The Death of the Left in South Africa.

In the eve of the current century, the main actors in South Africa’s theatre of public discourse were institutions, -mainly the state and labor. Academics were found in various ideological camps, intellectualizing public debate. None of these institutions monopolized public debate. Although on global level the neo-liberal regime had made a victory lap after the fall of the iron curtain in Berlin in 1989, South Africa’s left leaning internal forces of liberation (which aligned with Cuba and Russia) had forced apartheid capitalist state out of Union Buildings. Although a lot else can be attributed to the economic growth which occurred in the early 2000s, it is conceivable that public discourse played a fundamental role not only in facilitating policy innovations, but also in demanding accountability of the post-1994 experiment. While Mbeki’s government was neo-liberal, the pressure points which came from ideological left were not from a distant opposition party. They were from within the governing party itself. Infact, they were part of government.

Conspicuously absent from public theatrics was capital, -both black and white. Like a localized cold war, capital was quietly searching for ideological home, circumspect of being viewed as moral evil. Consequently, it advanced its interests through proxies, -black capital through state and non-state institutions, white capital through forming alliances with anything white or non-white. Most black capitalists were particularly ideologically dialectical, depending on who was making an offer. By facilitating racial equality, the state enabled wealth accumulation for them. For a state committed to democratic socialism, this was part of its social equalizing question. And black capitalists were present for social equalizing. The social question was deeply rooted in capitalistic outcome. But black capital thus called for social equality as a necessary moral imperative on one hand, while displaying consumerism on the other. An important point to note is that at core, there was no real difference between how black and white capital formed. Most white capitalists accumulated their wealth through state facilitation before 1994.

The capitalist by night, socialist by day dialectic of black capital gave birth in the dark, to a dubious sub-capital class namely, tenderpreneurs. Like the Mongol class during the Mongol Empire (1206-1308), tenderpreneurs are neither working class, nor do they own the means of production. At the same time, they often accumulate as much if not more than state bourgeoisies, and, black and white capitalists. This sub-capital class is neither a real socialist nor a real capitalist.

The scramble for the state to show performance indicators of social equality enticed the state to accept and boast about the sub-capital class. Not to lose an opportunity for credit, the state became bolder in re-defining itself as national capitalism champion. But also, the sub-capital class was an example of how closet capitalists could infact accumulate wealth through the state. State bourgeoises did not even come close to this sort of wealth accumulation speed. Even labor drooled over the spectacle. This was too tempting. So, labor followed suit. It would maintain social face during the day and feed on capitalism pasture at night. Sooner or later the cars and houses looked far different from any real working class. In the end, government and labor had fully transformed to daylight capitalists. Both black and white real entrepreneurs found themselves with unlikely competition, state bourgeoisies, tenderpreneurs and labor. That’s the historical journey. Where are we now?

I would argue that the current state is no longer committed to social contract in Thomas Hobbes sense. Far from it. It is a quasi-business enterprise made up of state capitalists and wannabe capitalists. And labor, the barking dog of the 1980s is dead in ideological terms. Partly because capitalists are now at the helm of labor.

In sum, within a generation everybody has come out of the closet. The left has crumbled, no longer in business -the state, and labor alike. Notably, the once democratic socialist state is no longer. Most of the ideological left who still claim their title can easily be accused of being dishonest capitalists. Even formerly closet nationalists, -tribalistic, racist and xenophobic, are now more outspoken and daring without any institution left to curb their socially destructive excesses. Their language and actions are justified if the result is accumulation at the expense of ‘the other’. What is left of social textures in South Africa is the language. Yet the language is an old statue of socialism performing in theatres of capitalism. All of us are out in the open, worshipping a calf made of gold. The calf demands worship from those who govern, those who produce gold, the priests, the poor, and those who claim to defend the poor. It is a calf, granted. But it is made of gold nevertheless. We are all daylight capitalists now.

Dr Musyoka is a Development Economist based at the University of Pretoria, and the The Frontline Group.