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Women’s empowerment in Bangladesh
Exile formed South Africa’s new elite
3rd Conference on Early Warning
03/2006 |
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Governance:
South African elites’
formative years in exile
Hans-Georg Schleicher:
[South Africa’s new elite.
How exile shaped the ANC leadership].
Hamburg, Institute of African Affairs 2004, 368 pages,
Euro 22.00, ISBN 3-928049-89-5
His in-depth knowledge and his personal acquaintance with many South African leaders make Schleicher an authority on the subject. The author served as a diplomat for the communist-run German Democratic Republic (GDR) in Zimbabwe and Namibia. During that time, he acquired expertise for his current study as a historian. He also draws on his work as an associate researcher at the universities of Hanover, Berlin and Hamburg after German reunification, including some research in Africa.
Schleicher’s book will surely become a major work of reference for anyone seriously interested in South Africa. He discusses the academic literature, and draws on additional sources such as memoirs and archives (especially in South Africa and Britain). His most valuable source, however, was interviewing witnesses of the liberation struggle. Tables, charts, an index of names and a selected bibliography complete the study.
The main thrust of his investigation centres on preparations begun in exile for taking over power later. Schleicher traces the progress of the African National Congress (ANC) and its groups (Robben Islanders, internals, exiles) to their position among today’s political elite. He analyses their experience of exile and the consequences that had for development after apartheid. He considers their influence on ANC policy and strategy, on the ANC’s relationship to the Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of Trade Unions (COSATU). While systematically discussing these issues in the context of the East-West conflict, Schleicher is also interested in personal biographical developments.
He describes the political centres in exile in Britain, Tanzania and Ghana, as well as later in the front-line states surrounding South Africa. Structures developed which first made the ANC an “embryonic nation”, later a “nation in exile” and finally a “government-in-waiting”. Schleicher scrutinises the ANC headquarters and offices in exile, the Political and Military Council, the National Executive Committee, civil educational and training establishments, the command structures and training camps of the military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, and many other relevant bodies.
In the author’s opinion, the dispute over apartheid is one of the defining conflicts of the 20th century. He states that the West for too long misinterpreted it as an ideological struggle. Schleicher sees the development of the oldest political organisation in Africa (founded in 1912) as a vital element of recent African history. He shows how the period of exile left its mark on South Africa’s new elite. However, many of the old patterns (left – right, reactionary – progressive) no longer make sense in today’s economic and political environment. The dream of quickly setting up a fair and equitable society has, in his opinion, failed to come true after the ANC took power. The fundamental evils of “modern” society such as corruption and nepotism are stifling the efficiency of the adopted western model (with representative democracy and a market economy).
Suggestions by the ANC rank and file as well as mid-level members on these issues would also deserve academic scrutiny. After all, these people do propose measures to deal with their predicament. Experiences gained in exile are of little relevance in this context. Schleicher is well aware of this fact. The complexity of the situation makes it difficult to draw any political conclusions or make theoretical generalisations. Moreover, this essay would have provided more building blocks for understanding contemporary South Africa, had it also discussed ANC experiences in non-British European exile (Scandinavia, the Soviet Union, the Eastern European states and the GDR) as well as in China, Vietnam and Cuba and the African “non-front-line states”.
Walter Hundt
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