as between men and women. God’s creation of which the land is an integral part should not be abused but preserved for sustainable economic development. Jubilee 2000, here we come!
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