Inqaba ya basebenzi Number 2 April 1981 - DISA

8
has replaced it, the Presidents'
Council, is rejected by even the
majority of the middle class—black
and white. The mass movement
treats it with contempt.
Of all members of the Cabinet,
Koornhof has been loudest in his
promises. But no sooner did he
publish draft legislation (based on
Riekert) for his 'new deal' for urban
blacks than he was forced to
withdraw it—in the face of its
outright rejection by the black
working class, by the black middle
class, and even by the bourgeois
opposition. All of these plainly
identified it as an attempt to tighten
the pass system.
Many other commissions are still
'studying' their subjects, unable to
formulate proposals that will be
acceptable to anyone. In the
meantime the regime continues its
brutal repression of the mass
movement and tightens its controls
over the press.
The 'reforms' promised by the
bosses of big industry have been
intended to reduce white job
privileges in order to employ black
labour at much reduced wages
(cheap labour) and to lift more of the
tiny black middle class out of their
present position into property
owners. The latter move is intended
towards using the black middle class
against the working class in the
coming struggles. Their main purpose
is, of course, profit.
Economy
The massive growth of the
economy in the 1960's began to
provoke the need for these changes.
The expansion of production under
the apartheid system of 'job
reservation' has produced increasing
shortages of skilled labour. At the
same time the boom, drawing black
workers in huge numbers into
increasingly strategic positions in
production, laid the basis of the
power of the working class in
struggle in the 1970's.
But now the capitalist class U
forced more urgently to try to
Introduce these changes In the
condition! of world capitalism
entering crisis. Any concession! to
the black middle class or to sections
of the black workers would have to
Military and executive power are closely bound together in Botha's new structure of
government.
be paid for.
With the crisis In the economy,
South African capitalism cannot
afford to pay for such reforms.
Instead the capitalist class is forced
to attack the livelihood of the mass of
the black workers—and the
privileges of the white workers also.
Although the growth rate in 1980
was 8%, this was after a period of
stagnation in the mid-1970's from
which recovery has been slow. For
most of the period of the upturn,
despite huge profits made by the
capitalists, investment in new
plant—machinery and technology—
remained low.
This investment is essential to
improve the productivity of South
African labour, which lags far
behind that of the advanced
capitalist countries. Though the use
of industrial capacity rose from
below 80% to 92% during the
upturn, productivity was not substantially
improved.
In general, the capitalists can
improve productivity only by
expanding also the scale of
production and selling to a larger
share of the world market.
The South African capitalist class
has secured a share of the world
market on the basis of the export of
gold, other minerals, and agricultural
goods produced by cheap
labour. Cheap labour has meant a
small home market. Expanding
production thus means expanding
the export of manufactured products
at prices competitive with the major
capitalist countries.
With low productivity, and facing
the increasingly aggressive
competition of the major capitalist
powers in a stagnating world market,
the South African capitalists cannot
sufficiently expand their manufactured
exports.
In fact the growth of the most
recent period was permitted only by
the rising value of gold exports, due
to the rise in the price of gold.
Between the end of 1978 and the
beginning of 1980 the gold price
increased by over 100% to an
all-time record of $850 per oz.
But now the gold price has
dropped again: during February and
March it was fluctuating between
$550 and $475 per oz, and this will
continue. At the same time the value
of other mineral and agricultural
exports has been dropping.