Seminar: CCS Roundtable on Polokwane Date: Thursday, 20 December Time: 17:00-who knows Venue: CCS Boardroom, MTB F208, Howard College Campus
WHO WILL RULE SOUTH AFRICA? WHAT DO INDEPENDENT ACTIVISTS WANT FROM POLOKWANE?
A DISCUSSION WITH SA, AFRICA AND INTERNATIONAL ALLIES, BROADCAST AT 5pm SA TIME ON SKYPE
South Africa faces uncertain prospects of political leadership in the period ahead, as the African National Congress conference in Polokwane makes a choice between two presidential candidates, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. We've been waiting quite a while for the dust to settle.
The status quo is unacceptable by all accounts, save those of the top two ANC leaders ('Nothing will change' Zuma has promised international financiers who have panelbeat SA's pro-business economic policy, while Mbeki repeatedly and dishonestly claims that the economy and society are improving under his rule.)
Expressing a variety of policy/delivery grievances, independent activists have ratcheted up protest activity to unprecedented levels, with more than 20 000 separate demonstrations recorded over 24 months in 2005-07 and an increase in the rate this year. (SA is still the world's leader in per capita social protests.)
As the ANC conference begins, independent progressives wonder:
* Is there an opening for the centre-left (and even the left), as trade unionists and leading communists provide crucial backing for Zuma's campaign? * Or would a president Zuma clamp down hard, given his and supporters' traditions of militarism, nationalism, patriarchy, ethnicism and (passive) neoliberalism? * Or are Zuma's many weaknesses to be welcomed by independent leftists, as the basis for a ridiculous, weak presidency? * Can Mbeki pull out all the state's resources to win reelection to the party presidency, or if not, still retain maximum power ahead of the 2009 national elections? * Will the Mbeki-Zuma battle continue to degenerate into a full-fledged conflagration that splits the ruling party? * Or will the ANC 'big tent' once again open some flaps on the left and draw dissidents back in? * What structural power shifts might this contest signify, given both the profound paranoia expressed by the neoliberal bloc and the ANC's paralysed socio-economic imagination? * Is the corruption-ridden ruling party capable of being reformed, or is a new people's/worker's party inevitable? * Should most independent activity aimed at social change continue to eschew electoral politics?
As the ANC leave Polokwane, the Centre for Civil Society will attempt a skype-broadcast seminar on 20 December at 5pm Durban time to consider these and other queries.
If anyone wants to tap into this session, please contact me urgently so can try out the connection. We intend to do both audio and video broadcasting, and will accommodate as many in a 'conference call' format as the technology and bandwidth permit. (You can download skype at http://www.skype.com for free to gain access to this seminar.)
Those definitely taking part in the broadcast include Ashwin Desai, Trevor Ngwane, Orlean Naidoo, Sufian Bukurura and Annsilla Nyar, with others in the Durban area joining us in coming days.
Join us!
Patrick (pbond at mail.ngo.za and skype account: patricksouthafrica) http://www.ukzn.ac.za/ccs