No need to be surprised

All roads lead to Polokwane

Many commentators have reacted with surprise during recent months over some of the policy moves from the Zuma-led administration. Closer scrutiny, however, has shown that there is no need for surprise - a checklist of what was to be expected was supplied by the African National Congress at its national congress in December 2007 in Polokwane. Government moves have become quite predictable.

The Zuma administration seems to be following this checklist so diligently, that the informed observer should be able to stay fairly well prepared to what is coming.

The extent to which the Polokwane blueprint is being followed also underlines the extent to which the power has moved back from the government under the Mbeki administration to the ANC as primary policy-maker.

In fact, the resolutions document states emphatically that the "conference affirmed that the ANC remains the key strategic centre of power which exercises leadership over the state and society in pursuit of the objectives of the National Democratic Revolution".

Some of the more prominent news events emanating from the government and the president's office during recent weeks can be traced back to two documents produced at Polokwane: A document titled "Strategy and Tactics of the ANC", and the document listing and contextualising the resolutions taken at the conference.

A few examples

Regarding the recent pronouncements by President Jacob Zuma that the application of the principle of "willing buyer/willing seller" in land redistribution transactions requires a relook, and the context of a rural and agrarian development plan, the following references, among quite a few, can be found in the two documents:

"We should discard the market-driven land reform and immediately review the principle of willing-seller, willing buyer so as to accelerate equitable distribution of land;

Review the adequacy of post-settlement support in all land reform programmes;" and

One of the "pillars" of a programme for "economic transformation," is identified as "a comprehensive and clear rural developmental strategy, which builds the potential for rural sustainable livelihoods ... Strong interventions in the private land market combined with better use of state land for social and economic objectives, must transform the patterns of land ownership and agrarian production, with a view to restructuring and deracialising the agricultural sector."

Regarding plans to bring about a central national health system, the following can be found: The ANC "reaffirms the implementation of the National Health Insurance System by further strengthening the public healthcare system and ensuring adequate provision of funding."

The creation of a central planning ministry, which was placed under the stewardship of Trevor Manuel, can be traced back to a conference resolution about "a strengthened role for the central organs of state, including through the creation of an institutional centre for government-wide economic planning with the necessary resources and authority to prepare and implement long- and medium-term economic and development planning.

Regarding the ongoing onslaught on the system of casual workers and on the role of labour brokers, the following can be found in the strategy document: "A tendency has also developed in the period since 1994 for the informalisation of jobs, contracting out and utilisation of labour brokers affecting particular sectors of the economy. While the achievement of democracy has resulted in a better regime of workers' rights, this tendency has undermined the quality of jobs, job security and union activism in the affected sectors."

The recent statements about the monitoring of ANC representatives at particularly local government level, can be traced back to the following statement in the strategy document: "...in order to ensure that its strategic mandate is carried out, the ANC needs massively to strengthen its monitoring and evaluation capacity. This will ensure that cadres deployed in various capacities are able to improve their word in meeting set objectives."

Spaces to watch

Besides the few examples listed above, there are also a number of areas to keep a watchful eye on, which are on the "checklist", but have not fully surfaced in the public domain yet.

One of the sectors that has been mentioned in dispatches, but which is apparently still due for considerable attention is "judicial transformation". It would seems as if there is not a single arm of the judiciary that will be left untouched by the "reconstruction" plans.

The conference resolved that: "A single, integrated, accessible and affordable court system must be established, including the integration of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and Magistrates Commission (MC) into a single appointment mechanism and the establishment of a single grievance procedure for judicial officers."

It was further resolved that the Constitution Court should be the highest (apex) court for all matters, constitutional and non-constitutional; that the High Court system be rationalised; the Competition Appeal Court, the Electoral Court and Tax Courts to be integrated into the High Court; the Labour Appeal Court to be integrated into the existing Appeal Court; and the "creation of further specialised courts outside the single court system should be discouraged."

Besides the plans for National Health Insurance, the congress also resolved that the "ANC should explore the possibility of a state-owned pharmaceutical company that will respond to and intervene in the curbing of medicine prices."

On the front of foreign and regional policy, the push for greater regional integration has already begun in the light of a resolution about the "integration of the South African economy on a fair and equitable basis with the economies in the southern African region, and building stronger economic linkages across the continent of Africa as a whole as a basis of increasing our market size and trhough deepened economic integration."

The deployment of ANC party functionaries to key positions in the civil service is set to continue against the background of the following statement in the strategy document: "In order to exercise its vanguard role, the ANC puts a high premium on the involvement of its cadres in all centres of power."

The implications of this could be far reaching against the background of the ANC's plans to "massively" strengthen its monitoring and evaluation capacity over its cadres.

Both documents can be found in full on the ANC's website at http://www.anc.org under the link for documents.

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