The ANC not only needs to advance the vision of the Freedom Charter in 2005, writes Mduduzi Matloporo, but should also draw on the mass-based nature of the 1955 Freedom Charter campaign to shape its current policy development processes.
Drawing on the experience of the formulation of the Freedom Charter, adopted 50 years ago this June, it is important to examine how the ANC has been able, since its unbanning in particular, to engage its membership and broader society in the development of policy.
In 93 years of struggle and in the past ten years in particular, we have observed qualitative changes in the lives of South Africans. This can be attributed to the innovation, commitment and discipline of the leadership and membership of the ANC. This is as a result of the commitment of our movement to better the lives of our people.
WHAT IS THE ANC?
The ANC Strategy and Tactics document 2002 says: "The ANC is a product of a given historical period, formed to unite the African people in the struggle for equality."
The ANC Constitution describes the aims and objectives of the ANC as, among other things, "to unite all the people of South Africa, Africans in particular, for the complete liberation of the country from all forms of discrimination and national oppression... [and] to end apartheid in all its forms and transform South Africa as rapidly as possible into a united, non-racial, non-sexist and democratic country on the principles of the Freedom Charter and in pursuit of the national democratic revolution".
In advancing the aims and objectives of the ANC, we have been able to contextualise our response to the national and class question in South Africa. The Freedom Charter constitutes the guiding principles for the implementation of the National Democratic Revolution. The preamble of the Freedom Charter says: "South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of the people". This is a direct response to the exclusion of black South Africans from the decision-making processes of our country. It signals the ANC's commitment to an inclusive, transparent and democratic government.
ANC POLICY PROCESS
Consistent with its character and its internal democratic processes, the ANC has developed policies through its national conferences and other constitutional structures. The ANC constitution says: "The principles of freedom of speech and free circulation of ideas and information will operate within the ANC." The ideas of its members are critical to the existence and success of the ANC. All ANC members therefore need to be active in its branches and other structures so that these ideas are collectively raised. The branch is the basic unit of activity for members and "the place where members exercise their basic democratic rights to discuss and formulate policy".
The ANC's 50th National Conference in Mafikeng in 1997 defined the current policy processes of the movement. The ANC established the policy unit and policy committees at all levels of the organisation. These include the leagues and alliance structures. Through these structures the ANC is able to interact with government deployees and policy institutes on key policy issues.
This means, firstly, that we need to ensure that branches engage on key policy questions and are able to provide leadership to the rest of society, building branches as nerve centres of our communities. Secondly, this requires that all ANC members participate in branch activities, irrespective of their standing in society. Thirdly, this confirms that the ANC's strength and character relies on its mass base. The ANC, though a multi-class organisation, is still able to manage debates in the movement and ensure consensus on key questions around advancing the struggle.
For example, in preparation for the 51st National Conference in Stellenbosch in 2002, the ANC held branch, regional, provincial and national policy conferences. We also engaged with civil society and various sectors, in recognition of the different role players in society.
The movement has recently taken a decision to establish a policy institute. This will further enhance the role of the ANC in monitoring and ensuring policy implementation by government and its structures. The policy institute must be a place where we consult on key policy issues in an attempt to address challenges facing our people. It will also enhance our deployment strategy, so that those that are deployed in government will be able to relate with the movement through the institute.
The significance and strength of the ANC policy process lies in the involvement of its structures and membership in much the same way as people from across South Africa were involved in drawing up the Freedom Charter fifty years ago. This has enhanced the relationship between branches and the masses of our people. Today the challenge is to consolidate and build on the experiences of drawing up the Freedom Charter, engaging with the masses of our people about their needs and developing appropriate strategies.
PEOPLE'S POLICIES
The Freedom Charter also forms the basis of the key policies of the ANC over the last few years - 'Ready to Govern', the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) strategy, and subsequent policies adopted at national conferences. All these policies are consistent with the course of our revolution as guided by the Freedom Charter.
The RDP, which was responding to the fact that: "Our history has been a bitter one dominated by colonialism, racism, apartheid, sexism and repressive labour policies. The result is that poverty and degradation exist side by side with modern cities and a developed mining, industrial and commercial infrastructure. Our income distribution is racially distorted and ranks as one of the most unequal in the world - lavish wealth and abject poverty characterise our society."
In responding to this the RDP identified five programmatic areas in taking the vision of the Freedom Charter forward:
In furthering the goals of the RDP, the ANC introduced GEAR in 1996 as government's macroeconomic strategy. The objectives of GEAR were to get the South African economy onto a new path, one that would ensure:
As a result of these policies we were able to achieve macroeconomic stability and send a powerful signal to the world that we are able to manage our own economic affairs. The ongoing South African economic success story, with a stable currency, increasing investor confidence and increased resources for infrastructure development and poverty alleviation, have their origins in the Freedom Charter clauses that say: "The People Shall Share in the Country's Wealth" and "There Shall be Work and Security".
This approach also ensured that we did not become indebted to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or World Bank, and, most importantly, that we create a growing economy that is developmental and can create sustainable jobs.
The National General Council (NGC) held in July 2000 recognised that we could not be complacent with our revolution. The gains made must be defended and we must continue to engage society at all levels and further continue to transform the state and society.
In preparation for the 2005 NGC, we must engage our branches, structures and civil society, particularly as it takes place as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Charter. It must be a place where we continue to build and increase the level of political consciousness within the movement in the context of current challenges. This must include how we strengthen the movement to continue to lead all sectors of society and develop programmes that will engage the masses of our people to build a people's contract to create work and fight poverty.
In the 2002 January 8th Statement, the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) said: "As we mark the 90th Anniversary of our movement, we must look forward to the tasks we have to accomplish during the critical decade that will take us to the Centenary of the ANC. This will give us a much-needed road map, dealing with all aspects of our national and international life, as we advance to the Year 2012.
"Clearly, the guiding principle of this road map must be the objective to move forward decisively to eradicate the legacy of racism, sexism, colonialism and apartheid...To ensure that we achieve this goal, we must set ourselves and our country bold but realistic goals to enable us to gauge the progress we are making. This will have to encompass all aspects of social activity, ensuring that we move forward in a balanced and integrated manner.
"To discharge all these responsibilities, we must base our vision, programmes and actions on that historic manifesto of the people of South Africa, the Freedom Charter. This demands especially of our vanguard movement that we ensure that the Freedom Charter plays its central role in the formation of the new South Africa as a living document. Thus it must be responsive to the new situation that emerged nationally and internationally, since it was adopted at the Congress of the People in 1955. The bold tasks it elaborated must be carried out within the context of the rapid changes that characterise modern human society."
How then have we responded to the apartheid legacy in the last ten years? As a revolutionary movement, having taken state power, our task is to advance the National Democratic Revolution. The need to attain political power was not for its own sake, but to advance social transformation, deracialise the economy and ensure that it responds to the challenges of the second economy.
The ANC has built a democratic state and further seeks to ensure that it is developmental, based on the will of the people. Our constitution is one of the best in the world, ensuring human rights and dignity for all, irrespective of race, gender, religion and language. It also guarantees certain socio-economic rights, which places a responsibility on the state to respond to the challenges of education, health, skills development and others.
The 2005 NGC must be a place where we further interrogate progress in the implementation of our policies. The 2004 ANC election manifesto outlines, among other things, the following targets and objectives for 2014:
We cannot talk of a better future without decisively tackling these twin challenges - unemployment and poverty. Transforming the state and building its capacity to act as a coordinated, cohesive and effective instrument of change is another important challenge. The mobilisation of all sectors of society, including their resources, behind a shared vision is another challenge. This requires that we build strong branches that are agents for change and nerve centres of our communities.
The programme to fight poverty and create work demonstrates consistency and commitment to the historic aims and objectives of the ANC. It further confirms that, together with the people, we can find solutions to these challenges and achieve the freedoms spoken about in the Freedom Charter. In attaining these freedoms, we must ensure the involvement of the masses of our people in the programme of social transformation. These masses are drawn from different classes; hence the ANC is a multi-class organisation, with the aim of uniting and mobilising all South Africans around the programme of social transformation, while being biased towards the poor and working class.
The Strategy and Tactics document says: "In carrying out these tasks of the NDR, the emergent democratic state relies on the formal instruments available to it; but, above all, on the active involvement of members of society in changing their lives for the better. Both as individuals, and organised in political formations and various structures of civil society, the citizens are the bedrock of fundamental change."
TASKS OF THE NEXT TEN YEARS
The ANC-led government has done a review of the past ten years and an analysis of the challenges for the next decade. It says: "One of the major consequences of the change in the structure of the economy is that 'two economies' persist in one country. The first is an advanced, sophisticated economy, based on skilled labour, which is becoming more globally competitive. The second is a mainly informal, marginalised, unskilled economy, populated by the unemployed and those unemployable in the formal sector."
In the next ten years, one of the key challenges for our movement is to mobilise different sectors of society around a people's contract to create work and fight poverty. This coincides with the coming local government elections. As we once more require the masses of our people to vote for the ANC in the local government elections, it will be about whether we have remain consistent to our aims and objectives and stayed true to the implementation of our mandate given to us by the masses of our people. In celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Charter, we must:
We must work hard to ensure the ANC remains committed to its historic mission to mobilise all classes and strata that objectively stand to gain from the success of the cause of social change. The central task of our movement in the current phase of our revolution is to deepen and advance the National Democratic Revolution guided by the principles of the Freedom Charter. This requires that we strengthen our internal policy process and continue to engage with civil society.
Mduduzi Matloporo is an ANC member in Gauteng and a member of the Umrabulo editorial collective.
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