The National Democratic Revolution and its Freedom Charter roots

The National Democratic Revolution remains a major risk in South Africa. It has been a disastrous policy, yet the ANC is committed to it. The Institute of Race Relations put it as follows:

“The National Democratic Revolution (NDR) is the key to understanding developments in the country since 1994 – yet most South Africans know little about it. The NDR strategy is also so destructive – and its socialist and communist goals so outdated and illogical – that most people find it hard to believe the ruling party could truly be committed to it. However, from the viewpoint of the African National Congress (ANC) and its dominant South African Communist Party (SACP) ally, the NDR has a powerful ideological appeal. It also offers the most effective way for the revolutionary alliance to entrench itself in power.”

The National Democratic Revolution means transforming the South African economy and society into a communist one. However, this is a special kind of communism, in which race plays an important role. Again, according to the IRR,

 “In South Africa, the first stage ended when the SACP and ANC alliance took power in 1994. This put an end to the rule of the white minority, or the ‘colonialism of a special type’ that had previously applied.” After 1994, the emphasis has shifted towards taking South Africa from a predominantly capitalist economy to a socialist and then communist one.    

Initially, in 1994, and the period immediately following the political transition, the implementation of the National Democratic Revolution was slow, because it was also the time of the collapse of the USSR and communism as global dominant ideology. Also, there are clear sings that the theory of an arranged transition in 1994, secretary negotiated between the ANC and Big Business, was, at least partially, true. This further “safeguarded” the country against the immediate, revolutionary sudden swing towards socialism.

However, it is important to take note that the document which the ANC and SACP has always openly promoted as their guiding policy guide, namely the Freedom Chatter, is actually clear about the type of society the revolutionary forces are working towards; and that is exactly what is popularly known as the National Democratic Revolution.

Let’s consider nationalisation. There can be no doubt that the Freedom Charter requires a socialist, and even a communist, economic model for South Africa. Regardless of your personal ideological interpretation, the meaning of the following extracts from the documents are clear:

“The national wealth of our country, the heritage of South Africans, shall be restored to the people;

“The mineral wealth beneath the soil, the Banks and monopoly industry shall be transferred to the ownership of the people as a whole; and

“All other industry and trade shall be controlled to assist the wellbeing of the people”.

The Freedom Charter is clear that the Land Shall be Shared Among Those Who Work It. What exactly this means, is unclear, but there is no doubt that the intention is communist in nature, including that

“all the land re-divided amongst those who work it to banish famine and land hunger; the state shall help the peasants with implements, seed, tractors and dams to save the soil and assist the tillers; and all shall have the right to occupy land wherever they choose.”

Expropriation without compensation has always been on the cards. It will be lying to yourself to pretend that the following extracts from the Freedom Charter means anything else but communist arrangements that allow occupation of land based on “the random will of the people”; and, in communism, it is the state that fulfils “the will of the People”:

The Land Shall be Shared Among Those Who Work It!

“Restrictions of land ownership on a racial basis shall be ended, and all the land re-divided amongst those who work it to banish famine and land hunger;

“The state shall help the peasants with implements, seed, tractors and dams to save the soil and assist the tillers;

“Freedom of movement shall be guaranteed to all who work on the land;

“All shall have the right to occupy land wherever they choose”.

A clear distinction must be drawn between the intention, or the ideology, and the actual actions or achievements. This remark is specifically relevant to observations about the labor and social aims of the Freedom Charter.

The Charter requires that

“The aim of education shall be to teach the youth to love their people and their culture, to honour human brotherhood, liberty and peace;

“The aged, the orphans, the disabled and the sick shall be cared for by the state; and

“The colour bar in cultural life, in sport and in education shall be abolished.”

According to the Institute of Race Relations, but the ANC did, were the following:

• employment equity (EE) and black economic empowerment (BEE) rules were introduced so as to build support for the supposed ‘norm’ of ‘demographic representivity’ in employment, ownership, and procurement and demand compliance with racial targets (quotas in all but name);

• social welfare was enormously expanded via monthly cash grants for children, along with free ‘RDP’ houses, free basic education for the poor, and various other aspects of the social wage;

• a slow and complex process of land restitution and redistribution was introduced, so to underscore the importance of redress and undermine property rights, while doing little in practice to help the poor; and

• all water and mineral resources were vested in the custodianship of the state, so ending private ownership of these resources without compensation being paid.

I quote again from the Freedom Charter:

“Unused housing space to be made available to the people;

“Rent and prices shall be lowered, food plentiful and no-one shall go hungry;

“Slums shall be demolished, and new suburbs built where all have transport, roads, lighting, playing fields, creches and social centres”.

It is clear that the current so-called emphasis on “Apartheid-era spatial design”, and redesign, basically mean putting low-cost housing and informal dwellings in, or close to, middle-income and rich neighborhoods. One of the main instruments to be used to achieve this, will be Expropriation without Compensation.

Then there’s health. The National Health Insurance did not just drop out of the blue. It is perfectly in line with the stipulations of the Freedom Chatter, which are as follows:

“A preventive health scheme shall be run by the state; and

“Free medical care and hospitalisation shall be provided for all, with special care for mothers and young children.”

The National Democratic Revolution is here to stay. It is an enormous and deadly risk to South Africa.

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