Two rival nationalisms, representing
diametrically opposed attitudes about the nature of South Africa and
proposing conflicting concepts of its future, dominated the history of
20th century South Africa.
The African National Congress (ANC), founded in January 1912,
developed to be the primary organised expression of African
nationalism. The National Party (NP), founded the following year,
became the dominant advocate of Afrikaner nationalism. While African
nationalism, in all its organised formations, strove to end racist
oppression, Afrikaaner nationalism became the chief exponent of
institutionalised racism.
Pitted against each other from birth, successive NP governments
attempted to crush the ANC in an escalating campaign of repression.
Persecution by officialdom and the police, proscription through banning
orders, torture and brutal beatings, lengthy terms of imprisonment,
mass shootings and massacres, executions and outright murders, carried
out by hired assassins and official hit-squads, were among the methods
the NP employed to preserve racial domination and to impose the
hare-brained designs of its leadership on South Africa.
The political pact concluded between these two parties during the
first two years of the 21st century was the most improbable outcome of
nine decades of political contestation.
The ANC from its inception represented a very broad spectrum of
democratic opinion inspired by Christian values, classical liberal
ideals and social democracy. Its character was structured by the core
features of what the movement designated as a "colonialism of a special
type" (CST) which was then the prevailing order in South Africa.
The manner in which South Africa was ruled prior to 1994 had been
arranged at a conference of the leading European powers held in Berlin
in 1884-85. By the end of that exercise, with the exceptions of
Ethiopia and Liberia, every other part of the continent had been placed
under foreign rule. By a unilateral decree of the European powers,
Africans had been reduced to a subject people, to be ruled and governed
by others, usually whites from Europe, or their descendants, who had
made Africa their home.
European colonialism did not end at the imposition of a foreign
government. Colonial administrators set about dismembering the economic
independence of the indigenous people. Taxes were imposed both to
sustain the colonial administration but most importantly to separate
African tillers from their land in order to create a labour force. A
regime of forced labour, not dissimilar to the mediaeval corvée -
enforced with the sjambok and the gun - was established to build public
works. The 1905-06 Poll Tax rebellion led by Bambata was provoked
precisely by such impositions.
Colonised people were not citizens but colonial subjects, governed by
a specialised body of laws. By the cunning of reason the acronym for
that body of laws in South Africa spelt "BAD". Incalculable mischief
was wrought by the so-called "experts" in "native culture" and
"customary law" who corrupted indigenous legal systems to suit the
needs of the colonial administration. Unaccountable, arbitrary power
was the hallmark of every colonial administration, and apartheid South
Africa was no exception.
But, as has been pointed out, colonialism had a Janus character. While
doing terrible violence to the subject peoples, their society and their
culture, it nonetheless carried with it a modernizing impulse. In order
to administer its colonies more effectively and to maintain military
control over the territory and its people, the colonial powers built
roads, railways and introduced modern communications. The colonial
powers were compelled to train the colonised as administrators, to
serve its merchants, its banks and to serve as its gendarmes - holding
down the local population. In settler colonies, like Rhodesia, Ireland,
Algeria, and South Africa where the white settlers filled this role,
the colonial power dispensed with the services of the indigenous
population. In such places a racial hierarchy, usually
institutionalised and formally enforced by law and reinforced by a
number of informal rituals of sub-ordination, was the outcome.
But colonialism also spawned a number of centripetal forces that
conspired to create a common society. Hence Ralph Emerson's comment in
his From Empire to Nation that the leaders of the nationalist movements
and the colonisers shared a number of common values.
The colonial economy also imposed a degree of unity on the country.
Nowhere in Africa was this more true than in South Africa. Judged from
that perspective, with all its atrocities and terrible injustices, the
Anglo-Boer War was not only inevitable, but was also the price exacted
by progress.
But progress came with its own ambiguities. It invariably disrupted
the lives of communities, creating new uncertainties by generating
continuous change. The disequilibria of change in turn persuaded many
to prefer the certainties and the orderliness of the known present or
an imaginary past. A romantic conservatism consequently developed
alongside progressive thought among large sections of the African
population, especially in rural areas and among the recently urbanised.
This mood dovetailed well with the new thrust in "Native policy" after
1927, attracting the support of precisely those layers of African
society who were least comfortable with change, the traditional
leaders.
None of the African nationalist leaders sought to restore a romantic,
pre-colonial order. As distinct from ethnic nationalists who acquired
prominence during the latter decades of the 20th century, they
invariably were modernists who wanted to gain access to the modern
world for their own people.
We are now at the halfway mark of the ANC's second term of office in
government.
There have been immense difficulties and shortcomings but what the ANC
dreamed of, planned for, mapped out in general terms in the Freedom
Charter, what it theorised about from the 1960s to the end of the '80s,
is what it is in the midst of in the present - the transformation of
South Africa from an authoritarian racist state into a democracy. South
Africa has:
- one of the most progressive constitutions in the world,
- some of the most advanced labour legislation,
- institutionalised rights for women that many old democracies are still haggling over,
- accorded constitutional rights to children that are streets ahead of many other countries,
- legislatures that are robust institutions, open to the press and the public.
The ANC and its allies have also been on a steep learning curve,
involving both glowing successes and grave disappointments.
The tactics employed by the ANC prevented South Africa's descent into
the racial civil war that was planned by the far right and its allies.
At this moment when the ultra-right is again active it is proper to
remind ourselves what the mood was like on the eve of the 1994
elections, with bomb blasts in central Johannesburg and at Johannesburg
airport. The international media descended on South Africa, not to see
what actually happened - a dignified, patient and extremely disciplined
people going to the polls - but to witness what they anticipated would
be the unfolding of another Bosnia.
- Literally millions who in the past never had clean water at hand, now have it as a right.
- Millions of children who would otherwise go hungry, now have at least one meal a day at school.
- Millions of pregnant mothers and children under six for whom medical care was a dream now receive it.
- Millions who had little hope of education can now see a brighter future ahead of them.
The list of achievements that materially affect and have changed in
real terms the lives of our people is endless - telecommunications,
roads and transport, land reform, housing, welfare and even
correctional services have all changed for the better thanks to the
ANC-led government.
These may not look like much from the perspective of the
well-manicured lawns of suburbia - but they have made a real difference
in Khayelitsha, in Valhalla Park, in Cofimvaba, in Orange Farm, in
Thohoyandou, in Madikwe, in northern Zululand and in Kuruman.
There have also been disappointments. We always knew that the process
of nation-building would not be easy, but the ANC has hewn the path of
reconciliation to facilitate it. But reconciliation does not imply
forgetting the past. The past is both the crime of apartheid and the
struggle to affirm the abiding value of the human personality embodied
in the fight for freedom. There is and consequently can be no moral
equivalence between apartheid and the struggle for freedom; between
those who upheld oppression and those who fought against it.
Building a common South African nation is more than cheering the
national cricket team, waving the same national flag. It means reducing
the huge inequalities that separate Pinelands from Langa and
Bokmakierie; Steenberg from Tokai and Constantia; Alexandra township
from Sandton.
It means closing the gap between the well-paid white miner and the
African mineworker; between the shop-floor worker and the rich
corporate elite; between the farm owner and the rural poor; between men
and women; between the urban areas and the rural areas. This is why the
Reconstruction and Development Programme's vision of urban and rural
infrastructural development is central to the nation-building
project.
There are some 20 mega-projects underway from Saldanha Bay in the
south west to Richards Bay in the north-east - each of them accounts
for more than half a billion rands. These are economic projects that
also embrace a larger dimension - the building of a single nation and
the reconstruction of our region.
In every part of the country, far from the stare of the media and
glare of the television spotlights, communities are hives of activity:
streets are being tarred; waste collection is improving;
telecommunications are being installed; schools are being constructed
and renovated; clinics are being built and upgraded; houses are being
built: for ordinary people tangible proof of the new South Africa in
the making.
True, the ANC has made its share of mistakes. Had it sat on its hands
it would have made no mistakes. But it would also have achieved
nothing. Nation-building is a process that entails both destruction and
construction, disruption and creation. That it would cause discomfort
and anxiety amongst some was inevitable. Because it is about
empowerment, the self-empowerment of the millions who were disempowered
by national oppression, it was to be expected that these millions would
want to exert their power in a number of ways. There was no guarantee
that they would always do so wisely.
During the ninetieth year of its existence the African National
Congress has demonstrated the capacity to remain relevant despite
sweeping changes in South Africa, Africa and the rest of the world.
After forty-eight years as a legal movement, the ANC was compelled to
go underground in 1960. Few thought it would survive.
Compelled to operate from external headquarters for 30 years, the
ANC's leading bodies co-ordinated the work of structures spread around
the world. It maintained a multi-faceted relationship with a host of
other bodies- sister liberation movements, political parties,
governments and solidarity movements. Democrats, liberals, every faith
community, the labour and workers' parties throughout the world were
drawn into an international movement in support of the struggle of the
South African people.
It was by marshalling all these forces, working in closer and more
effective co-ordination, that the ANC secured the international
isolation of the apartheid regime, compelling it to seek a negotiated
settlement.
At the age of 90 the ANC is a seasoned veteran that learnt the skills
for growth, renewal and continuing relevance in the crucible of the
struggle for freedom. Its traditions of internal and public debate
armed the movement with the courage to retrace its steps when necessary
and to rethink strategy when required to. Within the living memory of
many, heterodoxy has regularly been embraced as the new orthodoxy.
Working in an ever-changing environment, the movement acquired a
remarkable tactical resilience.
At the conclusion of the recent ANC policy conference, President Mbeki
called on the ANC membership to contribute directly to the movement's
programme of action and to rekindle a sense of moral vision: that moral
vision of a just, decent society of free men and women which inspired
them to wage the struggle against oppression.
The challenges ahead are great, but the ANC remains confident it can
rise to them.
