ANC will centre

Maybe it’s just me but the two-tier cabinet proposal, submitted by the South African Communist Party at the Tripartite-Alliance’s economic policy meeting held over the course of last weekend, appears to be very similar to the central committee and politburo model of the former Soviet Union. Indeed for ‘central committee’ read ‘ANC NEC’ who in turn, like the USSR, appoint the all powerful ‘senior cabinet’ or ‘politburo’.

While in theory the “politburo” is appointed by and reports to the “central committee” (itself appointed at a national conference every five years – wonder where we’ve seen that before), it is the politburo that exercises real power tempered from time to time by the central committee. Sort of like when the NEC expected the cabinet of former president Thabo Mbeki to report back to it.

Of course the alliance’s vision includes far greater State control over fiscal policy and the implementation thereof, which appears to include taking charge of the Treasury and the Reserve Bank.

If consideration is had to the SACP and Cosatu’s views of the tight controls employed by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel and Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni, particularly with regard to the setting of interest rates, then all of that is about to change post-election. Well it would do if their stated goals on job creation and poverty are anything to go by.

Their view appears to be that the rate of inflation and the strength of the rand must play second fiddle to their stated populist goals regardless. Problem is that by allowing the rand to free fall and inflation to soar you will land up with far less jobs and much more poverty.

While the alliance blueprint might sit nicely with the voters prior to election it will wreak havoc with the economy soon after. Before any of the new cabinet members have had the chance to ask ‘who get’s the Audi Q7 with a driver’, they’ll be hunting partridges in England (like the senior board of AIG) while the public hunt them down with dogs.

Worse yet, the breakaway party will not be made up of tons of whites trying to tell blacks how to live their lives but by black politicians who ensured the longest period of sustained growth in this country’s history. They will no doubt point out that while the world is having a recession the communist ideology, at least the brand our lot uses, has ceased to exist.

Yes of course Karl Marx is very much in vogue right now and some of his theories on capitalism are being debated back and forth at present. The fact, however, remains that capitalism remains the only game in town.

The debate at present appears to be between the European Union who favour a more regulated capitalism as opposed to what the Americans referred to as democratic capitalism (whatever that may be – hopefully not the anything goes that brought us to this point).

The fact of the matter is that the SACP appear to be calling many of the plays in this alliance while in terms of voters they are by far the smallest element.

If the ANC continues to allow its path to be chartered by them and as brazenly as we are witnessing then the breakaway party is going to style this as a contest between the ANC (using whatever name) and the SACP posing as the ANC.

It is a recurring theme in the build up to the election.

While the ANC will centre, external factors relating to the economy and pressure from the opposition will ensure that, it’s best it be done sooner rather than later.

As it is everyone’s asking: “Are you the SACP in disguise?”