JOHANNESBURG, July 4 (ANA) – The majority of African National Congress delegates at the 5th national policy conference debated the proper characterisation of “monopoly capital” and it was agreed that the “white monopoly capital” tag is incorrect.
“Nine out of those 11 commissions said the phenomenon of monopoly capital is global one and it manifests itself differently in various parts of the globe. In that context it would therefore not be correct to characterize ours simply as white monopoly capital,” the party’s Joel Netshitenzhe said as he addressed the media on behalf of the ANC’s strategy and tactics commission.
He said there was an intense discussion on the highly contentious issue of monopolistic capital.
“The outcome of that discussion is as follows: firstly it reiterates what is contained in the 2007 strategy and tactics document. It is that the relationship between the ANC and monopoly capital in particular, but also with capital in general, is one of unity and struggle — if you like, cooperation and contestation. There are areas where we would seek to cooperate with them — higher rates of investment, job creation, skilling of people, matters to do with broad-based economic empowerment and so on,” said Netshitenzhe.
“But there is also the challenge of monopoly companies conducting themselves in such a way that they undermine societal interests — collusion, high prices in the product markets, high returns that would not reflect the correct the appropriate distribution of income between the managers and workers and so forth. So the relationship is one of cooperation and contestation.”
Netshitenzhe was flanked by his colleague Febe Potgieter-Gqubule and the party’s national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa.
Potgieter-Gqubule said delegates at the Johannesburg conference have proposed numerous changes in a bid to arrest the scourge of corruption and perceived corruption which continues to harm the governing party.
“There are fairly comprehensive suggestions and recommendations that will now go to the branches, looking at issues of social distance and addressing the social distance — how do we address the questions around corruption and [there are] very firm suggestions on how the ANC must deal with corruption,” said Potgieter-Gqubule.
“If there are allegations of corruption, the provincial, national and regional secretaries have the responsibility … if action is not taken, they would be held accountable for the lack of action and they will have to explain why action has not been taken.”
The delegates have also recommended that the ANC needs to distance itself from corruption, whether in its ranks, including individuals within the party or outside its structures, supporters or donors.
“Recommendations that were made around combating corruption and restoring the integrity of the ANC include the strengthening of the integrity committee that was adopted in the last conference. The proposal going to branches [from the conference] is that the integrity committee must become an independent structure with constitutional powers within the ANC to be able to summon anybody to account. They will have the power to make decisions and they will then report the decisions on any matter to the structure of the organisation,” she said.
– African News Agency (ANA)
