In his State of the Nation address in Cape Town last Friday President Thabo Mbeki made clear that the ANC government would not tolerate workers' opposition to its plans to offer South Africa as a low-wage investment platform for transnational corporations.
Since coming to power, the ANC has relied on the South African Communist Party (SACP) and trade unions to control the working class. This is becoming increasingly difficult. Last year saw a sharp increase in strikes, with 3.1 million days lost, compared to 2.3 million the previous year. Just one day before Mbeki's speech, British Foreign Office Minister Peter Hain, speaking in Johannesburg, warned the ANC that investors were worried about the rash of strikes in the country.
Mbeki's response to such concerns was to spell out the government's intention to impose rigorous discipline on the labour force, underlined by his outburst against the striking Volkswagen workers.
In government, the ANC has proved to represent a grasping and selfish layer of the native petty bourgeoisie, who have enriched themselves over the past six years of ANC rule and aspire to become the agents of international capital.
Source: World Socialist Web
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