South Africa’s Political Crisis : Unfinished Liberation and Fractured Class Struggles

Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. ## Contents There are many people in South Africa to whom I owe a huge debt of gratitude. Firstly, the help and support I received from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) made my research possible. In the first place, I would like to thank all the union members who agreed to take part in the research. I would like to thank Lesiba Seshoka, NUM's spokesperson, who kindly agreed to meet with me and put me in touch with all the people I needed to speak to. Also at head office, my thanks to Frans Baleni and Oupa Komane for kindly allowing me to interview them and for offering their support for the research. In the Witbank regional office I would like to thank Paris Mashego and Piet Matosa. I am extremely grateful to Job Matsepe for allowing me to attend so many NUM meetings and for his support and insightful observations about my research project. My thanks also to Thembelani, Ernest and Nathi who helped organise the interviews themselves, and for helping me gain access to the power stations and local ANC structures. I would especially like to thank Joe Skosana, to whom I am greatly indebted. Without Joe's help none of the research in the power stations would have been possible. I'm very grateful for the advice and support I have received from academics based in South Africa, particularly Peter Alexander, Luke Sinwell, Claire Ceruti and David Moore at the University of Johannesburg. I would also like to thank the SWOP staff for allowing me to attend their seminar series and to Bridget Kenny and Sakhela Buhlungu for first meeting with me all those years ago to discuss some of my research ideas. To all my South African friends I owe a great deal of thanks. In no particular order I would like to thank Front Matter....Pages i-vii Liberation’s Dream Deferred....Pages 1-23 Blurred Ideological Fault Lines....Pages 25-45 Internecine Factionalism....Pages 47-73 Class Formation and the Politics of Social Mobility....Pages 75-94 Union Democracy, Social Mobility and Stifled Militancy....Pages 95-116 Exhausted or Regenerative Nationalism?....Pages 117-143 Conclusion: Fractured Labour Struggles and the Unfinished Project of Liberation....Pages 145-153 Back Matter....Pages 155-179 South Africa's current political upheavals are the most significant since the transition from apartheid. Its powerful trade unions are playing a central role, and the political direction they take will have huge significance for how we understand the role of labour movements in struggles for social justice in the twenty-first century.