The De Klerk Nationalist Party government and the ANC seem close to a deal. What will this mean for South Africa? Socialist Outlook spoke the Workers Organisation of Socialist Action (WOSA).
OSATU MASS RALLY to MICHAEL BAM, a member of the executive of What is the present stage of the struggle in South Africa? Has the CODESA negotiation process put the left and the mass movement in difficulty? WOSA characterises the present period as that of the carrot and thestick; De Klerk is using a combination of repression and concessions to try to lock the ANC into the reform process.
We have seen the ANC make many concessions, on one-person one vote, nationality and the principle of a unitary state without homelands'. The mass movement as a whole has gone into decline; there's a sort of depression where everything is eft to the negotiations.
A key turning point was de feat and sell out of the NUMSA (metalworkers) strike last August; this was a massive strike defeated not by the bourgeoisie but by the leadership betrayals. The trade union movement has lost membership rather than winning new members, and this is symptomatic. Can the ANC really compromise on the principle of one-person, one vote? It is significant that even Communist Party (SACP) leader Joe Slovo has come out in favour of a 'sunset