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pegs 1 The article which follows was originally presented as e seminar paper in tha Paper taant of Political Science «t tha University of Oar £m Saloon on Friday, 26 November, 1960. The paper, delivered by Dan O'Meera - than of the History Department at tha University - was titled '"Muldergata". the politics of Afrikaner nationalise end the crisis of the capitalist state In South Africa'. The paper is due to be published elsewhere, in s substantially revised form, at a later date. The 'Muldergate' article has been included In this MP because of its importance in the analysis end understanding of tha recent break assy of the Treurnicht group from the National Party Not only does O'Maara provide essential background to the latest crisis in both party end government„ he also provides a aathodology for interpreting ehat is happening in the National Party as an Indicator of a generalised crisis of the capitalist state in South Africa. The contemporary importance of this Is that it enables one to identify the various class interests et work, not only within party and governaent, but within the capitalist ruling class aa a whole- The identification of theee interests allows for en assessment of the content of the 'reform* Initiative which the alliance of tha PM Botha led military group end monopoly capital is attaaptlng to implement - and ehlch has bean rejected by tha Trwumicht led alliance* The editors of f^P only received permission to publish the 'Muldergate* article shortly before going to print. As such. It has not been edited for typing consistenQy in tares of the use of capital letters, underlining and other eatters of presentetion. Apologies ere offered to both the author and to VIP readers for this. •MULDERGATE' AND THE POLITICS OF AFRIKANER NATIONALISM ThTOUGHOUT 1976 and much of 1979, the ruling Nationalist Party (NP) In South Africa, led by Prima Minister BJ Vorster, was shaken by en ongoing aeries of political and financial scandals. The opposition Engiiah-language press immediately oubbed the effalr 'Muldergate*f after its leading scapegoat, Or Connie Mulder - then Minister of Information and Plural Relations and Development, leader of the Transvaal Nationalist Party, and Vorster's clear heir apparent. WlQely trumpeted press end Judicial revelations about fhe misappropriation of funds and other abuses elthln Mulder's Department of Information began to siauaaj tha tone of e moral cruaada against political corruption. In September 1976 Vorster dramatically announced his resignation on 'health' grounds from the premiership and as national leader of the NP. He was promptly elevated to the purely ceremonial post of State rVesldent. vorster** resignation m%& closely followed by that of his longtime political crony and arguably the second most powerful polltlcel figure In South Africa, General Handrlk van den Bergh, head of the notorious Bureau of State Security (BOSS)* In e bitterly fought election within the NP caucus to select Vorster's successor as national leader of tha NP, and hence the Prima Minister, Connie Mulder was narrowly defeated by the Minister of Defence and leader of tha Cape Nationalist Party, PW Botha. Tha nee Prime Minister plsdged himself to run a 'clean' povernmmnt, and In rapid succession Mulder was driven out of the Cabinet , the leadership of the Transvaal Nationalist Party* Parliament, and eventuelly tha NP itself. Ha now heads en extreaa right-wing opposition group. Muldergate attracted a greet dwal of moralising coeaejntary and etrtdent demands for the government's resignation In the bourgeois press. It has bean almost universally interpreted es e symbol of We corruption of Afrikaner rationalism, reinforcing the wldmly held view that tha root causa of social conflict In South Africa lies almost exclusively within tha apartheid policies of a monolithicelly conceived 'Afrikaner* ethnic group. This supposed 'ruling ethnic group* is than presumed to use the etate to pursue tha narrow (and egjeln mcnolithicaOly conceived) interests of the Afrikaner volk. 1 Mora often then not, this kind of analysis continues further to poeo a fundamental contradiction between Afrikaner nationalism and 'its* apartheid policies on the one hand, and the supposedly ratlonel, inherently colour-blind Imperatives of capitalism on the other - e contradiction In which the latter are fettered and distorted by the former, 2 This conventional conception of Afrikaner nationalism rests upon a number of mutually re inforcing logical and analytical errors ehlch togathar result in logical circularity and political confusion. Firstly, and aoat fundamentally, the highly disparate and dlfferentieted Afrikaans* speaking ahlta population of South Africa is unpi-oblematlcally charactarieed as a monolithic •ethnic group', with a presumably inherent organic unity and a set of common interests overriding all dlfferances. This is taken as self-evident, thereby neatly and uncritically reproducing the basic tenet of Afrikaner nationalist Ideology. Once this first untenable assumption is made, a seriea of others then follow naturally. The shifting and contradictory base of support for a political party (the NP) la simply collapsed Into this 'ethnic* category. Given that the NP has been the ruling party since 1908, this Illegitimate confletlon of perty and ethnic group then loads to the argument that Afrikaners monopolise polltlcel power in South Africa and hence comprise a
'ruling •tunic group'» or eo*etia*s 'a political class'. All this too is taken as self-evident. In this say, tha vary dlffarant social categories of coavaon language, ethnic group, class, political party* government and stata ara glibly collapsad Into aach other, and usad Interchangeably. Hara tha dlatlnctlon bataaan tha vastly dlffarant areas, levaIs and typas of social action and organisation to anion thasa dlffarant catagorlas rafsr is sieply obliterated* This conflation closes a naat logical clrcla, in ehlch tha atata is raducad to an Afrikanar entity, and concalyad as a simple instrument In tha hands of this alleged ruling athnic group. Thasa numerous arrors and confusions apart, ahat gats concaalad in thla concaptlon of tha atata Is precisely its character as a capitalist stata. And thus tha political problaas of South Africa ara raducad to tha problem of 'the Afrikaner*. 81nca 'they* ara hald solaly responsible for tha situation of aocial confrontation In South Africa, on 'the*' alona llaa tha onua to changa. In tha eords of a racant bookt Tha graat problem for South Africa...la assantlally a problem for tha Afrikaners slnca thay hold tha poamr In avarything that matters. Thua tha raal political questions in South Africa - thoaa of tha capitalist stata, and the social relations on ohjch it raats - ara naatly mvoidad and displaced, ao legitimising bourgeois politlca. An analysis of muldergata as a crials for both government and ruling party must nacasaarlly break alth thasa myriad confusions to confront tha problem of tha capitalist atata In South Africa. In racant yaars a growing body of South African litaratura has ralsad this question. Hoeaver, as Volga's racant revle-s of this litaratura has demonstrated, all tha varioua tandanclaa hava remained trappad althin an instrumentalist concaptlon. Hara, tha state ia in affact analysed aa an lnatltution external to class struggle, available for uaa as an undiffarantlatad instrument in tha hands of a political party raprasantlng spaciflc and puraly economic Interests, Thla litaratura haa fallad to grasp tha charactar of tha stata as a diffarantlatad and contradictory unit/t ltsalf conatltutad througn, and a sits of, „ class atruggla. Such a concaptlon of tha stata aa a aita of class struggls furthar poses tha problem of tha relationship bataaan classas dafined at tha laval of relations of production, and tha concrata ldaologlcal and organisational fonts through which class struggls is fought out. As hara concaivad, classas dafinad at tha laval of ralatlons of production exist in class struggls in and through multiple fonts of concrata organisation. Thus, in any conjunctura, tha unity of this or that class as a social force cannot simply be rsad off fro* tha ralatlons of production, but needs to ba constructed via tha ensemble of concrata organisational and ldaologlcal forms in and through which that claaa axiats. In thaaa tarsia than, an analysla of tha atata concaivad as a alta of class atruggla lnvolvaa, intar alia, a focus on praclsaly tha contradictions and conflicts althin and bataaan tha varioua institutions and apparatuses of tha state. This papar rapraaants a flrat attempt to bagln such an analysis. It focuses mainly on but ona aspact of tha stata - tha signlflcanca of tha currant crisis in Afrikanar nationalism for tha stata as a ahola. This la takan as a uaaful antry point into tha much aora Caspian quastlons of class struggls and tha atata as a ahola. Thua the analysla prasantad hara la nacasaarlly partial and tentative, leaving unraaolvad nutrous thaoratical and saiplrlcal problema* Thaaa ara hopafully to ba confrontad in futura rasaarch. Tha lluldargata itibrogllo aaa tha culmination of a long-aiaaiaring crisis in both tha Nationalist Party and tha HP government, than plunging both party and government still daapar into crisis* Yat it rapraaants much mora than tha simple lntamal crisis of Afrikaner nationalissi as it is usually daplctad. I would argue that It aaa but an aspact of, and a product of a crisis for tha capitalist stata as a ahola in South Africa. Ita 'resolution' llkasriaa rapraaants an attaaptad resolution of tha wider crisis of tha South African atata. If this if in fact tha caaa, to assess tha signlflcanca of Wuldergate for tha stata as a ahola, it ia necessary to answer thrsa intarralatad quastlons: Ihat aara tha broad features of thla crisis of tha capitalist stata in South Africa? «hat mas tha q»q« signlflcanca of tha particular for* that it assumed in tanas of tha contradictions and conflicts althin tha Nationoliat Party and govarnmant? And ahat la tha signlflcanca of its for* of resolution for tha — contradictions and conflicts althin tha stata? Tha Crisis of tha 1970a THE crisis confronting tha South African stata and ruling class in tha arid* 1970a aaa complex and eultl- lavallad - an ensemble of simultaneous and mutually dwtemining economic, political and ldaologlcal crials, producing significant shifts In tha balanca and alignment of class forces, A graat daal of furthar rasaarch la nacasaary to arrive at an adequate analysis of this ganarallsad criaia. Hara Is examined vith vary dlffarant oepheees but three of its elements: firstly, aspects of tha growing crisis of capital accumulation In tha 1970a: tacondly, tha rapid Intensification of tha class struggls during this decade; and thirdly, in thaaa contexta, tha aorfelnga of Afrikanar nationalist politics. Tha alsi la to attempt to understand hos tha flrat tao elements both structured and articulated alth the internal dynamic of Afrikaner nationalist politlca to produce a political crisis in its particular for* of muldergata. Thla • ill provide a basis for a tantatlva aeasisment of tha signlfloanca of tha changes occurring in tha sake of lluldargata. Ourlng tha 1960a tha South African economy had expanded mora rapidly than that of any other capitalist country except Japan, averaging an annual growth rata of GOP of bataaan 6 and S parcant. A number of features of this boo* should ba noted, aa hera aara established tha condltiona for this crisis of tha 1970s. Flratly* the brutal aupprasalon of tha national liberation movement by 1963 created the requisite condltiona for rapid capitalist growth* Particularly significant hare ass tha eamshing of tha econoalc organe of tha stocking class. Thus, bataaan 1964 and 1969, leas than 2 000 africen eorfcars par annus) aant on atrlka. Secondly, tha moat notable
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