White monopoly capital? An old song, now being sung out of tune

The warning by ANC Gauteng leader Paul Mashatile that we should be wary of joining the new impromptu chorus about the so-called white monopoly capital (WMC), is something we should all welcome as patriotic South Africans.

It is tempting to concur with Mashatile that we should not fall into the trap of speaking the same language and employ the same concepts as individuals with hidden agendas – even when we are desperate to radically change our socio-economic conditions.

The gist of Mashatile’s cautionary statement – echoed by his deputy David Makhura at the party’s provincial policy conference last weekend – was that it is important to establish who is singing the song and even scrutinise the conductor before we join in the chorus.

There is nothing revolutionary about the new song titled “White Monopoly Capital”. To the uninitiated ear, the lyrics and the beat form a familiar sound from the struggle era, but in reality the new mix is an anti-revolution fake in our political marketplace.

The idea is for all of us to fall into the web of creepy state capture that President Jacob Zuma and his handlers have entangled our beloved nation.

The same people tried but failed so far to distort the meaning and the real purpose of radical economic transformation (RET).

Their thinly veiled intention was to hoodwink South Africans into believing they have the panacea to our ills, such as land hunger and the economic deprivation of black people.

Not content with their continued theft of our state resources, this funny lot has now also appropriated terms such as WMC and RET to suit their populist objectives. The meanings of WMC and RET have been opportunistically altered to suit the greedy interests of certain individuals in the ruling party and their handlers.

The WMC term was actually hijacked by the new post-1994 capitalist class, who stole it from the Left in the ruling alliance. Regardless of their rhetorical divergence in terms of strategy and tactics on the way forward, the Left, by and large, wants real improvement in the lives of the proletariat as a class – albeit some are accused of being swallowed into the neoliberal agenda of the ANC.

Fortunately, South Africans are alert to the fact that the main targets of these Johnny-come-lately WMC proponents are the lucrative economic sectors, such as commercial banks, energy and the mining they want to control. Their start is to taint the image of the mainstream white capitalists, while, in fact, they themselves want to feed at the same trough through the nefarious capture of the state and major economic sectors.

It is not surprising that you find them spending more time pursuing what they call the “20 white families, mainly Jewish”, who they claim control the country’s wealth. Should we take it from them? Why do they tell us what we know? We cannot sing their song. The only chorus required of us is to say to them: No.

The real war that needs to be fought by all South Africans is against the plunder of public resources through political connections.

A genuine front should be formed against the cancer of state capture and corruption.

Eric Naki.